April 11, 2025

Halifax Nova Scotia Temple

Whenever I think of Halifax, Nova Scotia, I think of two words: Holly Cook. Holly is my cousin and in 1990 she took third place in the World Figure Skating Championships held in Halifax! I don’t know that anybody from the World of Cook has been back to Halifax since then, so I’m particularly excited to see it now!

I normally wait to post a food picture in the town of the temple I’m visiting but right now I’m at BWI Airport and I just ate the Cowboy Burger at the Green Turtle. ❤️🍔

Finally, I always wish I had more time at an airport to sit back in a rocking chair and just rock and watch the planes come in and takeoff. Today I have about 45 minutes to do that, so I’m taking advantage of it!

I originally planned to fly to and from Halifax in one day, but those airfares are about $400. So, I’m going from Baltimore to Orlando for $30, then Orlando to Halifax for $40, then Halifax to Toronto for $35, then Toronto to Winnipeg for $40, then back to Toronto for $30, then back to Washington DC for $140. It was the flight from Orlando to Halifax for less than $50 that started this whole thing! ✈️ If I can keep a round-trip temple airfare to $100 I figure I’m doing well. This trip will be three temples for about $400 or so which is just fine! Beats the heck out of going to just Halifax and back for the same price!

Halifax Nova Scotia Temple Facts

It was the 64th temple dedicated.
It was announced on May 7 of 1998, my 40th birthday!
It was dedicated in 1999 by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
It was dedicated the same day as the Regina Saskatchewan Temple, a first at that point that two temples were dedicated the same day!
From the date of its announcement to the day of its dedication was only 18 months!

I flew into Halifax Stanfield airport, then took an Uber about 20 miles south to the temple. I was 90 minutes early for my temple appointment and verified that the only endowment session was at 7 PM, so the stake center across the street was open and I ducked into the mother’s nursing room. Why? Because they have large soft rocking chairs in there. I found one and started to relax!

The scene from inside the plane was also quite spectacular. I’ve never flown up into this area of the world, so it caught my attention quickly!

While relaxing in the mothers room, a couple of full-time missionaries walked by. I ended up talking to them and found out one is from Lehi and one is from Provo. Amazingly, their entire zone is scheduled to go into the same endowment session as me! Their mission president is President Sorensen from Houston, Texas. He used to be the stake president and his first counselor was Rob Chappel, a friend of mine who was the Director of the Visitor Center in Washington DC! President Sorensen immediately took a photo of the two of us and sent it down to Rob. After that he let me get in the photo of his zone. Can you spot the ward mission leader?

The temple session was fabulous. We had more men than women, which was a first! Afterwards I walked about two blocks to Wendy’s, and upon entering, saw two couples, who had also been in the temple session. I sat down and ate with them, and had a great conversation. One gentleman is named Bill Green, and is a sealer in the temple. He was a delight to talk to.

The Uber ride to the temple was about $40 US, so I decided to take the bus to get back and save some money. I ended up getting on three different buses, and because I didn’t have any Canadian money on me, the first bus driver gave me a free pass plus 2 transfers to use on the next two buses!

Right now I’m back at the airport. It’s about 1 AM and I’m waiting for a couple of hours for the security check to open. My flight to Toronto is at 6 AM.
I also met President Drennan, President of the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple. I asked him what’s the biggest thing he’d learned in his service as temple president? His answer was profound. He said that it doesn’t matter where you serve, the Lord appreciates all of our effort. He then talked about how he and his wife were asked to serve in the nursery after holding a much more visible calling earlier in their lives. We then talked about how we both served in the primary and had a great visit! I love talking to these temple presidents. They are men of great experience and spiritual depth!

I took a couple of shots of the temple as I was leaving. It’s a marvelous thing to have such beautiful buildings all over the world!