Loyal temple patrons visit sacred edifices during their travels
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
About the time Jim Duckworth retired, he and his wife, Rhea, were able to start traveling extensively, something they both enjoy. Whenever their travels would take them to a place where there was a temple, they would make a special effort to attend a session. "Then temples became the focus," Brother Duckworth said.
Sister Duckworth explained that they realized that planning their travel to match temple sites was a good way to see the entire world. "When we went to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, I thought, `If we can get over here, we can go anywhere.' "She added that while the physical appearance of the temples is different, the spirit is the same in all of them.
Members of the Fruit Heights 2nd Ward, Fruit Heights Utah Stake, they "go regularly to the Bountiful temple and used to be ordinance workers in the Ogden temple," Brother Duckworth said. "Being in the temple is always a special occasion.
"We've found that wherever we are, whether Freiberg with one endowment room, or Salt Lake with live sessions, or Ogden with six endowment rooms, it doesn't make any difference. Once you go in the door, you're in the same atmosphere. I always thought the time we spent working in the Ogden temple was one of the sweetest times of my life."
With a trip to the Vernal Utah Temple in May, Jim and Rhea Duckworth reached a milestone - they had attended every operating temple in the world. That lasted until Sunday, June 7, when the Preston England Temple was dedicated. Since then, the Monticello Utah Temple has also been dedicated.
They said in a Church News telephone interview that they may plan a trip sometime to England and other new temple sites, but they don't expect to be able to keep up as more and more temples are dedicated in the coming years. That doesn't bother them, though, because their true desire is to do temple work wherever and whenever they have the opportunity.
In their stake, they serve as family record extraction workers and also are responsible for setting up temple recommend interviews for the stake presidency.
They plan to continue traveling as long as they are able, and will plan future trips around temple sites.
Sister Duckworth concluded, "If you're going to travel, you might as well do some of the Lord's work while you're at it."
