Redeming Our Dead

 

Well, a few nights ago, we got the wonderful opportunity to be involved in some temple work for our very own ancestors.  For years, Nick's mom has been busy tracking down her ancestry.  Part of the challenge has been that her very own father needed his temple work done, as well as all of the others in his line.  However, there were some inaccuracies in our records, making it difficult to track down all of the members in his line.  As it turned out, he was on his own by the time he was a 14, and ended up changing his name and birth date to disguise his past.  Nobody knew it while he was alive, but after a bit of research, Grandma Hoskins was able to correct the information and find his real name and birth date.  In Additional, she was also able to find out where he was from.  That was the awesome part of all of her research.  As it would turn out, her father, Glen Clinton Richard "Buck" Anthony, was actually from North Dakota--a North Dakota cowboy in fact.  When we found out, we could hardly believe that he and his family were from our new home state.  Consequently, it seemed appropriate for their temple work to be completed in the Bismarck North Dakota Temple.  At first Nick's mom wasn't sure she was ready to do the work for her parents, but, with some gentle nudging from us, we convinced her to make a trip out so we could all complete the work here.  Then, on Thursday, September  27, Nick, Susan, Gordon, and I all went to the temple and completed their family names.  After the session, we got an extra special blessing.  The Temple Presidency allowed us, on the spur of the moment, to do a live sealing session.  Now that their other temple work had been completed, Nick's mom could finally be sealed to her parents and grandparents. Right then and there she was sealed to her parents with Nick and I acting as their proxies.  It was amazing!  Several other family members were sealed as well.  It was a really special experience, and I am sure the timing of the genealogy work coincided with our move.  Those family members wanted their work done where they had lived, and the Lord, in his great wisdom, moved us into position to grant that wish.  Whatever doubts we had about moving to Bismarck were swallowed up in that night.  How long we are supposed to stay, I can't say, but without a shadow of a doubt I know we were supposed to come!