Bound for Time and Eternity

In August 2024, I was selected to participate in a research exchange program at Sciences Po University in Paris, France. Although I was excited about this remarkable opportunity, I dreaded the thought of leaving my family for eight long months. After counseling together as a family, we prayerfully decided that I should accept the offer.

While in Paris, I was actively involved in academic research, Church activities, and temple worship. Paris is a beautiful city, rich in culture, full of educational and professional opportunities, known for its delicious food, stunning architecture, and pleasant weather. Yet, in the midst of all this, I felt something was missing. I missed my family deeply. I remember telling my husband during one of our phone conversations that if I ever make it to the celestial kingdom alone, I will not be happy.

That thought has stayed with me. The celestial kingdom is indeed the most glorious of all kingdoms, but without one’s family, even eternal life would feel incomplete. My time in France taught me, through experience, that family is everything. Nothing compares to it.

I came to better understand the importance of family history and temple work. This sacred work is not merely about gathering names; it is about gathering people, our family, those we love and hope to be with forever.

I am eternally grateful for the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, which has made life after death possible. I am equally grateful for the restoration of the sealing keys through the prophet Elijah, which has made it possible for families to be united for eternity. I feel profoundly blessed to be sealed to my parents, my husband, our children, and our ancestors. Every time I take a name to the temple, I feel I am expanding the eternal family I hope to live with beyond this life.

I invite all who have embraced the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to take family history and temple work seriously. We probably do not fully realize how earnestly our ancestors might have prayed for us to find the gospel so that we, in turn, could help redeem them. When we neglect this sacred responsibility, not only do we disappoint our forebears, but we also jeopardize our own eternal progression. As the Lord declared: “They without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:15).