The Vancouver Temple was announced in 2006, and they broke ground in August of 2007...I am so ashamed to admit, but we hadn't been out to see it; UNTIL now! We decided yesterday would be a great day to go see this new Temple of ours!! It's in the city of Langley which was about a 20 min drive from where we are.
I remember when I was a seminary teacher and we were at our graduation and President Sugden (2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency) spoke of just how President Hinckley found the Temple site. I was so moved by the story! I found this is a little excerpt from the church site, it's not as good as the story, but gives you a little taste:
"During a visit to the Lower Mainland in 2006 to examine potential temple sites, President Gordon B. Hinckley declared of the Langley location, "Here is where we are going to build the temple." The site was not among the available properties, which had all been found wanting. Then, driving east on 82nd Avenue from the Langley meetinghouse, he had the car stopped at a large hedge and identified the land as the temple site. The 11-acre parcel, just east of 200 Street, was assembled from three smaller parcels—none of which were for sale and one which had recently sold—but the Church eventually acquired each one. The beautiful land is at the highest elevation in the Township."
I guess when you KNOW you just KNOW! It was such a humbling experience to go to the Temple grounds. It is an ABSOLUTELY gorgeous location. I am so used to being able to see Temples off the freeway, or in the distance...now this one isn't like that at all! But I think that is OK, as this location is just so quiet and so peaceful!
This is the road the Temple sits on (I am standing in front of the Temple here, looking down the road.)
This is looking the other direction
The temple site is just to the right of this picture
I think you all can agree with me at just how beautiful of a location this is.
Here she is, the Vancouver British Columbia Temple!!
This will be the finished product!
I wish I could relay to just how excited the people here in Vancouver are!! They have waited SO LONG for this Temple! You really don't realize what you have until it's gone. To come from Utah where you can drive from Manti to Bountiful and hit 6 operating Temples with 2 in the making; to Vancouver where you have to drive down to Seattle or over Cardston...you just find that you take such great and important things for granted! I have seen so many faithful members make the trip to Seattle with their kids, one of the parents goes to a session while the other sits and watches the kids; then they swap. It turns into a full day event, as it's about a 3 hour drive down! I know for some people, they would love to only have to drive 3 hours to go to the temple. As I have also seen other members, who don't have a US visa drive all the way to Cardston Alberta (approx 12 hours) just to go to the temple! This was a big EYE OPENING experience for us. We are SO grateful for what we have! If we need to make the trip down to Seattle then so be it, it's well worth it! But let's just say, we are pretty excited for OUR temple to be finished! It's supposed to be ready in early 2010...which will be absolutely perfect as that's when the Olympics are up here! What a GREAT time to share the gospel!
Sorry for the SUPER long post! It was just a really AWESOME day!
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