Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple

 Temple 116
September 18, 2021
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

Finally we get to go to a new temple! After months, and then a year, of waiting, we finally got to travel to a new temple. But this trip was multi-purpose trip. The temple being a huge factor of why we went, but another reason was because my brother lives near Albany New York and we had never visited him there. We were going to go the year before and do the exact same trip but because of covid we weren't able to. Eventually everything lightened up and so I got Ivy tickets to New York for her birthday!

       We first flew to Newark and then drove down to Philadelphia (I'd have to say that New Jersey drivers are some of the craziest). As we were driving things began to look familiar, and then the temple was suddenly before us on the freeway! It’s right on the edge of a freeway and so is seen by thousands of people a day as they travel that road. 

      We had technically been to the Philadelphia temple 6 years before, but had only seen the outside through a construction fence. It was still under construction when we went years before, so it was fun to finally be back. 

     Our hotel was across the freeway and only a block from the temple so we could see it from our room. We were both so excited to go but I was lucky and was the first one to go. We had to make appointments online over a month before so we could get a spot, and the next day was the last day the temple was open for a few weeks so we got lucky that we planned as we did. 

     This was our first temple experience with Zoey. We had been to the temple a few other times but we had babysitters watch her. This time we didn’t, we only had each other, and so Ivy and I took turns going into the temple. I did initiatories that first night and Ivy did initiatories in the morning. It was the first time I had done an initiatory in over a year, it felt so good to go back! It was like visiting home, and getting all those comfortable, peaceful, familiar feelings of being there was worth every penny.

      The temple is a beautiful reminder of the Early American style, known as the American Georgian style of building that the early colonists had done. It felt like I had walked into Independence Hall, yet everything was brilliant white. The light fixtures all looked like candles, the furniture looked like restored 200 year old handmade furniture, and the floor looked as if it had been repurposed. It's cherry wood and it even creaks as you walk on it making it feel like an older building. 

     One neat thing I learned after going to the temple as I read about it was that as you progress through the temple the mill work becomes more ornate and decorative. As you go through the temple it’s beautiful but becomes better, so when you get to the Celestial room it of course is the most decorative with lots of detail in the Corinthian pillars, dental molding, and other trim work. 

     There’s a neat story about the temple getting approved by the city. We had read about it just two weeks prior to our trip and it made us more excited to go. 

     The story is about Elder Davies, who recently has passed away, and Elder Sikahema who was a football star and local to Philadelphia. They met with the mayor of Philadelphia and some others. At first the meeting was cold, and they could tell the mayor didn’t want anything to do with the temple. The Church had already been denied permission for the building by so many others and so this was their last chance. 

     After spending a while explaining the temple and it’s purpose, the mayor still didn’t seem impressed. Elder Sikahema suddenly felt an urge to bear his testimony about the temple, and so he did. He bore his testimony about its importance, and how his family, when he was a child in Tonga, sold nearly everything they had, even the walls of their home, to be able to pay for a ticket to New Zealand to go to the temple. He then bore his testimony to the mayor that the temple will bless the lives of the people in Philadelphia, it will bless the community and the city. 

     After Elder Sikahema’s testimony the feeling in the room changed. The mayor’s heart was softened and he started asking questions about the temple. He then asked at the end of the extended meeting to have a prayer. The temple site was secured and the temple moved forward. This was just one example of the miracles behind building temples, and as Ivy and I were there we really felt as if the temple was blessing that city. 

     In the morning Ivy went to the temple while I tended Zoey. Then we went and met Ivy at the temple and took pictures. I talked to a homeless guy who was staying across the street from the temple and he explained to me how he liked how beautiful the temple was and the feeling it gave him while he was there. I told him about the purpose of the temple and that he should talk to the missionaries and he was most grateful. 

     We then went and explored the city. We had been there twice before but it was just fun to be back. We went to Reading Market, the city town hall where Zoey played in the water display, and then we went to Independence Hall. It was neat to go to Independence Hall, and from going there we learned something that we had no idea about. 

     The Philadelphia Temple’s groundbreaking was September 17, 2012, and its cultural celebration was September 17, 2016. It was dedicated the next day, September 18, 2016. I went to the temple the night of September 17, and Ivy went the morning of September 18. And that same day we went to Independence Hall, the exact place where the Constitution of the United States was signed 234 years earlier, on September 17, 1787! The Church had purposely done the ground breaking and dedication on the day the constitution was signed, and, unbeknownst to us, we went on the exact days as well. It was a little tender mercy that somehow the Lord had orchestrated.

    We love the temples, and traveling to see new ones is the best. But our trip wasn't over yet, and we had just begun.