Richmond Virginia Temple
Any trip to the Richmond Virginia Temple from the Washington DC area has to go on I-95 South. That’s generally not a pleasant experience, especially on Juneteenth weekend!
The Richmond Virginia Temple was dedicated on my birthday, May 7 of last month. It was originally supposed to be dedicated by Elder Jeffrey R Holland, but because of health complications, he was not able to do it. President Dallin H. Oaks presided instead. The temple is the 177th dedicated temple, and the first temple in the state of Virginia.
The Richmond Virginia temple is in Glen Allen Virginia. It’s about 15 miles north west of downtown Richmond. The temple sits at a busy intersection facing the street. It’s one of the few temples where the temple is actually facing north west as is the angel Moroni on top of it. Technically it’s facing kitty-corner across the intersection which gives drivers coming south a very good view of the temple.
This is the first time in my visit to 85 operating temples, that I arrived in a U-Haul rental truck! But, as the scripture says, “the net gathereth of every kind”, so to does the parking lot!
The landscaping around the temple is magnificent, which is not a surprise. I’m assuming that some or all of these flowers are native to Virginia.
There are apparently four commissioned paintings inside of this temple. Two of them I was shown which feature serene, calm kind of outdoor scenery with a lot of vegetation and water. There’s also a painting of Great Falls in Northern Virginia and one of the Shenandoah Valley. I was impressed with the carpet that is on the stairs leading up to the dressing rooms. It’s a combination of a dark blue and kind of a ox blood red mix. The blue is particularly majestic in my opinion.
The outside of the temple, particularly in the front, has a certain majesty about it. I think Thomas Jefferson approves! aI particularly enjoyed the large American flag which sits on the north side of the temple
Because of the congested traffic on the way down from Washington, and the fact that I’m headed back to go to Washington nationals Bobblehead baseball game which starts at 7 PM, I only did two initiatory‘s then spent time in the celestial room. That’s exactly the same thing I did at the snowflake Arizona temple when time was a little bit pressing. At soft once again to the marvelous temple workers who make adjustments to fit the schedule of the patrons as best they can.
The Richmond Virginia Temple is the 82nd of the 83 operating US temples that I visited, and the 85th temple that I have visited since January 2017. I believe it’s irrelevant to the Lord how many different temples you go to, but I believe it is extremely relevant to Him IF you go to a temple!
My father has been gone for 45 years. On Father’s Day weekend, I felt a great sense of joy in visiting the Richmond Virginia temple with my dad. I also had fun memories of my uncle Bill Tingey, who lived about 10 miles north of the temple at one point, and drove me down and showed me the vacant lot where they were going to build this temple. Bill passed away about a year ago. Temples bring families together in a variety of ways. It’s one of their great functions.