July 2024

Ordinances Preparation

As you know, the Lord continues to emphasize the importance of the temple. This is evident not only in the number of temples which are currently operating, under construction or renovation or announced, but also in the efforts of the temple department to improve the patron experience. A good patron experience is essential to keep patrons coming to the temple. They do the work of gathering Israel, but they also have the opportunity through worship to enhance their understanding of priesthood principles, to the hoped-for end that their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ becomes unshaken. And oh, how we need that kind of faith in these times!

One of the things that is sometimes misunderstood about the relationship between the patron and the temple is that worthiness is determined by the priesthood keys of local leaders, and not by the keys of the temple presidency. To help align those keys more closely, the temple department is in the process of changing the way that recommends for living ordinances are done. 

In last month's newsletter we listed some things to watch for when a bishop or a stake president completes a recommend for a living ordinance (own endowment or sealing). This month, we would like to give you a heads-up for what is coming - a change to that process that we think will ultimately make it easier for you. We don't know when it's coming, but when it comes it will likely come quickly, and we'd like to present some things here that we think will help you as you prepare.

First of all, the recommend renewal process won't change. That's already part of LCR, and it's going pretty smoothly. Still, it's worth mentioning a few things that might raise the liklihood that members will always have a good experience when they enter the temple: 

1) Remember that on each recommend there are two numbers - the Record Number (member's member number), and the recommend number printed above the bar code, as in the image below (Record Number has been redacted in this image).

Each recommend number (circled in red above the barcode) is unique, and is assigned as the record is printed. Sometimes there is a problem when a temple patron scans his or her recommend at the recommend desk, in that the system doesn't recognize the recommend as valid. The office staff can manually look up the patron on the temple entry system, however, and find that he does have a valid recommend. In that case we know that the recommend was probably reprinted after the patron had accepted the original. In other words, during or after the interview process, two recommends were printed, and the patron has the one that isn't active. When that happens, the best solution is to issue a new recommend to the patron. 

I can testify from my own experience that it's never good to hear "I'm sorry, Brother, there is a problem with your recommend," so I encourage you to teach that principle to stake presidency members and bishopric members. I know that we are all "volunteers" and we do our best, I just thought that our best might get better if everyone knows how this works!

2) This next one happens infrequently, but on occasion we see a scanned recommend come up as "not activated." I'm not sure how this happens with LCR - maybe a hand-off to an executive secretary or clerk that got misplaced? Anyway, it's something that proabably bears watching.

3) Last, some of our patrons come to the temple with a photocopy of their recommend or a digital copy of it on their smartphone. These both have the right bar code, and both will scan successfully. But only the paper copy is valid. Now I know that most of you can come up immediately with half-a-dozen reasons why this should be a common practice and every bit as OK as scanning a printed piece of paper, but there is also a very good reason too for them being invalid. That reason is that the directive comes from the temple department and it's a priesthood directive! A while ago I remember reading that three temples in the world were running a beta test for smartphone-based QR codes that would validate a patron's temple access. I'm not sure where that process is today, but I can't imagine that it would be easy, especially considering it has to be rolled out to millions of "Member Tools" apps. Someday we will have it, but for now please make sure that members understand that their recommend should be printed and in the proper format (cut on the dotted lines).

Now back to Ordinances Preparation...

Note that this space is devoted to Ordinances Preparation, not Ordinances Ready. Ordinances Ready is a FamilySearch tool that has been working great for a while now, and many of us have found that tool to be very useful.  Ordinances Preparation looks like it is a tool that integrates information from TIS (temple information system) and LCR (leader and clerk resources).

Please also note again that Ordinances Preparation has not yet been rolled out to our units in the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple district. Please do not call the temple with any questions regarding the Ordinances Preparation tool.  We will all be notified by the appropriate Church departments when the time is right.

