Payson Temple Dedication

The Payson Temple was dedicated June 7. It was so special to be in the temple district of a new temple and to be a part of the dedication. (I would say it's a once in a lifetime experience, but Rog was in the temple district of the Redlands California Temple when it was dedicated.)

The night before the dedication they held a cultural celebration at the LaVell Edwards Stadium at BYU. Rog and I had tickets to attend and Logan got to come with us, so I could feed him. An hour and a half or so before the cultural celebration was scheduled to begin, it started pouring rain. We drove to the stadium, but waited in our car. We could hear announcements coming from the stadium saying that it was postponed until the rain stopped. Rog wanted to leave, but I knew Heavenly Father would stop the rain!

When it stopped raining, we went into the stadium and found some great seats in the section we normally sit for football games, but closer to the field. The youth in our ward were performing in the celebration, but we didn't see any of them other than our next door neighbor, Kaitlyn Martinez, who walked with the flag in the parade of stakes at the beginning of the celebration. We learned that Spanish Fork has more baseball diamonds per capita than any other city in the United States - kind of a cool, random fact!

The best part of the whole thing was at the very end when all the youth took off their white shirts to reveal colored shirts underneath that made a rainbow.

The next morning we had tickets to attend the actual dedication in the temple. (Finally a perk to having a husband in the bishopric!) We ended up sitting in one of the instruction rooms in the basement of the temple. (They had people sitting anywhere they could, so that more people could attend.) Unlike other temple dedications in Utah that are broadcast to all of Utah, this one was only broadcast to the stakes in the temple district. Watching it in the temple wasn't all that different than watching it in a stake center, but it was cool to walk in and out of the temple and to be able to say that we were there when it was dedicated.

President Eyring represented the First Presidency at the cultural celebration and the dedication. He seemed to hardly be able to contain his excitement and happiness. (This picture is from the church's Instagram account.)

We will only be in this temple district for about a year and then we'll be moving wherever Rog gets a fellowship or job when he graduates, but I'm sure the Payson Temple will always hold a special place in our hearts.