Draper Utah Temple

The Draper Utah temple open house for the general public began today. Our stake was assigned to serve today, and Ray and I were both able to do so. What a wonderful experience!

They needed several hundred people to do the various jobs today - so we only saw how one little piece of it worked - and it worked beautifully. It makes you realize how much work and coordination goes into something like this. Our job was to be "bus ushers".

There is no parking available at the temple itself for the tours (except ADA and some VIP parking), so the general public is assigned to one of three stake centers on their ticket reservations. A short video is shown at the stake center, then the patrons board the bus (this is where we come in) to go to the temple. We helped people on the bus, and had a script we read while riding to the temple. Then the people were let off the bus right at the entrance to the tour. Once the bus was empty, we went around the corner to pick up a group who had finished the tour to come back to our assigned stake center. We did this for our entire shift. It was so fun to meet people. We had a lot of people from Spanish Fork (it was their stake's day to come), and people from a lot of other places as well. This was an ideal assignment for me and Ray: we could talk the whole time. I don't know if I could be one of the people inside the temple. They are instructed to smile and direct. No talking unless absolutely necessary. Although I was willing to serve where asked, this was much more pleasant for me.

After our shift we took the tour ourselves. What a beautiful temple! It has a similar feeling somehow to the Timpanogos and Bountiful temples. Maybe because of the windows and how the light comes through. It is smaller than I expected. I love the simplicity of it, and artwork is especially beautiful.

If you live locally, take the tour! I recommend you see it sooner rather than later if possible. I think it will get very crowded.