Kyiv Temple Dedication

On Sunday, August 29, 2010, we had the priviledge of particapting in the dedication of the Kyiv Temple.  Moscow was blessed to have three of our buildings receive the live broadcast from Kyiv, Ukraine.  Stephen and I attended the broadcast in our sweet little Zelenograd Branch just north of Moscow. The Zelenograd Branch meets in a small builidng that the Church actually owns and there are about 100 active members who attend.  The first session of the dedication was at 10:00 and we met upstairs to hear it in English.  At the 1:00 dedication we met with about 23 other members in the chapel area to hear it in Russian.  We decided not to attend the 4:00 session but went home.  Later Sunday night we got a call from one of our sister missionaries who was with us at the Zelenograd Branch and she said shortly after we left they lost the broadcast reception and they weren't able to hear any of it.

Just a brief history on the builiding of this long-awaited temple.  The Kyiv Ukraine Temple is the first temple built in the former Soviet Union and includes 13 countries in its temple district.  The announcement of the temple was on July 20, 1998, by President Gordon B. Hinckley and it wasn't until June 23, 2007 that the groundbreaking and site dedication took place.  So on August 29, 2010, after twelve years of waiting, the wonderful people here have a temple.

It was an incredible experience to be part of this historic event this weekend.  Friday night there was a Cultural Event in connection with the dedication and we were able to watch that via live broadcast.  We had a large group of young single adults from Moscow perform in the Cultural Event and they were wonderful.  We were all cheering as we recognized the faces of our dear group.  Also, at the second session of the dedication, a choir from Moscow sang in the Celestial Room.  They sounded like a choir of angels.  Both groups made us so proud!

Our Moscow young single adults.

Group from the Ukraine.

Then came Sunday morning and the actual dedication of this beautiful temple.  Words can't express the feelings of graditude, love, and reverence to our Heavenly Father for this gift to the people here.  One of the very tender moments for me was when we sang "The Spirit of God" in Russian.  And I was singing in Russian.  Tears were streaming down my face as I realized what was happening.  I was here - in Moscow - as a missionary - singing in Russian - at the first dedication of a temple in Eastern Europe.  How grateful I will always be.

Many miracles happened in Moscow so we could particapte in the dedication.  One of them was the miracle of the white hankerchiefs.  We were able to get these beautiful Ukrainan Temple hankerchiefs for each of our missionaries a few days before the dedication.

Three of our sweet sisters from the Zelenograd Branch.

Elder & Sister Gronning, Elder Page, Elder Cardoza, Elder Lex, Sister Barash, Sister Perry, a young woman from the branch, Elder Demchenko, Sister & President Sorenson