Temple in the news

Here's an article I saw today but it looks like it ran yesterday . . . you can see the height of the top of the temple. Don't have any other photos to share . . . . so exciting. Those concrete windows are awesome.

Temple Rises Southeast Fort Collins

One more reason we want the Temple close

We just don't go to the Temple in bad weather . . . this is why.
Denver 104 car pile up

It will be nice not to have to get on I-25 to go to the Temple.

I drove on I-25 yesterday morning, but not to Denver. I was on it for 30 long minutes from Ft. Collins to just south of Longmont. I saw no fewer than 10 cars off the road, three pointed in the wrong direction and several on their sides. It was a harrowing experience--but could have been much worse.

Fort Collins, Colorado Temple Groundbreaking

From my point of view:

Yesterday was the groundbreaking. My dad and mom had been invited a few weeks ago by their stake president. For the past month, in our Sacrament meetings they've read a letter asking us to attend at our stake center, where it would be broadcast via satellite. They said there are currently 12 stakes in our temple district, (and predicted that number may increase by the time it is built). That would be too many to attend, so it was made available by satellite for the majority. FYI, the temple district spans Northern Colorado , Southeast WY, and SW Nebraska, from Boulder to the Southwest, and Casper, WY, to the Northwest, my hometown.

At 8:30 am yesterday, our home teacher, who is a member of our stake presidency called.
I answered.
"How would you like to go to the temple site this morning for the groundbreaking?" he asked.
I began crying and said that we'd love to.
Several families we know received phone calls like this. Initially the plan was to keep the numbers lower, but in the 12 hours preceding the event, Elder George F. Rhodes, who is an Area Authority Seventy, asked that a few more families be invited to attend.

We arrived around 9:30 am, with the program scheduled to begin at 10.

The scene as we approached.

There were many seats, but they were filled, we stood at the back, on the right.

From my point of view. Our church building is north of the site, across the street.

The program

Ronald. A Rasband speaking. Later, he dedicated the land for temple construction.

I did not record the ceremony, or even take notes, but Elder Rasband did read this quote,
“Every foundation stone that is laid for a Temple, and every Temple completed according to the order the Lord has revealed for his holy Priesthood, lessens the power of Satan on the earth, and increases the power of God and Godliness.”
—President George Q. Cannon (from lds.org).

This temple is a unique design, and will be equal in size to the Denver Temple. It is in line to be the 155th operating temple, but that is subject to change based on how quickly the construction on it and others progresses. It is expected to be complete in 2015 or 2016. (As of the groundbreaking date, there are 141 in operation worldwide).

He offered a prayer of dedication--dedicating the land for building. What impressed me about it was that it included praying for the safety of those who would work there. 

This video (20 seconds long), is the closing hymn.

After the closing prayer, which was given by the stake president, Millard Smathers, from Casper, WY (my hometown), many groups were invited to come dig into the soil. The Coloradoan published a great photo of civic and community leaders on their website, listed below. They also interviewed Nathan as we were getting ready to leave. It is not a long story, but he did get his name in the Coloradoan article mentioned below.

My parents, who in 1968 drove from Washington, D.C. to Logan UT, to be married in the temple.

Our family

It is hard to describe the emotions I felt, but here's my attempt.
I felt grateful to be invited.
I wished that more of my close friends could see it in person, yet I understand the reasoning behind keeping it small.
I feel happy that the temple will be so close, and excited that we will be able to share it with members of the community when it is completed and open during the open house.
I feel enthusiasm that my children will be able to see it built from the ground up.
I feel proud to be an American, where religious freedom allows us to worship in the temple.

Here are some relevant links:

Official Site: Fort Collins Colorado Temple

Coloradoan article on the Groundbreaking

More information from LDS church about temples

You Tube video with a 3D view of Fort Collins, CO Temple design


(Over the next two years as the building progresses, I will continue to post updates. If you want to see all of them, click on "a temple in our city" in the label cloud at the right).

Temple groundbreaking announced

August 24, 2013 at 10 am.
Invited guests only. Broadcast to stake centers for all the stakes involved.

In other news, my home stake, Casper, WY, will be moving from the Billings, MT temple to Fort Collins.
So excited to see long time friends there!

JustServe

Our area of the world will be participating in a pilot program for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is an initiative to get members serving in our own communities. It is being piloted in Dallas, TX; San Jose, CA, and Denver, CO (but stretching into the SE corner of WY). We were in Cheyenne today and had an awesome lesson on it. There's a website you can check out here: JustServe.org

I looked it up tonight and there are lots of local opportunities already listed: from driving persons who don't have vehicles or access to them, to community kitchen help, to planting trees from last year's fires . . . and more and more.

