Elder Nick's letter to Aunt Jeanne's temple prep class!

Dear temple prep class of Alaska, This is Elder Nicholas Nephi William Schindler again and I am very pleased to be able to write to you again this year. I will actually be going to the temple tomorrow which I'm very excited about and whenever each of you are planning to visit the house of the Lord, it is always a privilege and it's always something very wonderful to prepare for. I'm excited for each of your journeys as you make progress to enter His home. All throughout my mission we talk to others a lot about baptism, helping them come on to Jesus Christ, and bringing others to the faith, but there was something that my mission president mentioned to us a while ago that hit me to the center. Our purpose as missionaries is not only to baptize others, although that is a very nice part of what we do. Our main objective is to get families into the temple. We are here to allow others to experience those wonderful covenants that they will someday make and I'm so glad that each of you are preparing to go to the temple and to be worthy of that privilege. The temple is incredibly special, the Holy Spirit is the one who resides in each of our hearts and our bodies because of this are temples. To physically be inside a temple is a different experience. It is the house of the Lord, it is where He resides and it is where his holy ordinances are performed. There you will be given power and strength from your heavenly father to overcome and to persevere through all of your many trials and this is a wonderful time to prepare to enter. Always strive to make your home be a place that feels like the temple. I have ventured into many homes on my mission that were not conducive to the spirit and were difficult to focus in. On other occasions when I entered the home of those who were willing, pure in thought, pure in deed, and we're loving, there was something majestic and simply overwhelming about being in their presence. I encourage each of you to be able to support and to be able to love your families enough to be able to have that same exact feeling whenever you come back home, that no matter how stormy the world around you may be, you will be protected and find true refuge in your Savior. May God be with you And keep on this wonderful journey and this iron rod. You have got this! Sincerely, Elder Schindler