Calgary Temple Open House  

Why would we drive 8 hours just to tour a building? I mean, it isn't as if we had never been in a "Mormon" temple before. Judy and I serve every Saturday in the Edmonton Temple. But we both felt a desire to visit the new Calgary Temple. Once it has been dedicated, this will be the 140th of our temples in operation around the world. Unlike our tens of thousands of chapels, temples are chiefly ceremonial centers. They are designated as "The House of the Lord". They are places where heaven touches the earth.

At first we thought we would get some of the family to come with us, but our schedules made it impossible. We still wanted to go, so we ordered free tickets for October 3 at 1:15 PM. That way we could leave in the morning and be home that evening. And we would beat the last-minute rush just before the open house ends on October 20th. The weather was overcast, and the trip was pleasant. There had been a little snow south of Red Deer and then just north of Calgary, but the roads were excellent and we easily found the temple. The tour was well organized, from parking, through the orientation video, and the tour itself. The building is very different from the Edmonton temple. For one thing it is twice as large, and much taller. The ceiling in the celestial room must be about 30 feet/10 metres high! I found it both spiritual and magnificent. Back in the cultural hall of the adjacent chapel we saw our long-time friends Joyce and Rune Backstom, and they re-introduced us to another old friend that we hadn't seen for maybe 40 years.

As we were leaving the parking lot I stopped to take photos. I didn't realize until looking at them right now that there is a patch of blue sky. They often say about Calgary "If you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes!" This day definitely fit that pattern. A few minutes later we were driving through a snow storm. We were low on gas, so we stopped in Airdrie to refuel and the snow stopped while I was refueling, only to start falling again a few minutes later, and stop again further down the road. We made good time and were home about 5:30 PM. It was a beautiful experience. 

If you are interested:

This link will take you to an information page http://www.lds.org/church/temples/calgary-alberta?lang=eng

This link will take you to the page where you can get free tickets https://templeopenhouse.lds.org/