Central to the Church

Members of the LDS Church feel a certain pride stating that the temple is central to their worship or that it's the focus of their worship. The idea is that the temple is without a doubt what Mormonism is all about. It's the cream of the crop. The delicious white fruit from Lehi's dream. It's our end goal as mortal beings. 

White, delightsome and ready for baptism or whatever.

The funny thing is that it's nowhere near as central as your meeting house. Have you ever considered how odd it is that you're supposed to go to church every Sunday without fail in order to partake of the sacrament, but how you only have to get to the temple to take out your endowment once? Doesn't that suggest that the baptismal covenants are more greatly emphasized in deed if not in word?

This happens in front of all your LDS neighbors. Who knows 

who you'll recognize in the temple.

Consider the fact that Sunday worship is not at all casual. You have a specific day of the week designated for you by the Lord Jehovah himself and a precise time you must come and worship. Your attendance is recorded. They're literally counting you in sacrament meeting and you sign rolls in your other Sunday meetings. Sunday is not to be taken lightly at all. Don't mow your lawn. Don't confess to watching professional sports. You have to keep Sunday "holy".

 Because 3 hrs of this in one day isn't enough.

Contrast Sunday worship to days of temple worship. You can go whenever it's convenient during the temple's hours of operation (just check the schedule if you want to do an endowment session). You can choose your activity: baptisms and confirmations, washings and anointings, an endowment or sealings. You can go right after work if that's convenient, you can play sports afterward, you can go to the movies or play your favorite violent video game. There are no restrictions on your day whatsoever. The impression I get is that the temple is very much extracurricular for members.

"We're going to the mall for burgers and ice cream after this! Yay!"

You can argue that going to the temple is essential for salvation. That's what the Church tells us, anyway. But if it is, you only have to go one for yourself. That will fill your quota. Not so with baptism. After you're baptized you have to take the sacrament every week and make the same covenant with God over and over.

What do you think? Both are said to be essential but which is more central, baptism and the sacrament or temple worship? Doubters like me can rarely tell.

Aaronic Priesthood duties

Not that this was a major cause for concern, but I recall being a little confused when, as an Aaronic Priesthood-holder, my quorums would have lessons about our duties in which we would research them in the Doctrine & Covenants. Section 20 spells things out quite clearly from the office of apostle (not an Aaronic Priesthood office) on down to deacon.

Apostles - ARE ELDERS, they are called to baptize, ordain others to Priesthood office, administer the sacrament, perform membership confirmations, teach, watch over the church, and lead all meetings.
Reality - apostles are high priests who wear dark suits and sit in on board meetings; twice a year they give a boring talk.

Priests - preach, teach, baptize, administer the sacrament, visit each house to tell them to pray out loud and to fulfill their family duties, ordain other priests and lesser offices, assist the elders, and take charge of the meetings when the elders aren't around.
Reality - priests stumble through a couple of written sacrament prayers once a week, baptize their younger siblings sometimes, and occasionally stand in with the Melchizedek Priesthood-holders when they ordain someone to an Aaronic Priesthood office.

Teachers - keep watch over the church, strengthen the members, make sure the members are behaving themselves, make sure the members gather for meetings often, and take over when there's not an elder or priest present, expounding, exhorting, etc., but not baptizing or administering the sacrament.
Reality - teachers go to church a little bit earlier than everyone else so they can fill the sacrament cups with water, put bread on the bread trays, usher, and clean up the sacrament table.

Deacons - help the teachers out, expound, exhort, etc., but no baptizing anyone or administering the sacrament.
Reality - pass the sacrament and maybe be the bishop's little messenger.

It was hard not to notice that there were a lot of things we were supposed to do but weren't being held accountable for. It was also evident that there were things we did that weren't listed as our responsibilities.

Who cares? It doesn't matter! That was all 1830 stuff anyway when the Church was small. We've grown, the duties of each office have been modified through need. Just be a good kid and don't do anything wrong, OK?

Sure, no problem. Oh, hey, where in the Doctrine & Covenants can I find the revelations that changed my Aaronic Priesthood duties?