Payson Temple Open House a Few Short Weeks Away

By Lana Hiskey & Janet Frank
Public Affairs Payson Temple Open House and Dedication Committee

Excitement is growing among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Mapleton to Delta now that there’s only three short weeks until the start of the public open house for the Payson Utah LDS Temple.

“Our family’s watched closely as each phase of the temple has been completed,” said Shane Frank, father of four from Santaquin. “It’s incredible to think about the temple being only five minutes from our house.”

Tickets for the free open house will be available online starting April 13 at www.lds.org. General public tours will be conducted from April 24 to May 23, excluding Sundays. All members of the public, both LDS members and non-members, are invited to participate.

Announced in January of 2010, the Payson Temple will serve approximately 93,000 LDS Church members and 27 stakes throughout central Utah. Members of the LDS Church believe temples are the place where sacred ordinances are performed that will enable them to return to live in the presence of God forever. Those ordinances can be done for the living and the dead, through proxies.

Public tours of LDS temples traditionally take place for a month prior to the official dedication of a temple. Once dedicated, only worthy members of the LDS Church are allowed inside the building.
The Payson Temple will be dedicated in three sessions on Sunday, June 7. Those sessions will be broadcast only within the Payson Utah Temple district, and the three-hour block of meetings for those congregations will be cancelled for that Sunday.

“I think the open house is important because people of all faiths need to learn about each other. Even though we live differently, we need to understand each other and appreciate each other and the open house helps promote that,” said Janice Lowe, from Spanish Fork.

People from all across Utah and beyond its borders are expected to attend the open house for a glimpse at what will be the 15th LDS temple in Utah and the 146th operational temple in the Church. One interfaith group has already made plans to come from St. George and a large group of architects from across the country will be including it in their tour of local architectural highlights.

The Payson Temple is located at 930 West and 1494 South on the southwest side of Payson, a mile from the 800 South I-15 interchange. The property offers scenic views of the area as well as easy access to the freeway.

Temple-going members have previously been driving to Provo or Manti or farther for temple services. Two more temples are scheduled for the Beehive State; the Provo City Center Temple is under construction and the Cedar City Temple has been announced.

“Church members who have temple recommends get to go to the temple as often as they like and enjoy its beauty and its reverence. We want everyone to share in that,” said Liz Worthen, from Spanish Fork.

Liz and Curtis Rowley, of Santaquin, have used the upcoming opening of the Payson Temple to strengthen their family’s efforts to work on genealogy. The parents of five have already performed temple work for several deceased family members in the Provo Temple, often including their two oldest children in the process.

“We plan to keep working on it, especially so we will have names to bring to the Payson Temple,” said Liz Rowley.

When the Rowley’s finally get the opportunity to take names to the Payson Temple, they hope to try the Church’s new Family Temple Time program. The new program allows families to make a baptistry appointment ahead of time—during the designated block of time determined by each temple individually.

“We are encouraging families to call the temples to make an appointment so they will be able to go right in to the baptistry. They will have an opportunity to go at their scheduled time without a long wait,” said Elder Kent R. Richards, Executive Director of the Church’s Temple Department.

Some temples have already started scheduling family appointments, and others will be implementing the change over the next few months. Patrons can go to www.lds.org/temples and look to their temple’s website to learn how their area will apply the change. Temples will still accept ward and stake appointments to accommodate youth groups coming together.

For current information go to http://filltheworldwithlove.org/ or Facebook: Payson Utah Temple Cultural Celebration and Open House.