Understanding...

What a month, we began teaching our English classes and Temple classes at the beginning of the month, which keeps us pretty busy planning and preparing lessons. This picture is missing a few other people that weren't able to attend this day.

One thing we have really learned is how to work together. Before we came out on our mission we felt like we were always together. We believe that is what a marriage is about, spending time together. Not just sharing children and a roof. Well...on a mission you spend a lot of time together, but it is more than just spending time. Let me set the stage, our apartment is smaller than our master bedroom at home.

So you can tell by just the apartment here we are together, very close. It includes our kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and closet. The bathroom is the only room with a door for privacy. Now don't take us wrong, we are not complaining only setting the stage... Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions we make and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys. It affects not only the two people involved, but also their families and particularly their children and their children’s children, down through the many generations. When we got married in the temple we covenanted to give our time, talents, and everything we have to build the kingdom of God. When we were married in the temple, we understood the importance of never discussing the temple outside the temple, not because the ceremonies were secret but because they were sacred.

They are kept confidential lest they be given to those who are unprepared” > President Hinckley has said, “I like the word duty, something sacred. The temple is the Lord’s classroom. [The temple] becomes a school of instruction in the sweet and sacred things of God”

Marriage is and should be a sacrament. The word sacrament is variously defined, but among Christian people it signifies a religious act or ceremony, solemnized by one having proper authority. It is a pledge, or solemn covenant, a spiritual sign or bond between the contracting parties themselves and between them and God.

In D&C 49:16 "Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation"

"Marriage is the foundry for social order, the fountain of virtue, and the foundation for eternal exaltation. Marriage has been divinely designated as an eternal and everlasting covenant. Marriage is sanctified when it is cherished and honored in holiness. That union is not merely between husband and wife; it embraces a partnership with God.” We both come from different backgrounds and going on a mission and being together 24/7, there were some personal freedoms that had to be relinquished.There are many adjustments, unselfish adjustments, that must be made. One comes to realize very soon that your spouse has weaknesses and so do you that may not have been previously revealed or discovered. Marriage is ordained of God. It is not merely a social custom. Without proper and successful marriage, one will never be exalted. Teaching Temple Preparation classes and helping others understand their marriage covenants has helped us learn and grow together. It has been a learning process and we continue to learn.

As we are told in the scriptures

they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation

We are beginning to understand what that scripture means. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Chuukese people. We have been blessed with all of the spiritual resources we need to learn about, to teach, to strengthen, and to defend righteous marriage and that indeed we can live together in happiness as husbands and wives and families in eternity. We have the fulness of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. We have the Holy Ghost and revelation. We have saving ordinances, covenants, and temples. We have priesthood and prophets. We have the holy scriptures and the power of the word of God. And we have The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We know that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, lives and helps us daily here on our mission. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The class will attend the Manila Philippines temple in the fall