***Shine***
Last Saturday I learned a beautiful lesson at the Washington DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
Show up a few minutes late for my 8am Initiatory reservation.
Took some of my Irish ancestor's names, so I could do proxy work for them.
The first Temple Worker who welcomed me into the Initiatory area was my good friend, the President of the Persian congregation that meets in McLean, VA.
After greeting each other I told him this time I have Irish ancestral names instead of the European ancestral names like I had the last time he and I went to the Temple with the Persian congregation.
I asked him if we could do the ordinance in Farsi.
Kindly - and knowing I woudln’t understand the Farsi - he said we could do that but he'd prefer to follow the card - or more formally conduct the ordinance - since, ya know, the Temple is the House of the Lord, a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.
The first ancestral names was Patrick Shine. The Persian congregation leader pronounced his last name as "Shin" like my family’s Chinese friends might have pronounced it.
When in the Initiatory ordinance it was my turn to state the name of my ancestor, I also pronounced it "Shin." The other Temple workers pronounced his last name as "Shine."
In the original Celtic and Gaelic, "Shine" would be pronounced "Shen" or "Shin-uh" and “Deàrrsadh”, respectively.
Bottom line: The Savior doesnt care about how imperfect we are or how we pronounce names and only invites us to do the work our ancestors weren’t able to. He provides the Temple, the technology, the free time we have, and the means of travel to the Temple so we can do our ancestors work - by His authority. He is the source of hope for Patrick Shine and it is the Savior’s shine that is the light and life of the world.
Jesus Declares: I Am the Light of the World; the Truth Shall Make You Free
