This is the Washington DC temple. I went to this temple yesterday-- well, technically Friday afternoon. Yesterday was stake temple day, and it's been planned for, oh, four or five months. The temple presidency is being changed soon, so the temple president arranged a special meeting on the seventh floor of the temple in the priesthood assembly room. Three stakes were invited to the meeting, and one of those stakes was in Reading, Pennsylvania, where my friends the Purdys live. So, in late July the Purdys and I decided to use this weekend as temple day/play time.
Note that the picture above is in springtime with clear skies and beautiful dogwoods in bloom. That was in May.
The temple didn't look like this yesterday (well, the building's the same, just not the scenery). Yesterday Tropical Storm Hanna was blowing through, so it was really, really rainy. Did that stop people from coming? Nope. The parking lot was full, so we parked at the stake center next door and forged little rivers of water that extended into the street.
So here's my favorite story of the day, courtesy of the temple president. He used to be a mission president in Bolivia. When he was there, the Lima, Peru temple was built. It took three days and three nights for members to drive there, and they sold everything they had to get there. On the way, they were stopped by a tree that had blocked the road. Armed men climbed onto the bus and took everything they could, including the babies' milk. The members kept going anyhow. They prayed in gratitude when they got to the temple. President Hinckley came out and met them and promised them they would never go hungry again or lack housing due to their faithfulness.
So as I heard this story, I thought, "Hmm. I dealt with some rain. So maybe I might hydroplane a bit on the way home. Have I sacrificed like these people in Bolivia did?"
Hurricane or no hurricane, the temple is a refuge against storms. I'm so grateful I went!
3 comments:
Cool story by the temple president. It's good that you go to the temple often Sheila. I am sure you will be blessed for it. You are an inspiration to me!
Oh, that story was so cool! I wonder what I would have done if I were in that position. I hope I would have sold everything I had...but I seem to get stuck at home just because it seems too hard to find a sitter for 8 hours.
Gotta work on that.
I don't know that twice a year counts as "often" at this point. I want to go once a month for three consecutive months. Hmm-- we'll see how that goes.
Jenn: A note of hope on the babysitting front. My elders' quorum president has a toddler who's VERY active and hates to be in the car. This little guy LOVED the movies at the temple visitors' center (his parents traded off babysitting and temple session times)and was even okay with the car ride because he knew they were going to the temple. So I think the childcare hurdle is manageable. You can make it happen!
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