Bentonville Arkansas Temple
As with all good temple trips these days, it tends to start with a 4:30 AM departure from my apartment, headed to Reagan National Airport. From Reagan, I fly to Denver, and from there I can fly to just about anywhere on Frontier!
Today, that “anywhere“ is Bentonville, Arkansas, one of the two remaining temples I have not done work in, in the United States. I will be doing an endowment session this afternoon at 4 PM. I am very excited!
The flight boards at 6:15 AM and I tend to make it to the airport economy parking lot by about 5:30 AM. From there I take the economy parking shuttle over to terminal one, get in the Clear TSA Pre-check line, and zip through security to get to gate A7. This is what the lines looked like this morning if you’re not a Pre-check and Clear customer.
On the way to the terminal, I spotted some corporate jets, and of course, immediately got green with envy! 
Today’s flights will be particularly enjoyable, because I just obtained Gold Discount Den status at Frontier. That gives me free upgrades when scheduling the flights to the exit row seats and also allows me to board the plane first plus take on a free carry-on bag. Given that I book the flights across the country for only about $30 one-way, it just doesn’t get any better than this!
Bentonville Arkansas Temple
The Bentonville Arkansas Temple is the first temple built in the state of Arkansas by the Church and is the 181st temple put into operation worldwide. It was announced in October 2019 by President Russell M. Nelson, and was dedicated in September 2023 by Elder David A. Bednar.
Bentonville Arkansas Temple—Elder David A. Bednar Territory
Elder Bednar was the bishop of the Fayetteville Arkansas Ward. He was also president of the Fort Smith Arkansas Stake and later the Rogers Arkansas Stake. He also served as a regional representative, Area Authority Seventy, and Area Seventy. It is not surprising to me that he was asked to dedicate the Bentonville Arkansas Temple. That must have been a joyous occasion for him!
A Life-changing Delay!
Most of the time a delayed flight causes problems for people. Every once in a while, it changes your life for the better! That’s what just happened to me when they announced that the Frontier flight to Bentonville Arkansas is going to be an hour and 20 minutes late. So, I had to move my 5 PM temple session appointment to the 7:30 session because the 6 PM session was full. That delay caused me to double check the transportation time from the airport to the temple, which is only about 15 minutes. But in the process of doing that, I saw that the Walmart museum is in Bentonville. Bentonville is the home of Walmart!
That realization caused me to decide to go to that museum before going to the temple. It all works out!
Plus, I decided to grab some lunch at Brothers Barbecue and that was a fabulous decision! I highly recommend the pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw added on, and the potato salad as a side.
A temple worker tonight told me a great story about Elder Bednar. They needed to split one of the local stakes, so Elder Bednar said to the brethren back in Salt Lake, “I’m not trying to ask for this assignment or try to swing it my way or anything, but I’m the only one amongst us who speaks Arkanese…“ He was given the assignment.
There’s a beautiful sky blue paint that is predominant on the walls inside the temple. There’s also a beautiful painting in the celestial room that I reflected on for quite a while. The words, “My sheep know my voice.“ came to mind. It’s a beautiful painting to reflect on.
A Tribute to Walmart
Bentonville Arkansas is the headquarters of Walmart. I waited out in front of the temple afterwards for about 10 minutes to try to catch a shot of a Walmart truck passing in front of the temple. I was successful!
As always, the flowers on the temple grounds were spectacular! 
Finally, there’s a motorcycle rally going on in town for the next four days. These motorcycles were lined up out in front of the La Quinta hotel where I’m thrilled to be staying tonight! 