Temple Bound
God's children are searching in greater numbers for answers and hoping for miracles as they look to Jesus Christ for relief. On 'Temple Bound,' hosted by Will Humphreys, explore how temples offer not just solace but also powerful tools for navigating these turbulent times through faith in Jesus Christ.
Tune in every Monday to hear Will Humphreys engage with guests who bring inspiring stories, profound teachings, and insights into accessing divine guidance through temple service.
Each episode promises to enrich your understanding and strengthen your connection to the Savior in unique and transformative ways.
Whether you're seeking answers, yearning for peace, or in need of a miracle, 'Temple Bound' is your weekly spiritual refuge, helping you anchor your soul to the Savior. Join us on this sacred journey to deepen your faith and discover the blessings of temple worship.
Temple Bound
Living a Temple-Centered Life with Kyle Black
Does a temple recommend just a pass to enter sacred spaces, or does it reflect something much deeper? In this episode, Kyle Black uncovers the true significance of being "recommended to the Lord", not as a measure of perfection, but as a commitment to striving, repenting, and drawing closer to Jesus Christ.
Kyle Black shares powerful insights on the following:
- Temple worthiness, faith, and the lifelong journey of striving toward Christ.
- How the temple transforms lives, providing strength in times of trial and opening the gates of heaven for individuals and families alike.
- The power of consistent temple worship
- Overcoming doubt and shame, and preparing for the temple even after years away.
He breaks down the misconceptions surrounding temple recommends, emphasizing that they are not just permissions, but sacred reflections of our commitment to the Savior.
Whether you're preparing for your first recommend or seeking to renew your spiritual dedication, this episode will inspire you to make the temple a central part of your journey.
Hello and welcome to Temple Bound. My name is Will Humphreys. Our guest today is a lifelong friend of mine by the name of Kyle Black. Kyle is one of my favorite human beings on the planet, but the thing I would want you to know is that as he's finishing his time as bishop, he's had a lot of time to spend focusing on this concept of being recommended to the Lord. We're talking about the temple interview but, more importantly, the power of what that interview looks like and how it helps prepare us for the temple.
Speaker 1:I had never considered before this episode of the sacred opportunity that it is to actually interview for my temple recommend and I just thought it was like a necessary step. But he even answers questions I've never thought of before, like what does a bishop do when it's time for them to renew their recommend? So his answers and the way he approaches this through this talk that was given years ago called recommended to the Lord, is going to uplift you and give you some hope and understanding around something as seemingly small as just going through the interview process. Enjoy the show, kyle. Thank you the interview process. Enjoy the show, kyle. Thank you so much for being on the show. I am so excited to talk about this particular talk. So first of all, could you introduce the talk and why you picked it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the talk was given by Elder Ronald A Rasband in October of 2020. It's called Recommended to the Lord. So this talk the reason I picked it is because it came out at a very interesting time in my life. So in 2020, obviously was craziness. I was serving at that time as in the bishopric, I was the second counselor in the bishopric, I was a second counselor in the bishopric and so during the course of that time, obviously we had changes in church and we were doing a lot of church virtually during the course of 2020. And this talk came out and Elder Rasband, you know, talked about the temple and talked about hope of being able to return to the temple in a normal fashion in the future. Fast forward about five months. I got called as the bishop During COVID. You were called as bishop At the tail end of COVID.
Speaker 2:Yes, so March of 2021 was when I got called as the bishop, got it Okay and so, but during that time I actually looked back on some previous notes and stuff in preparation for this.
Speaker 2:During that time, we still were doing variations of church, like kind of sacrament meeting only we hadn't gone back to Sunday school yet all those types of things and the temples were slowly starting to reopen, and so I'm just trying to get my footing as a new bishop Bishop Um, and I was very strongly inspired in that by this talk of like, how do I help my members?
