The Temple Celebration

I have my own temple.

I can see it from the top floor of my house. It's a minuscule speck, but I can see it nonetheless.

I jumped up and down when I heard its announcement in the LDS General Conference of April 2008. I was only 10 years old then.

I watched the groundbreaking ceremony two years later and was in awe at the fact that they would somehow turn that empty field of weeds and cacti and dry dirt into a place fit for the Lord.

I waited for years as I watched it grow from the ground up. They buried huge power lines so they wouldn't obstruct the view of the temple. They shipped in stone from Jerusalem for the floors and walls. For a year, they parked a little portable classroom in the middle of the dirt construction site for the hordes of people who wanted to know what on earth this massive building was for and why it was being built.

When one of the stone walls was deemed unusable due to a small imperfection, the missionaries of the area broke it up into hundreds of pieces and gave them to visitors. I have my own little chunk of the temple sitting in my room right now.

I watched from our car window as the statue of Angel Moroni was finally placed on top.

During the open house, hundreds of thousands of people flooded to the temple to tour it and see this mysterious building for the first time. I helped many nights in putting the little white shoe coverings on strangers' feet for hours and hours until nightfall so that they could have their turn to walk through the temple.

I was lucky enough to tour the temple four times during the open house period; I went once with my entire family and some business friends we had invited, once with just my mom, and twice all by myself. 

I can hardly find adequate words to describe how I can feel inside that building. When I walk in, I have no thought or worry as to what school assignments may be pressing or what hours of piano practice I should be putting in. I don't feel the weight and pull of stress. I feel purely peaceful. I am still. I feel white and clean. I feel warm in my heart and clear in my head. I feel love. I am so happy. While inside the temple, I feel like I am walking on a bridge between Heaven and earth. I feel close to my God. I know without a doubt that I am in the house of the Lord. 


Every time I drive by it on the way to the community college or an MCO rehearsal or even Costco, my heart swells with joy. I can't help but smile and sing and gawk at the incredible architecture and beautiful stained glass windows. I've always been a sucker for stained glass, but these windows are exquisite. (Also, they look a lovely aqua color in the day and shine a bright yellow at night. It's absolutely beautiful regardless of the time of day.) I am always amazed at how the temple grass and flowers are completely resilient in the face of the Arizona storms and summers. While the front lawns of the rest of the desert dwellers are dusty, crunchy patches of brown straw, temple grass seems magical in comparison. Also, this temple is humongous. One of the first words that comes to my mind in describing its exterior is "mighty." It is the mightiest building I've ever been to.

I was able to be a part of the Gilbert Arizona Temple cultural celebration and dedication this year in March. I practiced choreography, learned sign language, sang songs, fitted costumes, and anticipated the celebration for months. We were honoring the great heroes of the past and celebrating our heritage. I'll always remember sloshing through ankle-deep water and mud in my Nephite costume, singing and twirling my flag as rain poured from the sky. It was spectacular. As I danced for a latter-day prophet of God along with 13,000 other young men and young women in the torrential rain, my life was changed. This was my temple. This was a house of the Lord. We had great cause to celebrate. (If you watch the video, you can find the songs I was in at 37:05, 1:04:05, 1:16:16, and 1:20:50. I also was a flag bearer for my stake in the very beginning of the program. Your very own Olivia Jensen makes a split second cameo appearance as she walks around waving to the crowds with her stake flag bearers at 23:02.)

(Pictured is me and my ward along with the multitudes just a few hours before the performance. I'm near the middle with the crazy ponytail with my back turned. At least I was present... You can see the storm clouds sneaking into the skies behind us. At this moment, we had no clue we would be up against a torrential downpour later.) 

As we practiced before the actual performance in the dress rehearsal, storm clouds gathered all around. However, there was a patch of clear sky above our practice as we sang and danced. We thought for a while that it would perhaps stay this way for the show somehow. It didn't, as you can see. :) This was not an unfortunate event at all, for the rain somehow perfected the message of the show. We were drenched, yet we danced and sang more stalwartly and passionately than we ever had done before.

