Provo City Center Temple

March 14, 2017:  I was delighted to attend my daughter Kelly’s directorial performance of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at the Highland Community Center.  She did a wonderful job of adapting this great play into a smaller venue.  The following morning we went to the Provo City Center Temple.  It was my first visit there.

This is one of only a few places in the world (perhaps one of only two) where an entire building was lifted up on stilts while construction was done underneath it.  The fire that gutted all but the exterior walls certainly did its damage.  What impressed me was how they restored it anyway, including removing, cleaning, and replacing every brick on the exterior walls.

The first thing we did was step into the gazebo or waiting area on the temple grounds.  The furniture inside was marvelous.  This area gives people attending a wedding a place to congregate while the ceremony is being performed inside.

When I was in ninth grade I was the seminary president at Lincoln Junior High School in Orem, Utah.  I was also the District President for the ninth grade.  One night we held a large seminary meeting in the old tabernacle building and I got to speak from the pulpit to introduce my district seminary council.  Having spoken in this building in my past made this visit to the temple particularly special for me.

I was delighted to find out that in the process of doing an endowment session you still get to walk up the original spiral staircases found at the corners of the building.  I remembered walking up those staircases back in ninth grade.

I’ve learned to notice the artwork inside the temples.  I was interested to see a mural in one room depicting the Utah Valley (with Mount Timpanogos in the background) transformed into a modern-day Garden of Eden.  I realized that anywhere can be a Garden of Eden if you make it that way, including right there in “Happy Valley.”

Afterwards Kelly suggested we go to the Springville Trolley Car restaurant.  It was terrific.  I highly recommend both places to visit!

I will frame this photo of our visit in yellow in honor of Charlie Brown’s shirt 😊