Many years ago I had the opportunity to serve the Thai people as a missionary in Thailand. They are the most kind, gracious and humble people and I truly loved being with them.
Those converted to the gospel had the greatest faith and they so looked forward to having a temple of their own one day. At the time, the nearest temple was in Tokyo Japan (in more recent years, the Hong Kong temple took over that role). The missionaries longed for that day to come. Faith was strong that it would happen, but no one knew when.
It was a joyous day for all of Thailand in April of 2015 when it was announced that the long awaited temple would finally be built! The plans were announced in General Conference by President Thomas S. Monson. The chatter between long since returned missionaries and members in Thailand sounded as if coming from a calvary of chipmunks in the forest.
The faith and perseverance of the members had been rewarded, and the anticipation would continue to build until the day of the dedication.
In November of 2019 I was able to go back and visit Thailand for the first time. One of my primary goals was to visit the temple sight. As our schedule worked out, we were able to get there on our last day in Thailand. We booked a hotel in the general area. A train ride got us to the point where we could begin the adventure of tracking down the address.
The building lot was well camouflaged, 20 foot tall walls hid the busy construction. It wasn’t until we walked right up to the wall and read the small sign that we knew we had finally found it. For a moment, it seemed that we would not be able to see anything on the site.
And then as it does so many times, when photographing these temples, it happened… The gate slowly opened making way for a cement truck to exit. As the truck pulled out of the gate, I was positioned to take some pictures before the gate closed back up.
Then I had a better idea. I asked the man monitoring the gate if I could just walk in and take a few pictures. He smiled and gestured for me to come into the construction lot. I was cognizant to not take advantage of his kindness and quickly took some shots of the area.
Our view showed us that they were pouring the footings of the temple. Obviously not much glamorous to photograph, but just having the experience to be there was phenomenal.
