Boston Massachusetts Temple

Temple #55

Boston, Massachusetts

March 25, 2016

     Living in Pennsylvania was a wonderful experience! We were so close to amazing places, and were able to see so much back East. Every weekend we tried to go somewhere new, and on a warmer weekend we decided to go to Boston! 

     We started our drive one morning, and headed through Pennsylvania and New York. We then went through Connecticut, and stopped by the Hartford temple. At this point it was still being built, yet was mostly finished. It was beautiful, and we got a picture. Unfortunately we still have not been through the Hartford temple, but can't wait until we can go. 

     We drove to Boston, and drove to the temple. It's right off the interstate, standing high upon a hill, easy to see from a distance. We read a neat story about it, where before the temple was going to be built, the church planned on building a church building on the hill. For some reason though the architect could only design a church that was meant to be next to the top of the hill, which ended up being perfect for when the church decided to build a temple in Boston. The temple now sits right on top of the hill, where the church building was originally meant to be. 

     We parked down by the church parking lot, and walked up a small, tree covered walkway to the top of the hill to where the temple sat. The temple was beautiful and large, yet still somewhat simple with only one spire on the front. It was supposed to be even larger and more grandeur, with more steeples, but opposition led to a smaller, more simple temple. 

     We did a session and loved it as always. It had lots of symbols within it of many different things, including a Tree of Life symbols. It is everywhere throughout the temple and is fun to spot where you can see it, along with other common symbols found in most temples. 

     There is beautiful stained glass in the front and on the steeple, which shines brightly especially at night. It is also the 100th temple built, which is a pretty neat thing about it. 

     After the temple, we went straight to our car, and stayed in our car. We didn't book anywhere to sleep, so we decided to stay right there, park our car in the corner of the church parking lot next to the forest, and sleep. We also had a small dinner of meat and cheese sandwiches, which we always take with us in a cooler to be even cheaper. 

     It was an odd night of sleep, but it was nice to wake up right next to a church and the temple. The next morning though we made a small but unfortunate mistake. We thought about going to the temple again in the morning and doing sealings or something shorter, but decided against it. For the rest of the day we were saddened by our decision and wished we would have gone to the temple again. The rest of the day didn't seem to flow so well and we knew that if we went to the temple first thing in the morning it would have started the day off right. We learned a lesson that day, that although we had already gone to the temple the night before, we had no excuse to not go again in the morning, and that would should have taken the chance to go. I suppose we felt like we had done enough, and seen it all. For a moment we had forgotten the reason we truly go. I should say I, because Ivy was leaning more towards going, and I chose not to. 

     Nevertheless, the rest of the day was still fun enough. We went to downtown Boston and saw some of the historic sights. We went to a fresh market where we bought super cheap salmon, asparagus and other fruit, for all under $5. We took it home and ate it the next day and it was all delicious! 

     We then drove home along the coast of Massachusetts and Connecticut for a while, going to the beach and spotting lighthouses. It was a beautiful and nice drive, but we for some reason wanted to also drive through New York City, which was one of our worst ideas. Traffic was bad, and of course there was no parking. We quickly changed our minds and tried to leave but it took a while. 

     Boston was great, but mostly for the temple. There are a lot of fun things to do there, and sights to see, but we love to focus on the temple because it was the greatest thing there. We love to the see the temples, and we learned that we should go as often as the chance arises, even if we went the day before!