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Is it required once you become a member of the church that you have to participate in the temple rituals? Are they related to the Book of Mormon and the Sacraments? Can someone describe what to expect when they go to a temple? Finally, does one have to go to the temple located in your stake to do these things or can they be performed in any temple if your a member in good standing? Thanks for helping me clear up my confusion! :)

I might be a little cynical... but how is it possible that ALL of my friends were temple worthy when they got married, except the ones who went off the deep end anyway? I know I'm not the only one who struggles with the Law of Chastity, so do people just get married in the temple to save face? Sorry, that sounds very negative, but it's kind of weird to me how few people I know in my age bracket (high marriage rate) end up getting married civilly. I feel like people are pressured into pretending to be worthy for the temple or something when I know they're not. I know it's none of my business, but it's just annoying.

Hey everybody, I just went through my first endowment this morning. I am getting married next week to a wonderful man who is my best friend (dated for almost 2 years, engaged for 7 months). I am looking for support from any other members who did not have a positive first experience. That may seem like a strange request but I have a fiance and parents and in-laws who talk about the temple like it's the greatest thing they've ever experienced and talking with them is only frustrating me. This is not what I expected to feel a few days before my temple wedding. I need some support from someone who can actually relate to how I am feeling right now. I took my ward's temple prep class, read the pamphlet, took a BYU temples class, and talked about the temple at length albeit in general terms with my bishop and my family. Then I went through today and I felt tricked. I was not prepared for how weird it seemed to me. Even though I can't say anything in there was harmful, going into a room and doing and saying things by command made me very uncomfortable. It really came off as a cult ritual to me, and I have grown up in the church! Add on top of that that I am a pretty circumspect person and I felt surrounded by female temple workers who were projecting emotionally at me and so ANXIOUS for me to like it that I felt I wasn't given a chance to experience my own emotions. Add on to that that I strongly dislike the garment. I've been reading these forums for the last few hours to try and get some perspective from members on the garment and the temple in general. It looks like it has been discussed ad nauseum on these boards so suffice to say I have a "uniquely" proportioned body that even the measurement lady at the distribution center said would be hard to fit. And I found out in the temple that indeed they didn't fit right, and it's uncomfortable, and my goodness do I feel ugly in them. I have always dressed conservatively and covered myself, and can't really see what underwear has to do with spirituality...especially when I have to wear "worldly" underwear with them anyway to take care of feminine support up top and feminine menstrual needs below. It's not that I didn't know it was coming, but I guess it wasn't so bad when I wasn't wearing them. I am so frustrated right now because I feel like this is nothing at all like the church I experience every Sunday, and I'm not sure I like it all. Insights appreciated

My wife and I have only been married for about 15 months. We've been a couple for about 2.5 years. We've known each other for about 5 years. I am not a member. When we started dating, my wife was partially inactive, but still reasonably within church standards as far as the way she lives. By this time, I had stopped drinking, doing drugs, and going to parties. At the time I had a stronger belief in Christianity than I do now. Before we got married, we had an argument and a 24 hour breakup. She liked that I was faithful, but didn't like that I wasn't LDS. She said she needed a temple marriage, so she left. The next day, she came back and said she couldn't leave. After that, I prayed and saw no harm in investigating the church. I investigated the church for several months and even asked to join, but I wasn't permitted to due to my previous felony. I was told I had to wait until I was off probation (in 2015). I continued to investigate and go to church for awhile after that regardless. I wasn't particularly upset about being held back. Figured I did it to myself. However, in the last few months, I've learned some things about the church and about people as a whole that have ended my interest in joining. I've stopped going to church with my wife regularly since then. I still go sometimes, but she knows I don't like it and I know she'd be upset if we didn't go. Last week, she burst into tears after a[nother] argument about church. She said "I'll never get to go to the temple" between sobs. I told her, "Hannah, I'd love to live with you eternally, but I'm not conviced that the temple is the only way. After that, I presented an ultimatum. I asked her to decide whether or not she could accept our religious differences. Obviously, if she can't, that's a deal breaker. It's almost Sunday again (our usual fighting day) and I don't know what's going to happen. I doubt that she will choose me over something so well-rooted within her. If anyone has any advice, please let me know. I'm prepared for any answer of hers, but I won't live the rest of my life being pushed into a religion I don't believe in and I doubt that she will forget about her desire to be sealed. We have no kids, but they could be LDS. I don't have a problem with that. Any ideas other than the obvious?

