It's here, it's here! It's finally here!

In July of 1998, President Hinckley announced that a temple would be built in Kiev, Ukraine. It would be the first in all of Eastern Europe and would serve the some 31,ooo members of the church from 13 different countries. They broke ground for the temple in June of 2007 and now, three years later, it will finally be open for use.

They announced a couple weeks ago the official opening of the temple, and I wish I was going to be here for it. There will be an open house for the public throughout most of August and then the dedication will take place on Sunday the 29th. Monday morning it will be open for sessions.

One of the first things Traci and David took me to see when I first got here in October was the temple sight. The temple was up, but there was scaffolding all the way around it, with machinery and equipment everywhere and not much else besides an open piece of dry land on which it stood. I felt so excited about it though. Since being here, I have really come to understand how blessed I am to have access to so many temples near me. When I lived in Utah, I could have traveled 30 minutes in any direction and found a temple. The Salt Lake Temple was literally right down the street from me in each of the three different apartments I lived in. My house in Arizona is a five minute drive from the Mesa temple. But here, if members want to take part in the blessings of the temple, they have to travel for some 30 hours (usually by bus) to get to the temple in Germany. That's the closest one. But they do it. Happily. It makes me feel a little ashamed for the way I take the temple for granted and don't take advantage of it the way I should.

Annie and I went so see it again last night. It was one of the things I wanted to do before I left the country and I was excited to see the progress that has been made in the six months since I last saw it. There is still a lot of machinery scattered here and there, and a big green fence surrounds the sight, but we were still able to see it from a pretty good spot and took a few pictures while we were there. Little else but the landscaping needs to be done before they open the doors.

The thing that struck me the most was how much the temple stood out from it's surroundings. I think that's the case with a lot of temples, but I think it's especially true with this one. I was also surprised at how excited I was to see it, considering the fact that I have seen, been in, and been surrounded by so many different temples in my life time. We rode on the Metro for about 40 minutes and then squeezed onto a tiny crowded marshrutka bus for about 20 minutes and when the temple came into view, it was so refreshing. A sight for overly-sore eyes. Everything around the temple is ordinary Ukraine - buildings, a busy highway, garbage littering the street, billboards - and then there was the temple. It's so beautiful.

As we walked around the perimeter, I kept imagining the members here and how excited they are to have a temple so close and how there will be people traveling far and wide to come to it. It's effects will be far-reaching and the good it will do for a country that was once stripped of all things religious is unimaginable.

When we left the temple and started walking to the bus stop, Annie talked about how she couldn't wait for the day when her parents would accept the Gospel, her brother would come back, and they could all go to that temple together. As we stood waiting for the bus, we could see the temple in the distance, right in the break between some trees and a big sign and just on the other side of the highway. I was imagining that first week of the temple's opening. I was picturing people coming from all 13 of those countries, lined up outside the doors, just waiting to get inside. In my mind, there are so many people they just can't fit everyone in.

October

April