On October 8th, Elder Oaks came down for the groundbreaking of the Payson temple. I really wanted tickets, but that didn't so much happen :) The day of, I was rather glad. It was rainy and cold, so it was rather nice to be able to sit in the stake center and watch the broadcast. It was such an amazing and exciting experience. A few people from the area spoke, and then Elder Oaks talked. Mr. Dahlquist led the choir and congregation. I cried when he led the opening song - I didn't think I'd ever sing under his direction again, and I'm a dork like that. Matt laughed at me :)
After Elder Oaks offered the dedicatory prayer, they did the the ceremonial groundbreaking. At first it was the general authorities in attendance, then stake presidents from the temple district with the general authorities, then secular leaders, and then the coolest part was inviting all of the 12-year-old deacons up to break the ground. There were so many that they had to do three waves. Elder Oaks had said that in the temple there are ordinances pertaining to not only the Melchizedek priesthood, but also the Aaronic. Such a neat experience for all of those boys. After the ceremonial groundbreaking, Elder Oaks invited anyone who wanted to go up and turn some ground and take pictures. We didn't stop. Instead, we just went back home. It was such a neat experience to be involved with a temple from the announcement phase. It will be exciting in a couple years when the temple is completed and we can drive 5 minutes to get there.
This is a link to the official LDS Newsroom coverage of the groundbreaking: http://newsroom.lds.org/article/groundbreaking-payson-utah-temple
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