Temple Walk

Our stake had a temple walk Saturday.  For those who know this area, they walked from Bergeron Park to Vista View Park, which overlooks the temple.  It is around eight miles.  Mark was asked to speak, so he met them on top of the hill and spoke to them for about 15-20 minutes.  He said there were about 160 kids and leaders there.  It went very well.  One of the stake presidency President Rincon, was at our Sacrament Meeting today and complimented him on his talk.

View from Vista View Park

 We've had a wonderful experience at the temple putting crystals on the chandeliers.  The celestial room chandelier is finally ready for us to hang the crystals.  It's about 2-3 times larger than the others.  It should be a wonderful experience for everyone who participates.  I'm looking forward to it!

Weekend Update

Our Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation was today.  We had a rehearsal Saturday morning for all the kids and the presidency had a pizza party for them as a reward.  The presentation went well and the kids did great.  I made some mistakes, but most of it went all right. (Actually, I want to say I was moderately awful, but maybe it wasn't that bad.)

I'm glad it's over.  Now I am preparing for the stake Christmas program.  Each ward is preparing a musical number.  And we are also preparing to sing at the end of the month and then our own ward Christmas program. 

Along with all of this, I still continue to write the history of the temple.  It's getting down to crunch time, because our missionaries, Elder and Sister DeGraffenried will be leaving to go home for Christmas.  I have been going to the temple every day to write.  I'm so grateful for Mark's daily journal of the job.  It is the only way I could do this. 

Christmas movies are in full swing already!!  I am just not ready for this yet, but Mark is loving them!  I just cannot get into the spirit yet.  I don't want anything Christmassy to start until after Thanksgiving!  I usually make him put his headphones on.  : (

It's going to be a very busy rest of the year until we get everything finished.  Furnishings start coming in December.  That will really be exciting!

Temple Chandeliers

Last week we hung crystals on five chandeliers in the sealing rooms and pass through.  It was a wonderful experience for everyone who was involved.  Our mission president's wife, Sister Anderson, helped me find people to come help.  She enlisted the help of some of her sister missionaries so we could have people from all through the temple district to help us.

Monday our crew leaders came to help us set up the rooms.  The men moved heavy boxes of crystals from the job trailers into the temple.  We set up tables and wrapped ladder feet with socks for the carpet.  Shannon Shepherd and Regan Hall had come from Utah representing Swarovski to help us with the installation.  They are sisters.  Their mom started their business and they all work in it together. 

It only took us two or three hours to get everything set up, so we all went to lunch afterwards. 

Tuesday started the actual work on the chandeliers.  We had two shifts everyday-8:00-noon and 1:00-5:00.  We had a variety of people helping us:  some of the sister missionaries who had helped me get the names, some who were newly baptized or who had been inactive and were wanting to come back, plus I found that most of the stake president's wives in our temple district came and some of the men as well.  I had a lot of names and it seemed the list just kept getting longer.  I just decided that it would all work out no matter what and there were some people who didn't show up, so we worked with those who came.

Mark had two scaffolding set up in the pass through area because there are two chandeliers in that room.  That really helped, but oh boy it was really high!  I did actually climb up there and work for a while.  I sat next to a woman who had been recently baptized and was just learning about the gospel.  It was fun explaining some things to her as we all talked.  I was grateful I could sit, it made it a lot more comfortable working. 

The chandeliers were designed especially for our temple and Florida.  They are unique and the design will not be found anywhere else.  There are thousands and thousands of crystals hung on each chandelier.  The final results are magnificent!  It took us both Tuesday and Wednesday to finish the five chandeliers. 

The crystals come from Austria.  They are machine cut precisely to the correct dimensions.  When the light shines on them, you can see the colors of the rainbow throughout the chandelier!  What a glorious sight!  Only the best for our temple!

We always met with everyone first in the trailer, where Mark or I would talk to them about the rules.  We sometimes read a scripture and always had a prayer with the group before we started.  Everyone had to wear white socks working on the white carpet, or foot covers.  It was nice for them because we took them through the front door and then to the back where we were working, so they got to see a bit more than just the area where we worked.  It is so beautiful!  Everyone loved it

The carpet cutters were there as well.  It's amazing to watch them work.  First they draw out the design with a permanent magic marker, using a stencil.  Then they take what looks like electric shears and cut the design.  They worked most of the time we were there in the Celestial Room.  The design runs through most of the room, so it was a big job!

Part of this experience was just getting to know the people who came.  It was a pleasure to work with each and every one.  One of the men who came is from Tasmania.  He served his mission here.  There were people who were a bit rough around the edges, but who love the gospel.  The former mission president's wife flew out from Salt Lake to help us. They were still serving when the groundbreaking happened but were released about a week afterwards. What a reunion that was!  She knew everyone!

We finished Wednesday by wrapping all of the chandeliers and sconces with plastic to protect them from dust.  The carpet shavers are still working.  We got all our trash out and just cleaned everything up.  It was deeply satisfying to close each door to the finished chandeliers, seeing the results of everyone's hard work.

This experience has been a joy for me.

Hosting

We've had a busy week.   The contractor and subcontractor for the Fort Collins temple came to tour our temple.  Then on Thursday, Mark's bosses from Salt Lake came:  Cory Karl,(now is handling international project)s Brent Roberts,(managing director of Special Projects) Jared Doxie, (who's taking over for Cory for the United States), Bill Williams (director for the temple architectural and design), David Child (he deals with architects and contracts). plus our architects and contractors. 

Anyway, there was a huge tour.  They were very pleased with how everything looks.  Mark had ordered in Jimmy Johns for lunch because there were some early flights. 

We're getting ready for our chandelier project next week.  We set up tomorrow and then the actual project starts on Tuesday morning.  I think it will be a wonderful experience for all who participate.  I'm looking forward to it.

From Left to Right:  Dave Griffiths, me, Mark, Jared Doxie, Brent Roberts, Cory Karl, Elder and Sister DeGraffinried, David Child, Darrell Zwick, Ben Schrieder, Bill Williams and David Fletcher