Star Valley Wyoming Temple

 We loved visiting the Star Valley Temple.

It's very small, and only does a few sessions a day.  We actually weren't able to get into an endowment session because it was Memorial Day weekend and they were packed.  So we did some sealings instead and that turned out to be a great experience.

We ended up having to wait for there to be workers available to be witnesses.  So the sealer just visited with us for quite a while.  He told us some neat things about the temple.  There are large stained glass windows that feature a pink flower.  He explained that the flower is a local plant commonly known as fire weed.  It is a local plant.  Whenever there is a fire, the fire weed is the first thing to rise from the ashes and begin anew the process of bringing life to the forest.  I thought that was pretty neat, both in how the temple incorporated some local flora as well as the powerful symbolism in how the Savior is able to renew life.

We had a great experience at this temple.  We loved getting to know the people and seeing the symbolism depicted.  And we also really enjoyed the setting of this temple, nestled among the beautiful mountains of Wyoming.

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Spokane Washington Temple

The Spokane Temple is very beautiful.  It's one of the mini cookie cutter temples, as I like to call them.  That means that the layout of the interior as well as the features on the exterior are not unique, but are identical to several other temples I've been to.

One of the things that I enjoyed about it, however, was that even though the temple itself is identical to others, the grounds are completely unique.  The flowers on the grounds were beautiful, and the whole area where it is located is filled with big trees and heavily wooded land.  It's a residential area, but it almost feels like an area where you could go camping.

This temple was a unique experience, because my wife wasn't with me this time.  Instead, I attended with my Mom, which was a great experience.

Mom at the back of the temple

Me at the back of the temple

Trying to get artistic with the flowers

Moroni and the flag

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Reno Nevada Temple

The Reno Temple was absolutely beautiful.  I love its location nestled in the mountains on the west side of Reno.  This first picture is a view as you are driving to the temple.  As you ascend the hill toward the temple you get a beautiful view with the mountains in the background.

This is one of the super small temples.  I really enjoy going to the smaller temples because the culture is so different.  I always end up visiting with the locals as we wait for a temple worker to be available.  Robyn and I were selected as the witness couple, simply because I talked to the man in charge in the dressing room.  He asked if my wife would mind, and I assured him we've done it before.

Afterward, the officiator from our session asked what ward we were in.  When I told him we were from Utah, he was very surprised.  Then when I told him we had been to all of the temples in both Utah and Nevada he just wanted to know what state was next.  "California?" is what I told him.  I wasn't really sure.

This temple is very beautiful, and I absolutely loved it.  We were there around sunset which made for some really pretty pictures at first, but then it started getting just a little too dark.

The back of the temple (or at least the opposite of where the entrance is, since this is the side Moroni faces.)

The front of the temple.

Just me and the temple sign.  My suit is getting a little big.

The sunset almost made the temple glow, but it was a little dark where we were standing.

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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

Monticello Utah Temple

We had a great experience at the Monticello Temple.  This temple was the first of the templatized temples built during Gordon B. Hinckley's presidency.  It is nestled in a small town in southern Utah.  Robyn and I made the trip with our friends Cameron and Tammy.  We drove down on a Friday night and then attended a session the following morning.

The mini temples, as I like to call them, are much simpler in their design.  Robyn and I commented about how it was really neat to be in the temple and not necessarily be marveling at how amazing the building itself was, but to marvel at the spirit that dwells there.  There's something magical about the simplicity of these temples.

One of the other things that I really enjoyed was the small town people that we met here.  This temple is small enough that there isn't a chapel to wait in while the ordinance room is occupied.  So we were waiting in the dressing room after we had changed into our white clothes.  I met a number of the locals and we discussed our goal to see every temple in Utah and we also discussed many other temple related topics.  One man was there because his granddaughter was getting married in two weeks and she was receiving her endowment in the session we were attending.

When we actually went into the session and saw his granddaughter and all the family around her, it made me feel like I was part of the family.  I think that was the biggest thing I took away from this particular temple trip.  We really are all one big family.  We are all children of our Heavenly Father and we are all brothers and sisters.  I love that the temple workers always address me as "brother".  It is one more outward sign that we are truly one big family.  The temple helped me realize that again.

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Bismarck North Dakota Temple

The Bismarck North Dakota Temple was the only temple within my mission boundaries. I served as a missionary in the South Dakota Rapid City Mission which covered the two Dakotas, as well as portions of Wyoming, Nebraska and Minnesota.  Even in all that land mass there was only this one temple.  The cities I served in for the first year of my mission were too far away from the temple to get a chance to visit.  So when I finally served close enough to the temple to get a chance to go it was a very exciting time.

Near the end of my mission I was serving as a zone leader in Grand Forks, ND.  (Each set of missionaries covers an area where they proselyte.  Every 2-3 areas is formed into a district with one missionary serving as a district leader.  3-4 districts form a zone with two missionaries as zone leaders over that zone.)  We had one month that everyone had worked particularly hard.  I called my Mission President to ask permission for our entire zone to caravan and make the 300 mile trip to the temple.  He agreed that a temple trip would be an excellent reward for everyone's hard work.

We spent the entire day in the temple.  We were able to perform all of the different ordinances.  I think missionaries need the piece that the temple brings just as much, if not more, than everyone else.  The spirit of the Lord is felt there even stronger than you can feel even as a hard working missionary.

It was such a blessing to be there with all the other missionaries.  I think we all grew closer that day.  The Bismarck temple will always have a special place in my heart as the only temple in my mission.  Though, I hope that more temples will be built in that area.  I'd love to see a temple in Wyoming as well as South Dakota.

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