Draper Utah Temple: Comment cards attest to success
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Excerpts from comment cards at the Draper Utah Temple open house speak volumes about the success of the 10-week event.
A member of another faith wrote: "When I was in the sealing room I felt like I never wanted to leave."
A woman said: "The Spirit was so rich. In the sealing room, I remembered 42 years ago kneeling with my husband and our four daughters and being sealed. Now he is gone, as are two of those girls, and how grateful I am for the sealing room."
Another person wrote: "I am not an active member of the Church. I felt so lucky to come and see the temple. Today I recommitted myself to come back to the Church."
A young man noted: "I recently lost my mother and I have had some other trials. But today I knew I was in the right place. And today I decided I want to go on a mission."
And an investigator said: "Thank you so much for the wonderful experience. I have been studying with the missionaries and my goal is to be baptized. I was converted today."
Across the board, "people had great experiences," said Elder William R. Walker of the Seventy and director of the Church's Temple Department. "Over and over again we got reports of wonderful, positive experiences."
In all, 684,721 people participated in the temple open house between Jan. 5 and March 14, 100,000 visiting the last week alone. President Thomas S. Monson is dedicating the new temple March 20-22 in 12 sessions. (Complete coverage of the dedication will be included in the March 28 Church News.) The temple will serve 60,000 Church members living in 25 stakes on the southeast end of the Salt Lake Valley.
Many people, said Elder Walker, pointed out that the highlight of their tour was the sealing room or the celestial room.
"There were numerous references to how people felt the Spirit," said Elder Walker. "I think it is very significant that this was a temple that was not dedicated, and yet people still felt the Spirit and felt it very strongly when they came."
The Draper temple became one of the most widely attended open houses for a temple; only open houses for the Bountiful Utah Temple, Washington D.C. Temple and the San Diego California Temple logged more visitors.
Draper temple open house organizers once estimated the temple might have as many as 1 million visitors. Snowy weather in January and February — as well as the fact that a second temple, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple will be dedicated in the Salt Lake Valley this summer — might have contributed to the less-than-expected numbers, said Elder Walker.
"Some people's motivation to get to the Draper temple open house may have been diminished realizing that if they missed Draper they could go to Oquirrh Mountain."
Still, he said, organizers were delighted with the turnout.
"The crowd was a little less than we thought it might be, and that made for a more pleasant experience for those people who came than it might have been if we had the million," said Elder Walker.
And even if fewer than a million people attended the open house, the temple committee served 1,030,000 cookies.
To make the event possible, an average of 600 Church members a day — more than 35,000 total — volunteered their time directing traffic, working in security and with audiovisual, hosting and cleaning the building. Selected musicians from the temple district provided live music for the event.
"I think it was very much a rewarding experience," said President Rodolfo C. Franco of the Draper Utah South Mountain Stake and chair of the Draper Utah Temple committee. ". . . These are really days never to be forgotten for us."
The temple, he said, was not only a blessing to Church members, but also to others who visited. "We had thousands of comment cards recognizing the spirit of the building. How wonderful it was. We opened our temple to them to see what we have."
Elder Walker said the Church is expecting as many visitors or more at the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple open house, which will take place from June 1 through Aug. 1, except for Sundays and the July 4 and July 24 holidays. That temple will be dedicated Aug. 21-23 in 12 sessions.
"We fully expect we will have just as many people or maybe more at Oquirrh Mountain. . .
"It will be during the summer, there won't be any weather issues," he said, adding that people will be able to park on site at that temple without using shuttle buses.
Elder Walker said he will think of many things when he remembers the Draper temple open house. Among them is a simple image recorded by a mother on a comment card. "When she left the celestial room with her little boy, he turned around and looked at the ceiling and waved goodbye."