Speaker 2:During this time and this phrase recommended to the Lord was just hit very strongly for me Like, I need to help, we need, I need to help our members focus on the temple and to have active temple recommends and to point themselves to the temple so that when we can start going back to the temple, they're ready, right, um and so um, throughout the course of those first couple of months as the bishop um, that was the, the invitation that I extended I looked back again on notes and, like a week after I became bishop, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting and this was the talk that I referenced Wow, and I invited the members be recommended to the Lord, and I had really cool experiences during the course of the next couple of months where members had come to me and said, hey, I don't have an active recommend right now, but I've had one in the past and I want to have one now, based off of Elder Aspen's talk and your invitation, and so that was very special.
Speaker 2:And then just over the course of the last four years being bishop, obviously I've done hundreds of temple recommend interviews, and so this phrase hits very strongly for me that you know we need to be recommended to the Lord, to show our commitment to him, but also to receive those blessings of being recommended to the Lord.
Speaker 1:You know, I love everything that you said and I love it. As you were talking, Kyle, I had this like image of how every step in this journey of getting to the temple is super sacred. Step in this journey of getting to the temple is super sacred, Even the interview, especially the interview where you sit down with a priest you know a judge in Israel and we have these discussions and, just like everything else, I think we get confused on the depth of what really matters in these different steps. Like you know, it's not like this piece of paper is just a hall pass, you know, um, it's. It's about the representation of what it means, as elder rasman talks about, of being recommended to the lord, and I loved the story in the talk of where he got.
Speaker 1:he first heard that was his father-in-law, who he loved was dying and he went to go give him to visit him and his bishop was leaving and he's like, oh, what a great bishop, what a great bishop, you have to come visit you on your deathbed, kind of thing. And he's like, no, I wanted a temple recommend interview. I wanted to die knowing that I was recommended to the Lord. Yeah, and so it gives that new meaning to you. Um, why was that so significant to you, that phrase recommended to the Lord, as you were, you know, in a as a, as a bishop over a stewardship of people who some were just like too scared to go. So what, what's the significance to you about being recommended to the Lord? Um?
Speaker 2:I think, looking back on certain parts of my life, um, times where I struggled with, with my testimony or just with my commitment to living the gospel, yeah, I found that during those times when I made an effort to go to the temple, that going to the temple gave me the strength to move past those different struggles that I had.
Speaker 2:Um, and so I've always, I've always, felt a connection to the temple. I mean growing up, mean growing up in West Phoenix, the closest temple was Mesa, so you know, that's an hour away, give or take, depending on traffic, and so as a youth, we're going to the temple two or three times a year, right, and that's a lot. Yeah, the culture back 20 years ago, back in my day, so the culture 20 years ago wasn't what the youth do now, where they just go to the temple by themselves, like the youth of the church today, are amazing. But that wasn't how it was back then. You know, we just didn't drive to the 45 minutes to go to the temple by ourselves. It just that's just not what, at least that's not what I did. And so the I guess you could say because of that, my testimony of consistency of the temple wasn't very strong back then, and then I went on my mission to Pennsylvania. There was no temple in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2:So, I didn't go to the temple for two years in Pennsylvania. Wow, then I get home and I get home from my mission, I go to BYU, I'm in, I'm just drowning in school and I have a hard time going to the temple because of that, even though the temple was five minutes away.
Speaker 1:Right, and but you had been trained your whole life. And then Michelle Bentley talks about this. One of her episodes was like, culturally speaking, she lived in Mesa and she went once a year Right, like it's just culturally. There wasn't this thing about go as much as you can, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then my senior year of college at BYU, I, yeah, yeah. And then my senior year of college at BYU, I I had um one class on Fridays, yeah. So I was done with school at 9am on Fridays and so I decided, hey, I'm going to go to the temple. And so I just I was likely prompted right, because the Lord is great and does that Um, and that was when I really consistently started going to the temple. I went every Friday for that entire semester and that's really consistently started going to the temple. I went every Friday for that entire semester.
