Temple moments: Wonderful news!
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.
It was wonderful news to Jeanne Clement, 91, when President Gordon B.
Hinckley announced Aug. 6, 1998, that a temple would be built in Montreal,
Quebec.
"I was very happy," said Sister Clement of the LaSalle Ward, Montreal Quebec Mount Royale Stake.
After the groundbreaking ceremony on April 9, 1999, the enthusiastic nonagenerian went forward, took a gold-colored spade and turned over a shovelful of earth. It was a meaningful experience, she said. Sister Clement has lived in Montreal all her life and is just a few miles from where her great-grandparents lived when they were early political leaders in the city.
The mother of 10, who has been a widow for 33 years, was converted 20 years ago. The only member in her family, she has been a faithful temple attender for many years. Sister Clement served as a missionary in the Washington D.C. Temple.
"I am very glad to be a member of the Church," she said. "It has changed my life.
"Before I was baptized, I wondered how God would do justice to those who died without being baptized. When I joined the Church, I realized how simple it is — we are baptized for them.
"I have my family history work done back to about 1529. It is very exciting."
She travels to the Toronto Ontario Temple once a month with a ward member, Emil Monson, "a miracle man who helps everybody" and they work as a team. She does ordinance work for his female family names, and he does ordinance work for her male family names. Then they do the sealings together.
"When we used to go to the Washington D.C. Temple, it would take us 12 hours," she said. "When the Toronto Temple was built, it would take us six and a half hours. When the Montreal temple is completed, it will take us 35 minutes."
She said it will be an adjustment for her to have a temple so close. She is accustomed to staying at the temple for four days and doing as many ordinances each day as she can.
"I wonder what we'll do.' she said. "We won't go for a week, just for a day. I hope I will be able to go once a week." — John A. Farrington
Illustration by John Clark.
