Mark A. Shields

I am a happy father of five and an attorney practicing law in Mesa, Arizona. "Your Endowment" is my first book, just published by Cedar Fort. My goal is specifically to help people understand and treasure the sacred temple endowment. I have always loved temples as long as I can remember. I recognize the temple as the most sacred place on earth, so, to me, everybody should love the temple the same way I do.

The sad part is that there are many - far too many - Latter-day Saints who don't have a strong understanding, testimony and appreciation of the temple. I've dedicated many years of study and prayer to trying to remedy that situation, and this book is the result of those years.

The book follows the same outline as the Church's temple preparation class, but it goes much deeper into subjects such as the true meaning of words that are so important to the endowment, Adam and Eve and the two trees in the Garden of Eden, and the Abrahamic Covenant. Because of the depth of these subjects, the book is helpful for those who are preparing to receive their endowment as well as those who have been going to the temple for decades. Heavenly Father designed the endowment so that we would never stop learning from it as long as we want to learn from it. This book is designed to help in that process and give anyone with a testimony of the Church an equally strong testimony and understanding of the temple.

My next book is called "Gospel Symbols - Finding the Creator in His Creations." It is sort of a companion volume to the temple book because symbolism is such an important part of the endowment. Stay tuned for further details about its release in early 2010!