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Introduction 

Many of you may already be familiar with Ordinances Preparation. An introduction, overview and tutorials are in the Tools section of the main Church website. That training is focused on priesthood leaders in wards and stakes, and provides instruction for the priesthood leader as he goes through the steps of recommending a patron for temple ordinances using LCR. 

Here is the introduction from that page:

Ordinance Preparation is an online system to assist members and priesthood leaders as they complete the administrative and spiritual tasks related to receiving temple ordinances.

In the past, temple workers have handled administrative tasks relating to temple ordinances. The Ordinance Preparation online system allows bishops and stake presidents to complete and track these tasks in Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR). This simplifies the administrative process and allows priesthood leaders to be more involved in temple preparation.

Tasks previously handled by the temple that priesthood leaders are now responsible for include verifying personal information and gathering necessary documents. This system allows bishops, stake presidents, and members to work together in the sacred process of preparing to receive temple ordinances.

The Ordinance Preparation system allows priesthood leaders to complete the following tasks:

• Create a new ordinance preparation task, verify the member’s information, and record answers to qualification questions.

• Add all members who will participate in a sealing ordinance to the ordinance preparation task.

• Request any needed First Presidency approvals or policy exceptions.

• Verify any necessary paperwork, including marriage certificates or adoption papers.

• Record the dates when temple recommend interviews are completed.

• Assist members in scheduling temple appointments.

Note: Bishops and stake presidents are responsible for helping members prepare to receive temple ordinances. Counselors may assist only under the bishop’s or stake president’s direction.

The Ordinance Preparation system is also visible to Church members on the Church website. From here, they can quickly access and help complete the tasks relating to their preparation for temple ordinances. This page also provides resources to help members learn more about temple ordinances.

By simplifying the process of ordinance preparation, Church members and their priesthood leaders can focus less on administrative tasks and more on the purpose of temple ordinances — to draw closer to Jesus Christ and be eternally united as families.

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What to look for

Records verification, previously done at the temple, will now be done before a member comes to the temple, so that he or she can focus on covenants and ordinances, not the clerical and administrative work that has traditionally been part of a member's trip to the temple to perform a living ordinance. 

Correcting records and verifying qualifications are important. Joseph Smith instructed that a recorder should be called in every ward to “make a record of a truth before the Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:2). Brother Hurst is the Temple Recorder; his job it is to stand as a witness to the accuracy of all of the ordinances performed in the temple, along with their associated records. The information is sacred, and leaders have a responsibility to use it sensitively in support of their callings. Much of this work is being shifted to priesthood leaders to better align with their priesthood keys.

Ordinance Preparation provides the tools and information priesthood leaders need to better fulfill this responsibility, as well as their responsibility to maintain correct information on membership records. Temple Presidents hold the keys for administering and recording ordinances.

With the new system, the priesthood leader will use the Ordinance Preparation system to guide them through the record verification and interview process before the member makes an appointment at the temple. The system notifies the priesthood leader if any policy exceptions or other issues must be addressed before the member goes to the temple.

We understand that there will be a grace period as the new system is implemented, but after the grace period has expired it will be the way that living ordinances must be scheduled.

Every ordinance for a living person is qualified and verified by working through Ordinance Preparation with a priesthood leader who holds the keys.

Members cannot go to the temple to receive living ordinances without first working through Ordinance Preparation with their priesthood leaders. This becomes very important for couples scheduling weddings with long lead times, or for missionaries seeking their own endowment, or live sealings of families. Because of safeguards built into the system, a temple worker will not be able to schedule the appointment unless the actions required by the system have been completed by a priesthood leader. Expect that you will not be able to print ordinance cards until system requirements have been successfully met.

With this system, members will have to resolve requirement issues with their priesthood leaders, not temple workers. When all is ready, and they come to the temple, they will scan their temple recommend and the system will notify the recommend desk attendant that they are there to receive their own ordinances. The paper copy of the Recommend for Living Ordinances will become obsolete.

