The third temple Tyler and I visited was the Jordan River Utah Temple. The other temple located in South Jordan. It is named after the close by Utah Jordan River. The Jordan River is named after the Jordan River; the river Christ was baptized in, due to its similar characteristic is linking a fresh water lake to a salt water lake (the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and in Utah, Utah Lake to the Salt Lake). Tyler and I went here for our June temple visit on June 4th, 2010. We had a nice session there and a good time over all (but then again every time you go to the temple you have a good time hehe).
History:
The Jordan River Utah Temple announcement to be built was on February 3rd, 1978 in a news conference. The ground breaking was on June 9th, 1979 by Pres. Spencer W. Kimball. In the groundbreaking ceremony Pres. Kimball didn’t use a regular shovel to move the first dirt but actually a caterpillar tractor to remove the dirt. The open house was from September 29th to October 31st, 1981. The dedication was on November 16- 20th, 1981 by Marion G Romney, Pres. Spencer W. Kimball 2nd counselor. It was the only temple Marion G Romney dedicated. It is also interesting to note that at the time people believed that President Kimball could not attend the dedication due to recovering from surgery but he happened to make it right before the ceremony started. Once dedicated it was the 20th operating temple of the church and was the second temple built in the Salt Lake Valley (the first being the Salt Lake Temple).
Architecture/Decor:
The Jordan River Utah Temple is very similar to the Provo and Ogden temple in lay out and to some degree the outside too. Like the Provo and Ogden temples it has 6 ordinance rooms, which allows for a session to start every twenty minutes. The outside differs in that it has more of a pointy exterior than round exterior. Instead of a plain pole design for the spire like the Provo and Ogden temple it has more of a cone shape spire. It also has fascinating window designs, while the Provo and Ogden temple have plain windows. Another interesting fact is that the Angel Moroni on this temple is one out of five temples that has an Angel Moroni carrying golden plates.
Helpful things to know if visiting the temple:
Location:
You can get to the Jordan River Utah Temple by taking Redwood Rd and turning east on Temple Lane. This is a small road that drives by many senior living homes, and will end in the temple parking lot. This temple is especially great for senior citizens in that it has escalators instead of stairs and has a lot of handicapped parking (so if walking is hard for you, this is a great temple to go to).
Scheduling and Temple Clothes:
The Jordan River Utah Temple is a highly busy temple and is made for high capacity. You do not need to call in to go to this temple. There are plenty of sessions with one starting every 20 minutes with a lot of room in each session so no worriesJ. For those wanting to rent temple clothes, temple clothes are available for rental.
If you wish to learn more check out these sites. These are the sites I used to find the facts used in this post:
Jordan River Utah Temple. http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/jordanriver/
Jordan River (Utah)-wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River_(Utah)
Jordan River Utah Temple pic. http://www.dlmark.net/images/tjordan1.jpg
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