I am 25 and dating someone who I want to marry, but we are not worthy for the temple. I've struggled with chastity issues for the past 5 years. He's struggled for the past 10 years. At what point do you decide to just get a civil marriage? Of course we could be sealed after we're married. But at this rate, I'm never going to get married because I'm never worthy long enough to actually make it to the temple. And yet I'm too ashamed to admit it to the world and my family that I suck at life and can't get married in the temple. It's always been a no-brainer that I would marry in the temple. I know it's not right and God is displeased with me, but, is it sometimes acceptable to marry outside of the temple? I am otherwise a good member of the church and you'd never know it by looking at me that I have a problem. Repentance works and I have faith in it, I just can't seem to actually kick this and it's almost getting to the point that it's more harmful to my spiritual progression that I'm not married. It sounds weird, but I feel like I can't put off marriage forever. If I tried to repent and start over (and break up with my boyfriend) that would be another year or so and even then there's no guarantee that I will finally somehow overcome this. I'm sadly giving up trying now. I guess I just want to know if anyone else has had to make this kind of decision and how did it turn out for you? If you're wondering, I love my boyfriend and DON'T want to break up with him. That's why I'm asking about civil marriages. Ha ha

Hello everyone, my name is Diane and I live in Sunny California near Santa Barbara , at the Beach. I was baptized in 1995 along with my two girls and my now ex husband was baptized a week later. We were sealed in the Los Angeles Temple 1 year and a week later with our girls and our then 2 year old son. I recently re-married ( 2 years ago) to my Jr High/HS sweetheart, an amazing man, 30 years to the date after we first " dated" ( with our parents on an outing, as we were both only 15! ) We kept in touch after I was married for all but 10 years, and then he found me on Classmates in 2000. Our families were always friends, and it was wonderful hearing from him again ( he had married and divorced after only 6 years of marriage, I was married for 25 years to my first husband) Our Wedding was beautiful, he gave us both the wedding of our dreams, but not in the Temple as he was not a member at the time. He has always been interested in the church and investigated off and on through the past 11 years that we've been back in touch. We were always the best of friends, he also with my former husband. He began taking the discussions again right before wedding, but with a serious smoking habit, baptism committment took a while before he was completely ready and able to give cigarettes up completely. He surprised me a few weeks before his baptism by setting his date as the day before our First Wedding Anniversary, and was confirmed on our First anniversary! ( What more could I possibly want or need for my wedding gift? ) This year, on March 27th, his 1st Baptism anniversary date, he was ordained an Elder, and we celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary the next day! We are now in Temple Prep classes and he is getting ready to receive his Endowments while I await my Sealing Cancellation ( which I will posting questions on, for any who know the process involved, please help! ) We have 5 children between us from 15 to 27, and 2 wonderful Granddaughters. Heavenly Father brought us back together again after 30 years, after many of life's experiences, celebrations and tragedies and both of our divorces ( his after 6 years, mine after 25 years! Both of our former spouses cheated. My ex stopped attending church only 2 years after we were sealed, and hasn't had anything to do with the church for 10 years now. He was not able to baptize our son, who waited on him to BE able to do so, but finally gave up 4 1/2 years ago at age 14 and was baptized by our bishop. This year my Husband will be ordaining my son to become an Elder, which is just one of the greatest blessings that Heavenly Father has given to our family! ) I am a Family History Consultant for my Stake ( if anyone needs help with your family history I am happy to help! Just ask! ) and attend the Temple as often as I can, usually at least once a month if not more. My husband went to the Temple to do Baptisms 2 weeks after his baptism!He is very excited to be able to go to the Temple with me soon, and it will be SUCH a blessing to have him there with me. I"m very happy to have found this forum, and very Thankful to Heather for starting it. I've looked at many postings the past couple of years but never posted anything, now I plan to become an active member here, and post a lot of questions I have, hopefully all of you who can answer, will! Thank you for allowing me the honor of introducing myself , I hope to get to know many of you here! Diane

What if you are the ONLY person in your family who is (edit: "active") LDS? As in nobody in your family is interested (parents, brothers, sisters, spouse)? Who could you possibly get sealed to? And since its not your fault that nobody else is interested, would God go easy on you in the afterlife? This is my situation, so I was just wondering. Everyone in my ward is trying to push me to move up in the church, and eventually go to the temple, but... They don't really understand that none of my family members or friends will ever be going. So I'm just wondering what I should say to them about that?

I've been wondering for awhile now about my situation and my parents with regard to a temple sealing. So my parents are divorced and my mom, myself and a few other family members joined the church afterward. My question is whether I can be sealed to my mother and my father individually, without having them sealed to each other. Any thoughts?

Well, I just finished this poem for my English class tomorrow and I got more spiritual that I had planned. I thought I might as well publish it here as it may make someone happy. It is about a trip to Temple Square (SLC). The Square On a cold, dark, December night, I gazed upon a glorious sight- In the middle of the Square the sight caused my sound soul to soar. What I saw was truly magic; lights of many hues were twinkling- I let my bright eyes grasp the colors; reds, whites, and blues galore! The brilliant scene pierced me to the core, warmth flowed from every pore. This helped me the cold ignore. While I was walking ‘round the Square I slipped and fell, my skin did tear. As I struggled to my feet, I caught a glimpse of bright pallor- There was a still, shining lake, my image captured on the surface- The surface, fragile as glass, only disturbed by the color. I saw the reflection of my past, warmth flowed from every pore. This helped me the pain ignore. While I was thinking of my past, I came upon what I had sought- A pure, peaceful, white structure dominated the large Square floor. Illuminated as if by angels, the white marble shown bright- Standing there, eyes glistening, trying every moment to savor The beautiful vista filled with joy, warmth flowed from every pore. This helped me my mistakes ignore.

