Vancouver temple: Open house is under way
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More than four years after the Vancouver British Columbia Temple was announced, local government leaders, Church members and community members got a glimpse inside the edifice.
The public open house for the Church's 131st temple began April 9 and will continue through April 24, except Sundays. The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, May 2, in three sessions.
Elder Paul D.M. Christensen, an Area Seventy and chairman of the local temple committee, said the open house is going very well. He said the temple committee has received a positive response from government leaders and local media. "Crowds have been good and steady," he said.
More than 4,000 local Church members — living in seven stakes and one district in British Columbia and one stake in Washington — have volunteered or will volunteer during the open house, he added.
The temple will serve some 22,000 Church members living in British Columbia and northern Washington state.
The First Presidency announced plans May 25, 2006 to construct the Vancouver temple. Construction began on Aug. 4, 2007.
The temple's exterior is covered with Branco Siena granite from Brazil. The spire rises 140 feet and is crowned with a gilded statue of the angel Moroni.
The interior features grained hardwood from the west coast of Africa. British Columbia's provincial flower, the Pacific dogwood, is used as a motif in the decorative painting and carpet sculpting. Artwork depicting British Columbia graces the walls of the temple.
The temple is located in Langley on 82nd Avenue.
The Vancouver temple is the Church's seventh temple in Canada. Other Canadian temples include Cardston Alberta (dedicated 1923), Toronto Ontario (1990), Halifax Nova Scotia (1999), Regina Saskatchewan (1999), Edmonton Alberta (1999) and Montreal Quebec (2000). An eighth Canadian temple to be built in Calgary, Alberta, was announced in October 2008. Nearly 180,000 Latter-day Saints live in Canada.
"The members feel very much at home in the temple," Elder Christensen said. "The only thing they are more excited about [than the temple open house and dedication] is the day after the dedication when they will be able to do work in the temple for their ancestors."
