VIP Week

So much preparation went into the Fort Lauderdale Temple open house!  The VIP week was March 24th through March 28th.  During that week, we enjoyed having political dignitaries, religious leaders, the temple construction workers and their families, neighbors (from across the temple), the media, etc.  

I worked in the hospitality tent, where they served a variety of cookies and bars and punch.  Around lunch sandwiches, veggies or fruit was brought in.   I thought it was a lovely gesture for those coming that special first week.  It made a very good impression after their tour of the temple.  And was greatly appreciated as well.

Mark's dad and sister and brother-in-law also came during that week on Wednesday from Idaho to see the temple.   They flew into Orlando and drove down.  Dad stayed with us and Allie and Kim had a motel room.

I made dinner at home for everyone that night:  lasagne, parmesean toast and salad.  Mark had to be at the temple, so we ate without him.

We met up with Darin Zwick from Zwick Construction.  His company had partnered up with Suffolk in building the temple.  It was interesting to be with his group because between Mark and Darin, we not only heard the spiritual aspects of the temple, they talked about the construction aspects.  Elder Kent Richards from the Temple Department was our tour guide.  One of the fun things was we went all over the temple, which is not normally allowed on the tours.  We went into the administration area, into the girl's baptismal bathroom, downstairs into all the rooms there.  When we got to the Celestial room, I had an opportunity to share the experiences I had with the people who had come to help me hang the crystals on the chandeliers.  There were a couple of times, particularly in the Celestial room and the sealing room that we were enjoying it so long, one of the ushers asked us to leave because other tours were trying to get in.

There is a beautiful video shown before the beginning of the tour that sets the mood so wonderfully, explaining why we build temples.  I'll tell you, when I saw that first shot of our temple, knowing what all has taken place to build it, it brought tears to my eyes and I could see that Mark was feeling a lot of emotion too.  The Spirit is so strong inside the temple too.

Afterwards, Darin invited us to join them for lunch at Antonio's.  It's a coal fired pizza place.  The other people in our group were John Eyring (President Eyring's son), Mark and Debra Bateman (Elder Bateman's son and daughter-in-law) and Eric Calder and his wife, who work for Darin.  Mark and I sat next to John during lunch and enjoyed getting to know him.  His mannerisms remind me of President Eyring.  We had a wonderful lunch and it was fun meeting everyone.

Dad Berry, me, Mark, Allie and Kim Taylor

Darin Zwick, Dad Berry, Kim and Allie Taylor, Mark, me, John Eyring, Eric Calder and his wife, Debra and Mark  Bateman

After lunch our party went back to the apartment and changed.  We all went to the Everglades for an airboat ride.  I thought it was really fun and our captain (Don) did a good job trying to show us as much of the wildlife of the Everglades as he could, beside telling us about the Everglades themselves.  It seems that water flows throughout the Everglades, even under the sawgrass.  We saw a couple of alligators, some buzzards, a heron and several other birds.

Captain Don had been able to train a couple of the birds to take popcorn from him-one especially would come when he called and would climb on his arm to take the popcorn from his mouth.  He told us this bird used to dig her claws into his arm and peck his mouth and make it bleed, but over time she has stopped doing that.  He is the only one she is so gentle with.

He told us once he was sitting on the edge of the boat talking with the people when this bird started chattering excitedly-warning chatters.  He didn't pay attention to her and continued to chat with his passengers.  Finally he glanced back and to the side and saw a huge alligator headed towards his backside with it's jaws wide open.  She saved his life that day!

The air boat's propellers are in the back instead of in the water.  this is perfect because the propellers in the water would get tangled in the foilage and could damage wildlife as well.  When the captain revs up the motor, these boats are really LOUD!

One nice thing was when those on one side saw some wild life, he would turn the boat around so the other side could see it clearly too.

There was an alligator show we could have seen, but Mark was meeting Steve Pineau, who was the first project manager from Suffolk for the temple, so we needed to leave, which was fine.

As we were riding through the Everglades, I thought and marveled at the beauty and diversity of this amazing work we've been provided with.  Tod truly had our happiness in mind when He created this beautiful work.  He wants us to be happy-to appreciate His handiwork.  "Men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)
Here are some pictures (Thanks Kim):

Buzzards

See the alligator?

That waterway will go on for 25 miles!

Mark was still at the temple, but Dad wanted to take us out for dinner, so after resting for awhile, we went to Outback and had a really nice dinner.

I worked at the temple the next morning.  Dad, Allie and Kim were headed back to Orlando.  They were staying with President and Sister Berry at the mission home.  We would be spending a couple of days with them next week.