Tender Mercy in the Temple

Johannesburg Temple

Friday the 8th of January was our usual temple day, and the first one in 3 weeks, as both Christmas and New Year's fell on Fridays.

 

We were both asked to officiate in the 3:00 endowment session. Then, just minutes before the session was to begin, both our coordinators were inspired to ask us to officiate in the 4:00 session instead and to perform initiatory ordinances for an hour first. 

 

To Bob's surprise, the patrons in the initiatory were Brother Torr and his son, who he knew in Cape Town 10 years ago. And the next patron to walk in was Geoff Spires, the Cape Town Stake President 10 years ago, whom we had visited in Hermanus in May and had met again in at the temple here in October.

 

Martha had been told that a sister was coming through from Cape Town, who has terminal cancer, to attend the temple for the final time before she dies, and her last name starts with S. Martha was so surprised when our dear friend, Angie Spires, showed up in initiatory and was that sister. 
 

Geoff and Angie Spires

Meanwhile, after finishing the initiatory ordinances for family names, Geoff pulled Bob aside and told him that soon after we saw them at the temple in October with their son from Australia, Angie was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which has spread throughout both lungs and her lymph nodes. The doctor told her she had a short time to live, and she has chosen not to go through chemotherapy. Geoff was very emotional when he said, "I know you have walked that path."

 

What a blessing it was that Bob was the officiator and Martha the follower for what seems sure to be the last temple endowment session the Spires will enjoy together. Also on that session were Jan and Sharon Nel from George, who were the couple that introduced the Spires to the Church 33 years ago in Cape Town. Jan Nel was the branch president in George for almost 10 years and reported directly to Bob when Bob was the mission president. Bob released Jan as branch president 10 years ago, after setting apart their son Laren as the first-ever missionary from the George Branch.

 

It was a very special experience for us and a very tender mercy from the Lord that our assignments were changed to work in initiatory from 3 to 4 and officiate the 4:00 session to be there for these special friends from the Cape.

 

After the temple, Jan Nel treated all of us to steak dinners at Mike's Kitchen and we had a delightful visit together, reminiscing and getting caught up on each others' families and cherishing the precious time with Angie, who was so calm, sweet and loving and very open with her feelings. Unfortunately, none of us thought to get a photograph of the occasion together.