The Temple - Best Christmas Gift
Oakland California LDS Temple
It was like Christmas morning our missionaries were so excited as we boarded the buses. We were off to the LDS Oakland California Temple for the day. Although our mission is surrounded by four temples: Oakland CA, Sacramento CA, Yuba City - Feather River CA, and Medford Oregon, we do not have a temple in our mission boundaries, and because of that our missionaries do not have the opportunity to go. President Quinn (Mark) and I decided to get special permission from our area seventy to take our entire mission to the temple for a one-time special trip. We divided our mission in two, rented two buses each day and went this last week on Wednesday and Thursday - December 6th and 7th.
Buses pull up in the temple parking lot.
Temples are literally a house of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred covenants with God. (church website) The church currently has 179 operating temples throughout the world with 97 announced temples and 52 temples under construction.
It was a tender time to be in the temple with each of our missionaries. The peace, joy, and strength that our Savior offers permeates the experience. There is a spiritual power to be gained in the temple.
It rained both days, so we took group photos in the Temple’s Visitors Center in front of the Christus statue.
The “Costal Zones” as we call them in our mission, pose for a photo in the visitors center.
The “Pack Four Zones” as we call them in our mission, pose for a photo in the visitors center.
We ended the day coming back to the Stake Center with a testimony meeting and a nice Christmas dinner. Mark and I had a little gift bag for each missionary with a temple recommend holder from our mission in it and a few other little goodies. The missionaries told us that the temple trip was their best Christmas gift ever!
Christmas goodies for our missionaries.
A Christmas Season Dinner that evening.
Oakland Temple at night.
Temple Story:
In the church we look to the temple as a light from our Savior that directs us back to a Heavenly home. This story told by the Oakland Temple President is symbolic of temples.
The Oakland Temple sits up on a hill and can be seen from the greater San Fransisco/Bay Area. At night the bright lights of the temple can be seen for miles. President Hodgman, the current President of the Oakland Temple told us that he learned as a pilot flying his private airplane that the control tower uses the lit spires of the temple as a guidepost for pilots to align their airplanes for landing – coming home. As we align our lives with the Savior in His Holy House - the Temple it will illuminate the way to bring each of us home!
President and Sister Quinn outside of the Oakland Temple - The House of the Lord
