Last Saturday July 31, 2010, Tyler and I went on a fun road trip to Vernal, Utah to go to the Vernal Utah Temple. We went to the 1:30 session. We had a great time at the temple. It was cool in that the session we attended there was a pregnant lady who was very close to being due who was going in through the temple for the first time and her mom who had cancer was her escort. It was interesting to think of how the lady going through for the first time was going to be sealed that day to her husband and her soon to be child would be born in the covenant being sealed to both of them. It was also neat to think that her sickly mother could be there and that even if she died from cancer because of the temple she would be able to see her daughter, son-in-law, and her soon to be grandchild again. That truly is the power of the temple, to make it possible for ones family to continue forever. That no matter what happens if you are all true to your covenants made there in, dead has truly lost her sting and her bitterness but instead it just means a bit of a wait until you get to see them again.
History:
The Vernal Utah Temple is the first temple to be built in an already previously built building. The temple's outside is the renovated original Uintah Stake Tabernacle. The tabernacle was built in 1907 and fittingly was dedicated as a temple in 1997. While the tabernacle's outside still stays with a few new touches such as two domes instead of just one, the inside was totally changed to become that of a temple. The original tabernacle was dedicated by the prophet Joseph F. Smith which prophesied at that dedication of one day having a temple their with in their mists. The Vernal Utah Temple was announced to be built on Feb 13th, 1994. The ground breaking was on May 13, 1995 by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley. The open house was Oct 11-25, 1997 and it was finally dedicated Nov 2-4, 1997 by Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley.
Architecture/Decor:
The Vernal Utah Temple was interesting in that the outside reminds me of a barn. It doesn't seem very templeish from the outside other than the angel Moroni statue on one of the domes. It just looks like a barn/ old tabernacle. Once inside though it defiantly feels like a temple and the way it is decorated is like a temple. It has beautiful stain glass windows. One is of the Savior below one of the domes and another is of a mountain and quaking aspens in the chapel. It also has a lot of grain designs in the painting on the walls. It is not at all like many of the other temples in Utah because this one is very simplistic. It is very simple yet elegant inside. It also has a very colonial feel to the furniture. One thing that is very beautiful is that there is a huge mural of the resurrected Savior in the Celestial room very pretty.
Helpful things to know when visiting this Temple:
Location:
The best way to get to Vernal, UT from the Provo/ Salt Lake area is to go through Heber. Once at Heber take the road South going out of town, continue following signs to get to Vernal. Once in Vernal the temple will be on your right in the middle of town, two blocks from Main St. You can't miss it if you look for the Angel Moroni. The trip is rather nice and scenic :)
Scheduling and Temple Clothes:
Although it is a small temple, it is still rather large. We didn't call ahead and I think that if you don't you will probably be fine just to go ahead and go. Interestingly enough they do have temple clothing to rent there (I really thought they wouldn't for the size of the temple, but they do).
Other things to note:
The town is actually bigger than Manti, so believe it or not they actually have places to eat. We ate at Cafe Rio, always delicious! They also have a lot of stuff for people who love dinosaurs in town. We went to the dinosaur museum there, it was a bit over priced if you ask me. (6 dollars for adults, 3 dollars for kids). Highlight of the museum include bones of the only juvenile stegosaurus, and it does have some cool early mammal bones, but over all hardly any dinosaur bones (lame!). The Dinosaur National Park aways out of town is also not worth going to because it is closed due to rebuilding the wall where most of the dinosaur bones were found. So if you want to drive out to a stone quarry to wonder around in your car, then by all means this is the place for you to go!
Where I got my info and if you want to learn more:
Vernal Utah LDS Temple: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/vernal
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