In May I visited the Oquirrh Mountain Temple construction site. Last week I visited again and took photographs. As you can see the angel Moroni is now atop the temple. The 60,000 square foot temple sits on 11 acres and its exterior will be finished in a light beige granite from China. It was announced 1st October 2005 and the groundbreaking and site dedication was 16th December 2006 by Gordon B. Hinckley. Originally named the South Jordan Utah Temple the name was changed 16th December 2006 to avoid confusion with the Jordan River Utah Temple also in South Jordan.
The temple has 63-foot high walls and a single spire reaching 193 feet, topped by the angel Moroni. South Jordan is 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). The temple will serve 83,000 Latter-day Saints living in the western Salt Lake Valley. The temple is the thirteenth temple built in Utah and the fourth built in the Salt Lake Valley. The temple site property was donated to the church by Kennecott Land.
Zerahemnah versus Moroni
This is tomorrow’s post posted today. My trip to Nephi, which was going to be today’s post, I will post tomorrow so as to give me more time to sort through all the photographs. First rule of blogging — always have some posts in reserve.
Sometimes a goal that may be considered dull can be made interesting with a little thought. For example, to liven the study of the scriptures I will sometimes pick a character and write about him or her. Because I will be posting it online I study hard and think of a different way to present what I find.
A World War Two documentary I watched showed battles from the perspective of both sides. I thought it would be interesting to try the same thing with a Book of Mormon battle. To show you want I mean here is an example of a February 2007 article I posted to MormonWiki. It was about a nasty piece of work called Zerahemnah. He was a Lamanite commander around 74 B.C., in the eighteenth year of the reign of the judges, first appearing in the Book of Mormon record in Alma 43:5.
Preparations for War
The Nephites
The Nephites saw the Lamanites were coming upon them so they made ready for war, placing their armies in Jershon. Their chief captain of all the armies was Moroni who equipped his men with breastplates, arm-shields, head-shields, and thick clothing.
The Lamanites
The Lamanites massed by the thousands at Antionum, the land of the Zoramites. Zerahemnah made Amalekites and Zoramites, for they were the more murderous, chief captains over the Lamanites.
Objectives
The Nephites
The Nephites wanted to:
- Defend their lands, homes, wives and children.
- Preserve their rights and privileges.
- Keep their liberty to worship the true and living God.
- Protect the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.
The Lamanites
Zerahemnah wanted to get the Lamanites angry with the Nephites so that:
- He could have power over the Lamanites.
- He could overpower the Nephites and make them slaves.
- He could stop their worship of God and their faith in Christ.