Youth ages 11 to 21 will continue bringing their Proxy Baptism and Confirmation Only Recommend. Names of children under age 11 will appear on the daily ordinances list and will not need a separate recommend. 

We think that you can get a pretty good idea of what's coming by looking at what's involved on both the temple side and the priesthood leader side. These are administrative things and they may seem insignificant at first glance, but I can testify to the heartache that occurs when a member believes, for whatever reason, that their sacred information has not been treated with sensitivity. There are lots of details that are important to a person that this new system can help to retain correctly. In doing that, it can allow us to use all of the available keys to participate more fully in a wonderful temple experience for each member on the covenant path. 

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Too many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Satan. He tries to block us from looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping and willing to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, purify, and sanctify us.

The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. The prefix meta- means “change.” The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean “mind,” “knowledge,” “spirit,” and “breath.”

Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies.

Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Whether you are diligently moving along the covenant path, have slipped or stepped from the covenant path, or can’t even see the path from where you are now, I plead with you to repent. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day.

...

Gratefully, the priesthood we hold is far stronger than are the wiles of the adversary. I plead with you to be the men and young men the Lord needs you to be. Make your focus on daily repentance so integral to your life that you can exercise the priesthood with greater power than ever before. This is the only way you will keep yourself and your family spiritually safe in the challenging days ahead.

The Lord needs selfless men who put the welfare of others ahead of their own. He needs men who intentionally work to hear the voice of the Spirit with clarity. He needs men of the covenant who keep their covenants with integrity. He needs men who are determined to keep themselves sexually pure—worthy men who can be called upon at a moment’s notice to give blessings with pure hearts, clean minds, and willing hands. The Lord needs men eager to repent—men with a zeal to serve and be part of the Lord’s battalion of worthy priesthood bearers.

 --- Russell M. Nellson, Priesthood Session, General Conference, April 2019

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Temple Moments

One of the things that we know we can do to increase retention of new members is to do all that we can to get them to the temple. Brother Jacob Hanson, from the Council Bluffs stake put this to the test recently. Brother Hanson worked closely with stake leaders to develop a plan that included a target date, communications by mail, email and phone, and lots of help from stake leaders. The date was June 29th, but the preparations began much before then. There isn't room here to give a full account, but Brother Hanson has agreed to share the details here. Please take a few minutes to take a look! . The pictures at the top of this section are from that day. 

For reference, the letter to stake leaders is here, and print advertising and the letter to the new converts is here.

There were two groups. While the first group was in the baptistry, the other was touring the Mormon Trail Visitors Center. Then, for the next session, they switched places. What a wonderful opportunity to feel of the Spirit, and to feel of the individual spirits of fellow new converts. Afterwards, they enjoyed a dinner in lower level of the Visitors Center. 

Brother Hanson said:

"Although I was bouncing between groups throughout the day, I did get to spend meaningful time with the new members in the baptistry. One brother commented on how much peace he felt being there. I got to watch as two elders helped support one of our dear newly baptized sisters who uses a wheelchair to get around as she got into the font. That day, she was baptized for her mother. What a powerful spirit flooded the room as she rose from the water. I saw several brothers exercise their Aaronic priesthood by baptizing for the very first time. I also got to watch as four newly ordained Melchizedek priesthood holders in our group of recent converts got to perform confirmations for the very first time. It was a day of pure joy! 

I have a testimony of the Lord's Holy House. It is the place where we can most greatly experience His love and feel closer to our family. I trust the promise from our dear prophet and know it to be true:

Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement or help you understand God’s magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more. Nothing!"

A lot of things had to fall in place for this event. So, it took some time, some vision, lots of prayer and the will to say no to procrastination! Most people I talk to have joined the church at least in part because of their love for their families. Temples are the only places on earth where that love can be fully, eternally realized. Thanks to Brother Hanson for his great example of intentional leadership in seeing the "end from the beginning."

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