A Piece of the Temple

We had a most fantastic Family Home Evening this week.  We drove to the Gilbert Temple construction site.  We were able to see the temple, which has made a lot of progress since we last talked about it.  The have a little visitors trailer center there.  Inside there are pictures of the progress, architectural drawings, and missionaries who are there to answer any question you may have about the temple.  We learned some really neat things...

First of all, this is the largest temple the Church has built since the Mount Timpanogos Temple, which was dedicated in 1996.  What most impressed me, was what I learned about the sealing rooms.  There are five sealing rooms on the third floor.  Two of them are small and have seating room for about twenty--just so we don't get homesick for the Mesa Temple!  The other three, however, will hold about 70-80 people!  Another thing I thought was neat is that the bride and groom will exit from the south side of the temple, rather than the east, where the main entrance/exit is.  This bride and groom exit goes right into the bridal garden.  This is a perfect way to make sure that you don't have to worry about clogging up the entrance to the temple (or having a bunch of people in the background) when taking pictures! 

One thing I joked about is that I'm going to miss the golden windows!  Right now they just have plywood up in the windows, but it will be replaced by stunning art glass.

If you have a chance to go by the visitors center, they are handing out pieces of the temple!  One of the walls for the outside of the temple cracked.  These walls are made of white, pre-cast concrete with a quart aggregate mixed in.  The quartz is shipped from Georgia to Dallas, where the walls are formed, and then it is shipped to Gilbert.  Normally the crack in the wall would be fixable, but only the best materials are used for the temple.  Instead of sending the wall back to be ground up and mixed into a road, they kept the wall and have broken it up so that anyone who would like can have a piece of the temple.  I know that I will always have a piece of this temple in my heart!  We love the temple and are so excited for its completion.  Families can be together forever because of temples!