I became an ordinance worker in the Timponogas Temple beginning September 2005 where I worked a Tuesday and Friday shift each week.
I have served as the coordinator for the recommend desk, the coordinator of the Baptistery, the coordinator of the Endowment room, the coordinator of the Initiatory and the coordinator in the dressing room.
During my service on Tuesdays I became well acquainted with a brother Frank Wirig who was 15 years my senior and he had worked in the CES department of the Church. He began to teach me about some of the wonderful symbolism’s that are found in each of the Temples and not always the same in each temple.
For example: When someone goes to the Baptistery to preform Baptisms for the Dead the Baptismal Font in all Temples are held up by 12 oxen. Their names are given from the 12 tribes of Israel. So, the question is,Which one of those oxen represents the tribe of isreal that is listed in your patriarchal blessing? Most likely you are from the tribe of Ephraim. So, how to you tell in each Temple which oxen is represented of Ephraim? This can be found in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers Chapter 2. In that chapter Moses received a designation from the Lord on where each tribe of Israel was to be represented around the perimeter of the Tabernacle and the Tribe of Ephraim is listed in vs 18 which designates Ephraim to be on the west side of the Tabernacle. So, in each temple you find the oxen that is on the west side of the Baptismal font that is always the one that is designated to Ephraim. The oxen that is on his right side represents Manasseh and on his left side in the tribe of Benjamin. These 3 represents the children from Jacobs wife Rachel.
A second symbol is found in the 7th Chapter of 2nd Kings where it tells that Solomon was building the famous Solomon’s Temple and he hired a man named Hyrum who was an expert in the work of Brass so Hyrum preformed many different acts of building of the Temple with his expertise in brass work. One of the first things that he did was to build 2 pillars that were attached to the outside entrance of the temple the one on the right he named Jachim and the one on the left he named Boaz. In the bible dictionary under the word Jachim is an explination of what those 2 pillars mean. The one on the right he refers to “He will establish” which refers to a person presenting his temple recommend. When he leaves the temple he passed the one of the left which is Boaz and it refers to “In Him Is Strength” meaning that after a person has been through temple ordinances he has greater gospel strength. These 2 pillars are found in the Mt Timponogas Temple (behind the wall where you present your recommend) but I am not aware of other temples with this particular symbolism.
In the old testament Jacob goes to visit a place called Penuel and while there he has a vision from the Lord in which he sees a ladder with people climbing the ladder to enter the Celestial Kingdom. This is symbolic of most all temples where you start with Baptisms in the basements and gradually move up to Initiatory and then to an endowment and then up a ramp to the Vail which represents entering into the presence of the Lord.
These are just a few of the symbols that you can find at each of the different Temples.
I served for 16 years in the Mt Timponogas Temple. I am very grateful for this very choice experience and have made life time acquaintances and friends.