Speaker 2:And that's really where my perspective of the temple changed. Is it helped me um, grow during that time in my life where I needed to grow Um, and I think that prepared me. Shortly thereafter I met my wife and, and we got married and all these things. So I I think those experiences in my life prepared me for meeting my wife and getting ready to get married and making more sacred covenants with her and with the Lord. And then, ever since then, it's been more of a consistent effort to to go to the temple. And today my wife and I, even despite our busy schedules, we both made an effort to go to the temple at least once a month and we usually have to go by ourselves and then the other ones at home watching the kids. Yeah, you have for reference, you've got little kids.
Speaker 2:Little kids three little kids, seven, five and two at this point.
Speaker 1:I want to do a separate episode.
Speaker 1:This is true. I want to do a whole episode on going. My wife and I were talking about this two days ago. Do you remember how, when we had little kids, how hard it was to go to the temple, because it's not just a matter of getting a babysitter for a couple of hours. You're out of communication for a couple of hours, in addition to being gone for three to four hours? Heather tells the story of do you remember that one time we were going to the temple and we're like man, wouldn't it be nice just to go to dinner? And so we went to dinner instead, like it was just cause it's so tired. When you have little kids, it's a totally different journey trying to get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, it is. I mean it's it's definitely sacrifices, and right now, that sacrifice is we go on our own and we go either on a Tuesday or Thursday morning, because I go to work later on those days and I go to the 6am session. She can usually go to the 7 am session because it just works out better for her schedule and I don't have to leave for work until later so she can do it, and so that's just what we have to do right now, but regardless, I mean that's providing great strength for us to be able to go once a month, even if it's on our own.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. So when you talked about so the temple is something you developed this love and passion for and so, as a bishop, when people aren't able to access that, it feels to me that you were really telling them hey, listen, you're recommended to the Lord, still counts in like the most important of ways, even if you can't attend the temple. And so, yeah, you said that there were some really cool experiences or you had some members of your church really talk about how valuable that was for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and you know there were.
Speaker 2:There were some that hadn't been to the temple for um a couple of years, and you know just that really resonated with them that they needed to get back to the temple, and it's been.
Speaker 2:You know, I've had a few experiences like that as over the course of being the bishop, and it's been. You know, I've had a few experiences like that over the course of being the bishop, and it's been really cool to just have those interviews and have them sit in front of me as a representative of Jesus Christ, because that's what bishops are we are representatives of Jesus Christ, we are instruments in his hands, and so I've been really grateful to have those experiences and just being able to say, hey, let's talk about this, how can we work together to get back to the temple? And really the doctrine behind that is we're trying to become more like the Savior and so how can I help you access the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ so that you are striving to do your best to keep the commandments and that you are ready and worthy to go back to the temple? And, um, it's been a great experience to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, when you're talking, this reminds me of a quote cause you were talking about your interviews, and it says Elder Rasman says in your interview, you have the opportunity to search your soul, about your personal faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement.
Speaker 1:You have the blessing to express your testimony of the restored gospel, your willingness to sustain those who the Lord has called to lead his church, your faith in the doctrine of the gospel, your fulfillment of family responsibilities, your qualities of being honest, chaste, fidelity, obedience, observance to the word of wisdom, the law of tithing, these are the bedrock principles of a life devoted to Jesus Christ. And so, when you were talking about how you were able to give hundreds, or have given hundreds of these interviews, at how special that is and your job is to help, be representative of Christ, to help them come, yeah, even when they couldn't go to the temple, just the interview itself is an act of faith and discipleship. And so it's. Really. I never thought about that until you just said that, that power of like. I never understood it that way until you just described that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's a very good point that you know. Even if at that point in time they may not be fully ready, they're showing that faith, they're showing that, that desire to want to be better. Um, and so then we make a plan, um, of what, what I can do to help that person access the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ to make necessary changes in their life to align their will, to align their, their will, with God's will, to receive that power and to be ready to go to the temple.
Speaker 1:What was that? Like you know, you're on your, you're almost on your fifth year right Of being a Bishop. So this like thing, this whole journey, is starting to come to an end. We're called by revelation released by timing.
