Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

I had a really cool experience tonight - actually it was more of a string of cool experiences that made for an awesome night. I was invited along with my old roommate by another one of our old roommates to come up to Salt Lake City and go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. You need tickets to get inside - and our friend that lived in Salt Lake had obtained 10 of them and had invited us Utah County people along. It was about a 20 min drive so Aubrey and I carpooled up. When we were about 5 min. away I got a message from our friend saying she got stuck at work and couldn't meet us up there. The problem was that she had the tickets with her... Thank heaven for Blackberries...Each group had to show a piece of paper with the reservation information on it. Using my handy-dandy Blackberry, I was able to get the information that was on the tickets... Well, Aubs and I walked up and when they asked for our paper - I handed the man my phone. "Well, this works - come on in" he told us. That convinced Aubrey right then and there that she too, could not live without a Blackberry!

When you first get to the temple grounds - they escort you into a tent where you watch a video about temples and the history of the area where this particular temple is located. Well, Salt Lake City and the surrounding area (including Provo) has had REALLY AWFUL wind all day. It wasn't much better up on the hills of the Oquirrh Mountains. As we were sitting in the tent waiting for the video to start (and during the video as well) the wind howled around us, shaking the tent. We heard things falling over outside the tent - and I was afraid we were off to Munchkin Land or the Land of Oz very shortly... But we made it through and then walked into the temple in one piece. Once inside the temple - it was still, still and peaceful.

Now to my favorite part of the night. The open house is a way for everyone to see the temple before it is dedicated. Once it is dedicated, only worthy members can enter and walk through the temple. It really is a walking tour of the building and they show you what the temple looks like. You walk through without an escort until the end where you end up at the sealing room. The sealing room is where couples are married, not death do you part, but for time and all eternity and families are linked together forever. It is one of the most wonderful places in the whole building. They have you come into a sealing room and sit down and a married couple explains and shares their testimony about what the temple means to them. When Aubrey and I sat down with our group - the wife was crying. Then she explained her tears... 39 years ago today, she and her husband were married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Part of group that we were sitting with contained all 6 of their children and their spouses as well as all 21 of their grandchildren... and they didn't even know they were coming! Their children had surprised them with the best gift - (some of their children traveled as far away as Nebraska) the entire family together on their anniversary in the place where families sealed together. How cool is that?! It was very hard to keep back the tears that formed on my eyes.

It was an awesome experience. I love going to the temple and feeling the love that our Heavenly Father has for all of us. That moment in the sealing room will stick with me for a long time. I am very grateful to a friend for making the reservations, and an awesome phone for helping us get in.