OUR Temple

(November 18th, 2023)

It has been so fun to see the Orem Temple slowly built so close to us. This will be our temple, the one we go to. It will be the one I serve in come this January. I've really enjoyed going to trainings and I can't believe how soon I'll have a weekly shift. The Temple is so beautiful. Whenever I make a run to Walmart, I stop and look at the temple. I've seen it in many settings. Tyler often catches lovely views as he comes home. This one is pretty spectacular.

Having a new temple built actually requires a LOT of planning and help. Most things are planned well in advance, but sometimes they need more spontaneous help. Pearl went to help one evening when they asked for volunteers to come plant flowers. She didn't know anyone, but she went willingly and helped quite a bit. She was there as it got dark and she got some great pictures of the lit temple.

The open house started at the end of October. That requires a lot of volunteers as well. Our Stake was assigned the last three days of the open house, Dec 14-16th. Most of us signed up for at least one shift, others took a couple. We'll get to that in a minute. 

First, we went to the open house ourselves in November. We planned a day that Granny V was in town, so that was fun to have her with us. There isn't a lot of parking at the temple; the Orem temple is quite small, so they had several shuttles going to and from the temple. We took one over and I got a shot of us on the bus.

We also grabbed a couple shots outside that evening. The extra face is Matthew, who came with Analena. I believe he is no longer in the picture. I mean, he is physically IN the picture, just not in Analena's life anymore. You got that, right?

It was really fun to go through and see the temple. It is really lovely. There are lots of greens and pinks. The theme is cherry trees because the land where the temple is built used to be a cherry orchard. On the bottom row of windows, you can see marshlands and find wildlife in the stained glass such as a hummingbird, a dragonfly, and a heron. The second floor windows show the blossoming trees and on the top floor, you can see the bright red cherries. So pretty.

I walked with Ivory and we were able to talk more about the temple since she will go through within the next year most likely. It wasn't a very long tour. A half hour later, they spit us out the back. Not a bad looking group. (Oh, June is absent since she was out of town.)

As for our volunteer days, those were really fun. They were short volunteers and so they announced on the Sunday before to sign up for more times. Pearl and Daisy took a shift on Thursday morning during school. The Bishop gave them permission to skip school. ;) I took a shift driving the golf cart on Thursday night. It was so fun but beyond cold. Like mucho frio. It was worth it to meet so many awesome people and drive them around to the front, but it took a while to feel my feet again after the event.

Friday, Ivory and Daisy took a ushering shift and June, Pearl, and I did ushering on Saturday. Actually, Pearl was too young, so she could only do foot coverings. Three hours of bending over to put booties on people's feet is intense. 

Ushering was quite enjoyable. I saw people I knew and smiled a lot. I got asked a lot of random questions and could only answer about half. But I'm so glad we got an opportunity to serve. It was a wonderful experience and once again, I'm thrilled to have our temple so close. 

Oh, I almost forgot. June got to attend the open house later with Isaac. He came back from his mission just days before it ended. Don't worry, you'll see more of him I'm sure.