Oakland California Temple

The Oakland Temple is another special temple for our family.  My wife grew up in Clovis, California.  Through most of her youth, the Oakland Temple was her temple.  Her ward would take all of the youth in a big caravan to do baptisms.  Since then, they built the Fresno temple which is only 20 minutes from her parent's house.

This was the first time she or I had done an endowment session in this temple, so that was a neat experience for both of us.  We had the opportunity to be the witness couple, so that was neat too.

This is a very beautiful temple, and it's one of the few to not have an Angel Moroni on the spire.  It also has a beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay.  I really enjoyed this temple, and I'm grateful I had the opportunity to experience it.

View a gallery of this temple.

Brigham City Utah Temple

The Brigham City Temple is a special little temple.  It is small enough that you need reservations to go to any session.  When you arrive at the front desk they check your reservation and give you a little wooden card that says what session you are in.  Robyn thought the little cards were very cute.  Naturally, I left the little card in the dressing room when I changed my clothes, so I had to go back and grab it to get into the session.

The ordinance rooms are very small.  I would estimate they seat about 50 people.  The celestial room has a different shape.  When you first walk in, you are in a really small room with just about 4 seats.  At first, I thought that was it, but I realized there was a larger room adjoining it.  The larger room is still not very large. There is room for maybe 20 people to sit down.  It has a beautiful chandelier in the center of the room and a fairly high ceiling.

One thing that was neat about this temple, was that we had been able to stop by and see it under construction when we went to the Logan Temple.

At this point, the temple was just a hollow shell.

My wife and I at the temple construction site.

Of course, now it's all completed.  The grounds are beautiful and there is no construction equipment.

You can't really see the sign above, but it's easier to read in the closeup below

Holiness to the Lord.  The House of the Lord

Playing with the fisheye lense

I really liked the waving flag in this pic

Robyn really liked these windows.

View a gallery of this temple.

Laie Hawaii Temple

The Laie Hawaii Temple is a very special temple, located in a place that really showcases the beauty of the Lord's creations.

The morning when we were able to attend this temple I had gotten up very early to spend some time in Shark's Cove, which is not far from this temple.  As I looked down at the amazing sea life, and up at the beautiful rainbow, I was very grateful for the beauty that our Heavenly Father placed upon this earth.  When I am in nature, I feel many of the same stirrings of the spirit that I feel within temple walls.  It was neat to experience those feelings within nature and then spend some time within this temple just a few hours later.

We visited the temple as well as the visitor's center.  I didn't know that the city of Laie was originally settled by members of the church.  It truly is a mormon town.  I was surprised to learn that.

The grounds of this temple are beautiful, as is the inside.  This is the oldest standing temple outside of the state of Utah.  As such, it has the older style where you get the opportunity to move from the creation room, to the garden room, the world room (or telestial room), the terrestrial room and finally the celestial room.  Each room was beautiful and the spirit could be felt throughout.

Looking up at the temple

A view of the back of the temple

Some bamboo on the grounds

A banyan tree on the grounds

The Christus in the visitor's center

Holiness to the Lord - The House of the Lord

Robyn and I in front of the temple

The view looking out from the temple

The maternity fountain

A mural on the grounds

A flower on the grounds

Robyn with a statue showing the conferring of priesthood

View out the window at the Visitor's Center

flower on the grounds

View a gallery of this temple

Saint George Utah Temple

The Saint George Temple is the oldest temple currently standing.  It is a beautiful temple in a beautiful city in southern Utah.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into this temple was a painting depicting Wilford Woodruff and a number of the founding fathers of our nation.

I couldn't find a color copy of the picture.  This is the painting but it has color inside the temple.

It brought to mind a glorious vision that took place in this temple.  The following are Wilford Woodruff's own words.

Before I left St. George, the spirits of the [Founding Fathers] gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, “You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.”
Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them.
I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon Brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others.
When Brother McAllister had baptized me for the 100 names I baptized him for 21, including General Washington and his forefathers and all the Presidents of the United States--except three. Sister Lucy Bigelow Young went forth into the font and wa baptized for Martha Washington and her family and 70 of the 'eminent women' of the world. (Wilford Woodruff, in a Conference Report, April 10, 1898; Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 160-61; Wilford Woodruff Journal, August 21, 1877)

In the April 1898 General Conference, President Woodruff again recalled this sacred experience:

I am going to bear my testimony to this assembly, if I never do it again in my life, that those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits, not wicked men. General Washington and all the men that labored for the purpose were inspired of the Lord. . . .
Everyone of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them. (Wilford Woodruff, Conference Report, April 1989, pp. 89-90)

As I made my way through this temple, I pondered the above experience and the miracle that is our nation.

We had the opportunity to be a witness couple as we did an endowment session.  The ordinance room was beautiful and it lead into a special veil room which was a unique feature of this temple.  The celestial room has a large sealing room adjacent to it.  We watched a family with small children come in to be sealed together and have the opportunity to be an eternal family.  It was special to sit there and ponder what a blessing it is to be together forever.  It was somewhat difficult for us because we're struggling with fertility issues.  Of course, we both have faith that we will have the opportunity to have children and be with them forever.  We just don't know when or how that will happen.  I am grateful for the knowledge that the Lord will provide this blessing, and I am grateful for the experience we had in this temple.

View a gallery of this temple.

Fresno California Temple

Besides the Timpanogos Temple, where we were married, this is probably one of the most special temples for Robyn and I.  She is from Clovis, which is about 25 minutes from this temple.  Before we got engaged, I came home with her and had the opportunity to be present in the session where she was endowed.

This past week we were able to go to this temple again for a very special event.  Robyn's Oma (German grandmother) was baptized about two years ago and had the opportunity to attend the temple about a year ago.  Oma decided to be sealed to her husband who had passed away.  We drove out and I had the opportunity to sit as a witness to the sealing.  She was also sealed to two of her children, Robyn's mother and uncle.

We joked that not many people get the opportunity to attend their grandmother's wedding.  It was so neat to be able to stand in and see her obtain this incredible blessing.

Carol (Robyn's mother) was sealed to her mother.  I looked into her eyes as she was receiving the ordinance.  I saw how happy she was to finally partake of the blessing of an eternal family.  It made me appreciate what an incredible blessing it truly is.  My parents were sealed before I was born so I have never known anything different.  But watching her and realizing how special it is to gain that blessing; it made me truly appreciate the blessing that I've taken for granted.

I love the temple.  I especially love the blessing of an eternal family.

A Nativity at the Fresno Temple