Later that week on Tuesday we went out with Gaurav and Rajesh again and were able to take them up to Salt Lake to see Temple Square. We first stopped off at Costa Vida to grab some dinner (Rajesh and Gaurav LOVE Mexican food) and then we parked near the new City Creek Mall and walked over.
We had a wonderful time taking the around to see the sights and explaining to them about the things we were seeing. Both Rajesh and Gaurav are Hindu and it was interesting to see how many similarities our two religions have. I absolutely loved learning more about their religion and culture and the values that make them the great men they are. It was such a wonderful night!
After visiting the South Visitors center and stopping by the reflection pool to take pictures, we decided it would be fun to go on a tour of the conference center. Although Adam and I have been on the tour before, it had been YEARS and we remembered very little of it so it was really awesome to be able to go again. We loved learning things like how the conference center seats 21,000 people, and how it has a completely retractable stage, to how it was designed to allow everyone a great seat (without obstructing their view) by using incredibly strong beams. All very interesting. We loved the Senior Sister Missionary who helped us.
After seeing the conference center itself we were then led to several other areas that had beautiful paintings and then statues of past prophets and apostles. One of our favorite rooms had original paintings from the Book of Mormon and as we went around the room, I told Rajesh and Gaurav the stories behind each one. Like how Lehi had a vision to leave Jerusalem with his family, and how the 2000 stripling warriors went to war to protect their families, and how Abinidi died sharing the gospel, to Samuel the Lamanite proclaiming the gospel on a wall, and the Saviors visit to the American continent. It was awesome to share the stories and my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Later when asking what everyones favorite part was – Rajesh and Gaurav both commented how much they had liked seeing the paintings and hearing the stories. That they had felt connected to the stories in some way, and that it made them a bit emotional. I was so glad that they had enjoyed the stories so much.
We ended our temple square tour by going over to the North Visitors center where we were able to talk about stories from the Bible as well as Joseph Smith and the First Vision. Both Gaurav and Rajesh really liked the Statue of Christ and said it was powerful to walk into the room where it looked like Christ was floating in the sky with all his creations. It really was a very wonderful experience.
From there we took Rajesh and Gaurav down to the basement of the visitors center where we looked at lots of different copies of the Book of Mormon in different languages. Gaurav found one in his Native tongue and committed to read the Book of Mormon before he left that weekend! Wow! I told him I would give him a King Sized candy bar if he could do it, and he took me up on that challenge! Amazing! Rajesh too, started reading as well and had gotten all the way past 2nd Nephi by the time we saw him a few days later. So awesome!
To end the evening we hit up the local Starbucks for some hot chocolate and pumpkin bread! Delish! It was really such a wonderful evening with Rajesh and Gaurav where we were able to share so much about who we are and what we believe with them. We equally enjoyed learning about their religion and culture and coming to know the why behind their goodness as well. Its so awesome to know that there are good people all over the world who are trying to do whats right and follow God. It really was just such an awesome night! đ
