By JOE HOLLENBAUGH
hollenbaugh@newsroom.byu.edu
A new rose blossomed in the desert Sunday when President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated the new rose-colored LDS temple in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
More than 13,000 people attended the four dedicatory sessions March 5, said Tony Knudsen of the temple construction committee.
The Albuquerque Temple dedication marks the third temple dedicated by President Hinckley in eight days, following new temple dedications in Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico and Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico last week.
The four dedicatory sessions in Albuquerque were extended by closed-circuit television to three local stake centers.
The first session included a cornerstone ceremony led by President Hinckley. BYU student Christy Barber attended the cornerstone session.
'I was picturing this solemn event, but President Hinckley is so joyful that he made the whole thing feel cheerful,' Barber said.
'During the cornerstone ceremony, a little boy about four years old kept walking around in front of the camera. Instead of getting upset, President Hinckley took him over and helped him put some mortar in the cornerstone,' Barber said.
President Hinckley offered the dedicatory prayer and spoke in all four sessions.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and Elder Neal Anderson of the North America Southwest Area presidency also spoke at each session.
Alfred and DeAnne Walker of Thayne, Wyoming serve as full-time LDS missionaries in the Albuquerque New Mexico Mission and attended the dedication.
The Walkers estimated that up to one-half of those attending the dedication were children or youth.
'People tried to come as families as much as they could,' DeAnne Walker said.
Alfred Walker said President Hinckley told the congregation he still expects to have 100 temples in operation by the end of this year.
The 33,000 square foot Albuquerque Temple rises on a ten-acre site and encloses two ordinance rooms and three sealing rooms.
The temple base is sheathed in Texas pearl granite, and the upper portion is a desert rose color, Knudsen said.
Knudsen said the temple interior is furnished in a southwest motif, including Native American pottery and rugs, and paintings of desert scenery. The stained glass in the windows also follows a Native American pattern.
'President Hinckley loved it,' Knudsen said.
The temple will serve 55,000 LDS Church members from 15 stakes in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.