Brigham City Temple

I've never seen or felt Brigham City so alive as during these last few weeks of the temple open house, leading up to the dedication. The only other times that came close, perhaps, is shortly after the announcement that the temple would be built and the groundbreaking. It was all anyone talked about and you couldn't help but want to be a part of it. I know I couldn't get enough of it. Richard and I tried to get as involved as possible. He was able to help with security, give a few tours, and lend his British Columbia flag for the Cultural Celebration and I helped on the hospitality committee passing out water to the ushers and serving cookies. 

Richard is doing his seminary student teaching {more about that later} and we were invited to tour the temple a day before the open house began, along with the other seminary teachers in the area. It was a pleasant surprise and a wonderful day to be able to finally take our new little family and go inside our new beautiful temple.

Photo by Ravell Call, Deseret News

A few highlights of the temple for me were the paintings of women gardening and picking fruit from the orchards, the fine detail work on the ceiling in the ordinance rooms, the hand-carved furniture and old-fashioned moldings throughout, the Esther-inspired, silver-colored bride's room with all the sunshine streaming in, and when we couldn't hold Olivia back from talking and talking in the Celestial room. The veil is still very thin for her. The Celestial room is usually my favorite, and it was glorious. But in this temple, my favorite place was the baptistry, with it's beautiful, rich colors, oxen made from dark bronze, I think, and paintings portraying the Savior, pioneers and American Indians being baptized.

Baptistry in the Brigham City Temple. (Photo by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.)

We went to the broadcast of the Cultural Celebration on Saturday night. I don't know what either of us were expecting, but we were blown away! We had heard about and seen bits and pieces of the preparations for a long time. Church members from the area, many of our friends and neighbors, worked tirelessly to sew costumes and gather props, which were great! Each Tuesday for the past few months leading up to the event, the youth practiced their dances for hours, we know because we live right next to the church and could hear them! They worked so hard and dedicated so much time learning the songs and choreography. They did a fabulous job! I had read in the paper that the planning committee decided at the very beginning to write their own music--it was awesome! Anyone of these things was amazing on their own but when they put it all together in one big production--it was spectacular! I had goosebumps throughout the night! 

Harvest of Faith

Aren't they darling? Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

 Another pleasant surprise came on Saturday night when we were given tickets to attend the temple for the dedication. We were seated in the baptistry, of all places (how did they know?), and had a wonderful experience.

Sweet Couple Photo by Scott G Winterton, Deseret News