”I just think we're ready. Our town is so excited and we're so thrilled to have it be here,” Aubrey Grossen, member of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple Open House Committee, said.
Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt’s ancestors were among the pioneers who worked so hard to first settle the area more than 150 years ago.
”I can only imagine that they would just have wonder and amazement at the reality that there is not just one but two temples in this area,” Elder Schmitt, an assistant executive director in the Temple Department, said.
As with other recently constructed temples, the motifs both inside and outside the temple are designed to reflect the beauties and inspiration in the native landscape.
Motifs of mountains, canyons and the grand cottonwood tree, the dwarf bearclaw poppy, succulents, Indian paintbrush and pomegranates are all meant to give a sense of home, inspiration and holiness.
”The temple is a home. It is the house of the Lord,” Sister Tamara W. Runia of the Young Women General Presidency said.
“I believe, when we see temples, God is inviting us to elevate our view or our vista and to see people around us in a new light; to see each other, and even ourselves, in a way that God would be pleased,” Sister Runia said.
“It should change our hearts so that we then leave the temple as better neighbors, as better friends, as better citizens,” Elder Schmitt said.
The Red Cliffs Open House runs through March 2, Monday through Saturday. It will be dedicated on March 24 by President Henry B. Eyring.