Twin Falls Idaho Temple

The Twin Falls Temple is a beautiful temple nestled in a small community.  Across the street from the temple are pastures filled with horses and cows.  It's a great area and a fun little city.

The interior of the temple is absolutely beautiful.  The Telestial room has an amazing mural of nearby Shoshone Falls.  It is breathtaking.  I love it because it gives honor to the surrounding area as well as to the magnificence of God's creation.  I obviously can't include a picture of the mural, but I decided to include a picture of the actual falls themselves which we were able to visit today as well.

The Temple Patron Fund

Last week in General Conference President Monson announced 6 new temples in Provo, Utah; Star Valley, Wyoming, Durban, South Africa; Barranquilla, Colombia; Kinshasa, Congo and Paris, France.

I was super excited about the Provo Tabernacle being rebuilt as a temple.  How exciting to have a temple only 3 miles away from an existing temple.  Temples really are beginning to dot the earth.  I was also extremely excited about the Star Valley Wyoming temple.  I served a portion of my mission in Casper, Wyoming.  I have always dreamed of the day that Wyoming would get a temple.  This new temple will still be several hours away from Casper, so I still dream of the day that Casper gets its own temple.  But I still leapt for joy when President Monson mentioned Wyoming.

Another thing that made me super excited was the announcement of the Temple Patron Fund.  What an amazing program.  To think that we could donate to help others to have the blessing of the temple is so exciting.  My wife and I discussed it and decided we definitely want to contribute to that amazing fund.

In case you missed it, I grabbed this part of President Monson's talk and put it on youtube.  Here it is below:

San Diego California Temple

The San Diego temple was one of the most unique temples I've seen.  The celestial room has a beautiful staircase going up to a second level.  It has large spires coming down from the ceiling that look like icicles.  The outside is absolutely beautiful, with somewhat of a fairy castle type look.  To the brides who get married here they really do get to feel like a princess in a castle.

It sits right next to the freeway, where you can see its majesty as you drive by.  It is a beautiful temple in a beautiful city.

These flowers were all over the trees on the temple grounds.

We were there with Robyn's sister Megan and her husband Graham.

View a gallery of this temple.

Manti Utah Temple

The Manti Temple has always had a special place in my heart.  I've had several good friends who attended Snow College.  I loved to come down and visit.  I loved to do sessions here.  I love the beauty of this temple.  From the rose petal tips on the lights, to the spiral staircase that winds up each of the towers, this is a magnificent temple.  It is one of two temples in the world that does a live endowment session.

It has been several years since I have been to this temple.  Today I was able to take my wife there.  It was her first time and I loved sharing this temple with her.  It is amazing to look at this beautiful temple and realize that there was no paid labor in its construction.  It was all built as a labor of love by members of the church.  That makes its beauty even more incredible.

View a gallery of this temple.

Logan Utah Temple

The Logan Temple is a very special temple.  It is one of the 4 temples built by pioneers in Utah in the 1800's. It has since been renovated to support the newer technologies such as projection screens but it still has a special air to it.  It sits on a hill overlooking the valley.  It is beautiful and almost looks like a castle.  Robyn and I really enjoyed seeing this temple.

This sign amused us.

View a gallery of this temple.

Vernal Utah Temple

The Vernal Temple is a very unique temple.  It was dedicated as a tabernacle in 1907.  Then, after it had fallen into disrepair the interior was gutted and rebuilt as a temple, dedicated in 1997.  As I walked through the halls of the temple I found it to be very different from most temples.  The design is very simple, yet still elegant.  It really made me realize that it is not architecture or design that makes a temple.  It is the fact that it was dedicated as our Lord's house.  Regardless of what a temple may look like, the most important thing is the saving ordinances that are performed for the living and the dead within its walls.

View a Gallery of this temple