Temple Trip

   

Friday evening we went to the open house for the Atlanta Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The temple* has been undergoing extensive renovations for the last couple of years (see renovation photos here). Before its re-dedication next Sunday, it has been open to the public for the last couple of weeks for guided tours so we decided we definitely needed to bring the boys to see it.

The weather changed as we drove into Atlanta. Usually as we are approaching the city we can see the skyline but there were these strange low clouds that obscured the tops of the tall buildings—almost like someone had started to erase them with some kind of giant cosmic eraser (we called them incredible vanishing skyscrapers).

In Auburn it had been sunny and in the high 80s. We were all sweaty after our two hour drive without air conditioning but quickly cooled off as soon as we got out of the car. Daniel was actually cold and asked for a jacket which I hadn’t thought to bring, but we were only outside for a short period, so all was well.

After the mildly stressful drive (including a child who really needed to use the bathroom, making an unplanned exit, almost exiting in the wrong place, some yelling, a dad who started to pull the car over to deal with unruly kids and a mom who just started laughing hysterically about the whole situation) we arrived a little late. We went to the place where the tour was supposed to start and were promptly forgotten about and left in a room to wait by the tour guides. After waiting for what seemed like half and hour I made David go ask why our tour hadn’t started yet at which point we were apologized to profusely and ushered into a room where the short film before the tour had already started. So, after all that, we had the dubious distinction of being the last family in the last group of the evening to go on the tour. By the time we left some of the lights had already been turned off so it isn’t totally lit up all the way in these photos. 

Still, despite the hectic episode we had trying to get there, once we entered, there was such a feeling of peace. It made it all worth it for my children to be able to be in the House of the Lord. I reflected on the opportunity I had as a child to attend the open house for the Atlanta Temple when it was originally built 28 years ago. My family lived in Birmingham at the time and we came and stayed with my cousins who lived in Georgia and went through then. I was as old as Nate is now. I hope my children will have good memories of the experience and will have a desire to return and experience the blessings of temple attendance when they are old enough.

It was a beautiful evening.

*Click here for an article that explains a little bit more about why members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) build temples.