September 12-16 2019: Temple Cleaning, Barbeque and Arundel Castle 

With the last of our visitors gone (all seven of our children and their spouses plus four of our brothers and sisters have come to visit us) we spent the last week of the London Temple closure cleaning the temple and preparing for it to reopen on the 17th of September.

Temple Cleaning

During this six-week shutdown, the celestial room was painted, new curtains and carpet was installed in all of the endowment ordinance rooms and the wall coverings in the initiatory areas were replaced.  The primary purpose for the long shutdown was to replace the limestone steps at the main entrance and the east entrance with granite.  The restoration company that was employed for this work signed a contract to have it done in six weeks but English law does not allow for a penalty to be assessed for late work if there is no financial loss and thus, the work wasn't even close to being completed.  However, they had generated a lot of dust so we did a lot of dusting and cleaning.  On our final day, we cleaned all 752 glass crystals (about 2" in diameter and from 18" to 42" long) using a "bucket brigade" method with about 30 temple workers, it took about 3 hours.  It was a memorable experience!

Temple Barbeque

Following the cleaning, we had a nice barbeque on the south lawn of the Temple grounds with freshly grilled hamburgers and hotdogs.  Here's a few pictures of the event.

Brother Warwick Fortune (New Zealand) and Brother Kelsey Ruse (Lindon, UT) at the grill with President Chris Freeman (Woking) and Brother Fitzner (Alberta Canada).

All the fixin's for the grilled hamburgers and hotdogs!

Visiting while waiting for the dinner are Ron and Brenda Linford (Casper, WY), Sister Fitzner (Alberta Canada), Sister and Brother Littlefield (North Carolina) with Sister and Brother Davenport (Gilbert, AZ).

Brother and Sister Davenport (Gilbert, AZ), Sister Burkinshaw and Sister Whitehouse and Sister Docherty.

Lynn Turner (Blackfoot, ID), President Mike Otterson (Centerville, UT) and President Christ Freeman (Woking).

President Peel, Sister Douoghty, Brother Whitehouse, Brother Doughty, Brother Mueller and Sister Turner.

Arundel Castle

Our final castle visit was to Arundel Castle which was halfway between Brighton and Portsmouth, about an hour southwest of the London Temple.  Arundel Castle is a restored and remodelled medieval castle which was originally established in AD 1067 under a charter granted by William the Conqueror.  The castle was damaged in the English Civil War and was then restored in the 18th and 19th centuries.  It is the principal seat of the Howard family, whose heads have been first Earls of Arundel and then Dukes of Norfolk.

Sister Burkinshaw in front of Arundel Castle.

Sister Burkinshaw in front of Arundel Castle.

Sister Burkinshaw in front of the rose garden with Arundel Castle in the background.

A side-view of Arundel Castle.

The gatehouse to Arundel Castle the oldest remaining building on the premises which was built in 1070 AD.

Chapel of Arundel Castle. The flowers in the courtyard were all white, very beautiful!

Sister Burkinshaw inside the chapel of Arundel Castle.

The chapel stained-glass with the Gothic wood ceiling.

A tapestry with the Howard Family coat of arms.  The phrase "Sola Virtus Invicta" translates to "Bravery Alone is Invincible."

The beautiful garden with pool and waterfall fountain at Arundel Castle.

The Arundel Castle rose garden with the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady and St Phillip Howard.  Interestingly the Howard Family which owns Arundel Castle are Catholic. During the English Civil Ward in 1643, the Howard Family also supported King Charles and the Royalists but in 1644 a large force of Parliamentarians, who supported Oliver Cromwell, laid siege on Arundel Castle and defeated the Royalist forces.  In 1664, Roman Catholic worship was suppressed in England and all churches and cathedrals in England were transferred to the Church of England. It was not until 1829, that Roman Catholicism became lawful once again and in 1868 the Howard Family sponsored the design and construction of this cathedral.  In 1970 Pope Paul VI cannonized Phillip Howard as a saint and the Cathedral became The Cathedal of Our Lady and St Phillip Howard.   

Sister Burkinshaw in front of the Arundel Castle garden thatched roof "roundhouse."

