Sunday, September 3, 2017

 Our first view of the temple on Monday evening

 

and our last on Sunday morning

We are very excited to share all the amazing experiences of our trip to the Panama Temple. 

Monday morning, August 28th, we gathered at the Norman Manley Airport in Kingston with 33 other Jamaican saints from around the island to begin our fantastic week. We can't begin to express the joy we felt all week as we shared this time with these wonderful, faithful Latter-day Saints. 

President Medley and his sweet wife, Sheryl, were the main organizers of this temple trip as well as many other trips in years past. President Medley serves in the Kingston Stake Presidency, and Sister Medley, along with supporting her husband in his demanding calling, serves diligently as a Family History Specialist for the stake; she also helps members all over the island. She spent countless hours helping people use the Church's website, familysearch.org. 

Doing Family History research can be quite a challenge for many Jamaicans because culturally the family structure is often very complicated. Many people do not have the close family connections to allow them to gather the information they need. Sister Medley shared with me some of the miracles she has witnessed over the years, and I testify of the truthfulness of these occurring. I have seen them in my own Family History and Temple work over the past 41 years. 

The Mission of Elijah

“Many of your ancestors died never having the chance to accept the gospel and to receive the blessings and promises you have received. The Lord is fair and He is loving. And so He prepared for you and me a way for us to have the desire of our hearts to offer to our ancestors all the blessings He has offered us.

“The plan to make that possible has been in place from the beginning. The Lord gave promises to His children long ago. …

“'Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

“'And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse' (Malachi 4:5-6).”

—Henry B. Eyring, “Hearts Bound Together,” Ensign, May 2005

President (Elder) and Sister Brown - Member Leader Support (MLS) Missionaries

President Brown serves as a counselor in the Mission Presidency, and Sister Brown serves as a counselor in the Mandeville District Relief Society Presidency. Along with their busy callings in these positions, they also train instructors of the Temple Preparation classes all over the island and teach and train members and leaders in the doctrines and procedures in the Church. We will be sad to see them leave when they finish their mission in early December. 

This is the Patron Housing. Visitors coming from long distances 
to attend the temple can stay here for a nominal fee. 

The Temple Presidency and other Senior Missionaries' apartments are also in this building plus a few offices, a large meeting room, and the LDS Distribution Center.

This beautiful facility is as close as one can get to sleeping inside the temple. Just like in the temple, everything is of excellent workmanship and numerous paintings of the Savior and His life adorn the corridors. There is a reverence here unlike any place else we've ever been outside of the temple. 

 President Medley addresses the group in the large dining room.

  

We celebrated 2 birthdays during the week - 

Elder Brown and one of the young Jamaican boys

 

Our amazing cook of the 3 yummy meals each day such as this plate of a

pork chop, stewed eggplant, boiled plantain, and potato salad

View of the lush countryside surrounding the temple

From the Panama City Temple Dedicatory Prayer August 10, 2008, "The Plan of Salvation, taught in the temple with simplicity yet power, will be as a never-failing beacon of divine light to guide our footsteps and keep them constantly on the pathway to eternal life.

As we do work in this temple for those who have gone beyond, we are reminded of the inspired counsel of President Joseph F. Smith, who declared: 'Through our efforts in their behalf, their chains of bondage will fall from them, and the darkness surrounding them will clear away, that light may shine upon them; and they shall hear in the spirit world of the work that has been done for them by their children here, and will rejoice.'"

Priesthood Power

Happy Eternal Families

 

President and Sister Wingo

 President and Sister Bigelow

The Medleys and the Bigelows

Buddy had the privilege of being this young man's escort

Our new dear friend, Tracy, and the Browns

The four of us had the extraordinary honor of attending this beautiful lady every day in the temple. She loved the temple and just couldn't get enough of serving within its walls. 

