St. George Temple

Temple #5

St. George Utah

August 8, 2013

     St. George Utah; this is where I would call home. Or close to home. I grew up in the great town of La Verkin, but only lived thirty minutes away from the temple. 

     My ancestors and family have a lot of ties to the St. George Temple, which makes it quite a special temple to me. I have ancestors who helped build it, and my great great grandparents, by great grandparents, my grandparents, all on my dad’s side, got married there. My parents also got married there, along with my brother Greg and his wife Kara, my brother Jacob and his wife McKell, my sister Sarah and her husband Ty, and other cousins and family members. 

     The St. George Temple is where I got my endowments out before my mission. I love the brightness of the St. George Temple, although it is so old. It’s neat how the exterior walls are white, but beneath that white plaster is a red sandstone wall. I like to compare that to our lives, how our blood red sins can be covered up and unknown through Christ’s Atonement. 

     Ivy and I first went to the temple while we were dating. We didn't go in, but we walked around it and admired the Christmas lights. That is still one of my favorite dates we have had, and part of what made me fall in love with Ivy. Her spirituality and love for the temples caught my attention. 

     It was great to finally go into the temple together. The first time was still before we were married. The St. George Temple is great because it's always plenty warm. Sometimes it does get a little hot, but I love it. I also love how the brilliantly white temple is such a contrast to the surrounding red and black hills and mountains. It's a gorgeous area, very scenic and always a great place to visit in the colder months. 

     Once we were married, we lived three blocks away from the St. George Temple, and so we went often, and would go on Sunday walks around the temple and even visit the nice little visitor center there. There is a Christus statue within, which I have always loved seeing. 

     One thing unique and wonderful about this temple is that the main sealing room is in the Celestial room. There are other temples similar to this, but we've been lucky enough to go to a few weddings here. It is also the oldest standing temple, being built and finished before the Salt Lake Temple, and being the only temple that Brigham Young dedicated. 

     A neat opportunity arose while after we got married. A friend of Ivy’s family, Todd Bowthorpe, installs seating and chairs in the temples around the world. He was working on the St. George Temple for a week and needed some help, and somehow I heard of it and decided to help. 

     I took a week off work to help work on the temple. I went everyday for a week to the temple, dressed in all white and clean clothes, and helped install chairs. It was a neat opportunity that I will always cherish. 

     One day while working, Ivy came and helped. While there, we had a personalized tour of the temple, where we got to see nearly the entire building. We saw the old beams and rafters in the ceiling, the massive assembly hall, spiral staircases, and other hidden gems of the St. George Temple. It was quite fun and worth it. 

     A neat thing about this is that my Dad also was able to work in the Temple at one point. When he and my mom, Doug and Laurel, were first engaged and also while first married, my dad worked on the Temple. They were remodeling and fixing a lot of things, including the spire. That is what Doug worked on. He scraped old paint off and made new wood pieces, working for about six months on the temple. 

     It’s neat to be able to have had my ancestors, my dad and me to help with the St. George Temple all in some way. I hope the opportunity arises for my kids as well. 

     We have also had a chance to help clean the St. George Temple, and we love to serve in that way as well. Serving in the temple is all ways is one of our favorite things to do. 

     The St. George Temple is just one of our favorites for all these reasons, and I will always hold dear to the memories and stories of it.