Joseph and Nettie Linton in the West Indies Mission

HUMBLE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST

Have you ever wondered about contributions to the temple fund and the many families that are blessed by this inspired program?

The following is a letter from a Suriname family that received such a blessing.

"First of all let me thank you for all the help and support both my family and I received from the church to make a dream come through. Going to the temple sometimes seem for some like a walk in the park but for us it was a step on the moon.

Unlike most elders I did not had the opportunity to go to the MTC or to the temple before my mission. I went after at the concluding of my mission. It just so happened that I was planned to be released on my birthday. It was the same day I got my endowment. It was a birthday gift from the Heavens. It was a great celebration. Angels attended and the Spirit was just everywhere. I remember sitting in the temple praying after I was endowed. I told my Father in Heaven that I was afraid to go home. I don't know what Suriname holds for me. What future do I have there I asked Him. Then in a sudden. A face came to my mind. It was the face of a young women. The Spirit said that she is waiting. The funny thing about this is that she never liked me before my mission but I came home. Can you imagine my joy to be able to sit with this same person, at the same spot in the same temple ten years after and being able to be sealed to her and our beautiful children for time and all eternity. I have no words to describe the joy and the happiness that temple has given us.

Our entire world changed as we started to prepare to attend the temple seven years ago. Our house rent was too high so we couldn't save to go to the temple. We prayed about it and shared our concerns with my in-laws. They suggested we move in with them. We did that. We had bought a peace of land to build but couldn't continue paying for it and if we decided to stop the payment we would lose all the down payment that we had made. We didn't care for the down payment because we wanted to go to the temple. I then had to quit my job because my boss did not want to pay me I got another job the same day and started immediately. We had another peace of land we had gotten from the government. They said if we wanted to keep the land we would have to build something on it. My wife and I talked about it and took our problem to the Lord. The Lord listened and then reply, you know what to do. We let the land go.

Then suddenly our daughter got sick with her eyes. We spent two years going to different doctors almost every week, sometimes even twice a week. After much fasting and prayers she received a surgery on her eyes. She is still healing from that. Then one month before leaving for the temple they told us that our children can not go with because they are not Surinamese and will not get a Surinamese passport. I went to the embassy of Guyana and apply for two passports. They came a week before our trip, then the embassy said our children are not allowed to travel with those passports unless I cross the border to Guyana and come back. We had to do so. On coming back from Guyana it was too late to travel to Paramaribo so we had to spent the night in Nickerie. We couldn't find any hotel or place to stay so we slept on the floor of a house and attended church the next day. When we came back our son got sick and needed a surgery. He did the surgery and we left for our temple trip.

If we had to do it all over again we would. We have learned so much and have grown so much closer because of these trials we had. We have felt how much our Father loves and cares for us. We had an amazing time at the temple. This is the only church that has the keys that could seal us as a family. I am so grateful to our Father in Heaven for the blessing of being a member of His church."