This is going to work & I am happy to become a part of it. The timing of choosing our area is no coincidence--it is going to build bridges for the future when the temple is here. So exciting!!!!

Ft. Collins Church News

Did you hear we're going to be a mission now?

Church News
(Scroll down to the North America Central Area). The mission will include as far west as Boulder and stretch north into Wyoming--Laramie and Cheyenne. Whoever is in those boundaries on May 28th will become part of the new mission, and the others will be Colorado Denver North.

Also this week the plans passed the planning commission's final meeting, 6 to 0.
Unanimous. More permitting will continue and the groundbreaking date has not been set. It's an exciting time to be a member of the church here.

Artist's rendering of our temple

Public (neighborhood) hearing was last night. We were asked NOT to attend unless we lived in the neighborhoods the city invited. So, we didn't go.
Still some permitting needs to take place.
Groundbreaking is expected in 2013.
The temple will take 2 years to build, so completion is expected for 2015.
More info is here if you are interested.

He shook their hands

Today we had stake conference with Elder D. Todd Christofferson. As we were leaving for church, Nate said that the kids were hoping to get to shake his hand. We both realized it would likely not happen.

Our stake is so big that we have to meet in two sessions. A big deal is made about us leaving quickly, in time for the next group to have time to park and get in. During his message this morning, Elder Christofferson announced that he'd like to shake the hands of all the children who would like to. Of course, I started crying. He recognized that this might cause problems with the turnover, but said that he was going to do it anyway. He invited children to walk up on the right of the stand and exit on the left.

We sent them up--they got split up, but Andrew took Edwin, and the girls stayed together. They shook hands and then we left quickly. It was very touching that he made time to do it. We learned that he lived in Fort Collins when he was ages 2-3. He said we are very lucky to have a temple built within our boundaries. He said he didn't know what we'd done to deserve a temple--he said he's not even that lucky.

Last night the adult session was at the same time as a pretty big Denver Broncos football game. We filled the Stake center anyway--all the way to the stage. He said, "I was told that tonight I would have to compete with a football game. It looks like I won."

He said it would take approximately two years from the groundbreaking to completion of the temple. He invited us to consider what we could do in that time to be ready. He quoted 3 Nephi 9:19-20 "And ye shall offer up unto me ^ano more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.

 20 And ye shall offer for a ^asacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I ^bbaptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not."

A great conference, and good things to come!

Temple Location

http://mormontemples.org/eng/fortcollins/fort-collins-temple-location-announced

This is across the street from my church building.
I can't believe it!
Tears, shouts of joy, prayers. So happy!!!
I love where I live!

No opposition

We had Stake Conference today and a visiting authority. He had no information about the temple. Our stake president made a few points, however, which I will list from memory:

1)There has been no opposition from the city planning department. It is moving along. It is a process that takes a long time.

2) The estimated time is 3 years.

3) The size will be larger than some of the smallest temples, but he did not announce the size. For a reference point, the Denver temple is 27,000 square feet and the small temples are 11,000 square feet.

4) The planning commission will soon publicize the location.

5) It is likely that a website will be developed to track the progress of the temple. Stay tuned for the link.
 But in the meantime, I did find this link about the Fort Collins Temple on lds.org this morning.

6) He encouraged us to pray for the temple. Especially to encourage our children to pray for the process to continue to move along.

The visiting authority was from St. Paul, Minnesota and he said that having the temple come to their area (2000) has been a transformative experience. I can't wait to have it so close!

Have you heard our news?

"It is my privilege this morning to announce three additional temples, for which sites are being acquired, and which in coming months and years will be built in the following locations:
Fort Collins, Colorado," President Thomas S. Monson.


At this point, I screamed, so we didn't hear the locations of the other two. Nathan calls it shouting for joy--but what I call it is not being able to contain my excitement. Tears quickly followed. When we decided to move here, one of my hesitations was the location of our temple--still close but too far away to go very often. Having a temple in our very city is almost too good to be true!

Nathan is excited about the second temple, as well, Meridian, Idaho, since he grew up in the Meridian South Stake.

Finally, after being reminded to thank Heavenly Father for having a temple here, Andrew prayed,

"Heavenly Father, we thank thee that we will have a temple here in Fort Collins, so we won't have to have the long, boring, two hour drive to Denver."





(If you want to see it live, click HERE, the announcement begins about 1 min 45 seconds).