Sister Burkinshaw with the Cornish slate watersphere, made from hundreds of shaped pieces of slate fixed together to form a uniform sphere.  The enduring sphere creates a relaxing and tranquil area.

Sister Burkinshaw in the entry stairway to Arundel Castle.  Similar to Highclere Castle (better known as Downton Abbey) part of the castle is used to generate tourism funds to support the owners ability to live in the rest of the castle.

Sister Burkinshaw in the "Civil War" room of Arundel Castle with mannequins dressed as Royalists (supporters of King Charles) during the English Civil War.  Eventually it was the Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell.

This is the courtyard where members of the Howard Family live today. 

A part of the village of Arundel as seen from the Castle.

The beautiful rolling hills surrounding Arundel Castle.

The chapel inside of Arundel Castle.

Elder Burkinshaw with one of several sets of medieval armor at Arundel Castle.

Sister Burkinshaw in the Baron's Hall of Arundel Castle.  This great hall was built in 1815 to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta (1215) and dedicated to "Liberty asserted by the Barons in the reign of John."  

One of several lion pelt rugs in the Great Baron Hall of Arundel Castle.  While biologists believe that lions were common 40,000 years ago in Great Britain, it is sure that these lion pelt rugs came from Africa.

The hammerbeam roof of oak which was grown on the estate of Arundel Castle.  

The Baron's Hall in Arundel Castle from another side.

Sister Burkinshaw adding to the beauty of the warmly furnished Drawing Room of Arundel Castle.

Sister Burkinshaw in the bedroom that was specifically built for the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846.  

The fireplace in the Queen Victoria room with a portrait of Queen Victoria above the desk.

Sister Bukinshaw in the stunning library at Arundel Castle. The library is as large of the Great Hall, but has been divided into smaller reading areas. The wood in the library has been beautifully maintained and there is an impressive collections of books.

One of the "reading nooks" with fireplace in Arundel Castle.

We close with a thought given by Elder Burkinshaw at a recent Temple preparation meeting:

Elder D Todd Christofferson (“Preparing for the Lord’s Return” GC April 2019) taught:
“…it is supremely important to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. …Poverty and suffering will not only decline; they will vanish…let us devote ourselves more diligently to the preparations needed for the day when pain and evil are ended altogether…”

“What can we do to prepare now for that day? We can prepare ourselves as a people; we can gather the Lord’s covenant people; and we can help redeem the promise of salvation 'made to the fathers'..."

“First, and crucial for the Lord’s return, is the presence on the earth of a people prepared to receive Him at His coming. … in the last days a new Zion will receive the Lord at His return. Zion is the pure in heart, a people of one heart and one mind, dwelling in righteousness with no poor among them.  We build up Zion in our homes, wards, branches, and stakes through unity, godliness, and charity.”

But, as Elder Christofferson says, “We must acknowledge that the building up of Zion occurs in tumultuous times – ‘a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.’  Thus, the gathering into stakes becomes ‘for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.’”   

We need to overcome the natural man in all of us.  We dearly need the Savior’s atonement to become people prepared to receive Him.  

Elder Bruce D. Hafen shared this great insight.  “A friend once asked me, ‘If Christ is at the center of the gospel and the temple, why doesn’t the temple endowment teach the story of Christ’s life? What’s all this about Adam and Eve?’  I have come to feel that the life of Christ is the story of giving the Atonement. The story of Adam and Eve is the story of receiving the Atonement, amid the sometimes-formidable oppositions of mortality.” (“The Temple and the Natural Order of Marriage,” Ensign, September 2015)

Temple worship teaches us how we can also receive the Savior's atonement.   By submission to the covenants of 1) Obedience, 2) Sacrifice, 3) The Gospel, 4) Chastity and 5) Consecration, we may be prepared for the Lord’s glorious return.  The symbolic tokens and signs provide palpable reminders of how He is our Savior. 

Thus, the first and continuing redemption that takes place in the Temple is for the living – for those who are striving to be prepared to receive the Lord Jesus Christ at his Second Coming.


May we always remember that Temple worship is a critical part of our personal preparation for the Lord’s Second Coming and may our ministering to others be likewise focused on the Temple.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Elder and Sister Burkinshaw