Ghana Accra Temple

The following are some pictures that Jarren emailed of the temple in Accra, Ghana. The Accra, Ghana temple was dedicated in 2004 and was the first in West Africa, and the second on the continent (the first was Johannesburg, South Africa in 1985).

The following is an exerpt from the dedicatory prayer:
"We dedicate the ground on which it stands with its beautiful vegetation. We dedicate the walls and the windows, the roof and the steeple with the crowning figure of Moroni. We dedicate the baptistry, the various ordinance rooms including the beautiful celestial room, the sacred altars, and all of the other rooms and facilities. We pray, dear Father, that Thou wilt accept this Thy holy house as the gift of Thy thankful people. By the strength of Thy mighty hand save it from the storms of nature and any desecrating act of man. May all who look upon it regard it as the house of the Lord with holiness unto the Lord. May all who enter its portals do so with meekness of spirit and gratitude of heart, and with cleanliness before Thee whose house this is. Please cause that Thy Holy Spirit shall dwell within these walls at all times. This is the temple of our God, hallowed unto us, Thy children. May it ever be a place of refuge from the noise and cares of the world."

for more information (and pictures) of the temple in Ghana you can visit http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/accra/

Temples are sacred places of worship, different from a chapel or meetinghouse where members gather on Sunday. A temple is literally the Lord's House, hence the inscription on every temple, "Holiness to the Lord. The House of the Lord." Before a temple is dedicated, anyone may come into the temple for a tour. This is generally called an open-house. Once the temple is dedicated to the Lord, every person is still welcome to enter but must meet the Lord's standards of worthiness before entering. God requires that each person who enters have already made covenants with Him through baptism, and be keeping that covenant made at baptism.

Inside the temple, people have the opportunity to make additional covenants (or promises) with Heavenly Father through ordinances. One ordinance is the sealing ordinance, in which husbands and wives, and their children, can be sealed together as a family forever, not just "until death do you part." Other ordinances are also performed for those who have passed on from this life.

Honestly, a better explanation than I can give can be found here: http://lds.org/church/temples/why-we-build-temples?lang=eng. There are links about what happens in temples, entering in the temple, blessings of the temple, and inside the temple (the celestial room picture is the San Antonio temple!)

 

I personally am grateful for the blessings of the temple in my life. Having temples on the earth today means that there is a way for families to be together forever. Having a temple means that I have the opportunity to go and visit the Lord's House, a sanctuary if you will, from the world. None of us are from this world, but we are each divine children of our Father in Heaven, and we will return to him someday.