Day 48: Brisbane Temple

Oh how I love the Temple! Let me count the ways!  First off, this one is built on the side of a cliff.  It’s a small-ish cliff but it’s absolutely stunning!  We got there early and had a picnic along the banks of the river overlooking the incredible skyline. 

Inside it was the same as every Temple in the world.  The Spirit is so strong—the peace and love and joy that the Savior has for us abounds and you can’t help but feel like you’ve been draped in a warm blanket and set in the most comfortable place in the house.

We were followed into the baptistery by 7 missionaries.  Most of them were huge Tongan boys who spoke no English.  The doors to the dressing rooms had been propped open and, not thinking, they filed into the women’s.  Luckily I was behind them and I just stood back until they realized their mistake.  I was giggling when they came back out, the first Elder was red as a beet!  It was so cute! 

After a glorious hour serving in the House of the Lord, we continued our journey.  What a great time we have road tripping!  We stopped at Sunshine Coast for lunch at a park/beach.  The kids were in heaven.  We had way too much fun though because we missed our stop at Rainbow Beach by 45 minutes L  We really wanted to get there in the day light to see the different colors of sand. 

The lack of light didn’t stop us from playing on the beach though.  At 65 degrees (18) the kids wanted to get in the water.  Not willing to deal with wet sandy clothes they had to settle for star gazing and sand angels.  I love that you can see the milky way and the southern cross just about everywhere here.  I never thought I’d see the southern cross in person!

I’ve never felt more loved than I do this summer.  The kids are so huggy—probably out of insecurity being so transient as we’ve been—that I can’t go 5 steps without someone hugging on me.  On the beach I couldn’t hardly move for the throng of the minions.  So we just stood in a clump and hugged and watched the stars—we even saw a couple of them shoot across the sky.   It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.