Why we LOVE temples!

     The Temple: Gods house, where we can be closer to him than anywhere else. 

As the primary song goes, “I love to see the temple...," and that is completely true with us. We love the Temples, and all our travels correlate and revolve around them. Rarely do we go anywhere on a vacation or adventure that does not have a Temple.

     Ivy and I, (Joe), like to consider ourselves adventurous world travelers. This blog is dedicated to our traveling, but in more specific, our travelings to the Temples that dot the World.  

     Now why did we decide to visit all the temples in the world and not something else? Travel is something many people love and many people have goals for traveling. For some it's all the National Parks, for some all the countries in the world, for others the best rock climbing spots, and for many the best beaches. 

     For us it is the temples. Don't get us wrong, we want to see all those things just mentioned and we try to while we travel, but our focus is the temples. It's a goal we've had since we've been married and we intend to complete it!

     We were both born and raised in The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by faithful parents who also loved going to the Temple. Mine went often to the St. George Temple, being great examples to me. We always had a picture of a Temple within our home somewhere. 

     Ivy's parents constantly went to the Temple, and since they lived up North in Kamas they were close to many Temples which gave them to opportunity to go to many. Ivy's parents, Darcy and Vera, inspired Ivy to always want to go to the Temples. Because of this, when Ivy was in High School she and her friends went on a Temple tour visiting all the Temples in Utah and doing baptisms for the dead. 

     So both Ivy's and my parents were good examples for us and taught us to love the temple. That is why it's so important to be a good example to your children and others because it truly leaves an impression. 

     When Ivy and I met one of our first dates was to the St. George Temple around Christmas where we walked around the Temple and looked at the lights and shared spiritual experiences and our testimonies. It was one of our favorite dates we ever had. From the beginning we both had a love for the Temples, a love which we are very glad we shared.

     Soon into our marriage we made a bucket-list and two of our top things on the bucket-list were to travel the world and go to every Temple in the world. We made this goal thinking it was a long shot. It has now been four and a half years since then and we’ve been to 86 temples. 

     We've come to realize this goal is very possible. We've also come to realize that many friends and people love to watch our journey, and we've inspired others to go to the Temple as well. This is now our goal; to inspire others to go to the Temple no matter where they are, or what they have going on. That is what this blog is for and that is why we travel!

     We go to the Temple for many reasons. One is to help those who have passed on, and do work for the dead. Those who have never had a chance to hear the gospel and get baptized or recieve ordinances can receive the ordinances in the temple. 

      The Temple is also a place where we can go and find peace from the craziness of the world. It is pure, silent, peaceful, and full of kind people who believe the same as we do. This is also why we go, and as I post blogs and tell stories of our experiences one may see that we have had some great spiritual moments and have had many prayers answered. 

     We hope to give all the credit to the Lord and hope to not take any ourselves. This blog isn't to boast about our travels, but to help strengthen others testimonies and their desires to visit the temples!. We love the temples!