Names Taken
to the Temple:
25,551
Submit Your Names
The 24k Temple Names in 2024 Challenge
AN INVITATION FROM PRESIDENT ETHAN WILLIS OF THE GILBERT ARIZONA SEVILLE STAKE
The highest level of confidence in our lives—whether on the athletic field, in the classroom, battling an addiction, dealing with a struggling child, in our careers, strengthening our testimony, mourning a loved one, or facing mental, emotional challenges or ANY of our daily struggles—will be found in “covenant confidence”.
“How do we gain such confidence through Jesus Christ? It comes through humility, centering our lives on the Savior, living by the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, receiving the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, and honoring the covenants we make with God in His holy house.”—Elder Ulisses Soares
President Nelson told us how to hold fast to our covenant confidence through Jesus Christ by inviting us to worship in the temple “…as regularly as your circumstances permit.” I invite you to prayerfully ponder how you can be in the temple more “regularly”. As you do, the Holy Ghost will enlighten your mind with a clear answer. Go forward in faith with that answer and you will claim the following promise from President Nelson in a very personal way:
“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!”
If each of the incredible youth in our stake goes to the temple and does 5 baptisms every month from now until the end of the year, we could bring 14,000 souls to Him. That is amazing! If each adult goes every month until the end of the year and brings just one name to the temple, that would mean approximately 10,000 souls.
All Can Participate in the Challenge!
I have felt impressed to invite our stake to bring 24,000 names to the temple by the end of 2024. As we “honorably hold a name and stand” in the temple, we will claim the day-to-day covenant confidence promised in Doctrine and Covenants 109:22-26. We will be “armed with power” and “angels will have charge over us” and “they will know this is Thine work…spoken by the mouth of prophets” and “no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail over they people”. We surely need these blessings now and in the days to come.
Yes, it will require sacrifice and faith, but with the Lord’s help, I know that we can do it. As we each do our part, we can bring 24,000 names to the temple by the end of 2024. I cannot think of a better gift to give our Heavenly Father by the end of the year when we celebrate the birth of His Son during this upcoming Christmas season.
I invite everyone, ages 8+, to create an account at FamilySearch.org. and download the Family Tree app within the next month. I encourage you to print off a name from your family and take it to the temple. There are extra bonus points and protection for youth with the Family Tree app installed on your device. –President Trevor Denham
Truly, the temple serves as a light to each of us as we choose to return time and time again. Family history work is also a light, creating a strong desire for us to return often. Temple worship becomes exponentially more meaningful if we perform the work for our own family. While it is certainly good to attend the temple, it is much more powerful if we take the names of our own family because the work becomes very personal. Elder Bednar promised us: “As you respond in faith to this invitation, your heart shall turn to the fathers. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase, your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding, and I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary.”
“Lives on both sides of the veil will be blessed and fortified as we strive to take 24,000 names to the temple by the end of 2024. Profound peace and joy awaits our Stake members as we serve our ancestors this way in the house of the Lord!” –President Jordan Graff
A Promise for Our Stake
Please strive to use your own Family Search account to find, print and bring family names to the temple. You will feel a great strength and closeness with your ancestors as you do so. Those family members who have passed on “…are as deeply interested in our welfare today, if not with greater capacity, with far more interest behind the veil, than they were in the flesh. They see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, and they love us now more than ever.”—President Joseph F. Smith
Invitation Download
You can download and print a letter-size pdf of President Willis’ Invitation.
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