We hope you were able to take our “12 to 1 Temple Count Down’s Begun” journeywith us as we taught our children every night for a couple weeks to prepare them for the Gilbert Arizona Temple Open House.  It is such a HUGE blessing to have another temple so close to us.  What a joy it was to take my children by the hand and show them the beautiful, peaceful temple.  They could see and feel for themselves the sacred importance of the House of God.  I felt inspired to video tape my children before and after their experience.  I am so glad I did.  It is a cherished record of their feelings about what they experienced in the temple.  When I asked my 4 year-old daughter what she thought she would see when she went inside the temple, she said (without missing a beat) “Jesus.”  Oh, the faith of a child!  We can learn much from heeding the counsel from a Book of Mormon prophet when he said, “For the natural man is an enemy to God, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit… and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” (Mosiah 3:19)

Throughout the preparation for the dedication of the temple there has been so much buzz about the Cultural Celebration that the Youth (teens ages 12-18) would participate in.  They have been practicing for months to share their testimony and love of the gospel through music and dance for the prophet and for all the world.  Since all my children were younger than 12, they did not get to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime event.  I thought it would be a great time to let the primary children (ages 3 to 11 years-old) share their testimonies and feelings of the temple.  One Sunday, as I sat with my primary class that I teach at church, the children were learning a new song about the temple.  It was beautiful and touching.  I knew then that I wanted that song and those sweet children to be a part of this inspired project.  

As I began filming the children and asking them questions about their experience during the Open House of the temple, there was a definite theme that almost every child spoke about.  It was the “sparkles.”  There is a magnificent chandelier in the temple that is beautiful beyond words that adds to the sacred and special room it illuminates.  As I went to find the definition of “sparkle” it means “to emit little sparks… to shine or glisten with little gleams of light” or my definition “to shine forth.”  I believe this truly is a profound theme of what a temple is, spoken from the mouth of babes.  The temple is a light and these sweet children are our Savior’s “little gleams of light” sharing their sweet thoughts and love for the Lord. 

My hope is that as you watch the video below, you will feel the Savior, Jesus Christ’s love for you.  I know that God lives and that Heavenly Father sent His Son to come to earth to be our perfect example.  Christ died for us so that we might live again as families forever.  My humble prayer is that you will feel His spirit and know of His love as you watch “Temple Sparkles…”