Lighting the World in Belize

Our Church and community from Belize joined the world-wide initiative to Light the World with acts of service.  

As you click on this website and read the article, scroll through the pictures to see if you can recognize Elder Magnusson in his sun hat laying rock as his group repairs the road in front of the Nazarene School in our village of Succotz. 

Paul Woods (left) and his daughters, along with other Church members, friends and missionaries wear yellow Helping Hands vests as they clean a road and park in Belize City.

The Belize Rise and Shine Morning television program featured Light the World on their December 7th show. Belize Church Public Affairs representative, René Gomez and Elder and Sister Jensen were interviewed for the show.

We were happy to have my brother, Craig and his wife, Lynn visit us this week from Utah.  It was snowing when they left their home, so they are especially enjoying the sunshine here.

Let the Christmas season begin! Thanks Lynn for bringing some Christmas decorations for our home.

A group of about 30 Belizean Saints traveled through the night to arrive at the Mérida Mexico Temple at 5:00 am.  Above the temple entrance are the words in Spanish - SANTIDAD AL SEÑOR, CASA DEL SEÑOR (Holiness to the Lord, The House of the Lord). The temple is truly a holy place. Abner and Alicia Grey had their marriage sealed for time and eternity, and their sons sealed to them. This means the family will be together forever as they keep their covenants--our Heavenly Father's plan for all His children.  

It was a special day for the Greys at the temple.  Elder Walker explains a little about the temple and the concept of eternal family relationships in the video below:  

You can also see the video by clicking here.  

The sealing room in our temples is a very wonderful and special place. It's a wonderful and a remarkable thing to look into the eyes of a man and a woman who are about to be married. They love each other with all their hearts. When two people are getting married, they can't imagine the idea that this beautiful, loving relationship would ever end.

So it's an important part of Mormon teaching that it doesn't need to end at death. This marriage can go on into the eternities, and a loving God intended it to be that way. So He gave us this power and authority.

It's actually what Jesus was giving the Apostles in Matthew chapter 16, when Jesus put His hands on Peter and the other Apostles and conferred upon them the authority to have bound on earth and have it be bound in heaven. That's what was happening there. Jesus was giving the sealing authority to His Apostles. And that's utilized in the temple, in the house of the Lord, where a man and a woman can be sealed together for eternity.

When you've been married in the temple, you've been sealed in the temple, then your children who are born into this marriage are part of that sealing. And they are yours forever, so long as everybody lives the commandments.

Now, you might say, "Well, what about those who were married before?" They can go to the temple and receive those same blessings. The children would come with the mother and father, and they would also kneel at the altar. And it's a beautiful, sacred thing to witness, particularly with little children, to see them kneel at the altar in the temple next to their mother and father, holding hands together on the altar, and have them sealed together as a family for time and for all eternity. That's a great blessing from heaven. It's a great blessing from God. And we believe that's what God intended, that families would be together forever.