The Temple, A Refuge

The week before last I was running cards up from the Baptistry every 20 minutes or so and kept noticing an interesting-looking man with a little travel bag sitting just within the front door of the temple.  His appearance was not what we typically see from people who enter, and I wondered what his situation was.  Since our dear friend, John Galbraith, was at the recommend desk, he of course engaged with him in conversation and told us the following:

The man, Phillip, was already seated at the chair when John came to the recommend desk.  John asked a few times if he could help him, but Phillip said no, he was fine to just sit there.  After some gentle questioning by John the man said, "I heard on the news that the Russians say there is an asteroid headed to the earth at 20,000 mph and it is going to hit today.  Of all the places I know of in the area, I felt this was the most holy place, and maybe I can find protection here and survive the disaster."    The man knew nothing about the Church, but had just been drawn to the temple as a place of refuge.  John talked to the man about the church and got his information so the missionaries could go visit him, and told him that the Lord had directed him to come to the temple that day so he could learn more of Him.  John then gave him money to get a taxi to his home that was 15 miles away, and assured him the world was not going to end that day.  That man was right about one thing - the temple IS a refuge!  We are so blessed to live in a day when there are so many around the world, so accessible to us.

These lovely daffodils are in the median of a four-line highway that we play
"frogger" on every day as we cross busy traffic to go shopping.  So pretty!
(MTC is at the left.  And this is what the skies have looked like for weeks!!!)