Draper Temple Dedication

This past weekend the dedication of the Draper, Utah Temple took place. John and I were privileged to attend the 11:30 session on Friday, the 20th of March. We went to the temple with a busload of people from our neighborhood (not enough room to park everyone at the temple) and after putting little booties over our shoes we were ushered into the temple. An instant peace fell over our group. There were about 2000 people attending this session and I figured we would be lucky to sit in a big closet somewhere in the basement, but, much to our delight, we were directed up to the top floor and John and I sat right by the door into the Celestial room where the dedication was being held. President Monson, his wife, Elder Packer, Elder Holland, Elder Eyring and other church leaders came in right next to us and sat down just a short ways from us. In fact, two of President Monson's body guards sat right next to us. We felt really blessed to be so close to the proceedings. The meeting had six speakers, Elder Marlin K. Jensen,(a Seventy) Elder Packer, (a Seventy), Presiding Bishop Burton, Elder Holland, Elder Eyring and then President Monson dedicated the temple. The choir was from our stake, the Corner Canyon Stake, and the music was Angelic! At the end everyone participated in the Hosanna Shout with our hankies. We then sang, The Spirit of God Like A Fire is Burning. The spirit was burning! It was powerful and you could tell this was now a house of the Lord....a different feeling than what we experienced while serving during the open house!

By the way, last week I was put on "Security duty" at the temple and when I walked in the room to report I was the only woman there. The man is charge said, "Hello, Sister Ashby". I said, "How do you know my name?" Well, in all of the three months of open house time, you are the only sister to have been put on security...it was easy to remember your name!" I was so surprised. I thought I would be put in the parking lot directing traffic and wore a warm coat and heavy shoes but no, they took me up to an office in the upper part of the temple and I got to watch everything going on in the sealing rooms and Celestial room. I had a walkie talkie and checked in periodically. Other than handing out water and answering questions I had no problems! But it was such an honor to serve there. I felt so lucky! The funniest thing was when all the security people left for their positions they told us to be sure and act like proper High Priests and to remember we were not a part of the Swat Teams or Bomb Squads! "I-Yi Sir!", I said while laughing at the irony of it all. On Saturday John was in charge of a group of men in the temple parking lot and enjoyed his service there. He met and renewed acquaintances with several general authorities he knows.

Today was the last day of the dedications and we are excited to be able to attend a regular session at the temple this week. The crazy thing is that we have to call and make reservations to attend as so many people are excited to use this temple. I just love it! It's so wonderful to be a member of this church!

In thinking about the Draper temple dedication, a friend of mine, Allene Lemons, made some comments on her blog about the Kirtland Temple and I thought you might enjoy reading them here:

"As we are preparing this week for the dedication of the Draper Temple, the dedication of the Kirtland Temple was of interest to me. The dedication of the Kirtland Temple was on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836. Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and celebrates the Savior's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Unfortunately, we won't be dedicating the Draper Temple on Palm Sunday--that would make the date easy to remember-- but our dedication will be the week before Palm Sunday 2009-- and maybe in our old age we can remember that date. I hope you all remember our New Testament lesson when we discussed the people of Jerusalem spreading palm branches on Jesus's path as he was entering Jerusalem. The waving of palm branches symbolized his triumph and victory as the King of the Jews entered the city but for us it really symbolized Jesus's triumph over death and sin that was going to take place on the week following (that's what Easter is all about). At Jesus's entry into Jerusalem, they also cried Hosanna. The word Hosanna, in our LDS Bible Dictionary, means "save now" and Psalms 118:25-26 adds to "send prosperity." Isn't that interesting? (See http://scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/h/45). This Psalm was chanted anciently at the Feast of Tabernacles. The palm fronds and this Hosanna shout have been a celebration of the Messiah in all ages. Think about this as you attend the dedication."

"Back to the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. It took three years to build and cost between $40,000 and $60,000. The Saints at that time were very poor. I can't help but think about the Draper Temple dedication and the cost of building a temple in 2009 and the serious economic problems that the world is facing. Our early Saints had great faith that they would be blessed spiritually if they completed their temple. It may not be a monetary blessing that we need today as much as a spiritual blessing."

"Well, hundreds of people gathered early on the morning of the Kirtland Temple dedication hoping to get a seat in the temple. The doors opened at 8 AM. Only about a thousand were able to be inside so many had to be seated at a schoolhouse and return the following Thursday for the services to be repeated. Aren't we thankful to our Bishop who has interviewed us and issued us a time so that we don't have to arrive so early?"

"The Kirtland Temple dedication began at 9 AM and the services were seven hours long. Three hour block meetings are easy compared to this. Sidney Rigdon conducted, Sidney Rigdon gave the opening prayer and Sidney Rigdon talked for 2 1/2 hours. Then, Joseph Smith was sustained as the Prophet. They had a 20 minute intermission. Then, Joseph Smith spoke for a short time. There was the sustaining of officers and leaders. Joseph Smith then prophesied that if they upheld these men that the Lord would bless them. Joseph Smith offered the dedicatory prayer. There was an acceptance of the dedication by the congregation. The sacrament was passed. Various testimonies were given. Sidney Rigdon gave some closing remarks and Sidney Rigdon gave the closing prayer. Then they had the Hosanna Shout. This was interspersed with hymns and one of particular note was The Spirit of God which was composed by W. W. Phelps for this occasion. Now, there are lots of promises about the blessings of temple attendance in the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer found in Doctrine and Covenants 109."