Dia Del Templo En Madrid

Weston, Lynette and I went to The Madrid Temple this morning. Lynette and I did an endowment session and Weston did about 25 baptisms. Getting there was not easy like going anywhere in Spain. Street names are put on the corner of buildings(sometimes) not on the corner of the street. If you ever do see them it's as you pass the street. So you can get directions from google map but it doesn't help because you don't know the names of streets. However this time it wasn't bad. We got to the general area of the temple and I saw the steeple. I followed the steeple to the temple. I think there is an object lesson there somewhere.

As soon as I saw the temple I got that "welcome home" feeling. Everything just felt right. As we entered the temple I thought there would be people that could speak English that would help us along. There were a few but for the most part the workers only spoke Spanish. Yet it still felt familiar like the temple should. I think the fact that most workers spoke Spanish made it feel more familiar in a strange sort of way. After all the Madrid Temple is in Spain.

Lynette and I were the only couple in the chapel before the session so we were asked to be the witness couple. I thought it was going to be a little weird, being the witness couple and wearing the headsets for English. The temple worker asked who spoke what language, as it turned out there were several missionaries in the session so most of those attending spoke English as their primary language. So instead of us wearing the headphones the officiator wore them. That seemed more weird.

I just want to say I'm not one for aesthetics, but the Madrid Temple is amazingly beautiful. The detail, the light, the materials are incredible. The Celestial room is the most beautiful one I have been it. It is stunning! no kidding! There is a great mix of gold and shades of green and white. While I was in the Celestial room the sun came out from behind a cloud and just lit up the room in a spectacular way. (Am I starting to sound like Euro-Man?)

It was great to go into the Baptistry and watch Weston do some of the Baptisms. That seemed to cap my temple experience off.

I talked to the Temple President for a few minutes about the Temple. He said that the Temple was designed by a famous European architect who is not a member. The Architect told him that the Temple has the finest materials of any building he knows of in Europe. It shows. Some how this man captured the spirit of temple work in his design.