Mesa Arizona Temple
January 31, 2018
Going from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport out to the Phoenix Temple and back this morning cost me about $70 with tips. My wonderful driver on the return trip with SuperShuttle suggested I take the free airport tram to the metro station and then take the train out to the Mesa Temple. That was a great suggestion!
The PHX tram from the airport to the metro station is free. An all-day pass to ride the metro train system and the connecting bus system is only $4! Best of all, the metro system drops you off only a couple of blocks from the Mesa Temple.
The Phoenix area is beautiful. To get to Mesa you go through Tempe, home of Arizona State University. This is Phil Mickelson territory.
It’s only a couple of blocks walk to the Mesa Temple which basically sits at the end of the street. Along the way I saw something you won’t see in Washington DC–sprinklers watering a lawn in January.
As is normally the case, I asked a stranger to take a photo of me outside the temple when I got there. As is not normally the case, I didn’t have to worry about telling her to try and get the angel Moroni in on it…
When I walked in the dressing room, the first guy I met was Gunn McKay. I of course had to ask him if he was related to former congressman Gunn McKay from Utah and he said, “Yes, that’s my father.”
I own a junk removal business in the Washington DC area. About six months ago we were called to a home in McLean, Virginia to start decluttering it so the people could downsize and move. Somehow the Church came up in our conversation and the lady, towards the end of the day, proudly told me that the home was the former home of Congressman Gunn McKay when he lived in Washington. When I told his son this story, he was quick to state something that I also believe: “That was not a coincidence,” he said. In case you’re wondering, you can’t take photos of temple workers outside the temple when they are dressed in white, but you can take a photo of them just inside the main foyer if you ask.
As I did at the Phoenix Temple this morning, I had to take some photos of the beautiful flowers here in Arizona.
I did some initiatory work then came outside to meet an uncle I hadn’t seen in 40 years. He told me to meet him by the family genealogy center. I walked into one (it turns out there are two locations) and this is what I saw:
It was like walking into a spiritual beehive! Man, that place was busy!
I soon met up with my uncle and we went to his favorite place, Denny’s. He was quick to order the omelette off the 55-and-over menu and I went straight for a club sandwich with a lemonade.
It was so fun catching up with him, his kids, and lots of issues about his life and his family. Thanks to Facebook I’ve been able to keep in touch with him over the last number of years. His kids too. I got the sense I was one of the few members of the extended family that he had communicated with in the last few decades. He was really excited to see me.
This perfectly illustrates one of the main reasons I go to visit temples: it gives me an excuse to contact family members and friends in the area and reconnect with them face to face.
My uncle was kind enough to drive me 11 miles to the Gilbert Arizona Temple which would be my third temple of the day. If I could just get to the Gilbert Temple, then afterwards I would just need to catch a bus back to the Mesa Temple where I could catch the train back to the airport. My uncle provided that transportation and it made my third temple visit in one day possible!
There are some beautiful skylights in this temple outlined in baby blue stained glass. I may try to frame this photo in that same baby blue color as a reminder.
This is my fourth temple visited in 2018 and my 27th since January of 2017. It’s sure beautiful here in the desert!