22 Temples

Last week Nicky went on a temple trip with his friends. They went to all of the LDS temples in Utah (except for those that are under construction) in less than a week. 

Some facts about their journey:

• They drove the entire trip with expired plates
• They backed into a truck at their first stop (in Fillmore) and smashed in the back of Jackson's mom's van
• They almost ran out of gas between Cedar City and Monticello, but they prayed their way out of it
• They performed baptisms and confirmations for 900 people
• The temple workers at Monticello pulled some strings and opened the baptistry just for them
• Nicky served as a recorder at three temples
• Provo City Center, Saratoga Springs, and Vernal were closed, but they stopped by the grounds anyway
• Syracuse opened that week - the first operating temple with two baptismal fonts
• Nicky was baptized for five Pietros during one visit

Here are their photos from each temple in the order they went:

Red Cliffs Temple

 

Saint George Temple

Cedar City Temple

Manti Temple

Monticello Temple

Vernal Temple

(somehow they didn't get a photo of the group)

Payson Temple

Provo City Center Temple

Orem Temple

Mount Timpanogos Temple

Saratoga Springs Temple

Draper Temple

Jordan River Temple

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Taylorsville Temple

Deseret Peak Temple

Bountiful Temple

Layton Temple

Ogden Temple

Logan Temple

Brigham City Temple

Syracuse Temple

It was a really great experience for all of these kids, and Nicky really enjoyed it. They worked really hard from sun up to sun down to get to all of their destinations. It was exhausting but worth it! 

I bought all of them this Utah Temple Passport, which I was really pleased with. It has a page for each temple where you can record the date you went there, what ordinances you did, and your thoughts or memories about it. Then there's a sticker for each temple that you can put in place after your visit. There are already stickers for the upcoming temples as well as blank pages for future temples. 

I haven't mentioned it yet, but Nicky was endowed June 7th at the Jordan River Temple. 

Tonight he was set apart as an ordinance worker at the Taylorsville Temple. It was a really neat experience. We thought we'd be in and out really quick, but the temple president is a talker, and he told us all sorts of stories. Then he took us all around the temple showing us paintings including a small version of Michael Malm's Come Unto Jesus mural, which happens to be Nicky's favorite painting, and we keep having run-ins with it (there is a copy in the Syracuse Temple as well). 

Nicky will only be able to work in the temple for two weeks, but they welcomed him with open arms. The temple president said, "We'd want you here even if you could only do a single shift!" Nicky's temple experiences are a bit rushed since there are only a few weeks between him graduating high school and starting his mission, so I'm really glad he got the chance to go visit all the temples in Utah in such a short period of time. And I think he will really enjoy serving in the temple as an ordinance worker, even though his time doing so will be short and sweet. It has been really special to hear all of his stories and adventures in visiting the temples.