A few days shy of a month ago, on the flight from IDA to DIA, Brother Rarick encouraged me to have my father's temple work completed. I told him that I didn't want just anyone to perform those ordinances for him because I wanted whoever did them to be someone that meant a lot to me since it's for my dad. He told me that if I wanted, he'd be more than honored to stand in proxy for him. I was so floored and excited. The idea of my father's temple work being completed became more of a reality than just a desire. Brother Rarick told me that he'd rag on me until I told him it had been completed. So now every time I see him in the hallway, he asks me how the process is coming along.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I finally went to new.familysearch.org and created the portion of my family tree that I know details about. I then, requested my father's temple work, I also asked my family for permission to request my grandfather's as well, to be done. I feel like I've had to figure out the process for everything all on my own. People always told me that they would help me, but in the end they never did. So finally, somehow, I figured out how to submit those requests. I even figured out how to reserve them so that no one else would be able to do them before I had the opportunity to have them performed myself (obviously not at my own doing since I'm a girl, ha.)
On Tuesday, I finally got around (oh the joy of being swamped with work and college) to printing the request. I decided that I would ask Brother Galbraith if he would take those names to the temple for me. It's not that I don't want Brother Rarick to do it, it's just that Brother Galbraith is very much like a father to me.
Yesterday, I stopped by his office to ask him, but he wasn't there. I left him a note asking him to give me a quick call and then went to my usual study spot to complete my Calculus homework. About a hour later, Brother Galbraith startled me to find out what I had wanted to ask him. I pulled out the request, handed it to him, and then asked if he would mind doing their temple work for me. He said he would love to, but then asked if the baptisms had been done. When I told him no, he said that I should ask an FHE brother or a home teacher to do the baptism so that I can be there with them during to witness the ordinance. He said that once the baptism is done, he would be more than glad to do the rest for me. I'm quite a bit disappointed because I really wanted the whole thing to be done by him because he's such an important part of my life, but after a lot of pondering I understand why he wants me to have them done this way.
After trying to think of someone I'd like to stand proxy for my dad, I finally decided that I'd ask Evan Seamons. I knew that he would be very honored and would take my request seriously. (Not that I think my FHE brothers or home teachers wouldn't, it's just that I know how much it would mean to Evan to be asked such a thing.) I gave him a quick call and he said that he would talk to his parents & find out if he could come up (from IF) Saturday morning. I haven't quite heard back from him, but if it turns out that he won't be able to come up before I leave for Christmas break, I will take up Brother Rarick's offer.
Hopefully Dad's and Grandpa's temple work can be completed before Christmas. I kind of like the idea of that being the best Christmas gifts I could give them. If things don't work out, I'll still be 100% okay with having them done after Christmas because all that matters is that it's done.
I hope that one day my family will be able to understand why this whole deal means so much to me.
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