FRANKFURT GERMANY TEMPLE
Right now, I’m traveling on the ICE speed train to Frankfurt from the Netherlands. We’re going around 180 miles an hour. For the first time in three days, I’m seeing something that could be called mountains! Small mountains, but still mountains!
Three or four trains have canceled today which keeps pushing back my arrival time but the good news is the Frankfurt Germany Temple has housing available and I’ve reserved a room! After my night last night at the Hague Netherlands Temple parking lot, I’m excited to rest!
One of those delays happened in a town named Aachen, Netherlands. I walked into a Korean restaurant and there was my new friend Andrei! He’s 23. He loaned me his power charger, then took me around the corner to a drugstore where we bought one for me. I’m so excited! I think Andrei is going to become a good friend of mine!
I arrived at the Frankfurt train station last night around 8 o’clock local time. From there, I took a subway about 10 stops and from there I walked about a half mile to the temple. What a joy to see another one of the Lord’s houses!
It took a few minutes, but I finally found where they keep the patron housing keys and I got mine now. Once in the room I was set! It was now about 10 o’clock.
The patron housing program the Church has is amazing! You pay about eight dollars a night and you get your own room. Even the toilet paper is done upright! Not all temples have it, in fact, I think most of them don’t. But it’s worth checking the church website because you then send an email to the temple and they will confirm if they’ve got a room for you. On this trip, I’ve done it three times: at the London Temple, the Preston Temple, and the Frankfurt temple. 
I’m always fascinated by the paintings in the temple. This one caught my eye: the Savior with a young boy. This is the second time I’ve seen a painting like this in the last couple of temples I’ve visited. I think it’s a great idea!
I slept in until 10:30 and BOY did that feel good! I figured out last night I don’t have time to go all the way to Freiberg and back before flying out of the Frankfurt airport tomorrow morning at 8:30. So I was content to sleep in and then just visit across the walkway the Frankfurt Germany temple.
Before the endowment session, I saw a group of eight men, all temple workers, seated in the men’s dressing room next to each other. They looked like a row of angels! I gave them a thumbs up and smiled, pointing all the way down the row, and they got the message and laughed back. A young temple worker named Daniel Pelz deserves some mention.
Daniel is in his low to mid 20s, I’m guessing. He looks real sharp in his white suit. Takes great care of his hair. Looks like he’s married. Has a lean and mean build. But it’s his smile on a Saturday morning in the Lord’s temple that catches your eye!
Daniel conducted the session and did a masterful job. He also said a prayer that was fantastic! This guy is the epitome of what the Lord hopes his 20 year-old priesthood holders look like and how they act! Everything about him is top-notch and joyful. I got to talk to him briefly afterwards and complimented him on the job that he did.
After the session, I had an Elder Draper from St. George, Utah take my photo in front of the temple. Ironically, he lives in the Green Valley stake, which is where I lived for six years! It’s always so much fun to see these young energetic happy missionaries out doing their thing in a boatload of languages around the world.
The Frankfurt Germany temple is the 41st temple dedicated by the Church. It was announced in 1981 and dedicated by Ezra Taft Benson in 1987.
This was a special opportunity for President Benson. In 1945 he was called to minister to the saints in European area after the devastation of World War II. In 1963 he was called as president of the European Mission, headquartered in Frankfurt.
This was also a special treat for me as my sister Patty served a mission in the Frankfurt Germany mission many years ago!
Right now I’m back at the Frankfurt Maine rail station, which is the number one city in the world that downloads my podcast!
I just had a much deserved meal here which was a fabulous salad, some carrot cake, and a couple of bottles of water. Absolutely terrific! I also just checked in for my flight tomorrow morning at 8:30 on Singapore Air Airlines, which I’m excited about, because you get two free meals on board! 🛫 Is life great or what?