몰몬교 사원

I’m going to try and write about my Temple experience without actually revealing anything about the Temple that I shouldn't talk about.

So, here we go:

I woke up at five o'clock in the morning that Saturday to catch the first subway all the way across Daegu to catch the big bus the Korean Ward and the Military Ward were sharing for the five hour ride to the capital of Seoul. At a prescribed hotel meeting place, the bus was being filled to the brim with Mormons, soon to rush off in the typical, very dangerous, offensive Korean style driving.  

And, surprisingly, nobody showed up on MST.

We departed in a very aggressive, Korean manner as the sun was peeking over the endless concrete of the city, trying to show itself over the neon lights of the metro area not far away.

The long ride (four hours?) was unavoidable because there was only one Temple in Korea.

And, since moving to SLC, the language has changed in the way Temples and Wards and Church buildings are talked about. In Korea, we said, "We are going to the Temple." There was only one, so a direct article was used and everyone knew which one. The only time we were specific about which temple we were going to was when we went to one of the many Buddhist temples. Now, in SLC, saying, "The temple" or "The ward" doesn't really work. I mean, there are four wards in the one church building near my dormitory. 

Anyway, the bus trip was as uneventful as Korean bus ride goes for a guy like me who has lived in Korea for thirteen years. For those newbie foreigners on the bus, it was the trip of a lifetime.

We made it to the Temple and I still had to have my final Temple Recommend interview with the District President. For many months I had been trying to get to the Temple for the first time, but something or another had kept me from that trip. Just little things that cropped up and one monstrous, terrible event; but, luckily, once I got to the Temple everything went smoothly. I got that little piece of paper and the complementary plastic cover for it, like it was some kind of library card—holy library card. I was thinking it would be quickly destroyed like the social security cards we were told never to laminate.

When doing the Temple Recommend interview with the District President, there was a question that I think was tricky. It went something like, "Do you feel you are worthy to enter the Temple?" If I answered 'Yes,' I felt I was being too arrogant and I shouldn't be let into the Temple. And, if I answered humbly and said 'No,' I wouldn't be allowed in the Temple.

I always said that I hate wearing white because it reminds me of hospitals. Having had twenty-five surgeries in my life and having spent months in hospitals, memories of hospitals and white have never been pleasant. But, white has long been required in the Temple, and the whole interior of the Seoul Temple was white and the decorations reminded me of a dentist office mixed with a grand ballroom. And, despite my aversion to white, the whole place was full of the Spirit, so I didn't mind dressing up like a baker (is that too far?)

Joseph Smith was talking to the architect and said,

"Give me a dentist office and a grand ballroom."

The architect stopped him and said, "Say no more."

My guide for my first temple trip was a Lt. Col. in the military, a general surgeon, and father of about six children. He could keep me in line. Going with one of my close friends would have probably ended in some kind of excommunication due to sarcasm. 

I found out this man knew an awful lot about fabrics as we were buying our baker's outfits...oh, I mean Temple Garments (again....too far?)

I walked past the white desk with the man in the white suit, reading the white Quad and into God's House.

We were waiting and, like guys do, we started talking about lunch. I mean, we were hungry. I stated there was a Burger King down the road and my guide didn't believe me. Oh come on, I'm a fat man. When a fat says there's a Burger King down the road, you can take those words to the bank.

And that is all I will say about the actual Temple stuff. If you want to know about the rituals and ordinances, become LDS.

I may not be able to say much about the Temple experience, but I can talk about my feelings about the Temple. There is no problem with that, right? I will not reveal the details of the naked basketball game, hamster sacrifice, Clockwork Orange or Manchurian Candidate style brainwashing, and horn metamorphosis ceremony; no. Just my feelings.

What the Atheists and Ex-Mos wanted 

me to think the Temple would be like.

There was no brainwashing and no 

CIA style conditioning techniques.

Before I went to the Temple, I was expecting it to be like an awesome guitar solo. I have long been a guitar guy and still love a song with an emotional, drawn out, loud guitar solo─one of those with the fingers jumping over the strings like a ballerina, coming to a crescendo and tugging at your heart strings with a hug from your comfortable, warm bed.

The great stack of papers with the names of Koreans on them probably back many centuries was awe inspiring (some Koreans know their lineage back a few hundred years and have detailed records accounting for them) and the white colored Scriptures everywhere really put my heart at peace, especially when combined with all the volunteers helping us go through the Temple. 

But the Temple was not the guitar solo that I anticipated. I attribute it to more of an initial gut response after building up the Temple experience too much in my mind. Plus, maybe....just maybe, the comparison of the Temple with an awesome guitar solo was not the best comparison. I have had other great, emotion experiences in my life: high school graduation (the future was mine and the bullies didn't win), getting published for the first time (mark off another item from my Bucket List), getting my Masters Degree in Korean Literature (foreign language problems can suck it!), and a few other experiences in my life that have given me those brief moments of happiness that can be revisited for ample inspiration in times of distress and sadness. But, the Temple was not quite up to those experiences. It was like the Sam's Cola of the Coke world. If you drink Sam's Cola, close your eyes, and imagine hard enough, it could be similar to Coke, but it really isn't deep down. Sam's Cola isn't Coke, but dang it really wants to be. 

Could be Coca-Cola?

The Temple wasn't on par with the emotional experiences I have had in the past at my Ward, through prayer, Scriptural studies, and what not, but it really tried to be.

No brainwashing, but more like a movie theatre.

This was all an initial gut response to the whole experience. As I thought about it more and the weirdness crept deeper into my psyche, I realized something different about the Temple. The whole trip wasn't the emotional, deeply affecting, sin and burden lifting experience I had heard it was for others, but it was worldview changing. The whole thing stuck in my head and started creeping out into parts of my everyday life I originally didn't think could dance with the symbolism and theology inherent in difference facets of Mormonism, especially the Temple.

As I was sitting in the Celestial room, the Lt. Colonel came out and asked, "How was it?"

I asked, "Are we finished?"

"Yes."

"Let's get some fo...."

I couldn't finish because he bolted for the changing room in a gesture that I can only think was approval, so I chased after him. 

Changing quickly and leaving the temple, we made a bee-line for the Burger King.

Almost as heavenly if you are as hungry as we were.

We were munching on our Whoppers and the Lt. Colonel gave me some words of wisdom:  "Some people like to stay in there and pray and contemplate the Spirit, but I feel that our work is done in the Celestial Room."

I completely agreed and thought about these words as I ate my second whopper. It was good. 

We walked back and confronted the jealousy of our group who were just coming out and had no time to make it to anywhere and get some food. 

The next week was spent with my mind's eye seeing the world and the tiny details through a clearer spiritual lens. Things originally deemed normal and mundane by my subconscious were thrust into the forefront of my thoughts with a new divine spotlight giving meaning and showing connections I couldn't see before.

And, it continued to affect me and my life in ways I never thought possible. 

Many months have passed and I want to go again. Now, I'm in Salt Lake City and there is a possibility that I can go to a live session at the SLC temple, which would be awesome (in the British sense and the American sense) and hopefully I can go through with my mail man friend (you know who you are). I still have yet to do Baptisms for the Dead, and that is on my bucket list, but moving, going back to school, and trying to find a job have put these things on hold for a little bit. Hopefully,