Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered at the Mesa Arizona Temple on Monday for a sneak peek ahead of its reopening to the general public on Saturday for only the third time in its history.
The templeclosed in May 2018 for major renovationsincluding new roofing and drainage systems, mechanical upgrades, furniture and window replacement, more garden spaces andconstruction of a new visitor's center.
Tours will be held from Oct. 16 through Nov. 20, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidencywill rededicate the temple on Dec. 12.
Some of the renovations, including neoclassical area rugs and furniture, checkerboard floor patterns and new door hardware,are meant to recreate the temple as it was when it first opened in the 1920s.Other renovations are logistic, such as mechanical upgrades and new drainage systems.
Church officials expect hundreds of thousands of people to take advantage of the rare public tours and strongly recommend making reservationsin advance.
Christmas lights display, Easter pageant will return in 2022
Elder Ronald A. Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, called the Mesa temple an "oasis in the desert" during a news conference held prior to media tours on Monday morning.
The temple was the first in Arizona and the ninth for the church. Rasband noted that in the decades since its dedication in 1927, the church has expanded to more than 250 temples worldwide.
He calledtemples a "bastion of faith and hope," where the faithful go to learn about "God's plan of happiness."
"When the members of our church come and experience their time in the temple, they're able to put aside their cares and their worries of the world and enter into a sacred space," he said.
Rasband announced that the temple's popular public events, includingits annual Christmas lights displayand Easter pageant, would be returning in 2022.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong, another member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, implored those taking tours of the "beloved landmark" toappreciate its sanctity.
"Notice how quiet it is, notice how it's full of light, notice how everything is designed to inspire, to lift," he said. "Notice how in times that are sometimes very noisy, very busy, we can unplug, we can come to a place where there is the ability to commune, not just with ourselves but with God."
Leaders celebrate temple's role in Mesa, tribal community
Mesa Mayor John Giles said the church has beena "very generous community partner" to the city.
"Mesa needed a partner willing to demonstrate faith in our downtown," he said. "Well, the church is after all in the faith business, and thankfully for all of us, that faith has borne beautiful fruit."
Giles said the church has contributed"well beyond legal requirements"to the publicinfrastructure surrounding the temple, adding that its renovation not only restored an historic building but "lifted up the neighborhood at the same time."
"In addition to the immense economic impact the improvements to this area will have, there will be immeasurable spiritual blessings for our community," he said.
Deanna Scabby, a tribal council member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, said the church "has been a very important part of who our people have been and have become over the years."
Scabby said she was baptized when she was 11 years old and that her family was sealed in the Mesa temple, which she called "one of the most enriching and powerful foundation points in my life."
The temple "means so much"to church members, Scabby said, adding that they are grateful for the opportunity to return to Mesa after years of construction.
"It's a very special time for us to come back when it opens and to feel the presence of our Savior, to know that that holy house is for us — every one of us," she said.
'It's not secret, it's sacred'
Rasband led the first tour of the temple. The initialstop was a deskwhere church members will be required to present their recommend in order to proceed further into the temple.
"It's not secret, it's sacred," Rasband said, of why only church members in good standing are permitted in temples.
Rasband led the group through the temple, which was lined with paintings depicting Arizona landscapes and biblical scenes. He pointed out where the temple'soriginal entrance was in 1927 and that its former dining room was repurposed into a marriage waiting room during the renovation.
Another stop was the baptistry, where members are baptized in the name of their deceased ancestors who can choose to accept or decline in the afterlife. Baptisms for the living are performed in local meetinghouses.
The ornate baptismal font sits atop 12 oxen, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and is surrounded by murals depicting the baptism and confirmation of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowderyat the Susquehanna River.
The bridal room included chandeliers and full-length mirrors, and the lighting in each instruction room got progressively brighter as the group moved closer to the celestial room.
Rasband described it as the "living room of God," a dazzling yet quiet and reverential space where the faithful reflect and meditate.
The last room on the tour was the sealing room, in which marriages are performed and families enter a covenant to be bound together for eternity.
Rasband and his wife, Sister Melanie Rasband, looked into one of the room's twofull-length mirrors, noting that the placement of the other mirror behind themcreates an illusion of going on forever, a metaphor for the eternal bonds created during the sacred ceremonies held there.
'A precious gem of a temple'
Denny Barney, the church's Arizona communications director, called the temple a "central part of our personal worship."
"When I go in the temple ... I feel that sense of peace that inspires me to want to be better, to think about promises that I've made to my spouse and to my heavenly Father, my desire to be a better Christian," he said. "All of those things are encapsulated in our temple worship."
Barney said he hopes touring the temple gives those outside of the faith a "better sense of who we are." He added that the church revels in the opportunity toopen its doors to everyone, particularly after the hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"To be able to do thatin a way that brings the human element back, that sense of community, is really exciting for us," he said. "It's a way for us to share this beautiful place that is peaceful and serene."
Sister Reyna Aburto, the second counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, awomen's organization through the church, described temples as an equalizer.
"The beautiful thing is that we come in, we all dress in white, we wear the same clothes so there is no way to know who is poor, who is rich, who has a doctorate and who has high school or not even high school— we all feel the same," she said.
Aburto, who was born in Nicaragua, said the Mesa temple was at one point the closest temple in the world to Latin America. She said she was thinking about her ancestors and the countless others who made the long pilgrimage to the temple in its early days during her tour on Monday.
"In a way, all of us who are from Latin America, who are members of the church, we have a connection with this temple because we have known someone who has made that sacrifice so many years ago and we owe them so much because of that," she said, adding that she "felt so much love and gratitude for their sacrifice."
Aburto became a church member when she was 26, telling The Republic she was attracted to the faith because of the peace she observed in its adherents.
"I could see that people were happy and I said 'I want to feel like them,'" she said. "It's not that we as members of the church don't have problems. We have problems, we have our struggles ... but when we are together we try to just help each other rejoice in the things that we have, not just focus on what we don't have ...and try to follow the example of Jesus Christ."
Rasbandtold The Arizona Republic he was "honored" that LDS President Russell M. Nelson sent him to Mesa ahead of the reopening festivities and that he would "always be grateful" for the opportunity.
"Tome, it's just a precious gem of a temple," Rasband said.
He said the churchexpects between 400,000 and 500,000 people to participate in the public tours.
"It's the hope of those of us who have the privilege of taking these toursthat more than the paintings, more than the beautiful woodwork and the marble floors and the banisters, is they'll feel something in their heart," Rasbandsaid. "That would be my highest and greatest hope."
Reach the reporter at bfrank@arizonarepublic.comor 602-444-8529.Follow her on Twitter @brieannafrank.
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