Kyiv, Ukraine Temple

Temple #68

Kyiv Ukraine Temple

April 1, 2017

     Kyiv. Never have we imagined we would make it to Kyiv, yet we did! We had another vacation from our teaching in Voronezh Russia and decided to go to Kyiv to do the temple. We made plans, but didn't want to spend the entire four days in Kyiv, and so decided to go to Bucharest Romania as well because flights to Romania were cheap, and we couldn't fly straight to Ukraine from Russia due to political reasons.

     That is where we began our trip. Romania was another one of those places we never expected to go. There's always those places you plan on going your entire life, like Hawaii, Paris, London, etc., but not ever Romania. Going there was wonderful though! 

     We flew in amongst fields and pastures, with cows watching us land the plane. It was warm and sunny, which was incredible compared to the cold of Russia. We took a bus into town, checked into our cute little hostel, which looked like it was about to fall over, and then explored the city. 

     Bucharest was nice, the people were kind, and the blossoms were amazing! Trees and flowers were blooming like crazy, to where nearly everywhere we went we could smell the flowers. It was the best part about Bucharest. 

     Now a really neat thing happened while in Bucharest. We were on the bus, and as we came to a stop we saw two Elders, or missionaries, walking down the road. We wanted to go say ‘hi,’ but we couldn't get off the bus. We were sad but joked how fun it would be to meet missionaries here. 

     A few hours later we were walking down the street, and what did I spot? A white shirt and tie with a little black name tag attached to it! It was couple missionaries! We stopped them and said ‘hello,’ learned they were from Logan Utah, and had a good chat with them. 

     The church is an amazing thing for that reason. You can talk to members or missionaries and feel a strong connection with them automatically. It was amazing that we ran into them, because there are only ninety missionaries covering all of Romania and Moldova together in that mission. It was a small tender mercy of the Lord. 

    The next day we got onto our flight to Kyiv. Something amazing though, which we planned, was that our flight somehow had an eleven hour layover in Athens, Greece! What better place could we ever have a layover in? We were ecstatic to go and explore Athens. 

     We arrived in Greece, took the metro into town, and enjoyed the sights. We saw the Acropolis, Parthenon, old theaters, and much more. It was warm and sunny and we even got sunburnt! Never been so happy for a layover! 

     We then got to the airport late at night, got on our flight around 11:30, landed in Kyiv at around 2:30 A.M., slept for about two hours on a hard seat at the airport waiting for the buses to start running, took a bus at 5:30 into Kyiv to the metro, and got out of the metro and found a bus. The bus driver didn't know English, but once he saw we were in a white shirt and tie and a dress he smiled and knew exactly where we were going. He told us which stop to get off and exactly where to go by waving his hands around. 

     We followed his directions, and soon enough we were standing before the Kyiv Temple! We were overfilled with joy! As we have said we plan to go to every temple in the world. Some of them we wonder how or when we are going to get there and imagine it'll be years from now, and Kyiv was one of these temples. 

     Now we were standing in front of the temple, taking pictures and enjoying the sight. We were in heaven! Or at least as close to it as possible. We went inside and did a session that was amazing as always. We had only gotten two hours of sleep though, if that, and so staying awake in the calm, peaceful quietness of the temple was a little difficult, but we managed. 

     The Kyiv Temple looks large from the outside, yet it only has one endowment room on the inside. It had three floors, and beautiful staircase connecting them all. 

     As in most temples, there was a theme in the decorations of the temple. Whenever we go to a new temple we look for these themes, seeing if we could spot them and figure what they are. 

     In the Kyiv Temple we found out there is wheat, or a symbol of wheat, throughout the temple. It was in the chairs, carpet, walls and many other places. According to what we heard, Kyiv, and Ukraine in general, is large for wheat, and is nearly the wheat capital of the world. So those who designed the temple put this symbol into the decorations and designs to honor Ukraine. It’s always neat to see the thought that goes into the temples. 

     After the temple we took some more photos. This kind couple took some for us, and then we talked to them. We got to talking, and they offered us a ride back into downtown Kyiv! We gladly accepted and went with them and their driver. They were touristing as well and had just been through the temple session with us.

     They took us by their hotel, but then offered us lunch. We again gladly accepted, and so they took us out for lunch. We were extremely pleased since we usually eat snacks that we brought for our meals. If you've ever traveled with Ivy and I you'll know we travel cheap, and carry much of our food with us and rarely eat out. 

     At lunch we found out more about them. Their names were Elaine and Ed Allebest, a nice couple from Southern California. They loved meeting other members of the church wherever they go and always did things with them. They had been all around the world, nearly to every country I could think to ask about. 

     We also found out that Elaine’s step father was President Howard W. Hunter, the Prophet just before Gordon B. Hinkley. We were blown away! She had many stories about him, and it was neat to hear them from her. 

     They then took us to the oldest cathedral in Kyiv, which we toured and got more pictures of. The cathedral was beautiful, and we got to go to the top of a bell tower where we had a great view of the city. 

     They were an awfully nice couple, and were so kind to us. We had never met them, but because they were members we knew we could trust them and it would be fun to spend some time with them. It made for an amazing, spiritual day. We hope to someday be able to do the same for others as they did for us.

     We then went to the bus station, got on our bus, and headed to Moscow. It took three hours just to go through the border at midnight, yet all went smoothly. In total it took fourteen hours to get to Moscow, and we then took a train home to Voronezh, getting home after midnight, on Monday morning. After thirty hours of traveling we finally got home from Kyiv, because that was the cheaper option, yet it was more than worth it. Kyiv was spectacular, and the trip surrounding it was one of the best we have had!