Brigham City Temple

This last year we have spent much time in preparing for the Brigham City Temple to open. It has been a wonderful opportunity for our whole community and especially for each individual family as we have been given many chances to serve. Here are a few of our highlights. 1) It has been really awesome to see the temple being built. As we drive past it each time we go into town and see what new work has been done on it. It is beautiful. 2) The youth in the area have been so involved in temple work and preparing for the new temple. The YW in our ward did a shortened girls camp this year and also did a 3 day temple trip. The visited each temple from Manti to the Salt Lake and were able to do baptisms in each temple. It was such a wonderful experience for Riley and I have been so happy at how much time she has been able to spend at the temple. It has been a testimony builder for her. Which is so important during these teenage years she is heading into. 3) The youth in our temple area participated in a Cultural Celebration the night before the temple dedication. The spent all summer attending rehearsals and learning dance numbers. Many people in the area built background props, sewed costumes, and got the kids to all the many rehearsals. My girls complained about the rehearsals, their costumes (which included bloomers), and all the long hours spent. But it ended up being an amazing experience for them. I was in awe when I dropped off kids from our ward at the high school and saw how many youth were involved in this. There were hundreds and hundreds of kids. The celebration was the night before the temple dedication. It was held on the high school football field. Elders Russel M. Nelson and L. Tom Perry came and spoke to the kids for a minute. The celebration just told about the history of the people of Brigham City and the surrounding areas. They performed songs and dances for each time era and bit of history from before the area was settled by the church to present day. My favorite part of the whole night was at the end when they were all crowded on the field together and sang "We Love to See Our Temple". Mariah and Riley will always be able to look back on this experience and realize the importance of the temple in our lives.

4) I had the chance to go clean the temple before the open house started. It was the first chance people had to see the inside of the temple. When they asked for volunteers I almost jumped out of my chair I was so excited. We had volunteered as wards and I enjoyed the ladies I got spend my time with. We got a tour of the whole temple. It is built to resemble the older temples like the Salt Lake, Logan, or Manti. I thought it was the most beautiful temple I have ever seen. There are peach blossoms all throughout the temple. From the windows, the engraved doorknobs, the hand carved woodwork and moulding. We cleaned the moulding and marble work in one of the sealing rooms and the celestial room. The man who is in charge of maintenance at the temple walked us through and explained the significance of the artwork (how local artists had been used or painted real people from the area), described the carvings, and hand stenciled wall paper. My favorite part of the whole temple was the bride's room. It was the most beautiful room I have ever seen. As I stood in there I got emotional thinking that one day I would hopefully stand there with at least one of my girls as they got married. It was such a peaceful, wonderful experience. I have never felt the spirit of Heavenly Father so strong in my life. Not at any time I have ever been to the temple and I was just cleaning. I still cannot talk about it without tearing up a little bit.

5) We got to attend the open house and take our whole family to see the temple. We went with Justin's parents, Tim, and Missy and Crispin's family. I love being able to take my kids to see the inside of the beautiful building and talk about the purpose of temples. My only disappointment was they did not show the bride's room during the open house. I had built it up so much for my girls and I really wanted them to see it. I guess a lot of people felt the same way. Because after the open house was over. All the YW where invited back as wards on a Sunday and got to go the see the bride's room. I was so happy. It was a perfect time for the to set the goal to be married there one day. How blessed we are to be married forever, for all eternity and not just this life. Here is a picture of the bride's room.

6) We got to attend the temple dedication. Justin and the girls have never been to one before and I enjoyed going with them and singing the "Spirit of God". We have been so fortunate to have the experience. I know the girls will always remeber when the temple was built.