One of the most interesting days of my life took place a few years ago when I co-conducted

a tour of the Jordan River Temple in Utah for non-Latter-day Saints specialists in American

religion.

As we walked from room to room, my co-tour guide, my second mission president, did his best

to anticipate questions that my scholarly friends may have had, and he did a great job.

The most interesting part of the tour,

and where more questions came up, though,

was well after we had left the temple's doorways.

My friend Bob at one point asked me,

what does the temple do for Latter-day Saints?

And I talked to him about eternal kinship networks,

the binding of families, the salvation for the dead.

He said, no, what does the temple do for individuals like you?

And that question took me back, as you can tell, I'm still reflecting on it several years later.

I think if I were to describe what the temple does in the lives of everyday Latter-day Saints today,

I would sum it up in one word, and that is flourishing,

the flourishing of relationships, of personal peace and reflection,

of revelatory capacity, and of my own faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

As we discuss Hegai and Zachariah today, let's keep that question in mind.

What does the gospel do for Latter-day Saints? Why are we so anxious to build temples and invite

all we can to participate in their sacred rituals and spiritual splendor? We'll discuss that

and more on today's episode of Abide, a Maxwell Institute podcast. My name is Joseph Stewart. I'm a public communication

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