Making Time for the Temple while on Vacation.

Orlando Temple at night was one of the highlights of our trip to Florida. The peace that was felt on the temple property was such a contrast from the day of traveling and exhaustion, it was a wonderful experience!

Universal Studios Florida, was the destination for our trip, five day park hopper tickets, we were ready for a fun time. We took a ”red eye“ flight to get out to Florida and were really feeling the lack of sleep when we reached Orlando.

Because we were staying Universal property we only got the rental car for the first day, not the whole week. We adventured around that first day, we went out to the beach and saw some pretty cool stuff, but by the end of the day we were pretty beat. Towards the afternoon on that first day I started feeling really sick(lack of sleep and lots of traveling tend to do that to a person), so we headed back to the hotel to sleep off the massive headache. Only having the rental car for that first day I started getting worried that we would not be able to get out and see the Orlando temple, it just did not seem possible with how I was feeing.

My husband knew how much I wanted to see the temple, so he let me sleep for a bit and then pushed me to get going and go see the temple. Reminding me that it was the only time we would be able to go during this trip.

The temple was only about 11 minutes away from our hotel. I am so glad I got up and made the effort to go. The whole day of craziness, and running around all day was such a contrast to how walking around the temple grounds were. I felt a difference as soon as we got out of the car, in the temple parking lot. It was such a calm peaceful feeling that I needed to feel so badly that day(and every day).

We spent a good amount of time walking around, my husband was taking pictures(because I still was not feeling 100%). My kids loved the fountains, and the beautiful windows. I loved the calm and serenity of walking around The Lords House.

It is not always easy to add a church stop into trips. It takes effort, and sometimes it feels like it does not seem worth it, but it always is! These are the memories that your family will always remember.

It was not easy to get to the temple that day in Florida, everything seemed to be against us getting there. The whole trip was so fun, but the highlight for me was seeing this beautiful building! I have loved reading about the efforts of the Florida people to persevere and establish the church in this area. Seeing this temple in real life, and not just a photograph was really moving to me. What a great day it was, that I am not likely to forget any time soon!