A Temple For Philadelphia

A temple was announced to be build in Philadelphia long before I even moved here, but it is still exciting nonetheless. After a long wait for the faithful members of the church here in Philly ground was finally broken on September 17th 2011 which is actually the 224th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia's Independence Hall. So it was a pretty exciting day here. 


I have to say that growing up only 25 minutes from a temple was such a blessing that I didnt even recognize until I moved here. Our closest temple is Manhattan New York or Washington DC. I love both of these temples, but the travel time is a minimum of 2 hours. I remember hearing stories of people who live in other countries and have to first save money for a long period of time to afford to go to the temple and then travel for days to get there and I always thought that it was amazing the sacrifice that they would make. Lets not say that a 2 hour drive is a sacrifice in the least, but it was still something I had to get used to when I moved here. 


I decided a long time ago that I would make going to the temple a priority in my life and while attending the YSA activities in Moreno Valley I was blessed to go to the temple every month with out fail. I wanted to carry that tradition over while living here. The only problem was that since the temple was so far away the trip is always on a saturday and usually the caravan left around 8am. This probably sounds like no big deal, but for me it was a sacrifice because I work 55+ hours each week with Saturday being my only day to keep up with sleep, grocery shopping, laundry, and other activities I could not do during the week. 


I decided about 5 months ago that all that stuff held a lower value level than the blessings I could receive by making the trip to the temple. I know that many other faithful members make that sacrifice each month also. So Yes! It is exciting news that the temple will be here in Philadelphia in the coming years. 


This is a picture of what it will look like, which will fit perfectly with the city. I cant wait to come back when it is finished to see the open house and one day attend it.