We took the kids last Saturday to go do some gardening at the Mesa Temple. We bought gardening gloves and were all excited to "put our shoulder to the wheel".....so we were put on grapefruit picking up and raking duty ...which was fun...and we got to hang with the Baileys. Stevan and Tor were busy getting the grapefruit from the tree and the kids were picking up the grapefruit and tasting it. I spent time raking leaves and after a while we were all done. According to the kids - the grapefruit was super sweet...go figure...they were all sitting around sucking on them :) So the groundskeeper gathered us all together for a closing song - I love to see the Temple - and a closing prayer - what a wonderful morning. Before we closed, he talked about the power of the Temple and encouraged the children to all go up and touch the Temple walls. Of course my kids wanted to do this, so while Stevan got all our junk together, I took Tristen and Clayton and we walked around the Temple so that they could touch the walls at the front of the Temple. While we were walking Clayton started in on his questions....the conversation went something like this.......So mom, this is Jesus' house right?...Yes Clayton this is our Heavenly Father's house...so is he inside right now? can we go inside and see if he is home?.....well Clayton, first off we are not dressed to go inside the Temple, we need to wear our very best church clothes, and second Jesus is not inside for us to meet with, he has lots of houses and he doesn't "live" here......ok - maybe he is taking a nap in one of the rooms and we could ask them if we can check real fast........Clayton, you cannot go inside until you are 12 - and you are not dressed to go inside - I am sure that Jesus is not sleeping in one of the rooms inside the Temple........so when do you think I can see him, I really want to talk with him and see him......Well when you pray you can talk to him Clayton, you will see him someday........Are you sure mom, you know that I will see him.........Yes Clayton - the day will come when you can see him.....So I need to have my church clothes on and we can come back when I am bigger and then I will get to see him?..........Yes Clayton :) I then told him about the upcoming Gila Valley Temple Open House and let him know that he would be able to go inside that Temple, to which he was pretty excited about - he added that he would make sure he had his church clothes on so they would let him inside. After that both he and Tristen walked up to the Temple and touched its walls - they were pretty excited. What a great moment we had, a teaching moment and a glimpse into the mind of a little guy who has perfect faith, believing that he can talk and see Jesus. On another note - he and Tristen are very unhappy that they cannot attend the Temple dedication...Ashlen "rubbed it in their face" and they were not pleased...Tristen was reassured that she would be old enough for the Gilbert Temple dedication...Hopefully there will be another one close by when Clayton is older :)
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