You may be wondering why it poured during the celebration. Why wasn't the weather perfect? How could the rain be let to spoil everything? We certainly had a couple of those thoughts as we huddled together under tarps with blue lips and chattering teeth, soaked to the skin. Let me tell you, however. We prayed for the rain. All 13,000 of us. It's probably our fault. :) It hadn't rained in almost 6 months leading up to the celebration, for one. But you see, the week before the performance was a torturously dry one. It was swelteringly hot, as usual, which made practicing and running through dance numbers and moving thousands of kids across large spans of ground for hours exhausting. The grass of the park we practiced at was brown, dry, and dusty, so there soon was so much dust kicked up in the air that we couldn't breathe. They had to cut the 15-hour practice short that evening due to "hazardous levels of dust." So many kids were being taken by ambulance to the hospital due to asthmatic attacks or heatstroke or who knows what. We all returned home with hacking coughs, splitting headaches, aching limbs, sore throats, and sunburns. I lost my voice completely, along with many others I am sure. We prayed in our meetings and cars and homes afterward. While adults looked at the weather forecast and prayed for no rain, the youth prayed that we would be able to perform safely and inspirationally, without being prevented by the dust. Most of all, we wanted to show our love for the temple and bear out testimonies of Christ through song and dance. After all the hours of sacrifice and practice, the rain seemed like a capstone to this epic event, and it will never be forgotten by us. 

(Pictured are members of my region waiting to take our places in the final song. I'm the one with the long wavy hair just right of middle. My little brother is also one of these heads...)

One of the greatest moments I experienced while in this celebration was what occurred at the arrival of the prophet. The rain poured out in sheets over the crowd. I was standing on a platform all the way back by the jumbotrons with my fellow banner-bearers, so I couldn't see much of what was happening across the park. The ice cold rain pounding my face certainly wasn't helping me see any better. But oh, wait till you hear what happened when the prophet came. Perhaps we shouldn't have yelled so loud, but we couldn't help it. :) Everyone cheered and applauded as the prophet's car drove up. A ramada has been set up for the visiting authorities. The moment President Thomas S. Monson got out of the car, the rain stopped completely. We all fell quiet and watched him walk to his seat. I promise you, the very moment he was safely underneath the ramada, the rain picked up once again. Somewhere, someone began to sing the hymn "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." I was so far back that I only was able to hear and join in the last few phrases before it ended. "We thank the for every blessing bestowed by Thy bounteous hand. We feel it a pleasure to serve thee and love to obey Thy command." After we finished singing, the prophet stood and faced us. He and President Henry B. Eyring began to applaud us while the rain again grew to a roar. Or the crowd began to roar. Most likely, it was both. All 13,000 of those youth started yelling and hollering at the top of their lungs. I know I cheered just about as hard as I could. We certainly had reason to cheer, for a prophet of God had come to dedicate our temple. We knew he was a prophet of God. Our joy was full.

Another cool fact about my celebration experience was that I and some others had the opportunity to be in multiple songs where extras were needed for the partner dances. I got to maneuver around the outside of the field from one group to another in between songs through the mud while quickly changing costumes as I ran to be in time for the number. I and some other extras was often in complete panic mode as we tried to make speedy costume changes and locate our groups. A few times, I ran into line as the music began. It was worth every bit of extra practice hours, thought, for I wanted to participate in this event as much as I possibly could.

I remember standing in the light of the jumbotron with my stake flag bearers on the night of the performance. The six of us had a blast. I remember it really began to pour while we stood there. We first made some vain attempts to stay dry and warm, but alas, the rain could not be stopped. I remember we simply gave in to laughter, and we stood there with our heads upturned, mouths open. It was a fantastic moment.

