Today, I had the privilage of serving for 4 hours at the open house for the Draper Temple. I left home at 6:15 AM and rode with the neighbors to a Stake Center a short distance from the temple. From there, we were bused to the Stake Center that is right by the Temple. We had a prayer meeting and got instructions for our service. Everyone who tours the temple, comes into this Stake Center for refreshments afterwards, and then they are bused back down to where they parked. There was time before the first group came through to actually walk through the temple. I went with my neighbor, Deanna Hurst. The temple is high on the hillside, and overlooks the valley. Even in the rain and fog we had this morning, it looked so beautiful. We were not on a tour, just a walk through with some other workers. My first impression is how small it is!!! It is very beautiful though. I am so used to the Jordan River and Salt Lake Temples which are both large. The decor inside is unique to this temple. I like the way the endowment rooms function. They have murials on the walls like in the SL Temple. Each room seats 50 people. There are four. Patrons start in the one room and move to the next where they have brighter lights, like the SL Temple, rather than just turning up the lighting in the room where you are. The second room has the veil. It was behind a beautiful curtain. The Celestial room of course is really elegant, and it has the most gorgeous chandelier in the center on a raised ceiling to accomodate it. This ceiling is higher than any other temple in the middle where the chandelier hangs. I love the brides room. The carpet is beautiful with flowers around the edges. The stained glass and everything are elegant. It looks like four brides can get ready at the same time. Of course there are beautiful lights and chandeliers. The woods and granite, and other materials come from a variety of places around the world. This temple has the largest seating capacity in a sealing room of any temple in the world. 75 guests can accompany the bridal couple for their sealing. Considering how small the temple itself is, I thought that was nice. In this area, we need that to accomodate the large families who gather for sealings. The tour ended in a sealing room where a couple told about what happens in there and bore testimony of the gospel and temple work.
There is a covered walkway between the temple and the Stake center. They have nice lighting in there, and it is heated, so it is a pleasant walk to the Stake Center even in bad weather. It was raining today. That beautiful new stake center was decorated like a temple inside the cultural hall. They had carpeting, large floral pieces, elegant tables and lamps. They had panels that took up whole walls with story boards like in the visitors centers, and every bit of extra wall space was covered with beautiul paintings by various artists. There were pianists who played continuous music one hour at a time. They had couches and beautiful chairs etc arranged around the edges. There were six sister missionaries. My work was simple, but a necessary function. Everyone took cookies from a beautiful buffet table and they had small water bottles in pretty silver bowls around the buffet. I stood at an exit door with a filigree serving tray, and people could put their empty bottles and paper napkins in there as they left, then I took them to the large container for recycling. There were three of us doing this job. When it was it real busy, I walked around with my tray to pick up trash from people who were just standing and visiting. There was a cute little family there who were LDS, and they consisted of the grandparents and parents with two snall children who were adorable. They stood them in front of a beautiful painting for a picture. It is the one of Christ exiting the tomb. It was really big. Almost life size. I commented to the grandma how cute the children are. She told me that they were adopted through LDS family services, and had been sealed to their parents when they were still babies. They are actually half brother and sister. Same mother. They were so excited to see a temple today, and to see an alter like they have heard about in the sealing room. We had a nice discussion about adoption. I was holding back tears. The spirit there was wonderful, and I was thinking about the sealings I have experienced in the temple with my children, and the five grandchildren that I have because of my own adoptions.
I was touched by the spirit today and it was really nice to watch people coming through. Many were talking to the missionaries and filling out cards to learn more. One thing that surprised me was how impressed they were with the building where congregations meet every week. They understood that it was decorated especially for this, but some asked me about the chapel where we meet, and asked if they could just walk through the building. They seemed to appreciate the reverence they felt there. People lingered and looked at displays. It was very nice, I really enjoyed the spirit that was there, and the service I was able to give. I thought a lot all day about the blessings of the temple that are mine. I am so grateful for the restotration of the gospel, the Priesthood, and the beautiful covenants that I have been priveleged to make in the temple. I'm looking forward to serving again next month.
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