After having my leftovers for brunch, I headed north on Redwood Street to look for the International Peace Gardens. I didn't find it. But I ended up on North Temple Street, so I decided to turn right there. Pretty soon, I started seeing some skyscrapers, which reminded me of the first time I saw Minneapolis. I turned right on West Temple Street Then I saw what looked like the temple and a museum, so I drove into a nearby parking garage right next to a Best Western.
The garage attendant asked me what I had planned to do. I said I was just going to take pictures of the temple and go to the museum. That's what I really planned to do. So, I paid $5 and looked for the entrance to the Temple Square. I walked in through the southern gate and was met by an older gentleman who gave me a map and told me about the tours. Imagine that! Tours! In a place of worship!
Part of Temple Square, viewed from the rooftop garden of the Conference Center. more pics
So, I went headed over to the white flagpole where the first tour starts, I stopped to take a few pictures of a structure to my left. A couple of young women approached me and chatted with me. I guess I must have looked lost. After a few minutes, I took the pictures and went over to the white flagpole where I met two more young women, one of whom was from Korea, so I greeted her with a Korean phrase that Bay, one of my classmates, taught me.
I later found out that these young women are here for an 18-month "mission" which is a time they dedicate to serve their church. My highschool friend Liway had told me about how she met her husband on her mission, who also did his mission in the same place in the Philippines, so I knew about the missions. These women left their families and friends, schools and jobs, to go wherever the church sends them. Often, they do it while they are young before they start families, or later in life after their children have moved out of their homes.
The tour was actually hosted by two other young women, one from Japan and the other from Argentina. They all introduced themselves to me. There were about ten of us in the tour group. The white flagpole stood right in front of the temple but the first stop was a few yards south so we could see the statue of the angel Moroni.
The Temple viewed from the east. more pics
The next stop was the building I was taking a picture of. It was the assembly hall. The guides told a story about how seagulls had saved the crops by transporting the pesty crickets away from the fields of the pioneers. So the tower (and water feature) in the front of the assembly hall was dedicated to the seagulls.
The Seagulls Monument and the Assembly Hall. more pics
The assembly hall looked like any other church. There was an impressive pipe organ in the front. I asked one of the guides if it still works. It does. Then they talked about the structure. The only wood available in the area was white pine, so the pioneers painted the pews to look like oak and the columns to look like marble.
The tabernacle next door is being renovated, so the guides encouraged us to come back next year to see it after the renovation. They said it's where the choir usually rehearses and performs because of the great acoustics created by the domed roof. While it's under renovation, the choir meets at the conference center. I wanted to hear them in person, but they have their rehearsals only on Thursdays and they perform only on Sundays.
We headed to the North Visitor Center, where we went up a circular ramp that looked like it led to a planetarium. But at the center of the upper floor under all the stars and nebulae is a huge white marble statue of Jesus. After that, they led us to a hallway of paintings of scenes from the Bible, where we filled out a comment card with checkboxes whether we wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and whether we wanted missionaries to come visit us. I didn't check either one, but I wrote in the comment lines that the tour guides are friendly and are good storytellers.
Then I headed downstairs to look at the displays. I was approached by another young woman, who chatted with me and then introduced me to her companion who is also from the Philippines. We chatted in Tagalog for a while. I found out that she's a grade school teacher in Bicol and she's been here for less than a year. When her mission is over, she'll go back to the Philippines but she'll have to get her teaching license again. (It expires after three years.) I met the two of them in passing twice more. At 5 pm, I headed down one more floor to wait for the "First Vision" video that tells the story of Joseph Smith's first vision at age 14.
Paintings of stories from the Bible ...
... and paintings of stories from the Book of Mormon. more pics
As I got off the escalator, two new young women approached me. (They're all over the place, you'll never get lost.) I said I was waiting for the next showing and that I was going to look at the displays while waiting. They offered to talk to me about the displays, but I said I'd rather go on my own since I wanted to take pictures too. They said I could come to them if I had any questions. When I got towards the back end, I found an video screen that showed some of the teachings about inner peace. When I was done with it, I got up and realized that it got quiet. I was alone in that section for several minutes and it was a very soothing solitude. I walked across to another display and then there was another young woman who came to chat with me. I mentioned that I already had a book written by Gordon Hinckley, given to me by one of my friends. She said she read it too, but neither of us could remember the name of the book. She asked me if I had already requested my own copy of the Book of Mormon. I said I already filled out the form but I didn't check the boxes. I asked if she could give me a copy.
Something in the displays peaked my interest. It showed a stack of metal plates with etchings on them and the etchings looked like Egyptian pictographs. Joseph Smith had found those plates and translated them. The translation comprises the Book of Mormon. And that got me. (Throw in a little anthropology and you've got my attention.)
Unfortunately, she couldn't give me a copy; they usually mail it. I explained that I'm going to school and I wouldn't have time to read it when school starts next week. She tried to show me where I could get a copy in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but we found that they close at 5 pm. An older woman sitting behind a podium said that the book is available at the bookstore across the South Temple Street. I said I'd just go over there and buy it. Then the young woman led me into the auditorium for the video. Just before the showing started, she came by my seat and gave me a pamphlet instead and encouraged me to get the book. She was the most dedicated and sincerest I had met. She was almost tearful for not being able to provide me a copy, so I could read it before I got busy again.
The Conference Center with its waterfalls. more pics
After the video, I walked across North Temple Street to see the rooftop garden of the conference center. I was met by two young women again (one from Uruguay and the other from Japan). When I realized that I was the only one in the group, one of the older men sitting nearby said that it's the VIP tour. :-) Of course, I said "Kunichiwa" (which I learned from another classmate Satoru) and "Como estas?" (which I learned in my undergrad).
They took me to the conference room, which was so huge that it looked like an indoor sports arena. And there's another pipe organ in the front, much bigger than the one in the assembly hall. These two guides told me the full story about the metal plates.
The rooftop garden was made to look like the prairie that the pioneers encountered in the area. The tops of the buildings peek out over the wildflowers. more pics
Then they handed me off to another group heading up to the garden on the roof. The guide was an older woman and the only other guests were a mother and her two young boys. The view at the top was great! We saw a sliver of light in the horizon and the guide said that it's the Salt Lake. She said that it's not pretty at all, and besides it stinks. The mother agreed. :-) I said, "Darn, I was gonna go and take some pictures."
The setting sun lights a water feature in the rooftop garden. more pics
Well, the sun wasn't quite setting yet, so I walked along the east side of the Temple Square and took more pictures of the temple and the other buildings east of it. A young man on a bike asked for change then commented on my camera.
I went into the Memorial Building to look up my ancestry, but their computers simply looked things up on the web. And besides, I couldn't find anything when I searched for my maternal grandfather.
I walked down South Temple Street, gave up on the carriage ride because it costs $40, turned right into West Temple Street, met a man with a dog who also asked for change, and went into the museum. This museum was more like a real museum. There was one older woman dressed like the pioneers as part of the exhibit and she was glad to talk to me about the ship that some of the pioneers took from Liverpool to Boston.
When I got out, it was 8:30 pm and dark. I guess I won't be able to take pictures of the lake now.
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