Kyiv, Ukraine Temple Dedication and Cultural Celebration

Someone told David that this was the best place to take a picture from.  He may have been right.  The reason for this Eastern European trip was to attend with Nathan the temple dedication of the Kyiv, Ukraine Temple.  Because we are not official members of the temple district we were invited to attend a session in the stake center in central Kyiv.  We did that and then found our way out to the temple for the afternoon.  The mashrutka driver dropped us off at the corner of the temple.  He saw us and asked if that was where we were going.  I suspect he had many passengers that day.  It was a kindness on his part to drive a little further down the road before stopping.  I don't know what the people waiting at the regular stop thought.  We had a great meal with Ann & JD who have been called as full-time temple worker missionaries, watched from their window overlooking the temple for a while, then joined the many people who came out between dedicatory sessions.  I think many of the local people attended multiple sessions.  They certainly were not eager to leave the temple grounds when it was all over.  JD says that people come and walk around and sit on the benches until it is dark most days.  It is a place of beauty and peace in a chaotic city.  The day, the weather, the occasion and the people were all beautiful. 

The Landscape even is designed to appeal the Ukrainian people.  They apparently love all types of sunflower and the crab apple tree is the "tree of paradise" if I recall rightly.

Nathan enjoyed meeting many old friends and making some new acquaintances in the between times and at the cultural celebration the night before.  This picture was taken on the metro - an old friend.  Even on the metro after the Saturday night program he met old friends.  It took a long time for people to leave the event, they were so glad to see each other and to meet each other.  President Monson promised the young people participating that they would see blessings come from their participation.  Just the new friendships would be one of those blessings.

The Cultural Celebration featured regional dances from the several nations that are part of the temple district and told the story of Christianity in the Slavic lands.  Without language skills I was pretty much on my own to understand the narrative portions, but the dancing and music was beautiful.  It needed no interpretation.  I was moved as the story unfolded to learn that the Slavic people were the first to be able to read the Bible in their own language.  When the story unfolded to the point that the LDS missionaries came to Slavic lands the entire mission came up through the audience the the strains of "Hark, all ye Nations"  and a standing ovation from the audience.  People living in foreign lands only vaguely know that missionaries make a sacrifice to serve.  After all the missionary lives like they do, so it is a common thing for them.  They may recognize the time it takes to serve a mission, but they KNOW that what was brought was so  valuable.  The missionaries are heroes to those who have accepted the gospel.  It was a new perspective on missionary work for me.

I was flattered when someone assumed that I might speak Russian or Ukrainian and asked me to take their picture.  Here we are checking out the picture.  Than meant that at least I didn't stick out as "too American"
- well at least until it was clear that I could only respond to them in English.

Immediately after the dedication the crew began working to get the temple ready for Monday.  Temples are not normally open on Mondays, but this one was full to the brim and overflowing, with many who were coming for the first time.  Many of those had no escorts to guide them so you know the temple workers were busy.  We were able to attend a temple session on Wednesday.  We had waited until they were not quite so busy.  We didn't want to take anyone's place that might have come from far away with a need to return home.
Again in the temple we met people Nathan knew and were able to see Ann & JD one last time before going home.  It is a beautiful temple.

Nathan took the picture that follows.  I love it for the contrast of the Lord's house with those Soviet style apartment building in the background.  The apartments are just across the freeway.  The Lord has such good things in mind for us - better than we can think of for ourselves.