What Really Matters

The service and interdependence among members in the Galápagos Islands that have created such unity led to rich blessings in 2007. That year David and Jeanneth Palacios escorted five branch families, nearly 25 people in all, to the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple.

"To see those families sealed, I felt as though we had been transported to the heavens," says Jeanneth. "We felt the presence of the Lord so profoundly. All five of those families are very active today."

On this visit to the temple, branch president Daniel Calapucha and his wife, Angela, were sealed, and their three children were sealed to them as well. "The temple totally transforms you," President Calapucha says. "Truly, it is the house of the Lord. To be together as a family in the gospel of the Lord changes lives. That's why I stay in this church. Having been sealed as a family, I no longer fear death. I no longer fear that I'm going to lose my family when I die.

"The temple has become the foundation for feeling and knowing that our Heavenly Father exists—and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. It is a testimony that no one can take from me."