Clearance story
This story all begins on September 14, 2005. Greg and I had made the decision to get married the next time he was in town which would be October 15th (Sweetest Day). I called the St. Paul, Minnesota Temple to make the appointment. They began asking me questions. One of the questions was “has Greg been sealed previously?” since the answer was yes they then asked “does he have a clearance?”. I was fairly new to this aspect of the gospel. I had no idea what a clearance was but I figured Greg knew a lot more about all of this than I did and answered “I’m sure he does.” They made the appointment for October 15th at 1:30 p.m. I called Greg to tell him we were scheduled and told him about the conversation I had with the temple worker. His response was “What’s a clearance?” This did not bode well for us. Fortunately, I had an appointment with my stake president, President Painter, later that evening in order to get my temple recommend (as I was going to be endowed on the 23rd). I went to the appointment with the stake president and near the end of our appointment I asked “What is a clearance?” President Painter’s response was “You are getting married when?” I explained our appointment was scheduled for 4 weeks away. He let out a deep breath and handed me a form. He explained that he would give me a copy of the form but that Greg would have to have his bishop request an original and complete it through him. President Painter also explained that we need to be aware that most clearances took an average of six months. The shortest one he ever received in all his years as a stake president was six weeks. He wished me luck and I went on my merry way. I called Greg as I was driving home and actually ended up stopping in a parking lot to read him the instructions I had received. It turns out that we needed letters from:
Greg
Greg’s Bishop
Greg’s Stake President
My Bishop
Greg’s ex-wife
This was going to be a tall order to fill. With diligence and speed Greg managed to have all interviews and get all letters and all required documentation to his bishop within one week. Knowing speed was of an essence, Greg’s bishop sent everything to Salt Lake for review and approval. The weeks went by sooo slowly. We had no idea if we would be sealed in the temple on the 15th or not. We prayed every day that we would receive the clearance in enough time to get our recommends and be married on the 15th. After about two weeks we were beginning to get desperate. I called the office of the First Presidency in Salt Lake and tried to get information. The told me that the y could only give information to Greg’s bishop or his stake president. We begged them to call. They tried to no avail. My mother approached the St. Paul, Minnesota Temple President, President Holt. (He was my home teachers for the majority of the years I was growing up and was also scheduled to be our Sealer) She asked him if there was anything he could do to make this sealing happen to please do it.
Greg was flying to Minnesota on Thursday, October 13th. We had not heard anything from the First Presidency. Greg had an appointment with his stake president at his office immediately before catching a plane. He was unable to obtain his recommend until his stake president heard that the clearance was approved. Greg left knowing that his stake president would overnight the recommend if he heard anything. Greg got on the plane.
About 5:30 p.m. I was heading to the airport to meet Greg’s plane. My cell phone rang. It was President Holt. He said that he had spoken with the office of the First Presidency and our clearance was approved. He also indicated that he spoke with Greg’s stake president and that even though we had no paperwork to show up tomorrow to be sealed and he would take care of the paperwork at a later time. I don’t think you could smile any bigger than I was. I could barely wait for Greg’s plane to land.
But it did and with little trouble ( a small tux issue that was fixed) we were married and sealed together for time and all eternity as scheduled on October 15th at 1:30 p.m. This was definitely the sweetest day.
I have heard that we were the talk of the temple for a very long time. A clearance in three weeks!!! This doesn’t happen often. Well….now no one can say that we weren’t meant to be together.
I love you baby!!!
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