Temple – Page 5

Las Vegas Nevada Temple

March 22, 2010 by rickety 4 Comments

Rick at the temple gates

Monday was Day One of our California Temple Trip with Jake and I leaving Kaysville in the afternoon and reaching Las Vegas in time to take photographs of the temple before the sun went down. Tomorrow morning we will take in a session when the temple opens. Click on the images to enlarge.

Rick and Jake. Every temple is The House Of The Lord

Suns and Moons on the temple wall

The Las Vegas Nevada Temple is the 43rd operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Located in the Sunrise Manor CDP near Las Vegas, Nevada, the temple sits on 10.3 acres at the base of Frenchman Mountain. A groundbreaking ceremony and site dedication for the temple were held in November 1985. President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, presided and gave the dedication prayer. Construction began soon after the ceremony.

The Moon above the temple

Some strange living things in the temple grounds

View of the temple from the street

View of the temple from the parking lot

A very beautiful temple

The temple was open to the public for tours between November 16 and December 9, 1989. Almost 300,000 toured the temple and its grounds during these three weeks. The temple has six spires, the highest of which is 119 feet. At the top of this tower stands a ten-foot statue of the angel Moroni.

Ten foot tall and 119 feet high Moroni

...I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven...

The exterior is a white finish of pre-cast stone walls with a copper roof. The temple has 192 rooms, which includes four ordinance rooms, a Celestial room, six sealing rooms, a baptismal font, and other facilities to meet the needs of the purposes of the temple.

The angel Moroni in spires

Moroni viewed looking straight up from the patron entrance

Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Las Vegas Nevada Temple December 16-18, 1989. Eleven sessions were held and more than 30,000 Latter-day Saints attended the dedicatory services.

From the top of the street as the light was fading

Photos by Rickety. Text from Wikipedia.

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Planning the California Temple Trip

March 17, 2010 by rickety 2 Comments

View Larger Map

Next week is spring break and time for another temple trip like the Utah Temples Tour I did in 2008. Just my son Jake and I will be going this time. There are seven temples in California and in visiting those we can also take in the two Nevada temples.

Monday

The Reno temple would have been first on our itinerary but the first session on Tuesday doesn’t start until 4 pm. That doesn’t work if you want to use Monday afternoon and evening for travel from Kaysville and then get an early Tuesday morning session. The alternative is to travel on Monday to the Las Vegas temple and attend the 5:30 am. session.

Tuesday

Las Vegas temple it is. We will then use the rest of the day to stop at the first of the California temples. Redlands, San Diego and if time permits the Newport Beach temple.

Wednesday

If we didn’t attend a session at the Newport Beach temple on Tuesday we can start today with a 7 am. session. The Los Angeles temple is closed so that will be a photography only stop. Next is Fresno and Oakland.

Thursday

This last day takes us to Sacramento and Reno and then home.

I hope to post some photographs of the temples we visit while on the road. If not I will catch up with my blogging when I get home.

Update

All went as planned until Wednesday. We didn’t reach Oakland until late so on Thursday we needed to visit the last three temples, Oakland, Sacramento, and Reno. It was nightfall when we exited the Reno Temple and so we stayed over in Reno. This increased the time of the trip to five days, Monday to Friday. We drove over 2,000 miles.

Here are the links to the posts of each temple in the order we visited:

Las Vegas Nevada Temple
Redlands California Temple
San Diego California Temple
Newport Beach California Temple
Los Angeles California Temple
Fresno California Temple
Oakland California Temple
Sacramento California Temple
Reno Nevada Temple
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Brigham City Utah Temple Artist’s Conception

November 12, 2009 by rickety 3 Comments

Brigham City Utah Temple Artist's Conception

While eating dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse last night with family and friends we wondered what the new Brigham City temple will look like. One of the party suggested that we create our own artist’s conception and post it on the blog. I received in my email today the results you see above.

The term artist is applied loosely here — very loosely. It may be wise not to reveal the identity of this budding Greg Olsen. Not to be picky but the temple is facing the wrong way. Isn’t it supposed to face the Brigham City tabernacle? It appears that the temple will have a very small steeple but perhaps it is that way so as to fit in the photograph. I am glad that there will be an Angel Moroni but to be almost as tall as the steeple — that is a lot of gold leaf.

