We went to the Draper Temple open house on Friday and were amazed at the organization behind this. First, in order to go, we had to "make a reservation". The church was expecting large numbers to come and they were doing all they could to maintain "crowd control". The reservations were scheduled at 20 minute intervals from 8am to 8pm. We received our reservation confirmation and were assigned a parking area at one of three neighboring stake centers (each stake center being assigned a color--red, yellow or blue). We were assigned the blue lot. Once we arrived at the blue lot at our designated time, we were ushered into the gym to sit and wait.Groups of 20-30 people were then ushered in the Relief Society room to watch a 10-15 minute DVD about the importance of Temples. Following the presentation we boarded a blue bus which took us to the Temple. Once we got off the bus, we walked on a covered & heated pathway to the inside of the Temple. The carpets were covered with plastic runners so we didn't wear little white booties like at some Temple open houses.
It was a self-guided tour. The path through the temple was clearly marked and roped off to keep everyone going the same path through the various rooms. There were signs in each room explaining its purpose and reminding people to whisper to help maintain reverence. The architecture was beautiful. Some of the outer windows are designed with frosted/stained glass. The sego lily is Utah's state flower which is etched in the stained glass and wood finish of the furniture. It is also stenciled into the carpet and chair coverings. The ordinance rooms and celestial room are quite small compared to that of the Salt Lake and Jordan River Temples. This is a smaller Temple like those that President Hinckley wanted to "dot the earth". It is very pretty. The sealing rooms were the last rooms to see before leaving the Temple. At that point we went into a given sealing room. There was an assigned couple there who spoke for a couple minutes on the purpose of that room. It was a very nice way to end the tour. We could feel the spirit of the couple who spoke.
Upon leaving the Temple we again walked under a covered/heated pathway but not the same one we used to enter the Temple. This covered pathway took us to the church building right next to the Temple. In the gym were pictures along all the walls---pictures of all the Temples throughout the world, of the Saviour, etc. There was even a huge slab of carpet covering the gym floor and church music playing in the background. Of course there was refreshments. What's a church function without food??!! At least it wasn't green jello with carrots and red punch!! It was cookies (bakery style) and bottled water. After we were finished in the gym, we exited the opposite side of the gym from where we entered, where we waited under a huge covered/heated area for our assigned colored bus to take us back to the parking lot where we started. It took a little less than 2 hours from the time we arrived at the blue lot until the time we returned to the blue lot. That's not bad at all. We were amazed at the detailed organization and the amount of volunteers to do this. There were volunteers in the parking lots, in the different church buildings, in the Temple, etc. There was even a volunteer on the buses. On the way to the Temple, the volunteer read a 3-5 minute blurb about the construction of the Temple. It was neat. Overall it was a great experience.
We are blessed (and spoiled) to be close to so many Temples in Utah. Many of you are blessed for the sacrifices you make to travel long distances to do the Lord's work. Thanks Julie, wish I could have gone with you. You get to do all the fun things. I'm jealous.
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