My experience with the Saratoga Springs Temple open house was so incredible. The Saratoga Springs Temple was announced in the April 2017 session of conference, quite a while before I would've even take notice of it. We were in California back then, and my reaction to any temple announced in Utah was a roll of my eyes and, "ANOTHER temple in Utah?! Seriously??" They started construction on it in October of 2019, after we'd moved here, and we started hearing our local leaders talk about the Saratoga Springs Temple and how we would be in that temple district when it was completed.
I remember after the Saturday adult session of stake conference a few years ago, where they had talked extensively about the temple and making time to go the temple, instead of going home, on a whim, I drove out to the Saratoga Springs Temple to see how it was coming along. It was quite dark outside. It must've been in the fall, and I could see the temple as I drove up to it, but not very clearly. The building was definitely there, looking nearly finished, but still with some scaffolding around it. I felt excited and a little impatient for it to be done.
This year, in late March, the temple was finished, and our stake, along with several other stakes in the area that are in this temple district, were gearing up to manage and serve for the temple open house. Our stake was assigned three dates in early May, early June and early July. I signed up to serve in May, on the 1st, and I was assigned to play the piano for half an hour in the "welcome center" (which was the stake center right next to the temple; people started their tour of the temple in that stake center). I was a little disappointed that my service for the temple open house was, first, not in the temple, and second, not that long. I was assured that I would have another opportunity to serve for the open house on another day, though.
We were able to go tour the temple when Julie came with her boys. We went first thing in the morning, before the lines got too long. The inside of the temple is beautiful, and I think my girls were really interested and enjoyed being inside the temple. It was a great opportunity for them to see what it's like inside a temple. Brooke said her favorite part was the celestial room. The boys were less interested, of course. They were a little young to appreciate it.
My next day of serving in the temple was July 5th. I had the morning shift, right as the temple was opening for the day. I did a training the week before, teaching about how to serve in the open house, and my position was to be a standing usher. Basically, my job was to stand at a certain position in the temple and smile at people as they walk by, and direct people if they looked lost. As a standing usher, I didn't really talk much to the people coming through; I mainly served as a roadblock, so that people wouldn't stray from the tour path. It was very easy. They did have specific instructions for what to do with our hands (no waving people through, no hands in the pockets; hands at your sides, clasped in front or back) and our body language. And they advised us to keep moving our legs periodically, so that we wouldn't get tired or faint.
I went to the temple early the morning of the 5th, had another short training session, and then we were taken up in shifts to where we would be serving. I was on the 2nd floor, rotating between 4 spots near the women's locker rooms. The man in charge of our group took us in to see the bride from before we started; we couldn't enter the bride's room on the tour, and it was so special to be able to see it and be inside. I would not have any reason to see it in person, unless one of my girls got married in that temple. But it was so lovely.
Serving as a standing usher was fine, maybe a little awkward at times. People come up to your spot as they walk the tour, and sometimes it's a little weird when they encounter you. They will smile awkwardly, or avoid making eye contact altogether. Sometimes, they try to see past you, to the part you're blocking off.
But mostly it was good just being in the temple, in the peace and quiet and calm.
A few weeks after I served for the open house, Brother Call from the stake, one of those who helped coordinate the open house, emailed me and asked me to write to him about my experience with the temple open house. They were collecting experiences from those who served, both for our stake historical record and for the Saratoga Springs historical record. This was my response to him:
Dear Brother Call,
I'd love to share a few things about my experience with the temple open house. I felt that the whole experience was just so well put together and well organized. I was grateful for the training and felt very well-informed and ready when my time came to serve. Aside from that, as with all other temples, the Saratoga Springs temple is beautiful, and the Spirit that resides there is amazing to feel. I actually got a little teary-eyed when I was walking into the temple to serve for the open house, even though I was just entering through the side entrance into the basement.
I loved the peaceful feeling I got being in the temple, and the happy knowledge that I was serving the Lord in a new and different way than I'd ever experienced. That was such a special feeling. Before being set up for our shift, the brother in charge of our rotation took us in to see the bride's room. I love how much consideration is given to the women in the temples. The bride's room was beautiful!