Speaker 2:And so you're coming to that fifth year.
Speaker 1:What, um, what's. If you could briefly summarize what that experience has been like for you personally, to be the person representing Christ in those interviews, how would you describe that? Yeah, A very like easy answer. You know, obviously those are that's a soft question.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Um, uh man, how do I describe that? Um, amazing, Like to just be that tool, that instrument in the Lord's hands to extend the invitation for them to come closer to the Savior and to see someone change and grow and repent and to just help them do that. It's very powerful and it's very testimony building. And then to see the joy that they have when they're able to go back to the temple is is incredible.
Speaker 1:We take it for granted, if, if we're a, if we've been able to go for a while. I'm sure like I'm sure you've seen what it's like for people who can't, and then to see the joy in their faces when they can go, yeah, wow. I had another guest recently say he was recently released as a Bishop and he said I wish everybody would have that experience, and he talked specifically about the repentance process. You know, this phrase being recommended to the Lord is sacred, right and it's. I don't. But I don't get the sense that that phrase is like you're recommended and you're not. You know it's, it's just I think it's. I don't know if that makes sense, but when I hear that phrase recommended to the Lord, I don't feel like it's this, this judgmental thing about like well, you're, you are, but you're not, you know, like how, I don't know, does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does, and I think it goes back to what you were talking about earlier with that faith and desire and being recommended to the Lord with that. I love that a lot of the recommended interview questions have this one particular word in the question, and that word is strive. Are you striving to keep this commandment?
Speaker 2:um, because in my experience, especially as a youth, my, my thought was I have to be perfect to go to the temple yeah I, I have to be sinless to go to the temple and I I've learned through experience and through understanding more about the Savior and about his atonement. Is that that's not true? What is that word? We have to be striving to do our best.
Speaker 1:To give a definition striving I just looked it up says striving is to make a great effort to achieve. Yeah, A great effort.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so when someone comes to me and I consider this for myself too am I striving to do my best to keep these commandments? And when we're truly striving, and when we're making a great effort to change because that's what repentance is, it's change we're making honest change. And when we're striving to do that, to live the commandments, and when we have that honest testimony that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, that we truly believe that the gospel has been restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith and that there's a prophet on the earth today, and then we're striving to keep these commandments that have been established through their restoration. When we're honestly answering all those questions, then, yes, we're recommended to the Lord, then, yes, we're recommended to the Lord, and that's where we're, that's where we receive the true power of the temple and and of the covenants that we make in the temple.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate you bringing up the word strive. I had this really powerful feeling when you were talking, kyle, about people listening to this and as you're listening to this, listeners I just want to point out that, like, if you heard any of this, if you're one of the few people that are, are one of the many people who may have heard this and gone, yeah, I could be doing so much more and and it goes beyond like that, like motivational good guilt that we feel of wanting to do more it goes into shame.
Speaker 1:I just want to point out that you're listening to a podcast right now about the, to a podcast right now about the temple. Who that's, I think? I think these little things are not little. This is a striving effort. It's an. It's an effort to do what we can. People as they listen to this are driving to work or, like you know, working out or whatever, and I I just think I always think about that. Whoever is listening to this, I always feel this great sacred responsibility to acknowledge I feel like they're the third person in the room.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just acknowledge that, like, these are the people who are striving, these are the people who maybe aren't even qualified for a temple recommend yet, but they're striving and so they're getting there. There's this thing about being recommended. There's this thing about getting recommended and it doesn't matter because the state, as long as we're in our best effort to try to get there, our best effort to try to get there, the Savior's atonement is enough, and it's not because we're enough, it's because he is. I just I don't know. I just I'm very conscious, constantly, kyle, of the adversary's major attack on us to make us less than and to minimize these powerful efforts and make them seem like they're just like not enough. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that, that, um, those thoughts and those feelings of doubt and of shame, those come from the adversary and they're they're trying to get us to to not make those changes. But when we, when we're able to show that faith, and if we've made covenants in the temple that's one of the covenants and the ordinance. The law of the gospel of Jesusants in the temple, that's one of the covenants and the ordinances, the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the temple that we, that we commit to living. Part of that is showing faith and showing a willingness to repent and to change. And when we're able to push out those negative thoughts and when we're able to show that faith and that willingness to change, and then when we act to change, that's where we receive that true power from the savior.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that power. That power is what helps us change.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, you know, just because I love this, this quote Elder Rasman says your temple recommend reflects a deep spiritual intent that you are striving there. It is the striving to live the laws of the Lord and he loves what and love what he loves humility, meekness, steadfastness, charity, courage, compassion is forgiveness and obedience, and you commit yourself to those standards when you sign your name on that sacred document. Never really thought of that document as sacred in and of itself, and I think I don't know has that. What do you think is sacred about the actual document itself that we're signing? What makes that sacred to you?