temple worship for unendowed members has all sorts of negative connotations especially for adults. "limited" use recommends, "youth" temple trip, and the limited nature in which unendowed members can participate. recently i was involved in the planning of a ward temple trip, we were to do baptism and all other work. as it turned out the local temple no longer does baptism on saturdays (the ward temple trip was to be planned for a saturday) so it was decided that we would do one trip for baptism and two weeks later another trip for endowments and sealings. I listed the Baptism trip as "ward temple trip(baptism)" apparently i was wrong as i was directed by the bishop to change it to "youth temple trip" even though there were several new member and single women members going on the trip. in the name of inclusion and sensitivity i suggested it should not be labeled a "youth" temple trip, however i was shot down. any thoughts?

I'm 19, and have been a member since late June. I've been thinking of receiving my temple endowment next summer or fall, and I'm wondering if you all think that is a good idea. I know most girls wait until marriage or a mission, but I know some end up going to the temple before all that. What is your opinion? Thanks

For the past few months I've really felt the urge to take out my endowments in the temple. The only issue with this is I don't plan on going on a mission for another 2 years or so and I don't see marriage in the near future considering I want to serve a mission. I'll be 21 in January which finally qualifies me to serve a mission and I know you have to be endowed before you can serve, but I don't know if a year and a half would be too far in advance considering things could always change. So are there any sort of rules or stipulations on this that you guys know of? If there's any chance of me being able to take out my endowments early I would meet with my Bishop about it, but if there's not a chance for me to do it right now because of a rule I'd rather save the discussion for a later time. Thanks for your help!!:)

Very interesting and heated: EEEKonomy: A Mormon Temple for the Desert Skyline? (Discussion)

OK, so I wasn't exactly sure what section to post this in, but I suppose general will do. So I've haven't gone to the temple yet(I'm a recent convert to the Church) and I was planning on going to it for the first time on my wards next temple trip! The temple we go to doesn't have temple clothing available to rent. I was wondering what was suitable for a girl to wear to temple. I know it has to be white, but are there any stipulations on it. Thanks for all your help!!

Hi, Ok, so I guess this is more of a question than a statement. So here's the deal. My fiancee was previously married and sealed in the temple. He is currently going through the legal divorce but how do you divorce someone from the temple for etirnity. Neither of us really want to spend etirnity with his ex-wife.. but we don't know how to go about a divorce from the temple. We're due to get married this Summer shortly after the legal divorce has come through. But we'd like to get the latter sorted as soon as possible as well. Any advice, suggestions, information would be greatly recieved. Thanks Chelsea-Marie x

Yesterday (Saturday) was an amazing day. I woke up at 3:30 AM... met someone at the church to drop off my car, hopped in theirs, and began the 2 1/2 hour trip to the temple on the other side of the island. He was my escort for my first time, and it was great having that time to learn a little more about him and prepare myself for what was going to happen. Of course I won't go into detail on any of this, but it was seriously one of the most spiritually edifying experiences of my life. I wish they had initiatory sessions as often as they do endowment sessions... I was only able to do that once (for myself) and I can't wait to go again as proxy for one who passed on. In preparation for that day, a lot of people were telling me things like "Don't bother trying to remember anything because it's so confusing the first time around..." or saying that I might think it's weird the first time, which really got me worried. To my relief, they were all wrong. Yes, it was a little more than I could memorize the first time around, but everyone was there to help and it was just great. I didn't get a lot of the symbolism when I first went, but today when I was sitting in church a few things came to me... and I understood the meaning behind them. After the first session, I was able to be proxy for a few people in a sealing, which was fantastic. I wish I could go back tomorrow and do it all again. After the sealing I was about to leave because my escort had to make the trip back home, but one of my friends showed up in the men's dressing room and said he was going into a session and that he would take me home, so I went again! All I can say is "wow". I've just been thinking about it ever since then. I leave on my mission in less than 3 weeks (August 15th) but hopefully I'll have a few more chances to go while I'm still here. I can't wait to go every week when I get to the MTC... that sounds fantastic. Another thing people were wrong about.... garments are not uncomfortable. They're actually more comfortable than my usual boxers, so it's not a bad change at all (except it's pretty humid here and wearing the undershirt makes things pretty warm... not that I'll ever be taking it off for that reason, though). Just thought I'd share my experience.......................... and man, the celestial room is so..... pure. It's so unusual having my mind that clear. Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend. I'll remember mine for the rest of my life.

I have a BF who is a non member and we have been dating for almost 8 months. I am 18 and used to have a very very strong testimony in the church. I miss having it in my life. I am scheduled to see my bishop for an annual interview on sunday but I don't know if I want to tell him about my bf and I. The two of us haven't had sex... but we kiss on top of each other and stuff. I tell my BF that i have mixed feelings about it becuase of the church, but he tell me to think for myself.. when should I tell my bishop? my boyfriend is leaving in a month for college i think it would be easier if i just waited until after he leaves. do you think i'm worthy to go to the temple? my friends are coming to pick me up right now....