Perhaps to save on the cost the original parking lot from a prior development is to be left intact. But that won’t accommodate many patrons unless only sealings are performed. It is nice that there will be some trees planted but the electrical boxes will have to go. The temple looks like it will have an exterior of stucco. I don’t recall that material being used before. The many large windows indicate that more natural light than usual will be utilized. The box shape will help with energy efficiency. Or maybe it symbolizes Box Elder. Who knows what was on this artist’s mind?

We all appreciate (in varying degrees, mostly small) the efforts of our artist but if you have something better please send it in and I will post it.

Brigham City Utah Temple Lot

November 8, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments

Brigham City Utah Temple lot

The announcement of the Brigham City Utah Temple was made by LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson at the opening of the 179th Semiannual General Conference of the church in Salt Lake City on 3 October 2009.

We continue to build temples. We desire that as many members as possible have an opportunity to attend the temple without having to travel inordinate distances. Worldwide, 83 percent of our members live within 200 miles of a temple. That percentage will continue to increase as we construct new temples around the world.

The Brigham City temple will be the 14th in Utah. The announcement of a new temple underscores the expected population and business growth many expect Box Elder County to enjoy. There are new businesses in the county and many new homes are expected in the future.

On October 26, 2009, Church officials announced that the temple and tabernacle will be face-to-face across Main Street on a city block known as Central Square that once was home to Central Elementary School. The temple will be built on the property at 250 S. Main St., directly west of and across the street from the church’s Brigham City Tabernacle at 251 S. Main. The block is bordered in both directions along Main Street by retail businesses and to the west by private residences.

The Brigham City Utah Temple District will be formed from stakes currently belonging to the Ogden Utah Temple District and the Logan Utah Temple District. No completion date has been announced, nor have any plans about the design or size.

In the photograph you can see the Brigham City tabernacle through the trees. Main Street is between the tabernacle and the grassless vacant land where the new temple will be built. The grass and the paved area are also part of the temple lot.

I hope to post more photographs as work progresses.

Photo Credit: Susan Ward
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Mormon Church Membership in Utah

October 28, 2009 by rickety 2 Comments

General Conference. Photo Credit: LDS Newsroom

Utah Mormon Church Membership

Utah is the most populous state for Mormons in terms of membership (1,823,613) and percentage of the population (68.94%). Utah also has the most stakes (523) and temples (14). Utah is in a three-way tie with Florida and Washington for third place in missions (5).

The table below allows one to compare the Utah membership with other states and to follow the links for additional information.

Utah Mormon History

When the first company of Latter-day Saint pioneers began to journey westward, they did not know their end destination. But on 24 July 1847, when the wagons rolled out of the canyon into the Salt Lake Valley, their destination became apparent. “It is enough,” Church President Brigham Young said as he viewed the valley below. “This is the right place. Drive on.” Young named the area “Deseret,” meaning honeybee, signifying the hive of activity that would soon inhabit the area. The President stayed only 33 days before returning to Winter Quarters in Nebraska to assist other families on their trek. At least 236 pioneer companies of approximately 60,000 pioneers crossed the plains for Utah. With time, they transformed the desert valley into the bustling and prosperous Salt Lake City. (Source: LDS Newsroom)

Table of Mormon Church Membership in the United States

There is a more recent update of this table at U.S. LDS Membership.
Click on the column headers to sort.

