Virtual Temple Day

One of the most disappointing parts of the current pandemic is not being able to go to the temple. We try to go once a month, and our whole family usually makes the 3-hour drive to Philadelphia. The kids will watch a movie or play at a park while the parents take turns going to the temple. Now that our kids are getting older, the parents will even go together sometimes, leaving my oldest to babysit! Going to the temple is definitely a sacrifice - there are always things we want to do on a Saturday - but it's a special and well-loved part of our family schedule.

Now that we are home all day, Saturdays have become wonderful opportunities to get projects done at home. But as we pondered over President Ballard's challenge from General Conference to "consider what offering you will present to the Lord in righteousness in the coming days", we thought of our missed temple days. President Nelson's invitation from 2017 hit us, as well.  "I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—and preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make to do more family history and temple work this year.”

Our family decided that even though we couldn't physically go to the temple, we would still have a Virtual Temple Day. We would use the time we'd normally spend going to the temple and dedicate it to temple and family history work from home.

Spoiler alert: it was one of the best days my family has ever had. Everyone from the 41-yr old to the 3 yr old wished the day would never end.

What did we do? We brainstormed some activites we could do as a family. We didn't end up doing most of them, but some of these might work for your family:

Activities on FamilySearch

• Look for ancestors on FamilySearch who need temple ordinances
• Pray that we can find people waiting to be baptized.
• Index records
• Find ancestors connected to interesting historical events - for example, people on the Mayflower or who served in WWII.
• Who was the first person on each line to join the church
• Do some Family History education - watch sessions from RootsTech or tutorials on FamilySearch
• Pull out a family history book and see if there are pictures and memories that could be uploaded on FamilySearch Memories
• Find a story on FamilySearch and write a simple picture book of the story to share with the younger children in the family.

Activities that don't require FamilySearch (for our younger children, who were too small to sit at a computer all day)

• Make a food from a country your ancestors are from.
• Make a family trivia game by interviewing family members
• Visit local family history sites (from the car) - for example, the cemetery where an uncle is buried or the office building great-grandpa worked in long ago.
• Learn about a temple you'd like to visit and make a poster about it
• Read about temples and temple work
• Perform a skit of a family history story
• Build a temple out of building bricks or another material
• Color from the church's Family History coloring book

I invite you to have your own virtual temple day. How much time do you usually spend going to the temple? Set that time aside and spend it on family history work. You will feel a special spirit in your home. Both my husband and I had special experiences where we felt to acknowledge the angels around us assisting in the work. My teenagers asked when we could do it again. My Primary aged children enjoyed the time with various family members learning about their family. My toddler just ran around all day and played, but she loved the snack one of the older kids cooked to learn about a new country! In other words, it was one of the best days ever.