Speaker 2:Well, I think the sacredness comes in.
Speaker 2:I mean that signature, that you, as a member of the church, are signing that and saying, with that signature, I am committing myself to follow Jesus Christ and to keep his commandments.
Speaker 2:And then me, as the bishop or as a member of the bishopric, I am committing myself to follow Jesus Christ and to keep his commandments. And then me, as the bishop or as a member of the bishopric, I am also signing it Today. It's often signed digitally, but I'm still signing it, saying hey, I, as a representative of Jesus Christ, am confident that this member of the church is recommended to the Lord To follow the Savior and to make further covenants or to renew covenants that they've already made. And then the stake president or the stake member of the stake presidency is doing the same thing, saying, hey, this member of my stake, I am also a representative of Jesus Christ. And I'm saying this person is recommended to the Lord by a mouth of two or three witnesses. Shall every word be established. There's three people that are saying, hey, I am ready and willing to follow Jesus Christ and to go to the temple.
Speaker 1:Well, it's official, I'm never going to get my temple recommend ever again in the same way I. You know it's so funny Schedule these things like all right, the stake president's office is at the second Tuesday of every month. I got to run in there get it done. But I think I'm going to approach it completely differently as I think about the significance of the interview and the sacredness of the document that I'm putting my name on and it's not like signing anything else that I signed. There's probably nothing else I signed. That's more important than that, than maybe my marriage certificate. Yeah, do you know what I mean? Yeah, I never thought about that.
Speaker 2:Can I share a cool experience with you, please? So when I got called to be the bishop, I was being instructed by the stake president, and one of those things was what temple recommends, and I asked him this question.
Speaker 1:Well, what do I do when I have to get?
Speaker 2:my own temple recommend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you do? What's the answer? What?
Speaker 2:do you do? What's the answer? I don't know. So what he told me was you close your office door and you sit there by yourself and you say a prayer and you read every one of the Temple Reckon interview questions aloud to yourself, and then you sit there and you think about it and you answer it verbally.
Speaker 1:Wow, so what was that like for you?
Speaker 2:It's pretty special. It's really cool to just sit there by yourself and think about these questions and answer them honestly to yourself that yes, I have a testimony of these things and yes, I'm willing to strive to do my best to keep these commandments and continue to keep these covenants. And then I still go to the stake and meet with a member of the stake presidency so that they are recommending me too. But for me to be able to interview myself is pretty special. I guess. Do it one more time before I finish up as the bishop.
Speaker 1:Oh, man, yeah, what a special experience, because that mantle that you have and I think there's something. You have a unique perspective, as you're doing it for yourself in a way that no one else would have, because you've done it for others for so many times. How many hundreds of times have you had people not answer the question not correctly but need to work through something or need to talk to you about some concerns they have or doubts, or repent, or whatever it is, and so for you to be in that place of of like you are the same as anybody else, like I think there's something really special. I one of the greatest things that blows my mind about our faith is that it's run completely on volunteers. Like the only people who get paid get paid very little and they they've dedicated their whole lives at a very high level for their whole lives, whereas 90 something percent of the church is just run by volunteership.
