Thanksgiving Day 14: The Temple

I am grateful for temples. I love to visit places of worship while traveling and learning about others’ believes. But, I especially love visiting places of worship that I personally hold sacred. If you’ve been enjoying my blog for a while, you know that I make a point of stopping at LDS temples when I travel, even if just for a picture. In fact, it is part of my bucket list to visit all of them.

As you know from a couple of posts ago when I talked about my mission, I am a Mormon. In the LDS Church we have two types of buildings. The first are your standard church building with a chapel, classrooms, multi-purpose rooms and offices used each Sunday and throughout the week for families to gather, worship, socialize and learn. There are thousands of these buildings around the world. The other buildings are temples. These are special buildings where worthy members can go to get close to God, learn and escape from the daily grind. There are only 140 operating temples around the globe with several more announced or under-construction.

Active Latter-day Saints generally focus their lives around temple service. Tonight I went with friends to the Mesa Arizona Temple, and it was wonderful. I am grateful for the love of my Father in Heaven that I feel so strongly there. We believe that the temples are, as it says on the front of the building, the house of the Lord. We believe it is a place where heaven touches earth. It is a place where you can feel peace, forget the worries of your everyday life, and gain personal inspiration and revelation. This is why today I am grateful for the temple.

As I travel and explore our amazing world, I try to visit the temples I’m near even if it’s just a quick stop outside. I’ve seen 48 and have pictures of 42.

What places are sacred to you?