I Love to See the Temple

When I was 17, our family adopted my two cousins Mary and Cody. Soon after that we went to the Seattle temple to have them sealed to our family for time and all eternity. For those of you that aren't a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, when two parents are married in the temple, all the kids they conceive after that are born under the covenant which means that they are automatically sealed to the parents. After you adopt a child, the whole family goes to the temple with the child being adopted and has them sealed to the parents. So we got to experience the sealing covenant in the temple when we were young.This was a very spiritual experience that I will never forget. I felt the spirit so strong in the temple that day. I knew that this was the place I wanted to be married in.

Little did I know, about 2 years later I would meet the man of my dreams and be sealed to my husband Mike Nelson in the Seattle temple. It was 1993 and we were so young!!Look at Mike's hair!!

 

 

Since then I have had a strong testimony of temples and the work that is done there. I believe that families can be sealed together for eternity. I love being able to do this work for ancestors who have passed away and were not able to have this work done while on the earth. I love going to the temple and leaving the hustle and bustle of the world behind.

About 2 years later Mike and I were on vacation in Hawaii. I was 5 months pregnant with Kayla. We were able to go to the Hawaii temple with both sets of our parents. It was a much smaller temple but still very beautiful. My hair is awesome here.

The next temple we were able to visit was the Washington D.C. temple. Mikes parents were on a mission for our church there and we went to visit them. This temple is so huge and very busy. When you are driving on the beltway and come around the corner, you can see this temple from the beltway. It is quite a spectacular view, you feel so close like you could reach out and touch it.

 My brother Shawn and his wife Courtney were married in the Boston, Massachusetts temple. I loved the look of this temple. Mike and I traveled with Max to see  them get married.

 

 

 Mike and I went on a get away to Arizona. While we are there we visited the Mesa temple and visitors center.

 

Mike took the girls to the Vancouver B.C. temple open house a couple years ago. When a temple first opens, they have an open house before they dedicate the building. During this time, anyone can go on a tour of the temple and see how beautiful and special it is. When we were in Utah we went to the Ochre mountain temple open house. This was so fun because our whole extended family went together. (I couldn't find pictures of these temples)

We also love to visit Salt lake city temple square. The visitors center there is so much fun. I love learning about church history there. This temple took the saints 40 years to build.

  

 Last year we visited the Hawaii temple with the kids. The girls did baptisms for people who have passed away and were never able to hear about Christ's church. This was Lexies first time ever doing this and it was an amazing experience. It was so fun to be in the temple with the girls.

This past November our family went to New York. We saw the Palmyra Temple. We went to the visitors center and learned about church history. We will never forget the feelings we had here as we learned about the early saints of the church and the trials that they went through.

 

Then we visited the Manhattan, New York temple. It was crazy to see a temple right in the middle of a such a big city.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has 155+ temples across the whole world. I am so proud to be a member of this church. With just over 14 million members in the church, it continues to grow and grow. I am continually learning and growing and strengthening my testimony. I hope to be able to visit many more temples in the future. I love to see the temples!

                                                   
                                     http://mormon.org/me/1WM5/Andrea