NAUVOO – The angel Moroni is replaced on the Nauvoo temple after a lightning bolt struck it.
They needed to replace Moroni and so closed the temple.
The Nauvoo temple, the first fully operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was rebuilt in 2002, but despite the relatively recent construction, it closed this last week.
“We had a thunderstorm, bright flash lit up the sky, even with Moroni's lightning rod, he took the hit, blew the gold right off of him,” said Jonah Aitchison, a resident of the small town of Nauvoo and part-time drone photographer. “The temple? I can see it from my house. I see it every day on my way to the office,” he continued.
He recorded the angel Moroni after it was struck by lightning; precautions had even been made to prevent this very thing. “Even with Moroni's lightning rod, he still took the hit,” said Aitchison.
Just yesterday, they replaced Moroni. So Aitchison grabbed his gear and headed over. “ saw those cranes going up. I thought this is huge,” he said. “They brought in a new Moroni to replace the one on the temple, and two big cranes today lifted him off, put a new one on, faced him west and called it good.”
Aitchison was one of the only people to record the event. “It was cool, pretty cool, yeah it's pretty fun,” he said of the experience.