I’m Going There Someday.

A few years ago, my then fiancé started meeting with missionaries, eager to learn more about the church. His desire to grow spiritually brought me back to church, after being inactive for about 12 years. He was baptized soon after, and a few days later we were married. All of this was in the middle of the pandemic. Though there were many hardships (replanning, postponing, and changing our wedding celebration many times, job changes, moving houses, becoming a step-mom, among other things) we clung to our faith and began preparing to go to the temple. We were so excited to receive those choice blessings and made plans to go to the Payson Temple (out of town for us, but near family) for our 1 year anniversary. Surely everything would be back to normal by then, right? Our hearts began to ache as time went by and we slowly realized that we couldn’t have this one thing 100% our way. After numerous calls to the temple, scouring the internet for updates, and lots of prayers, we realized we were trying to put together pieces of a puzzle that just didn’t seem to fit. So then, we waited. We waited to go to the temple together when the Lord saw fit.

I’ll be honest, it was hard to keep the faith and not lose hope. I think that everyone’s faith waxes and wanes, but this was a pretty low blow. How could things not work out the way we wanted them to, when it was such a righteous pursuit?

I learned to put my faith in the Lord, and his timing. And I decided that in the meantime, I was going to use the talents he’d given me to express myself and stay focused on my goal. My art is my healing process, to help me overcome the hardships that have happened and to help me keep sight of what’s significant long term. These aren’t your normal beautiful watercolor paintings of the temples we know and love, and that’s ok. This is MY interpretation of how I felt while I waited. I’m going to be exploring different styles on this journey, being vulnerable and raw. The colored, bold backgrounds represent the chaos going on around the world we’re living in. The stark contrast of the blank whiteness of the temple represents the peace and calm we hope to feel when we go for the first time.

In October 2022, everything came together and we were able to venture to Utah and be sealed in the beautiful Payson temple. It was such a treasured experience that I got to share with friends, family, and most importantly, my husband and eternal companion. In the grand concept of time, the wait didn’t matter. It was refining.

For anyone who has had to wait to go to the temple, is currently waiting to go to the temple, or regrets taking the temple for granted, this is for you. Welcome to my journey.

-Kaylie