State	Members	% LDS	Stakes	Wards	Missions	Temples
Alabama	33,404	0.72	6	41	1	1
Alaska	29,460	4.31	7	48	1	1
Arizona¹	368,417	5.81	86	677	4	5
Arkansas	25,296	0.89	5	32	1	0
California	749,490	2.05	159	1,195	17	7
Colorado	133,727	2.75	30	253	3	1
Connecticut	14,338	0.41	4	27	1	0
Delaware	4,585	0.53	1	8	0	0
District of Columbia	2,166	0.37	0	2	0	0
Florida⁵	129,238	0.71	25	183	5	2
Georgia	72,760	0.76	16	105	3	1
Hawaii	67,106	5.23	15	120	1	2
Idaho	399,427	26.64	115	936	2	4
Illinois	54,424	0.42	12	91	4	2
Indiana	40,139	0.63	11	68	1	0
Iowa	23,301	0.78	7	36	1	0
Kansas	32,116	1.16	7	52	0	0
Kentucky	30,498	0.72	6	40	1	1
Louisiana	27,119	0.63	6	31	1	1
Maine	10,160	0.77	2	14	0	0
Maryland	38,850	0.69	8	66	2	1
Massachusetts	24,114	0.37	4	38	1	1
Michigan	42,422	0.42	8	65	2	1
Minnesota	29,550	0.57	7	52	1	1
Mississippi	20,377	0.70	4	28	1	0
Missouri²	62,217	1.06	14	104	2	2
Montana	44,976	4.70	11	77	1	1
Nebraska	21,890	1.23	4	40	1	1
Nevada	172,330	6.72	33	291	2	2
New Hampshire	8,091	0.61	3	16	1	0
New Jersey	30,280	0.35	5	35	2	0
New Mexico	63,987	3.25	14	89	1	1
New York	74,004	0.38	14	83	4	2
North Carolina	71,737	0.79	15	102	2	1
North Dakota	6,005	0.94	2	7	0	1
Ohio	56,492	0.49	13	91	3	1
Oklahoma	40,683	1.12	7	57	2	1
Oregon	144,808	3.86	36	255	2	2
Pennsylvania³	47,832	0.38	10	74	3	1
Rhode Island	3,608	0.34	0	6	0	0
South Carolina	36,141	0.82	6	46	1	1
South Dakota	9,397	1.18	2	9	1	0
Tennessee	42,102	0.68	10	65	2	2
Texas	269,670	1.13	49	413	8	4
Utah⁴	1,823,613	68.94	523	4,296	5	14
Vermont	4,302	0.69	1	7	0	0
Virginia	83,225	1.08	19	144	2	0
Washington	253,166	3.91	54	440	5	3
West Virginia	16,491	0.91	4	24	1	0
Wisconsin	23,907	0.43	6	41	1	0
Wyoming	59,970	11.47	16	131	0	0
United States	5,873,408	1.95	1,422	11,151	106	72

Table Notes

1. Gilbert Arizona and Phoenix Arizona Temples announced. Gila Valley Arizona Temple under construction.
2. Kansas City Missouri Temple announced.
3. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple announced.
4. Brigham City Utah Temple announced.
5. Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple announced.

Sources

Membership as of 31 December 2007. Temple information is current. Source: Deseret News 2009 Church Almanac and U.S. Census Bureau National and State population estimates.
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Vernal Utah Temple

September 30, 2009 by rickety 1 Comment

In October 2008 I visited all thirteen Utah temples. It was then that almost all of the photographs were taken that appear in this series of posts. To download a photograph click on the image to obtain the full resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels with a file size of 3 to 4Mb.

Vernal was the first temple built from an existing building—the Uintah Stake Tabernacle

There are stones labeled 1907 and 1997, indicating the two years when the building was dedicated—first as a tabernacle and then as a temple

The tabernacle becoming a temple in 1995. I am in the foreground with my sons Daniel and Jake

1901, 1907, and 1997

In the photograph above notice there is only one year above the entrance instead of two years currently. If the dedication of the original tabernacle was in 1907 and the new temple was in 1997, what is the meaning of the year 1901? According to a Deseret News article on June 5, 1984, the year 1901 corresponds to the walls and roof being constructed:

The lot for building the Uintah Stake Tabernacle was purchased for $400, and quarrying operations for the foundation stone to be used in constructing the building began in 1899. Ground was broken in April 1900. The walls were erected and the roof put on in 1901. Work continued for five years, with the finish work — plastering, doors, windows, heating, fencing, painting — being done from August 1906 to August 1907.

Vernal Utah Temple Facts

Announced: 13 February 1994
Site: 1.6 acres.
Exterior finish: Face brick.
Temple design: Adaptation of Uintah Stake Tabernacle.
Rooms: Baptistry, celestial room, two endowment rooms, three sealing rooms.
Total floor area: 33,400 square feet.
Dimensions: 175 feet by 210 feet.
Groundbreaking, site dedication: 13 May 1995, by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Dedication: 2-4 November 1997, by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Due to the narrowness of the building, a two-stage endowment room was used—a concept which has been used in many temples ever since

Vernal Utah Temple Impressions

Like the Logan temple we moved to a terrestrial room half way through the session. The celestial room was beautiful. It was quite large, bigger than Ogden. It had a high ceiling and a large painting of Jesus Christ — what one would expect in a celestial room. There was a comfortable feeling about the temple. Beautiful brown woods communicated warmth and added to the “You’re at home” feeling.

Originally, the building served as the Uintah Stake Tabernacle for eastern Utah. The building was built with donated labor and was dedicated on August 24, 1907 by LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith. Smith reportedly said he would not be surprised if a temple was built there some day.

The statue Moroni had originally been painted gold. After four months it was decided that the statue should be given the traditional finish of gold leaf