Destiny

Some times in our lives we experience things or go through trials questioning why. We wonder why we have to persevere through difficult circumstances. Sometimes we don’t realize until later in our lives why we experienced some of these things. I want to share a story from last night to illustrate my point.
Yesterday I started the day planning on going to a concert that night with either my wife or a friend of mine. This didn’t really work out. When that fell through I was disappointed. Later that day I got an email from the EQ president saying they needed one more person to help clean the Temple that night. I decided that since I now had no plans I would volunteer to go. After work I had to meet Monica in South Jordan to take the kids while she got a cavity filled. We then took the kids to eat and waited for her parents to get home so the kids and she could visit with them. I had my own car so I wanted to go home and take a nap before heading to the Temple at 9:30. This did not work out. Needless to say (then why are you saying it?), that after driving back to Kaysville to change and then BACKTRACKING to the Temple I was tired by the time I arrived at the Temple. I had already decided that even though we had plenty of people signed up to go and they would probably not miss my presence, I should still go.

As I sat in the waiting room and talked to two other brethren from my ward I mentioned to them that when they ask for volunteers to vacuum you just raise your hand with enthusiasm. Vacuuming always looks better to me than cleaning toilets!! So after our 15 minute long initiation speech from the janitorial supervisor we all went out into the hall. Lined up along the hall wall were about 15 of the blue church style vacuums. These were slightly different though. They were covered in a tan colored pleather type material. I walked over and stood next to one that looked like it had a fairly new cord that wouldn’t get all tangled up and such. Sure enough he asked people who wanted to vacuum to go stand by the vacuums, since I already had mine picked I just stayed where I was. A sister came over and took the 3 of us (the other two brethren from my ward and myself) over to the elevator. I told her she must have done something wrong to get stuck with the three of us. She laughed and said that we must have done something right to get stuck with her. We asked why and she said “well you get to clean the third floor.” This is where the Chapel and Endowment rooms and Celestial room are. One of us was assigned over to the area near the sealing rooms so I assume he had to vacuum all those rooms. I did not see him again till the end of the night. The other two of us were walked over to the Chapel. We each did half of the Chapel and then headed out opposite of each other cleaning the halls and then we each headed into an Endowment room. I got the whole endowment room cleaned and then our Sister supervisor came and explained that we needed to vacuum on the other side of the curtain and showed us the only spot where we could walk through it to get to the other side. I vacuumed the small area back there and earlier she had told me to just keep vacuuming if I finished that. She said I could do anywhere as long as it hadn’t already been done because by the end of the night (it was already 11:00 pm) it would all get cleaned anyway.

I cautiously proceeded through the door in the middle of the walkway and walked into the dark Celestial room. It looked different with all the lights turned off and empty. I was dressed in a white jumpsuit but still felt out of place in the room. I went over to the switch on the wall. It wasn’t like a normal light switch but more like a little control board with a few buttons all lined up in a column. I hit the top button. The lights in the room came on. Not like when you flip a switch but slowly like if you were slowly turning the old dimmer switch in the dining room at the old house. The room quietly filled with light. I looked around and found an outlet on the wall behind a plant. I plugged in my vacuum and got started. I worked hard to make the lines just right. The years and years of vacuuming the living room and getting it just right were now paying off. I pushed and pulled at just the right angles to get the triangles to look perfect. The large room as you know is filled with furniture so I had to slowly work my way around all that. After about 25-30 minutes all by myself in the room the Sister Supervisor walked through and told me it was looking great. I felt so proud. I continued to work alone and finish it all up. Right when I finished she stuck her head in and said to wind up the vacuum since it was now midnight and time for us to return home to our beds. I looked over my masterpiece. Not the room itself and all the decorations and beautiful furniture, those were already here and placed by people who have fashion sense and talents I couldn’t even begin to understand. No, my contribution was the clean perfectly lined carpet. As I was admiring the carpet the Sister Supervisor walked into the room with another Sister Supervisor and they proceeded to walk around and dust the vases and arrange the scriptures just right. As she walked back to me to take me back downstairs she noticed the tears in my eyes and commented on how the spirit can be strong here even as we clean. I quietly nodded my head and moved on. If only she could know that even though the spirit was nice in the temple the tears were not from that. The few tears dripped down my face because her and her partner had just WALKED THROUGH ALL MY HARD WORK AND PUT FOOT PRINTS EVERYWHERE!! Were they not raised in a home where once a room was vacuumed you NEVER entered it!! What was wrong with these women!? Where was their mother? WHERE!!?? We proceeded to the elevator where the two women told me that my Mother would be proud of the job I did in the Celestial room. I told them my Mother would NOT be proud of what they did in that room. Ok maybe I only thought it.

I will forever remember the opportunity I had to contribute ever so slightly to the beauty of the temple. I finally now understand why I had to go through years and years and years of training under the guide of the greatest vacuumer ever! I Love you Mom!

p.s. This story is based on a true story. Some parts of this story may be a bit exaggerated in order to get just the right effect. I think that is ok isn’t it? I mean all the other emails do it so why can’t I?