The Hague Netherlands Temple

 The Hague Netherlands Temple

My 61st Temple

The Hague Netherlands Temple is located at Osylaan 2, 2722 CV Zoetermeer, Netherlands. It was dedicated in 2002.  It is about 30 minutes away from the Schiphol Amsterdam airport.  I visited this temple for the first time in November of 2024.  It was my 61st temple. There was freshly fallen snow on their beautifully manicured flower beds.  

The temple is not normally open for baptisms on a Thursday at noon, but when I contacted them via email to tell them that we would be coming from America and landing in Amsterdam at ten am, they agreed to come to the temple so that we could do baptisms at noon.  The temple president and and his wife, and the 2nd counselor in the temple presidency and his wife, assisted us in the baptistry.  We came straight from the airport and were in our sweats that we had worn on our 9 1/2 hour flight.  We went in to the bathrooms just inside the entrance to change into our Sunday clothes.  The 2nd counselor said, "all that matters is worthiness, not clothing.  You don't need to change clothes just to change again."  I thought that was very kind and also very profound.

They treated us like royalty the entire time, including the temple president giving us a spiritual message in the baptistry next to the font, as the eight of us stood in a circle.  My husband, son, daughter, and I were each able to perform baptisms for family members who had passed away.  I love the beautiful baptismal font in the temple, as well as the stained glass that can be seen from inside and outside.  I also love the beautiful artwork in the temple.  The president and second counselor talked about how proud they are of their temple, and how much they love knowing most of the people who come to worship there.  They mentioned that their temple is small, but I assured them that our own Casper Wyoming temple is even smaller than their temple.  They were surprised to hear of smaller temples than theirs.

Perhaps my very favorite thing about this temple was the beautiful flowers covered with a sprinkling of freshly fallen snow.