When Emily first started going to college at Brigham Young University in Provo, she and her roommates made a goal to attend the temple once a week if possible to do baptisms. The first time they went, they asked two of the young men that lived in their apartment complex to come along, too.
This group became great friends and temple buddies.
They quickly learned that many other students had the same idea as them. When they would go to the temple, there would be long lines of people. Sometimes it took about four hours out of their busy day in order to have a turn. They started attending earlier and earlier, often getting up and going at 5:00 in the morning in order to have a chance to provide service.
(Side note from me: First of all - WHO DOES THAT? Five a.m.??? Really? And who ever heard of a COLLEGE student being willing to do this? )
This continued week after week. Sometimes it was a larger group. Sometimes it was just a few of them. Some weeks they didn't make it at all. One time they drove to Salt Lake to serve.
When Emily's roommates changed for the summer, she continued the tradition with them.
Of their original group of five, four are already on missions and Emily will be leaving in July.
With all her weekly service in the Provo Temple, it did not surprise me at all that Emily chose to attend there as she prepared to make the next series of covenants with God.
Emily attended the temple on May 27, 2014. It was a special day. My sister Ashlee serves as a temple worker in the Raleigh Temple in North Carolina. She surprised the family by flying across the country to be with Emily on her special day.
As we drove to Provo to meet Emily and Ashlee, my heart was full. My current "job" in the church is working with the Young Women ages 12-18. Each Sunday we stand together and say the Young Women's theme:
Young Women Theme 
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” 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
It did not escape me that Emily preparing to attend the temple was the result of living this commitment she stated each week at church as well as the loving watch-care of many people who love and cherish her.
Her presence at the temple that day was a result of a series of choices.
When she was eight, she chose to be baptized. She chose to put herself on the path of a Christ-like life. She took on herself the name of God, and promised to always remember Jesus Christ.
When she was 12, she started to work in earnest to prepare herself for a life of dedicated service. She made choices to be honest. To be virtuous. To be kind. She set goals for herself and kept them. She continued making choices that kept her on the path she had committed to keep at baptism.
Now, at 19, she made the choice to attend the temple to make her next covenants with God. She is continuing down the path. She attended the temple to learn eternal truths... to make promises of obedience and sacrifice... to learn things that will help her as a missionary as she works to share the message of Christ which is designed to unite families together forever and help us all return to God.
It was an emotional day. It was at times an overwhelming day (as it should be if you are serious in your commitments). It was a beautiful day.
I am so grateful to get to be a mom to this amazing person.
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Love you!
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