Big Sis and the Seoul Temple

Hey, Big Sis here. When you turn 12 years old, you can finally go into the temple to do baptism and confirmations for those who have passed away and didn't get the chance to do those things for themselves. And that's what I got to do, and my first time to the temple was amazing and I strongly felt the spirit when I did the baptisms!

The temple only has one English session, so all of us Americans have to wake up really early in the morning to get into the temple in time for that. There are not a lot of youth trips, but I think they're often enough. The youth all gathered in the Hallasan lobby around 6:30 A.M. which means I had to wake up the same time I usually do on a school day which is 5:30 A.M. to be able to get ready in time. Not fun when you look forward to a Saturday to sleep. Mom and I drove in our car with the Arny's, Strommer's, and the Holloway's in order to fit 13 youth kids and 7 adults. The drive there was tiring, but we made it.

When we entered the temple, we sat down and waited. We then did the temple's opening exercises and we made our way up the stairs and checked in. I got my clothes and put them on. It was strange to wear the same type of a baptism jumper like I did when I was baptized years before. I walked in with the other girls to the baptismal font room, got a big whiff of "chlorine" smelling air, but didn't mind because all I was focused on was the strong feeling of the spirit that filled me when I walked in.

I sat down next to my friend Destinee and we waited for our turn. We had some waiting to do because there were 12 people before us, and all of them did like 10-15 names each.  Destinee and I passed the time watching the mop that cleaned the floor after people got out of the font. We just watched it and we chuckled every once in a while for some random reason. I honestly don't know what was so funny about it though. When it was my turn, I walked down into the font. The water was so warm! I was nervous that it might have been cold, because the water at my baptism was so cold! I forgot to take my contacts out of my eyes in the changing room so I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time that made me a little dizzy, but I didn't mind that either.

I did 13 names my first time! When I was done, I got out and I was super cold and wished I could go back into the warm water but I just walked into the changing room and got changed. I got changed and met up with the other youth downstairs for lunch. The winter time in Korea is super windy and cold which makes it very easy to get very cold. I made that mistake and I wore a skirt with flats and no tights: poor choice. We decided to walk to a Korean restaurant 3 blocks away in the freezing cold. We walked to the restaurant, and it seemed to take forever because we had to walk against the wind which was really hard and VERY cold. I am starting to enjoy Korean food because it is, in a way, really good. We all ordered our food and ate the delicious meal. I choose the Pork Cutlet and ate it all gone.

I really loved and enjoyed my first trip to the temple.