Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Vacation Part 3... Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House



I was ecstatic to find out that the Oquirrh (pronounced like Okra but stopping at the r sound [O'kr]) Mountain Temple was having their open house during the time we'd be in Salt Lake. I had my mom reserve us some tickets. It was such a BEAUTIFUL temple! It felt HUGE inside! I was surprised to find out it was only a MID sized temple! I'm so used to the EXTRA SMALL feel! I was surprised with ALL the stairs! Usually you would find escalators to use. Not in this one! They do have 1 small elevator available for those who need it, but other than that ...you get to do the stairs. I liked it! I thought it added to the grandeur of the inside. They got the material for this temple shipped from all over the world. Morocco, China, and Egypt...just a few places...

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple is the 130th Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the 13th in Utah, and the 4th one in the Salt Lake Valley. There are 4 ordinance rooms and 6 sealing rooms.
The temple grants South Jordan the distinction of being the only city in the world with two LDS temples (the other being the Jordan River Utah Temple, located approximately 3½ miles to the northeast)

Our primary group in Murfreesboro has been to the Nashville Temple on various occasions to walk around the grounds and visit with the Temple President and his wife. When the girls found out we'd be in UT for the primary's visit, they were sad. I told them that we would be able to go to a temple open house and see all around the inside of the temple. My girls were WAY excited to see the inside of a temple.

THE TEMPLE IS THE MOST SACRED PLACE ON EARTH FOR MEMBERS OF OUR CHURCH

WHAT WE LEARN IN THE TEMPLE GIVES MEANING AND DIRECTION TO OUR LIVES

FAMILY TIES ARE MADE ETERNAL IN THE TEMPLE

TEMPLE WORSHIP FOCUSES OUR LIVES ON JESUS CHRIST

EVERYTHING IN THE TEMPLE TESTIFIES OF JESUS CHRIST'S DIVINITY AND SACRIVICE AND TEACHES US TO FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE OF LOVE AND SERVICE


When we saw exactly where the temple was sitting, Mike and I looked at each other and said...We almost bought a house in THAT neighborhood!!! It is a beautiful temple. Marley made the comment that she wanted to be married in THAT temple. :D
It was a fun and special time with our family. Before we walked through the temple, they showed a little film about the importance of temples etc. During the film, the showed some of the pictures that can be found on the walls of the temple. My little Ema was paying enough attention to point them out when we passed them! "that picture in movie!" My Father-in-law, and most of my siblings and their families were able to go through with our group. We enjoyed the spirit we felt there.

While in Utah, my kids could look out the window and see temple after temple. In fact, on one of our drives they were able to see the:
Provo, Timpanogos, Oquirrh Mountain, Draper, Jordan River, and Salt Lake Temple. On another occasion, the saw the Bountiful temple. We were able to see more than half of the temples in UT. What a blessing!!!

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