How long is the endowment presentation at your local temple?

[Sunday21]

6 hours ago, Vort said:

So, to be clear: You have begun an endowment session at, say, 7:00, and been in the celestial room by 7:45. Is this correct?

Not for years! Not in the last 10 years and ...probably only in Toronto...Hmm. 

Edited May 12, 2018 by Sunday21

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

Not for years! Not in the last 10 years and ...probably only in Toronto...Hmm. 

Hey, Sunday.  I forgot to report back.  I timed everything that I could.

1) The film is pretty near 50 minutes on the dot.  It is broken up into pieces.  But the total time is about 50 min.

2) I tried timing the audio only portions, but there were too many pieces and I didn't have paper to write on.  I'd estimate it totaling about 25  to 35 minutes.

3) There is the manual part where there is not audio or video.  This is the part that varies the most. 

All told, if you only had the witness couple and no one else, you might get through a session in under 90 minutes.  But barely.  This is with the latest film.  I understand they added a couple minutes to the Old-new film.  And the Old-new film added 5 to 10 minutes to the ones put out in the early 90s.  It was those films that were running with a session containing the witness couple and about 5 others that I got out in what I estimated to be about 1:15 to 1:20.  I'm thinking that might have been generously low.

An idea I had was that there could be what would be known as "rapid fire" sessions.  This would be one where there were no instructions given.  It would be required that this would consist of attendees who were veteran temple attendees only.  So, no reminders of what to do.  Just "go do it".  But it may be that those who aren't as physically agile might have problems doing things fast.  This would eliminate 90% of the audio which is the largest chunk of time.  There are parts of the audio that are more than simple instructions.  They are there for a reason.  So, the temple president, or possibly the apostles, would need to approve such a program.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Guest

[Sunday21]

@Carborendum Thank you so much! I can see that we are unlikely to get a shorter endowment session. We need to retire and devote our time to attending endowment sessions! I wonder if we could seek out retired people for conversion? I live not far from St Thomas Ontario. When St Thomas needed tradespeople to build their new chapel they dug out the yellow pages and set out to convert to fulfill their needs. We need retired temple goers!

[BJ64]

In Idaho Falls it is common to have  80 or more people in the session and there can be a very long wait to move into the celestial room. 

[Vort]

45 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

An idea I had was that there could be what would be known as "rapid fire" sessions.  This would be one where there were no instructions given.  It would be required that this would consist of attendees who were veteran temple attendees only.  So, no reminders of what to do.  Just "go do it".  But it may be that those who aren't as physically agile might have problems doing things fast.  This would eliminate 90% of the audio which is the largest chunk of time.  There are parts of the audio that are more than simple instructions.  They are there for a reason.  So, the temple president, or possibly the apostles, would need to approve such a program.

I wonder whether the instructions are as much for the individual actually receiving the endowment as for the proxy.

[Sunday21]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

I wonder whether the instructions are as much for the individual actually receiving the endowment as for the proxy.

Sigh you clearly do not have a couple of hundred ancestors to process!

[zil]

10 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Sigh you clearly do not have a couple of hundred ancestors to process!

No, but he has thousands of ancestors to whom he might offer the ordinances of salvation, as we all do.

I appreciate your urgency, @Sunday21, but don't let your urgency cause you to have hard feelings for the ordinances which manifest the power of God.  All, absolutely all, including those whose work you and your temple district never get to, will have their ordinances done by proxy.  If they have to wait for some reason other than your personal selfishness (which is clearly not the case), then, to quote the Lord, "it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful".  I am confident they won't hold it against you, and however anxious they may be, ultimately, nothing they are worthy of will be denied them.

Don't forget that the opportunity to experience temple ordinances over and over is a blessing for us as well, to allow us to learn and increase in faith - don't (wish to) breeze through these as if it were just a mechanical necessity - I doubt the Lord would be terribly pleased with that attitude.  He is the one who revealed these ordinances and guides their details, including their length - don't resent his work for its length - he knows what he's doing and can do his own work - trust that.

[Vort]

6 hours ago, zil said:

No, but he has thousands of ancestors to whom he might offer the ordinances of salvation, as we all do.

I appreciate your urgency, @Sunday21, but don't let your urgency cause you to have hard feelings for the ordinances which manifest the power of God.  All, absolutely all, including those whose work you and your temple district never get to, will have their ordinances done by proxy.  If they have to wait for some reason other than your personal selfishness (which is clearly not the case), then, to quote the Lord, "it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful".  I am confident they won't hold it against you, and however anxious they may be, ultimately, nothing they are worthy of will be denied them.

Don't forget that the opportunity to experience temple ordinances over and over is a blessing for us as well, to allow us to learn and increase in faith - don't (wish to) breeze through these as if it were just a mechanical necessity - I doubt the Lord would be terribly pleased with that attitude.  He is the one who revealed these ordinances and guides their details, including their length - don't resent his work for its length - he knows what he's doing and can do his own work - trust that.

Amen. I think too many of us don't have an inkling of what a blessing we have been given by the assignment to do proxy temple work.

[BJ64]

I think that while the proxy session is good for our learning and remembering, it is not presented for our benefit but for the dead. You go to the temple to learn and covenant. We can covenant by proxy but we can’t learn by proxy. Each person must learn for themself. Therefore I believe that the spirits of those who are prepared to receive their endowment are present to learn what they need to learn to enter into Gods presence. Thinking this way helps me to understand the significance of what we are doing.