Speaker 1:It's promoted by, uh, you know, 18 to 21 year olds, you know, who are out there growing up and confessing uh and learning it in real time, as they're teaching it, and yet it's it's not imploded Like I think the it's not even, not even that it's thriving, which it is is that this thing hasn't imploded in that way. It's such a beautiful reminder of of the only way this could function, as if the spirit of the Lord was running it. Yeah, if Jesus Christ was at the helm, it's the only way this could work, because for you to be volunteering your time in addition to I know how busy you are as a physical therapist, you know, and a leader at that Like it's just, uh, it's humbling, it's very humbling, and it reminds me of just how like we're all equals and we all need Jesus the same. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:What it? I mean it's amazing seeing the the the ins and outs of how award functions. Yeah, I mean it's amazing that award just as able to function on any given Sunday, because so many people are just offering their time and their talents and their efforts. They're living the law of consecration in their own, in their own way, to just make a word function on a Sunday, you know, totally so it's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:All the all of the different lessons, all the different, like you know materials. All the different lessons, all the different, like you know materials, all the different things that go into that, from operations to anything else. Um, I want to share this next quote from the talk. Is it okay if I keep jumping back to this? Okay, uh, he says your temple recommend opens the gates of heaven for you and others with rights and ordinances of eternal significance, including baptisms, endowments, marriages and ceilings. To be recommended to the Lord is to be reminded of what is expected of a covenant keeping Latter-day Saint.
Speaker 2:I love that. I think that's super special. I mean your temple, recommend your ability to go to the temple. Not only is it opening the gates of heaven for you, um, but it's opening the gates of heaven, the windows of heaven, for people on the other side of the veil, your ancestors, the gathering of Israel that President Nelson is talking about all the time we're in that and I talk about I talk with the youth about this all the time too that you, the youth of the church, are responsible largely and they're going to play a huge role in the gathering of Israel and preparing the world for the Savior's second coming. And so every time we go to the temple and every time that we are recommending ourselves or helping others be recommended to the Lord, we're helping thousands on the other side of the veil to prepare for the second coming as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think oftentimes you misunderstand how everything we do in the temple has such cascading, multiplying impacts across our lineage. You know, temples are oftentimes associated with mountaintops. Right, there's this thing about the mountain of the Lord. And you go back and there's Mount Sinai. There's where Moses received the Ten Commandments. And you go back and there's Mount Sinai. There's where Moses received the Ten Commandments. You get you know later there's mounts across the histories of Old Testament, new Testaments where we see where God appears. I think it's Mount Sinai, where Heavenly Father appears to Jesus and he has Moses and Elijah, I mean. And so for us to have this mountain in our world. And we oftentimes just go thinking, yep, I might help this relative that I'm'm helping go through, but they're a gateway into generations of others and I think if we understood that when we free, when we help free and act as saviors on mount zion and free those individuals in our family line, all we're freeing them to do is to act as guardian angels over our seed, in our kids.
Speaker 1:I think I honestly feel like I approached the temple from a very selfish perspective once I understood that, because I need all the help I can with my kids and there's so many things. My personal stories involve miracles specifically around my boys in a very real way, which is what started this podcast is I was needing a miracle for one of my sons and I got it. And once I heard that it was like everyone's got to understand this, because when I was there working for my ancestors on the other side of the veil, I was freeing them up to be angels to serve and support my kids and they need every angel they can get. And so, yes, I free them up and I'm sure on the other side we'll understand that multiplying impacts of cascading blessings. But for me, I think that temple recommend is a reminder, it's a, it's a key in a way that unlocks all this knowledge that is mine If I just, but if I'll just go, you know, and it's hard because you know I think church leaders are really big on making sure that they don't put guilt or shame on people for for hitting a certain like number of times per year to go, because even during this time frame, I don't know where it is in this talk, but Elder Rasmus talks about the fact that you unlock the blessings of the temple by just doing family history work, and I remember that I was in the stake presidency.
