I’m launching a photo project this week around a subject that I not only love to photograph, but one that provides me an opportunity to share testimonies from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Starting today, I am inviting people to participate in Temples and Testimonies.
I’ve captured photos of almost all LDS temples in Utah (and will have photos of them all following a trip I’m taking this weekend) and have even captured a few outside of Utah. I love to capture the exterior beauty of these buildings and grounds, but my hope is to use these photos as a mechanism to share testimonies from other Latter-day Saints from around the world.
I’ve dedicated a page on my blog to sharing testimonies alongside my photos of LDS temples. As of today I have three testimonies shared on the page, including one from a women in the Philippines who recently attended the temple for the first time. These three testimonies are just the start, and I look forward to building a collection of testimonies to help people build their own testimony or find strength in times of need.
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) summed up the power an individual testimony can have in the lives of anyone during a talk he gave at General Conference in April 1998:
“Personal testimony is the factor which turns people around in their living as they come into this Church. This is the element which motivates the membership to forsake all in the service of the Lord. This is the quiet, encouraging voice which sustains without pause those who walk in faith down to the last days of their lives.
“It is a mysterious and wonderful thing, a gift from God to man. It overrides wealth or poverty when one is called to serve. This testimony which is carried in the hearts of our people motivates to an impelling duty. It is found in young and old. It is found in the seminary student, in the missionary, in the bishop and the stake president, in the mission president, in the Relief Society sister, in every General Authority. It is heard from those who hold no office other than membership. It is of the very essence of this work. It is what is moving the work of the Lord forward across the world. It impels to action. It demands that we do what we are asked to do. It brings with it the assurance that life is purposeful, that some things are of far greater importance than others, that we are on an eternal journey, that we are answerable unto God.” Check out the full conference talk, titled Testimony
I hope others will visit the collection of testimonies and take the opportunity to submit a short testimony about Jesus Christ, faith, prayer, fasting, the Book of Mormon, or another element of the gospel. It’s stated that a testimony is found in the bearing of it, so what better opportunity to share your testimony with countless others.
You can follow Temples and Testimonies on Twitter and Instagram (@TempleTestimony)
Carltonaut 