The House of the Lord

On Sunday Cooper was ordained an Elder in our church. This is an important step toward being a missionary.

Yesterday, he took another step. He went to the Philadelphia Temple for his own endowment. This is a very big deal. He was excited and a little nervous. Bryan, Peter, and I went with him and were so happy he made this choice.

Traffic was pretty intense. It took us about two hours to get to the temple. Luckily, we left early enough.

The underground parking garage makes it feel like we're not in the middle of a big city, even before we officially enter the building.

We arrived in time to stop at the Distribution Center, then head into the temple itself. I got a few before shots while we waited for the elevator.

This is the shift that Peter has been serving in for the last six months or so. Several people, when they realized we were Peter's family, told us how wonderful he is and what a great job he's been doing. That was a lovely, unexpected perk of going on a Thursday evening.

There were several people that came to support Cooper. We use last names at church, but for the sake of privacy, I'll list them my first name here:

• Tina and Richard, dear friends from our old ward, they helped prepare Cooper to go to the temple
• Scott and Robyn, Cooper's seminary teachers from his freshman year, they were in our old ward and they moved into the new ward with us, Scott wrote Cooper's letter of recommendation to get into BYU, and they also helped Cooper prepare for the temple
• Dave and Colleen, friends who are in our old ward, Dave is one of Cooper's biggest cheerleaders
• Kim, a good friend from our old ward, she brought her two sons to do baptisms while we were in the endowment session, just so they could be there to greet Cooper when he came out, that was at least three hours in the car just to give Cooper a hug and show their support (her husband was our Bishop in our old ward and would have been there as well if he'd been in town)
• Spencer, Cooper's good friend who went to the temple on Saturday for the first time to prepare for his own mission, and his dad Joe, both from our old ward
• Michael, a good friend from both the old ward and new ward, he serves in the Bishopric and has been one of Cooper's Young Men leaders
• Graham, another one of Cooper's Young Men leaders in our new ward, and the youth Sunday School teacher

It was really meaningful having these friends join us in the temple. They were all so happy for Cooper!

Cooper had a positive experience. He had so many questions that we couldn't answer them all before we had to leave. In fact, just before we stepped outside to take this picture after the session, the security guard locked the doors. Cooper is eager to go back.

We love you, Cooper!