September 12, 2019

Reno Nevada Temple

My trip to the Reno Nevada Temple started by driving east from Sacramento over the Sierra Nevada mountains. The highest point of that trip comes at Donners Pass which is 7227 feet in elevation. I thought when I passed the 3000 elevation foot sign that I was getting close to the top but boy was I wrong.

Hats off to whoever built the train tracks running about 2/3 of the way up the mountains through this area. I was amazed that they were there.

The Reno Nevada Temple

I arrived at the Reno Nevada Temple at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The next endowment session wasn’t until four so I had an hour to kill. I sat in the parking lot in the car and wrote the blog post for the Sacramento Temple in the meantime.

I’m always amazed at the landscaping of these temples. The flowers are particularly awesome.

Gorgeous flowers at the Reno Nevada Temple!

Baptisms Anybody?

This endowment session was the last one I could do with my own name cards. However, I had one other card that had no work done yet and that all starts with the baptisms.

Consequently, I was thrilled when following the endowment session one of the temple workers was talking about needing some help in the baptistery. I quickly volunteered, asking if I could get my individual name done too. They were thrilled. So was I. It was a perfect spiritual win-win.

I was a witness for the baptisms then was the voice for the confirmations. A grandmother, her daughter, and the daughter’s son participated as the proxies. It was a great opportunity and a very spiritual experience.

I Said “No” to the Slots…

My wonderful saintly 88-year-old mother often jokes about how she enjoys playing the nickel slots in Reno. “Only the nickels—“ she’s quick to add in at the end.

This being my first time in Reno I thought about taking $10 and playing the nickel slots in her honor, giving her any money I won. Then I realized I really wasn’t gonna win anything and I had just come from the temple. So I passed on it and headed back towards Sacramento over the Sierra Nevada mountains again.

I loved my slick little red Chevy rental car. It cruised just fine over those mountains and averaged 42 miles to the gallon. The next stop would be the Fresno California Temple where I would get a hotel for the evening and attend a session in the morning.