"How Firm a Foundation"

We hand out a pass along card that has a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on it. On the back are a few questions of the soul and an invitation to visit the website mormon.org. I love the Salt Lake temple. Many people that we give the pass along card to are astonished by the beauty of the building. I admit it is a wonderful sight to see. What is even more astonishing however, is the temple's construction.

The Salt Lake Temple took 39 years to build. The foundation of the temple took 14 years alone. President Young said he wanted to see the temple built so strong that “it will endure through the Millennium”(lds.org) That is why so much time was spent on building the foundation of the temple. If the foundation will hold and stand so will the work on top of it. A sturdy foundation enables the rest of the building to function as it should. A house with a weak foundation will not stand. However, a house with a strong foundation can withstand the rains, floods, winds, earthquakes, and other tests that confront it. Brigham Young and the early saints understood this concept and took it into consideration as they built the temple. In fact, after 5 years of building the foundation the Saints had to completely restart because a crack was found in one of the foundation stones.

When Christ had established his Church he also established it on a firm foundation. We read in the Ephesians that the Church was "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." When the apostles were martyred the foundation was destroyed and the rest of the Church was affected. Eventually that Church fell. God understood the importance of that foundation and in our time he has built a new one. That is the reason why he called Joseph Smith to be a prophet and under his hand ordained 12 Apostles. With that foundation restored God once again brought His Church back onto the earth with the promise that it would stand until Christ will come again.

The Salt Lake temple is a testimony of the faithfulness of the saints and of the importance of this Latter-day work. It stands as a witness to all nations that Jesus is the Christ and that he leads and directs the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. He does this through living prophets and apostles. This is the same foundation that the original church was built upon. I know that this is true and I am grateful for the foundation upon which this church is built. I know that it will never fall. The Lord stated through His prophet:

"The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Til the end has come the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will stand as the Lord has promised. This is because of the foundation upon which it is built "which is a sure foundation, whereon if men build they shall not fall."(Helaman 5:12) That foundation is the same as when Christ had originally formed his church. It has been restored and it will not fall. Of this I testify as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ.