Temple Openhouse

Dear Family and friends, Starting last Thursday (the third) Alan and I started our volunteer time at the Rexburg Temple openhouse. We will be tour guides every Thursday until the 24th. We, along with about 12 other couples from our stake, arrive at the nearby stake center for prayer meeting at 11:45. We then start the tours. Alan and I were the second couple from our stake to take a group through the temple last Thursday. We were very nervous. We are assigned a group, anywhere from 35 to 50 in number, we sit through a film about temples with them, then we take them through the temple. We leave the stake center and walk uphill on tent-covered walks. Right before we go through the doors we all put on booties over our shoes to protect the floors in the temple. The first room we stop in is the baptistry.


Here we explain that baptism is the first step in our progress back to live with our Father in Heaven and also the first ordinance performed for those who have passed away who did not receive the gospel while here on the earth. I am in charge of this part of the tour and I kept forgetting the scripture that goes along with this part. 1stCorinthians 29:14. Alan pointed out to me that the scripture was on a board set in front of the room for all to read. All I had to do was look and read it. I felt pretty goofy. Oh well, you get what you pay for, right?
Next we lead the group up one floor to the main foyer area.

This picture is of the waiting area just beyond the front recommend desk. We explain that we change from street clothes to white clothes in the temple. We then lead them through the sister's dressing room, up the stairs to the second floor. We lead them into one of the two instruction rooms. Alan takes over the leading of the tours from this point on. The murals in the two rooms are not the same, but were painted by the same artist, Leon Pearson, a local man. The murals are beautiful and very detailed. They are of scenery here in the Idaho area. We explain that we receive instructions here concerning our premortal and mortal lives and the blessings we can receive in this life and the next. We leave the room representing the creation and telestial room and pass by the room representing the terrestrial room (they can look into that room and see that it is much brighter and they see the curtain that covers the veil of the temple). There are two terrestrial rooms as well.

The next room we take the group to is the celestial room. It is a beautiful room, as you would expect. You can see that it is two stories high and very open. The large window and the three windows at the top of the picture are stained glass with a wheat motif. So beautiful. I thought that the wheat was representative of Idaho and our agriculture, but yesterday in our relief society lesson, it was pointed out that wheat is a symbol of righteousness, as in the separating of the wheat and the tares. I like this symbolism better. Agriculture is good, but righteousness is better. There are two opposite mirrors hanging in this room, and you can stand in the celestial room and see yourself continue into infinity and beyond! (A little Buzz Lightyear humor). I hope you don't think I'm being irreverent. When I'm in the temple, I never say that to the tour groups. By the way on Saturday night when we cleaned the temple at 9:30 p.m. -12:30 a.m. Zack was given the assignment to dust in this room. Wow, I was envious of his cleaning job. When we leave the celestial room, we climb yet another set of stairs to the third floor and all of the five sealing rooms. All are decorated the same, they only differ in size and how many chairs are in them. Again, you can see the stained glass windows and a little bit of the mirror on the right side. The chandeliers in the temple are stunning. Really. We always get asked how they clean them. I heard that they are let down on their chains from the floor above, to a height that is manageable for cleaning. That makes good sense. Also on the third floor are the nursery for small children waiting to be sealed to their parents, and the waiting rooms for wedding guests. These rooms are not on the tour. After the sealing rooms we take the tour down all the stairs at the other end of the temple (there are elevators) to the bottom floor and back down to the stake center. We get to rest for maybe ten minutes and then we take another tour.
This is a picture of one of the temple corridors. There are many paintings depicting events in the life of Christ. There are a few of the Teton mountains. They are all beautiful. I wish you caould all be here and see this newest temple. Hopefully, when you come to visit, we can make it a point to go and do a session together. On Saturday night, as I mentioned previously, we had the opportunity of cleaning the temple. Afterwards, the man in charge of our cleaning crew took us on a tour and showed us places that are not on the tour. Zack was with us and we stood with him in both the celestial room and one of the selaing rooms where we could see into the mirrors. I got very choked up, because it was wonderful for Alan and me to stand and see ourselves with Zack. As we left, we all agreed that there are wonderful blessings that come from service. Had we not volunteered to clean, we would not have had that opportunity to see the temple in detail and have Zack with us as well. Monday afternoon, we again went down to help. This time I was in charge of the bootie crew (young men and young women from our stake), and Alan and Zack were directing traffic in the parking lot. Zack was sent by himself up to the upper temple parking lot to direct cars down to the lower stake center parking lot. He said he waved and smiled at everyone. Alan directed traffic and drove the shuttle bus for people who need rides to and from their cars. It started to snow at about 3:30 and did not stop all night. Zack was dressed in his warmest clothes and still froze. He stood outside from 3:00 - 6:00. Then he got to come into the stake center and eat cookies and drink punch. So now we have volunteered as much as they will let us. Alan and I still have three Thursdays to go.