Elder and Sister Hall, did you go to the wedding?

We were in the temple complex, and we heard the story that one of the office missionaries told.

What did she say?

The senior sister was laughing as she told her story.

“I was on the second floor of the Patron House with a sister who had finished her mission and was preparing to go home. We watched the handsome bridegroom carefully help his bride navigate the stairs in her regal floor-length bridal gown. Then my young companion sighed.

She is such a lucky bride!

How so?

Everyone in the Cebu Mission knows what a wonderful missionary he has been. Everyone loves him. And he loves everyone so much.

We paused as we thought of the transcendent joy of that day.

Did you get to see the wedding?

No, we waited with some others in front of the temple. The sealing room was filled with family and close friends.

What could you see?

We saw the tall, elegant, etched-glass, marble-framed doors, capped by an engraved inscription.

 Holiness to the Lord

The House of the Lord

 Why does the Lord need a house here on earth?

It is because He truly is our Father, and He needs a place to gather His children to Him. Do you want us to tell you what happened inside the temple?

Yes.

We thought of a talk given a number of years ago.

God is the Heavenly Father of the human family. He is obviously concerned with families. If you doubt it, look around you. We are all his children—we belong to him. For this reason, he has commanded that a house be built for his family.[i]

What happens in the house of the Lord? It is where families are created.

“I have, many times, seen the Spirit lift choice young people who had come to the temple to become a family; and it seemed to me in these instances that the temple became a “heavenly family house,” the sealing room became a “heavenly family room,” and the altar of the temple became a “heavenly family altar.”[ii]

In a gloriously beautiful room, surrounded by excellently-attired family and friends, an officiator, who had been given authority both through the laws of the land and through the laws of God, performed the solemn sacred marriage ceremony.

“…as they knelt there, they were joined by the Lord through his priesthood for all eternity and thus were made “one,” a family, in the Lord.” [iii]

Theirs was not a temporary marriage “until death do you part.” It was a permanent marriage “for all eternity.”

She was, indeed, such a lucky bride. And he was, indeed, such a lucky bridegroom. They were sealed as a family, and will be together throughout all eternity.

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.[iv]