Stories: Brigham City Ground Breaking
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| Dear Family;
Vicki and I had a great experience in Brigham City on Saturday morning. I went up Friday afternoon to make sure everything was in order. We arrived at 7:30 am on Saturday and hundreds of people were already there, even though it didn't begin until 9 am. President Boyd K. Packer presided at the Groundbreaking for the new Temple. He asked me to conduct, and I spoke briefly. KSL 5 and SLC Fox 13 both interviewed me and had good reports on the news on Saturday night. If you missed it, you can go to their websites and search for Brigham City Temple and see the news story. We had 2100 chairs set up, but 7000 attended on site and many more watched the broadcast in the 12 stake centers in Box Elder County and Malad, that will make up the Temple District. Lots of people brought their own chairs and many sat across the street on the lawn by the Tabernacle. We had the loudspeakers set up so that they could hear across the street. The police blocked traffic on all the surrounding roads so it was quiet and turned out great. It was not too hot at 9 am, so everything went very well.
In my talk I told about President Monson going to Brigham City to decide on the site. He took President Uchtdorf, President Packer and me. The four of us stood on the site and President Monson turned to President Packer and said: "Boyd, what do you think?" President Packer said: " President Monson, I think it is the perfect place for a temple." President Monson immediately said: "That's good enough for me!" He raised his arm to the square as if voting in favor, and the decision was made to build the temple on that site in Brigham City. It was a blessing for me to go back for the groundbreaking. The First Presidency assigned President Packer to do the groundbreaking, which I thought was really nice. President Packer was very pleased and it was a great moment for him and his family and many of them were there. President Packer introduced his 89 year old sister, Donna, who attended. She came from California for the groundbreaking. President Packer told everyone that an old Central school used to be on the site and he and his sister walked the six blocks to attended elementary school there. About six years ago the old school was condemned and torn down. Someone bought the land and had it subdivided and tried to sell pieces of it, but when the First Presidency decided to build a temple in Brigham City - none of the lots had sold, and we were able to buy the entire block. I think it was a miracle that the land was intact and available when the Lord wanted a temple there. It is the perfect place, right across the street west of the Brigham City Tabernacle. The front door of the Tabernacle faces west, and the front door of the Temple will face east. The design of the temple is beautiful, and we'll all very pleased with it.
We had six General Authorities there for the groundbreaking, President Packer, Elder Nelson, Elder Steven Snow, Elder Allen Packer, Bishop Keith McMullin and me. It was a historic occasion. I was hoping to see Uncle Reed and Aunt Marilyn there, but they emailed me last week and told me they would be in Idaho for a family reunion and miss it. Natalie's sister Ginger and her husband attended and we saw them. Also, one of our missionaries, Ted Smith, sang in the choir. Ned Siegfried's parents were there and came up and greeted me afterwards. The two members of the Legislature from the area were there and they both expressed their affection for Mark.
Brigham City is a wonderful town and this is a great blessing to them to have a temple. The mayor (Fife) and the city council have been great to work with and very supportive. In his remarks, President Packer told everyone he would be back for the dedication in two years. As most of you know, he is from Brigham City.
Elder Nelson was pleased to be there. His first wife, Danzel, was from Perry. She was a school classmate of President Packer.
This is maybe more detail than you wanted to hear, but I was pretty excited about it and thought I would share some of this with you. Our next temple dedication with be in the Ukraine at the end of August. Vicki and I are planning on visiting the Madrid and Swiss Temples on the way to Kyiv. It should be a great experience.
Love, Dad |
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