I served on the second floor as a standing usher and rotated a few different spots near the sister's dressing rooms. I was struck by the painting that hangs just outside of the sister's dressing rooms in the hallway. It is obviously a painting of Moses as a baby in his basket. At first, I thought the painting was of Jochebed, Moses' mother, as she was putting him into the basket to send him down the Nile. I noticed that she was of darker coloring, and I thought it wonderful that she was depicted that way. But the more I looked at the painting, the more details I noticed, and I realized that it was actually a painting of Pharaoh's daughter. Aside from her coloring, she was dressed in very fine clothes, and the look on her face as she discovered Moses' basket was one of delight and awe and joy, not the kind of look I'd imagine on the face of a mother sending her baby away. Well, with this discovery, I had a whole new thought process. I was touched that a painting of Pharaoh's daughter would be displayed in the temple. It brought to mind feelings of God's love for all of His children. That even though Pharaoh's daughter was not of the House of Israel, she was instrumental in God's plan; that He was mindful of her and loved her; and that He knew that she would care for Moses. I'm getting emotional just thinking of it. It was also interesting to see how people responded to this painting as they walked through. Some would smile awkwardly at me and give a quick glance to the painting; others would see the painting first and obviously love it, but not spend too much time with it (I'm sure they were trying to be considerate of those coming up behind them); and there were a few who stopped to really look at the painting for a few moments. One couple stopped and looked at it for several minutes, just making room for others to see and move around them. I loved how much time I got to look at it and think of it. I felt Heavenly Father's love for me as I observed it and pondered about it.
One other thing that happened during my shift was that the fire alarm went off. Those of us serving as ushers were unsure of what to do, and so we headed out to the staircase with everyone else to evacuate the building. Before we could get down the stairs, however, we were told that all was well and to return to our positions. We finished the tour for those already in the temple, and then the flow of people stopped, and we were invited to sit down and rest while waiting for the system to reboot (I think this is what was happening, haha). Another sister and I sat down on a bench together and just chatted for a long while as we waited. It was just nice to sit in the temple and feel the peace. We weren't worried about what was happening, we knew all would be well. And eventually, we were up and ushering again as people started coming through again.
I loved my time in the temple that day, and the other things I experienced with the open house of the temple. I'm so grateful I had this special experience.
I apologize if this email is coming too late. I tell people that I can usually be relied on to do something... but it may take me months to get around to it, haha. If nothing else, I'm glad that I could share my experience with you. Thank you!
Best,
Leslie Holbrook
A few weeks ago, on August 13th, we were able to attend a broadcast of the Saratoga Springs Temple dedication. The girls came with us, too. Every person to attend had to have either a regular temple recommend or a special dedication recommend, which is what the girls received from our Bishopric for the event. We switched kid care with DeAnna: we had the twins while they took the older boys to the earlier session, and they had our boys while we went to the afternoon session.
It was wonderful to be there, mainly in spirit, watching the broadcast in our church building. The dedication took the place of normal church meetings that Sunday, for the whole stake. There were a few talks given and a couple musical numbers by a choir. Then a member of the seventy spoke, and President Eyring gave a talk before giving the dedication prayer. I loved the dedication prayer! I'm so glad that they have all the temple dedication prayers on the church website. Because immediately after the prayer, I wanted to read it and think about it. I'm glad that my girls could participate in the dedication and go through the open house. I hope that it helps increase their faith and start them onto a temple-loving path.
Well, now our new temple is dedicated, and it's open for people to go serve inside. I suspect that it'll be very busy the next few months as people from all over Utah will want to go serve inside it. I'm hoping it calms down after that so that it isn't so hard to get temple appointments for us.
Some cool facts about the Saratoga Springs Temple:
- The temple has designs and colors reminiscent of the Wasatch mountains and Utah lake
- It was the 179th dedicated temple
- The inside design of the temple includes irises, daisies and chrysanthemums
- The decor around the temple has many details symbolizing the wetlands and mountains of Utah
- The decoration on the inside and outside of the temple also depicts the snowy egret, which is the official bird of Saratoga Springs
No comments:
Post a Comment