By JILL CRANDALL
crandall@du2.byu.edu
This Christmas season many people will be visiting Temple Square to see the nativity scenes, lights and various Christmas concerts.
During the night of the lighting ceremony on Nov. 27, about 72,000 people came to visit Temple Square, said Carroll Smith, executive secretary of the Temple Square concert series.
Elder Andrew W. Peterson of the Quorum of the Seventy addressed the visitors at the lighting ceremony, said Don LeFevre, from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Public Affairs Department.
Elder Peterson, who is recovering from an accident he was in over a year ago, spoke from his wheelchair.
Over 200 concerts are performed on Temple Square over the Christmas holidays, Smith said.
'The music is very inspirational and reflective of the season and the Savior's birth,' Smith said.
President William Bawden, first counselor in the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission presidency, said the missionaries on Temple Square are being trained so they can understand the Christmas procedures on Temple Square.
'It's a very special time of year. The missionaries have a Christmas message prepared and they also do presentations by the Christus in the visitor's center every seven minutes,' Bawden said.
Bawden said the visitor's center also has Christmas videos such as 'The Other Wiseman' playing in the resource room and a variety of Christmas trees and other decorations inside for people who want to get out of the cold.
For many BYU students, especially those not originally from Utah, visiting Temple Square at Christmas time is an exciting experience.
'Going to Temple Square is a very big deal for me because until I came to BYU it's not something that I could do very often. It's amazing to see so much Church history in one place,' said Jessica Terrell, a junior from Mundy, Ind., majoring in mechanical engineering.
Julie Patterson, a junior from Saratoga, Calif., majoring in community health, said going to Temple Square is a great way to start out the Christmas season.
'The lights were better this year than any other year I've seen. Every branch is covered with lights. I was very impressed with the whole setup of nativity scenes, lights, and performances,' Patterson said.