I once took a quiz on USA Today and this is what it said about me . . .

“You are culturally adventurous in all walks of life and love to explore different avenues of tastes and trends.  Because your body is also important to you, you look for flavors that are unusual but still healthy and delicious, and you are constantly on the lookout for the next food trend.  You are an emotional spirit and you make really strong connections.  Good friends and lots of laughs are the recipe for really happy days.  And nights!

You’re sophisticated and inquisitive with a real passion for art and culture.  You pride yourself on being an early adopter of the latest music and films and always like to have a good book on the go.  Your ability to bring together very diverse and even dissenting opinions is rooted in your appreciation for all points of view.  You believe in immersing yourself in interesting experiences that make you look at people, places and opportunities from new angles.  Being sensitive and creative you want to feel connected to the world around you and actively seek out opportunities to explore it.  It’s all about broadening your horizons and living life to the full.  Anything else would not fulfill your curious nature.”

I believe that I just had one such adventure.  Oh where to begin . . .

Part 1:

The red eye flight into New York, I guess that is where one should begin . . . at the beginning.  Honestly I don’t remember much about the flight since I sat down and immediately went to sleep.  Landing at 6:15 am is just about all that my memory now can recall.  It was the adventure looming within my grasp that had my full attention anyway. 

Sometimes I am smart and this just happened to be one of those moments.  I had made reservations for a hotel room.  It was a hilarious thought to me that I had rented a hotel room by the hour . . . made me giggle a bit thinking about the implications that go behind doing that.  The irony of that exact thought didn’t lose any humor when the mission president and his wife came and picked me up from said hotel.  It is probably wrong that I find it so funny, but I will fully admit that I can’t help but think that it is. 

Anyway . . .

I was more than excited to be able to spend some time with President and Sister Nelson.  He wrapped me in a huge bear hug when I walked out to meet them.  There is almost nothing that warms my heart more than a hug.  I have missed having him here for the past two years and the ability to go to his home any time I was needing a hug and a listening ear that truly was concerned about me.  He exemplifies for me what a priesthood leader should embody.

He took us to breakfast and we were able to catch up on how their mission has been going and they were able to catch up on our lives at home.  Although I would have loved to have spent all day with them, it was transfer day for the mission and he had to go meet with some of his missionaries.  He again enveloped me in a hug and then very fatherly told me to be very careful in the rest of my travels.  Then he gave us directions to the Manhattan Temple and set us on the subway to continue on our journey.  That was definitely the best way to start my vacation.  I am a bit upset that in all the excitement that we forgot to take a picture . . . that however is so like me.  I always forget to take pictures.

One of my goals in life since I was rather young was that I wanted to do work in every temple.  That goal used to be much more attainable since there were only around 70 temples when I decided that and most of them were in the United States.  Now there is almost double that amount and it is a bit more of a daunting task especially since there are four to five more temples announced every six months. 

The Manhattan Temple is pretty amazing.  It is on an extremely busy intersection and yet when you enter the doors, all noise disappears.  It is one of the smallest temples that I have had the opportunity to visit.  It is on a couple of floors along with the chapel on another floor for Sunday services.  The feeling of being in a sacred house of God was the same as every dedicated temple on this earth no matter its size or location.  I was again reminded through the Spirit that the work of the Lord carries forward wherever the authorized priesthood resides.  That is a very peaceful, comforting feeling.  The session was beautiful and my heart was touched and reminded of things that I know. 

After the session (this time remembering to take pictures), we went to grab something to eat before heading back to the airport for our flight to the Holy Land.  Let the adventures begin!!