Elder Neil L. Andersen on the spiritual haven of the temple

Elder Neil L. Andersen (1951- ) served as a Seventy beginning in 1993, and was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 2009.

"The Lord has given you another way to stand firm, a spiritual gift more powerful than the whirlwinds of the adversary! He said, 'Stand... in holy places, and be not moved' (D&C 87:8). 

"When I was a teenager, there were only 13 temples in the Church. Now there are 142. Eighty-five percent of Church members live within 200 miles (320 km) of a temple. The Lord has given your generation greater access to His holy temples than any other generation in the history of the world. 

"Have you ever stood in the temple, dressed in white, waiting to do baptisms? How did you feel? There is a tangible feeling of holiness in the temple. The peace of the Savior subdues the swirling whirlwinds of the world. 

"The way you feel in the temple is a pattern for how you want to feel in your life." 

- Neil L. Andersen, "Spiritual Whirlwinds," General Conference April 2014
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I always appreciate the reminders and suggestions offered by leaders about the temples. The remarkable expansion of their availability in our generation should be a clear message to us of their importance to our lives. I remember as a youth thinking that I would love to visit all the temples some day — a goal that was attainable when there were so few. But now I recognize that a more practical and beneficial goal is just to make frequent visits to the ones that are close by.

Elder Andersen points out one of the important reasons we should go to the temple. The patterns we discover there truly can make a difference in our daily lives.

As we think about "standing firm" in the midst of the challenges of our time, we should be grateful for any help we can find! Standing in holy places is perhaps one of the very most important things we can do. And we learn in the temples how to conduct our lives in the world.

(Compilation and commentary by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, 2021)
February 21, 2015