The Provo City Center Temple

After we had finished taking all of our finals in December 2010, Spencer and I got on a plane for Seattle to spend the holidays with his family.  The morning after we got there, I remember waking up to the news that the Provo Tabernacle had caught on fire in the middle of the night.  I was shocked.  I had seen the Tabernacle on our way to the airport a few hours before.

I sat at my computer and bawled like a little girl.  I loved the Provo Tabernacle; there was so much history in that wonderful building!  I'd attended tons of Stake Conferences in that building.  So had my mother.  So had her mother.  This Tabernacle had major connections with my family.  Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I live across the street from this building!  I didn't just come across the Tabernacle that one time I drove to the airport; I saw it every single time I left my house.  And I loved it!  I was so sad to see it burn.

I read countless news articles searching for updates regarding the plans for the tabernacle.  It was reported that the inside was completely destroyed; the roof caved in; the facade was seriously damaged but it was all that was left.  Scaffolding was erected around the outside and then it seemed like nothing else happened for so long.

The inside of the tabernacle was mapped out on the grass next to the building.  Workers used cranes to move everything from the inside of the tabernacle to the corresponding coordinates on the grass to find out what caused the fire.  Eventually, they learned that after a Christmas concert, an accidental fire started in the attic from a light or a heat lamp (I don't remember which) that was too close to a speaker box.  The flames spread out from there.  Within hours, almost everything was gone.  While looking for more information I found a couple of really neat pictures online:

Talk about tender mercies, right?

On October 1, 2011 I was watching General Conference.  President Thomas S. Monson stood up and announced that the Provo Tabernacle was going to be made into a temple!  Again, I bawled like a little girl but this time my tears were 100% happy. 

I lived in Cordova, Tennessee when the Memphis Tennessee temple was announced to be in the built in the backyard of my ward building.  I was in Young Women's when it was built and I remember getting to help with hanging crystals on the chandeliers and putting some gold leafing on the walls.  I got to work at the temple open house and put booties on guests coming to see the House of the Lord.  My mom sang in the dedication choir and I learned all the songs with her because I was so excited (remember that, mom?!).  That was the first temple dedication that I ever attended and I remember feeling completely positive that I was in a holy place.  I have been so thrilled at the thought that I'm once again going to be in the ward boundaries of another LDS temple.  I'm not sure if Spencer and I will be here the whole time the temple's under construction but I'm excited to be here for a little part of it!

The groundbreaking ceremony is tomorrow and Spencer, Colton, and I will be there bright and early to listen to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak.  I wanted to go on a walk today to take a picture of the grounds before all the fun stuff starts but it was already dark outside when we got home from errands.  Mable Burt (in our ward) took this picure and I borrowed it from her facebook page :).  They're all set up and ready to go!

For a little taste of just how close to the future temple we live, I looked us up on Google Earth (the coolest invention ever).  I know the labels are hard to see but I'm not professional enough to know how to make them any better.  Yeah... that's the tabernacle... a whole block away from our house!

So I'm feeling pretty excited and blessed to be a part of all this.  I'll be sure to post more pictures of temple progress as it's built!

'Til next time...