Louisville Kentucky Temple

Temple #43

Louisville, Kentucky

November 13, 2015

 

     Louisville, Kentucky. Random, yes, but quite the adventure! How it all worked out was wonderful. We started our vacation which took us to the Dominican Republic, but we bought it through Groupon, and so we had to fly out of Cincinnati, Indianapolis. We bought tickets to there, but gave ourselves two days so we could go to the Louisville Kentucky Temple. 

     When we got to Cincinnati, we rented a car and started our drive. We didn't go straight to the temple though, but went south, to the heart of Kentucky. We went to Mammoth Cave National Park, which ended up being not as exciting as I hoped. It was a cool cave, yet it was similar to caves back in Utah, which are cheaper and more spectacular in ways. 

 

     We then headed back up to Louisville. We were at first worried we weren't going to make it to the session because of the time, and we were a little stressed out. When we got closer though, the time changed, and we were an hour ahead, and so we had plenty of time still. Kentucky is one of the state where the time zone splits the state in half, yet we didn't know this until afterwards. 

     We made it to the temple, hurry and got dressed, and took a picture. It's another small temple, with not much to say about it, yet we felt the spirit strongly there. A really neat experience actually took place for us there. 

     We planned on staying in our car again as we had in San Antonio, yet it was quite a bit colder here, and we had packed for the beaches of the Dominican Republic. The rental car was also a little more expensive than we thought, and so we weren't sure if we wanted to get a hotel or not. We went into the temple with a little prayer in our minds of what we should do. 

     We sat down in the session, and Ivy said a little prayer asking that we would be able to sleep warm tonight. Immediately following her prayer a lady came and sat next to her. She looked over at Ivy and then asked, “You're not from here are you?” Ivy said no, and explained a little that we were just doing the temple and heading to the Dominican the next day. The lady then smiled, sat back in her chair, but then turned back to Ivy. 

     “Do you have a place to stay?” She asked. 

     “No, we don't, not yet.” Said Ivy. 

     “Well, would you like to come and stay at my home tonight? I have an extra bedroom you could stay in.” 

     Ivy couldn't believe what she heard. Of course she said yes, and then looked over at me in disbelief. I looked over, and by the look in Ivy's eyes I could tell something wonderful had happened. 

     After the session Ivy explained everything to me, and then we met with the lady. She had us follow her in her car, and she took us to her house, which was in a beautiful neighborhood. She invited us in, and sat us down at her kitchen table and fed us dinner! We couldn't believe how kind this lady was! 

     She then explained to us more of her situation. Her husband was working in China, working a month on and then a month off. She was lonely because it was the first week he started this new schedule. It was also a Friday, and she worked at the temple but never on fridays, but for some reason she had an feeling to go to the temple that evening. She even cancelled an appointment with the Sister Missionaries to go to the temple that evening. 

     We knew the Lord was watching over us, and this lady had blessed us immensely. We also realized that although she was blessing us, we were blessing her with our company because she was lonely. 

     We slept extremely well that night in a bed as if we were at our grandparents, and then we're fed breakfast the next morning. We said thank you and farewell, and made our way back to Cincinnati. 

     We then went into Cincinnati, and explored the city. It was a fun city, with a few good sights to see. We didn't spend too much time there though, and went off to the airport. 

 

      As we flew away from Cincinnati we couldn't help but think of the tender mercies we had felt so far on our trip. We made it to session first of all, and then met the kindest lady. We were able to sleep warm and be fed. Ivy's simple little prayer was answered, and moments like these are what continues to strengthen our testimonies in prayer, and in going to the temple. You can never go wrong when you go to the temple!