Help! I need some quotes about spirits on the other side of the veil

[sbenard]

I am responsible in my Ward for temple and family history work. In our 5th Sunday meeting in two weeks, I am going to be presenting a lesson on the subject.

I am searching for some good quotes by members of the Quorum of the Twelve or the First Presidency related to what happens to spirits on the other side of the veil once their ordinance work is done by us in the temples. I know that they then leave the spirit prison, but what then? I'm pretty sure they don't just grab a book, put a log on the fire, and sit down to read and take it easy from then on. What happens to them? What is their work after that? Do we know?

Here are my thoughts. Because this is my calling, I have been pondering this for about 3-4 months. This scripture keeps coming to my mind again and again:
D&C 128:18 "For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect."

It seems rather obvious that without us doing ordinance work for them, they can't progress and be "made perfect". It's less obvious to me, however, how our work for our dead helps US to become perfected. I'd like to find some good quotes related to this scripture or this idea that the work we do for them helps US to become perfected.

Here are a few thoughts that I've been pondering, to get our discussion going.

First, I printed out a list of the temples of the Church. There are 144 of them with at least a dozen more under construction. I taped together the list. It was six pages long. It was as long as I am tall, and I'm 6'4". It's impressive to look at! The visual impact of that list is stunning!
We are rapidly reaching a point in which we will run out of human records to index, and therefore, people that we can do work for. I'm told that human records don't extend back much beyond about the year 1500. What would happen to all those temples if we exhausted all those human records? Somehow, I don't think the Lord is going to close His temples because we run out of names to do ordinance work for. I've read a few quotes suggesting that we will be helped by spirits from the other side of the veil. The temples will NOT close!
Suppose for a moment, however, that we had no more records available. Suppose that we ran out of indexing projects. If we could no longer do work for the dead, we would no longer be able to go to the temple. We would no longer receive the blessings nor experience the peace of temple attendance if we had to close temples because we no longer had names to do ordinance work for.
I can't imagine how I would have been able to remember my covenants for the past 30-35 years if I hadn't been going to the temple frequently to do work for the dead. I took out my endowments before my mission in 1978. Imagine what would happen if there were no more people that we could do temple ordinance work for. How would WE benefit from the temple if we only went only once in our lifetime, and then forgot about it after a few months or years? We wouldn't need many temples if we only went a single time (to do our own work) in a lifetime!
What I'm suggesting here, then, is that by continuing to frequent the temple to do work for others of God's children, WE benefit from the blessings of temple attendance, and WE are perfected through the work we are doing for them. WE are reminded frequently of our covenants, and WE learn as the Spirit reveals to us the meaning of the doctrines and lessons from the temple. That may be one way that we are perfected by doing work for them.

Second, as these spirits are freed from the spirit prison, do they not then become ministering angels to US who are still mortals on earth? Do they not then help US on this side of the veil, attending to us and our needs? Does anyone know of any quotes that would suggest that this is what happens?

There are experiences I've had that are too sacred to reveal here, but I can tell you that I have a perfect knowledge that those who we do work for in the temples are real, and that they are deeply grateful for the work we do for them. I also know that they love us for this work we've done. I know this! I am absolutely certain of this reality.

I would really appreciate any thoughts or help in researching this subject. I would like to thank you all in advance for your service in helping me with this project. God bless you all, brothers and sisters.

[Thinker]

I also have had sacred experiences in the temple and in other places, which testify to me that we as spirits do continue after death.

Although I see the temple as used to manipulate and exclude people, I still acknowledge beautiful, inspiring aspects associated with it.
And I see a much greater and more urgent need in loving those alive (Jesus taught..."let the dead bury the dead, God of the living).

Still, I do think that there are spiritual ties that reach beyond death as suggested in Mal 4:5-6 (Turn hearts of fathers and children to each other).



"The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life." – Elder Russell M. Nelson

"By now, in my own personal history, I have managed to fill seventy-eight large volumes, which are my personal journal. There have been times when I have been so tired at the end of a day that the effort could hardly be managed, but I am so grateful that I have not let slip away from me and my posterity those things which needed to be recorded."-Pres. Kimball

"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?" Cicero- The Orator

"The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future." -Herbert Spencer

[shadow]

Section 138 talks about it.