After such a long weekend, Sunday was absolutely wonderful. Listening to soft, spiritual music, no appointments to go to, nothing to buy, nowhere to go except to church where you get to hear the scriptures and think about our spiritual life instead of the things we think about the rest of the week. Talk about a rest! What a blessing.
On Monday we always do Family Home Evening. It's a night to just be together as a family and to focus on those principals that the kids need to learn like honesty, kindness, or service. This week we decided to do something pretty special. We decided to visit the Laie Temple as a family. Chris and I go to the temple every month to do work for our ancestors and we love it, but it's not a little kid activity. They are usually with a sitter.
So anyway, we all drove up to the temple and went inside the visitors center. Chris and I had never been and it was wonderful. We so enjoyed all the history of the building of the temple and how it has impacted the local Hawaiian culture in the area. It was so fun and interactive for the kids.
Walking to the temple grounds. I was originally a bit nervous taking such small kids, but the Visitor's Center was well prepared and actually excited to see us! The kids were unsure how to do this because they knew it was special, but also that they needed to be respectful.
I so love the Christus statue. This is obviously a reproduction, but its such a beautiful statue that we took a family photo. The kids just sat and stared at the representation of Christ for a longer time than I had thought they would. Kind of neat for mom.
This display shows how the Book of Mormon is translated into so many languages. Evie really enjoyed this one because she reads her own copy at home all the time. She listened to the first verse of the first book at least a dozen times in at least 10 different languages. She especially liked hearing the verse in Spanish because that's the language I speak at home. I learned it on my mission to the Dominican Republic.
This sweet Sister Missionary was so kind to our kids. She walked through the whole exhibit with us explaining the videos and the displays. I was so grateful to have such a nice person helping us out. She really helped make the experience pleasant. Joe sat at this display for a long time. It shows different stories about real kids doing great Christlike things.
This video showed the Apostles of the Lord sharing their testimonies about the Savior, the Book of Mormon and the Bible as the word of God, and of the latter-day Prophet and his work on the earth today. I think I was the one that liked this most. I had already heard these testimonies so I knew I liked them, but I also got to sit down and just cuddle with Vaughn while we watched.
My kids sitting in front of the fountain. It's water, it's blue, it's refreshing. Of course my kids liked it here!
After the visitor center we walked the grounds all the way up to the temple itself. The grounds are really beautiful so it was an enjoyable walk.
The temple grounds and the temple itself is covered in these beautiful statues and friezes. I loved this one because of the fountain part. The water came from here and then went all the way down to the lower level. It was beautiful. It is also a big part of Hawaiian culture.
On the very top of the temple there are some beautiful friezes that depict the different times recorded in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The interpretations of these friezes is on the lower level of the grounds right next to the visitor's center. This was all of our favorite part.
And that was our special FHE this week. The kids had a new understanding and appreciation for the temple and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was reflective and fun and so nice to share something so special with my kids. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we had to do this!
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