The Kiev Ukraine Temple is dedicated!

I am so excited to say that the temple here in Kiev is dedicated. It feels like this day has been a very long time in coming. This picture above is from the open house. The temple is so beautiful! I don't particularly love chandeliers, but when I saw the chandelier in the celestial room of this temple, I was stunned with how beautiful it was. The only way I know of describing it is that it shines all the colors of the rainbow and the light is constantly moving, which makes it look almost like running water. So beautiful. On the way to Kiev, you can see the temple from the train for a brief moment. I have enjoyed looking at it the last while as we go into Kiev, it always looks so beautiful and peaceful. But this morning, as we rode by on the train, I felt something more than just beautiful and peaceful, I didn't really pay attention until Dmitry said to me, "it's been dedicated already" (we were attending the second session). I realized that it had a much more powerful feeling to it now that it has been dedicated. I really enjoyed the dedication and all the talks given, it was just my luck that we went on the Russian session - purely coincidental, but it made it much more enjoyable for me because I was able to understand most everything said.

After the dedication we saw a sister Tanya who served in the Yekaterinburg mission during the time I served there. The last time I saw her was about 3 years ago. It was wonderful to see her and we actually went to her home briefly and met her children, which I really enjoyed. We also saw my former mission president and his wife, Marc and Cherri Hall. The last time I saw them was in our Belaya Tserkov branch right before they left Ukraine to go to Kazakhstan for the remainder of there mission where they were collecting the history of the members here in Ukraine and later in Kazakhstan. They are now back here in Ukraine to serve a mission here at the Kiev Temple. It was wonderful to see them again. What a wonderful chance for them, I am sure they will meet many of the friends they have made over the years serving in Russia, Ukraine and Kazikstan as the members come to do their temple work.

The cultural night was enjoyable and fun. It was fun to see President Monson joke with the saints. It was really fun to see him relaxed and enjoying his time here with the people. The funny thing is that I had to come all the way to Ukraine to see a prophet. This is the first time I have seen a prophet in real life, not displayed from the TV screen. It was really wonderful. My favorite dance of the night was from the youth of Armenia. It was a wonderful weekend for us here in Ukraine! :)