This building on its east facade has the words "The
house of the Lord."
The first time I walked just a few feet into the temple here,
I had the feeling that I had been here before.
In an instant, the thought came to me that what I
recognized was a sense of peace beyond anything I felt
before in this life but that I seemed to
recognize and almost remember.
We knew our Heavenly Father and his beloved Son before we
came into this life.
We felt peace with them then.
And we long to be with them again with our families and
those we love.
Dedicated temples are sacred places where the
risen Savior may come.
In them, we can feel the peace of our associations with Him
in the life before.
In them, we can make the covenants which help us to
come unto Him in this life, and which will permit Him, if
we keep our promises to Him, to take us home to the Father
with our families in the world to come.
Every part of these buildings, and all that goes on inside
them, reflect the love of a Savior for us and
our love for Him.
I felt that one day high in this temple.
I was in one of the towers in a place few people would have
been since the building was dedicated in a small room that
is rarely, if ever, been used.
I saw exquisite Pioneer Era wood work.
I remember the sense of awe the came over me when I
imagined the workmen who had so carefully carved and
finished the detailed moldings.
They toiled away without power tools in a place where, for
the most part, only the Lord they loved and heavenly beings
would look upon it.
They did it not for man or for recognition but for
Him, for His house.
They knew as I do that He lives.
And that He has asked His people to gather and to be
worthy to build Him a house that He might direct them and
bless them and their families.
I know that He lives.
I know that Joseph Smith was His prophet and saw in vision
not only the shape of the windows for an early temple
but the spread of temples across the earth.
The Lord has in His loving kindness, entrusted the keys
of the priesthood exercise in these temples to His servants
to bless us and our kindred dead and to finish the work
for his glorious return.
I know that is true.
And it brings peace to my heart.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.