Recently I went to an activity with a speaker who works for the Temple Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He told us some interesting information about temples.
1. We build temples so that members of the church can experience more of God's power in their lives.
2. The goal is to build enough temples that every member in the world can live within one hour driving time of a temple.
3. To meet that goal, they expect about 20 new temples to be announced at every General Conference (April and October).
4. Some temples are built for a relatively small number of members. The Winnipeg temple was built for one stake. The Guam temple was built for 3 wards and 2 branches. The temples are small but they are complete temples.
5. The temples elevate the communities they are built in. In some areas, the temple is the nicest building the people have ever seen. Those craftsman who help build the temple learn how to do better craftsmanship.
6. The website churchofjesuschristtemples.org has a lot of good information and pictures about many temples. It is not an official website of the church.
7. The Helena Montana temple is an experiment in using modular pieces that are built in China and put together here. This is a less expensive and quicker way to build. Hopefully it works.
8. The Layton temple is probably going to be the last temple to have an angel Moroni placed on it. The gold plating is expensive. Also, we are not the church of Moroni.
9. Temples change lives, one by one. A man who was a felon and who had left the church, helped to build the Pocatello temple. As a result of working on it, he decided to come back and has been sealed to his family in that temple. In Star Valley, Wyoming, a plumber was needed on short notice. The only one they could find was a man who was not a member of the church. As he worked on the problem, the building manager talked to him about the church. He decided to meet with the missionaries and was eventually baptized and sealed to his family in the temple. These kind of experiences happen frequently in the building of a temple.
10. Members of the church in some countries live in challenging circumstances. When someone from the Temple Department visits South Africa, they have to be accompanied constantly. No Westerners can go to Nigeria because of the kidnapping threat so the temples have to be taken care of by the local members with long-distance consultations. The man speaking to us recently spent 4 days in the Congo and was very worried about his safety the entire time. The people make great sacrifices there. A woman in Africa spent two days on a bus traveling to get to a temple dedication. She arrived late and spent the night sitting by the gate until someone arrived who could let her in. After that, she was taken to the patron housing built next door. In many countries outside of the US, they build patron housing for the temple patrons to use at cost because of the distances many have to travel to get there. We stayed in patron housing in Germany when we visited the temples there.
11. One of his jobs is to prepare the temples he's assigned to for their dedication after the open houses. They go in at the end of the open house and make a list of all the little things that need to be fixed. Then when the General Authorities arrive, together they walk through the temple and ask the Lord if it is ready. One Saturday night, the day before the dedication, the walk-through revealed that one of the chandeliers in a sealing room was too low. If it wasn't raised, someone tall might hit their head on it. So it needed to be raised before the dedication. At 8pm, they found this out and started making a list of all the things they would need to raise this 1200 lb. chandelier. It was not a short list and the equipment was not your run-of-the-mill equipment. By 10pm they were finished with the list and the only store open was Walmart. They went to the Walmart with a prayer in their heart and they miraculously found everything on their list. By 1am, the chandelier was raised and ready for the dedication that morning.
12. They receive divine help in taking care of the temples. Frequently a security guard or some other employee will "happen" to walk into a room that they don't usually walk in and discover a problem that has the potential to cause problems if it is not taken care of. Their goal is to "not lose an ordinance." I think this means that their goal is that no operations problem such as a power outage or a leak, etc. will stop the temple from its planned operations. The Preston England temple building manager was especially remarkable in his work and never "lost an ordinance" in 20 years of work. They're very pro-active in their maintenance which prevents costly problems.
My life is much better because of the influence of the temple. I am deeply grateful for the fact that I am sealed to my family members through temple ordinances and can participate in ordinances for my ancestors who didn't have that opportunity.
Thanks for sharing this. It was inspiring and informative.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stephanie!
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