Temple Endowments, June 8, 2016

When Brooklyn was in Middle School her grades weren't exactly perfect. We knew she was capable of more so we asked her about her efforts. She told us not to worry, that when she got to ninth grade when it really mattered, she would do much better. Knowing that good habits early on could set the tone for later, we wanted to think of something to help motivate her, but couldn't think of what. Surprisingly her first quarter of ninth grade she received a 4.0. (perfect grade point average) The next quarter and the next she did the same thing, more 4.0's! We were thrilled and very proud and half joking said that if she could get 4.0's until she graduated, we would take her on a Senior trip to anywhere she wanted to go. She announced she wanted to go to New Zealand!!! (Her mom was born there and we still had family, including a cousins she had grown close to and enjoyed face timing with.) Well, 4 years later Brooklyn graduated with a perfect 4.0! We knew she was going to do it, so we had begun planning our trip to New Zealand in November of 2015. Because she had received her mission call in May, the timing was perfect for her to take out her Endowments in the New Zealand Temple. Mom's Aunts Chelle Horscroft, LaVerna Beal and Charmaine and Ray Renner in New Zealand helped us set everything up so that the day we arrived, we were able to meet with family that afternoon for Brooklyn to take out her Endowments for the first time. It was such a wonderful thing to share that experience with our New Zealand family members. Being so far away from them, we haven't been able to have those special times together. Plus, it was the temple that Debbie was sealed to her parents in as a baby, and 16 years ago Brian and Debbie were able to do a session there with Debbie's Nana before she passed away. It has such a special place in our hearts