On a more ridiculous note, I've been looking for a place to share this gem of a meme that was made shortly after the cultural celebration. It is relatable in every way. My friends and I found it to be extremely hilarious, especially after having huddled in the freezing cold water with groups of soaking wet males under tiny little tarps on that night. Oh brother, it was just great. XD

Something that many viewers may not have realized is the significance of the flags. Every single one of the 13,000 carried a personalized "Title of Liberty." We were asked to write something meaningful to us on the flag. I loved seeing what phrases, quotes, songs, and scriptures were meaningful for each individual. But me being me, I honestly could not decide which one would be the best. Which song, which scripture, or which quote would be worthy of my cultural celebration flag? Also, seeing as it was I who was designing it, it would have to be epic somehow. Finally, the day before the big dress rehearsal, I decided that I would go with every single idea I had and combine it into one, of course. :) It has ended up being a very meaningful memento of my experience, for this was the flag I twirled for hours and weeks and months practicing for the "flag dance" with my friends. I had sword fights with it and attempted to juggle it when we had free moments in practices. I ran after Captain Moroni in my Nephite outfit while waving it high. It's been dropped in mud, stained by grass, and soaked by rain. I'm probably going to keep it forever. I remember a moment when all the youth sang the closing number in the performance. Someone decided to raise their flag into the air as they sang. One by one, we all followed suit. It wasn't preplanned at all, but we all did it in sync nonetheless. There was a wordless feeling of unity, and we felt the Spirit so strongly as we sang. I'll never forget how my heart swelled up with love for the gospel of Christ. 

Another cool tidbit about this celebration was the Live True hand symbol that circulated around the participating youth. According to the celebration website, "The Live True logo is made up of a capital L and T representing Live True. Together they form a rectangular viewing window through which we 'set our sights' on the temple. When the 'L' and 'T' and made with the hands, it becomes a positive hand gesture we can share among other members of the church and nonmembers as a reminder to 'Live True' to our personal standards and beliefs. The purpose of the Cultural Celebration is to encourage us all to set the focus of our personal viewfinder on the Gilbert Arizona Temple." We all were simply beside ourselves to find that we now had our own secret gang sign for the temple celebration. ;) People would randomly stick out their left handed gun in practices or at church or school, and you'd rush to complete the rectangle with your right hand to finish the symbol. It was quite fun, really. 

For one last thought on this celebration, I want to mention one of the songs we heard called "I Choose This Day." Now when I first heard this song, I was bothered by its initial cheesiness. Week after week, we practiced the sign language with the video each night to the sound of giggles and snickers from other young men and women. I desperately tried to open my mind to the song and be serious about it, for I felt bad for feeling a bit doubtful about its success. Boy, was I ever wrong. Perhaps others may hear the song and have the same first reaction as I, yet this song has found a warm place in my heart today. The lyrics are as follows:

I Choose This Day

It's easy to talk about faith,

It's easy to do what's right

When there's no sacrifice;

It's so easy to preach about heart,

And say you'll be faithful and true 

When you know there's nothing to lose.

I could do so much good in my life 

And help my people in this land;

But what is there to live for

If I'm not true to who I am?

I choose this day, 

I choose the person I will be;

Do I fear man,
Deny who I am 

And all that I believe?

Will I stand tall?

Do I soar, or do I fall?

When the Spirit calls, 

Will I be strong, will I obey?

I will choose this day.

I look into the ev'ning sky 

And I see the temple of God;

The Spirit is telling me 

I've found Zion in the midst of Babylon.

I choose this day, 

I choose the person I will be;

I'll not fear man;
I know who I am, 

And what I believe.

I will stand strong 

And turn my back to Babylon.

I find my strength
When I kneel to pray.

I will follow the Lord,

I choose this day.

O verall, my life was changed as I participated in this historic celebration. I'll never forget the emotions I felt and the experiences I had. (If anything, the rains certainly ensured that there would be no forgetting this event...) I have been inside the temple and can attest to the unsurpassable beauty and feelings of peace one can witness inside it. I can hardly wait for the day that I can enter the temple with the man I will love and be sealed to him for eternity. When I research the names of my ancestors and visit often, it brings undeniable blessings of peace and happiness into my life. I know without a doubt that it is a house of the Lord.