Always Keep Chasing The Sun: #TBT....My Trip To the Kansas City Temple

Lets go back a few years to a great weekend trip to Kansas City!

Can I please tell you how amazing my weekend has been? You guys are gonna get an awesome three post day..cause I have three very important things to talk about!

First I had the amazing pleasure and honor to attend the open house of the Kansas City Missouri Temple.

For those of you who did not know, when our church builds a new temple, the building is open to the public for a few weeks before it is dedicated (then only worthy church members may enter).

I felt so blessed to be able to enter this beautiful building. We went through at a time when (according to the tour guides) there were more people going on tours than there had been at any other time so far. And yet it was still quiet and peaceful. You would think a couple hundred people would make more noise...but nope! The weather held off too...so that was really nice.

I was not able to take pictures as it was not particularly appropriate in such a sacred and holy place. But the church has released these pictures..so wanna take a little tour with me??? (all pictures can be found on http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-kansas-city-missouri-temple-open-house.)

Feel free to listen as we walk through (I'll explain later why I picked this song)

First lets start in the baptistery. This is an area where worthy members as young as 12 are able to be baptized as proxies for those who have died without an opportunity to be baptized. This gives them an opportunity to accept this essential saving ordinance.

Many times we are able to be baptized for our own personal ancestors...what an amazing experience!

As we move upstairs we come to these two instruction rooms. Here members of the church learn about the Plan of Happiness that our loving Heavenly Father created for us. We learn about and make covenants or promises to follow the commandments as well as live Christ-like lives of purity, honesty and service.

I just have to say as a side note...this picture does not do justice to the beauty of the mural in this first room. It was truly magnificent. The artwork in the temple is all beautiful. Much of it is centered around Christ, but many landscapes are also displayed. These paintings, in my humble opinion are particularly breathtaking.

Here we are in the Celestial room. This is the "ultimate" room of the temple. When we entered this room no one spoke, not even our tour guide. It is by far the most beautiful room in the temple. It is symbolic of the Celestial Kingdom (hence its name haha) This room is astoundingly gorgeous. Ornate almost seems like the wrong word, because that makes it sound almost gaudy. But it is truly elegant and breathtaking.

Alright,..here is another awesomely important room in the temple. the sealing room. In our church we believe that families can be together forever despite the short separation brought on by death. This is the room where that can take place. Not only are husbands and wives sealed together, but children are also sealed to their parents. In my opinion this is the happiest room in the whole temple!

Now at one point during our tour, we got an extra special treat. We were led through the temple by a dear couple from Kansas. When the wife of the couple realized that we had a little extra time, two young single adult sisters and three young girls in our group she took the sisters on a special trip to this room.....

This is the bride's room. And oh my gosh...please excuse the reenactment of the MAJOR girly moment that occurred in my head.

"OH MY GOSH!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! THIS IS SO PRETTY. Its like glowing! Its so shiny and gorgeous I can;t stop smiling...I think I am glowing. Its rubbing off on me! OH MY GOSH!!! Oh look at the mirror...Stephanie stop picturing yourself in a wedding dress in that mirror!!!"

Seriously it was beautiful!!!!

Last thing I want to talk about is the decor. I know that sounds kind of crazy but it was so lovely, and so perfect. See in the picture of the recommend desk the stained glass olive tree??

This is where the song comes in. Throughout the temple, in flower arrangements, on carpets, in gold leafing on ceilings walls, the iron railings, in chandeliers and even in the windows...

there were images of olive branches. The main color scheme was a lovely green..kind of in between a sage and an olive green, cream and gold. It all tied back to that olive branch.

My friend and I wondered what the symbolism of that was...and came up with two possibilities.

1. The olive branch symbolizes peace and truce. Members of the church have a long past of persecution and contention with the citizens of the Kansas City area. However, this symbol of the olive tree shows that these problems are all in the past and that this temple is an offering to the community of friendship and cooperation.

2. In Jacob (a book in the Book of Mormon) there is an allegory about an Olive Tree that teaches about the gathering of the House of Israel. We believe that this will happen in a place very close to Kansas City called Adam-ondi-Ahman. This is another possible source of symbolism.

So that is the end of our tour. Magnificent building right?

I know that peace can be found there. I know it is a House of the Lord. A place where the Lord and His Spirit can dwell. I know it is a place where we can make special covenants and perform sacred ordinances for our kindred dead to allow them to progress towards salvation..

I'm so so grateful for this opportunity I was able to have.