Speaker 1:I was in the stake presidency. No, I wasn't. I was the stake temple family history leader working at the stake presidency. No, I wasn't. I was the stake temple family history leader working with the stake presidency and we it was during COVID and I remember like, how do we unlock these blessings?
Speaker 1:And that talk came and it was like all right, let's just get people doing family history work while they can't go to the temple. So there's something about the work that the blessings aren't contained within the walls of that building that the temple recommend represents. Like we, by virtue of having that, I don't have to physically go into the temple walls to be involved in temple work. I don't have to physically go, and I'm not saying we shouldn't go, but I'm saying it's so much bigger than we think it is. We can do things for our family on this side of the veil right now on our phones. I could turn, you could turn off this podcast, wait till it's over. Turn off this podcast and then immediately go into family tree and just start looking for names of people and reserving names and getting their work done.
Speaker 1:And that unlocks these wonderful blessings. It's just that that little piece of paper, that contract that we sign, gives us permission and authority, because we're recommended to do these things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, an interesting thought came to mind as you said that, that we, we are strongly encouraged to have two things related to the temple with us at all times Our temple recommends and our garments that we wear that provide us with immense power and strength and protection. And when we have those two things with us, what great work we're able to do, that even that physical card can provide us with a reminder and with strength that, hey, we are special people, we are followers of Jesus Christ, that, hey, we are special people. We are followers of Jesus Christ. We have committed to do some pretty special things that are going to provide us with eternal blessings, but also, with our families in the eternities, with blessings. And when we have those things with us that can provide us with access to the power of the priesthood that comes through our covenants, we can do great work, missionary work and temple work and and ministering within our families and within our wards, and that's pretty special.
Speaker 1:It's pretty amazing. It's amazing what that little recommend does, and I love this whole discussion on being recommended to the Lord. Kyle, it's been such a fun topic, you know, going through this and, as as we're, as we're starting to wrap things up a little bit here. Um, one thing that I've been starting to do on the show that I'd like to do with you is I'd like you to think about, you know, one of the many things I want to do is create a living record for our families so that your kids and grandkids and great grandkids can have something to hold onto of their, their patriarch, you know, while he was younger. Um, what would you say to them about this thing called being recommended to the Lord?
Speaker 2:Um, well, I hope. I mean, my kids are still younger, you know seven, five and two, Um, and so they haven't gone to the temple yet. Um, but I hope that as they get older and as they start to prepare themselves to to be well, one, my oldest daughter, quinn, is going to get baptized this year and so you know, starting to prepare for that and to teach her about making covenants and what that means.
Speaker 2:But then, as they get older, as they enter the youth program and get ready to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, it's talking about this, about how are you going to live your life to be recommended to the Lord and how are you going to strive to do your best to follow Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:And how can I help you with that? You know, um, how can I help you, as as your father, to to have faith and to learn how to repent, because we all need to learn how to do that and to learn how to repent pointing towards the Savior and not having potentially guilt and shame that can weigh us down Right To access the true power of the atonement and then to go to the temple and to bring your own temple names To help assist our family history in the gathering of Israel. And how can I help you to gain strength and power from the temple, as you're in your adolescent ages, where the temple can provide you strength in this increasingly darkening world, so that you can continue to strengthen your own testimony as you prepare further to go on missions and to get married and to make sacred covenants in the temple, and so that would be. I guess my message of being recommended to the Lord is being recommended to the Lord. Prepares you now and for your entire life, to meet the Savior someday.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful, yeah, and kids slash, grandkids slash descendants of Kyle. I just want to say you've got an amazing, amazing human being in your lineage. I've known Kyle for a long time and he is one of the best people I've ever met. So, kyle, thank you so much for being on the show. I sure appreciate you being willing to be with me.
Speaker 2:Thank you for inviting me. It was awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. Thank you for listening to today's episode. We want to hear from you what additional show ideas would you like to hear about? What questions do you have in your heart that we can help answer? Please leave those in the show notes of today's episode or over on Instagram. Thank you for your cooperation in helping make this show the best it can be. Until next time.