Tracy is absolutely amazing, and we are better from being in her presence. This was Tracy's first time to the temple. She was baptized when she was nine and is a very strong member. She was stricken with a rare nerve condition about 8 years ago which left her blind and affected by paralysis in all four limbs. She was told she would never walk again. Since then, she has regained most of the feeling in her arms and legs and can walk short distances. She is still blind and has very sensitive parts of her body so that even a light touch can be painful and having any clothing next to her skin in these places causes discomfort, especially on her left arm. The Temple Presidency and Matrons suggested she wear short sleeves inside the temple. They were so accommodating which to me is the Lord's way. The Lord wants all of His daughters to receive the blessings of the temple.

Unfortunately, many people including some Church members are not very willing to interact with Tracy. She and I discussed the issue of some people often just not knowing what to do or how to react. Many Jamaicans have pretty out-dated attitudes toward any type of disability. We hope this trip and the interaction she had with other sisters will change some of that. 

Tracy has a Bachelor's Degree in life science, Master's Degree in some field having to do with agriculture I can't remember exactly what it's called, and was working as a agro-physicist in a lab and on her PHD before she became blind. She is so interesting to talk with. She desires to become much more involved in advocacy for the blind here in Jamaican. We know she has the faith and conviction to do just about anything she sets her mind on. 

   

One evening, I went walking around the complex as I was waiting for Buddy to come out of the temple. You can see the density of the surrounding area. It was a beautiful evening, but I decided I didn't want to be out there by myself much longer; it was getting dark quickly. I heard all kinds of animal sounds - Yikes! We don't have those sounds in Jamaica!

 Meetinghouse in the Temple Complex

Here are a few pictures of some of us holding completed temple ordinance cards. We're anxious to find out the total number of ordinances performed. The Medleys plan to compile a memory book with all the pictures and copies of our personal testimonies. That will be a treasure. 

 

Since the temple closed on Saturday afternoon, we took the Browns, Medleys, and Tracy to see the Panama Canal. This is definitely something we had always wanted to see, and we were not disappointed. We watched three large ships make their way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

We were excited to see this little group of capybara (also called chiguire) in a grassy area by the parking lot at the canal. We had seen pictures Collin took of these unusual animals on his visits to the zoo during his mission in Venezuela. They are the largest living rodent in the world.

 

Sorry this is so blurry

 Panama City 

Allbrook Mall carousel

We also took a quick walk through one of the gigantic malls in the city. We were surprised by how cosmopolitan the city is; I guess we were expecting it to be more like Kingston. Elder Brown was quite a happy man when we bought him a box of Dunkin Donuts - something he has talked about doing first thing when they get back to the U.S. Now the wait won't seem quite so long. 

We had a very special testimony meeting the last evening before dinner. Testimonies abounded of personal spiritual growth, renewed commitment, gratitude, love for family and the new eternal friendships.

Much too soon, it was time to leave this beautiful place of peace and join in the hustle bustle of an airport. We flew out of Panama City and arrived in Montego Bay about 11:30 AM on Sunday morning. We said our good-byes and loaded into two chartered buses. One bus took everyone who lives on the western side of the island, and the other took those going to the Kingston area.

We will forever treasure the new friendships created on this trip. As sons and daughters of God who have shared this wonderful experience, I hope we will always remember the special feelings we had and will continue to have as the blessings of the temple touch our lives. I pray we will be covenant-keeping people evermore. 

The LDS Young Women Theme states, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us, and we love Him. We will 'Stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places' (Mosiah 18:9) as we strive to live the Young Women Values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

We believe as we come to accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."

Buddy's thoughts:

This week has been an incredible experience for us, and Debbie has captured the essence of it in her usual expert fashion. We awoke on Sunday to the 41st anniversary of our baptism and confirmation into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As I pondered the years that have passed since then, I have been filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to a loving Heavenly Father who loved/loves us enough to provide the way to return to His presence and has the patience to let us come to know the way for ourselves. 

This intense week-long temple experience has been a spiritual boost and has enabled me to love our Father, our Savior, and Debbie to a greater degree than before. I am grateful for my membership in the Church and for the way it has shaped my life and the lives of our family. I love being a Husband, Father, and Grandfather. I love being a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary in His service. I testify that His gospel and His church have been restored to the earth and are the only hope for a troubled world. 

With all our love, until next week........