The light breeze left behind from Friday’s thunderstorm was just enough to cool the air from the hot sun shining on the crowd of hundreds that gathered Saturday morning, Aug. 8, for the groundbreaking ceremony of the future Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Cedar City temple.
Just 24 hours earlier, several volunteers had tried to set up chairs and the mobile stage at the site located at 300 S. Cove Drive in Cedar City, but the strong winds and harsh rain that day made it impossible for them to do anything.
By Friday evening, however, the dark clouds had all moved out, calming the skies and allowing the volunteers to prepare for the long-awaited event.
“The blessing was the rain,” said Cedar City councilman Paul Cozzens. “It made it kind of a mess, but we got that rainstorm and no dust. Look at this. The wind’s blowing and no dust. It’s just incredible. It was a challenge up here Thursday night. The wind was blowing like crazy. The chairs were tipping over. We were throwing rocks on the carpet to keep it from blowing away. Then the next day it was a muddy mess, but then the sun came out yesterday and we worked in between rainstorms. There were hundreds of people here cleaning up chairs and setting them back up. There’s hours that went into this project. It has been awesome.”
Saturday’s event was by invitation only on site, but it was broadcasted via live webcast to thousands more gathered in 17 stake centers located throughout the proposed temple district. In welcoming community members and the approximately 1,700 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints watching the webcast, Elder Kent F. Richards of the Seventy and executive director of the temple department for the Church also commented on the “lovely weather.”
“Those of you who prayed that we might have good weather, your prayers are answered,” he said.
The building of the Cedar City temple was announced over two years ago by President Thomas S. Monson during the April 4, 2013, General Conference. Not much else was mentioned until May 4 of this year when the groundbreaking was announced and preparations were made.
Cozzens said the groundbreaking committee, under the direction of Elder Dane Leavitt of area seventy, spent many hours preparing for this day.
“They’ve been working for a while,” he said. “Parking, logistics, security. They’ve been working a long time to get his ready for today. They’ve done a lot. They’ve had security up here for three or four days solid, people around the clock.”
The 7.3-acre property, edged with juniper and pinion trees, is located on Leigh Hill overlooking the west side of town.
It typically takes anywhere from two to four years to build a temple, a long time for local Church members to wait. However, once completed, it will make things much easier for the members who currently have to travel to the St. George temple to perform sacred ceremonial work for those who have passed on.
“This is our temple. It’s going to be very special in our backyard where it can be more convenient,” Cozzens said. “I was thinking yesterday about the early pioneers and the sacrifices they made for their temples. The sacrifices we are going to make for this temple are pale in comparison of the early saints and the sacrifices they made.”
Once completed, the 42.657-square-foot structure will serve members in Iron, Garfield and Beaver Counties, as well as Lincoln County, Nev. Members in New Harmony, located just 20 minutes from Cedar City and as far south as Alamo, Nev., will also be a part of the district. The Cedar City temple is the 17th Mormon temple in Utah.
City leaders maintain the traffic coming from these different areas into Cedar City will bring a huge economic boost to the community.
“I think it’s going to bring in people from all over,” said Cedar City councilman Fred Rowley. “They’ll come for weddings and other activities, and it will introduce a lot of people who have never been to Cedar City to the beauties of this place. And I think it will just be a wonderful asset to the well-being of the city generally.”
Besides the economic benefit, Councilman Don Marchant said he believes the temple will also help to bring the community together.
“Economic drive in my opinion is not the most important part of what we’re trying to do here,” Marchant said. “It will bring this community closer together. It will unify us in things we do as a community, and the other benefits will come because these foundation pieces are in.”
Councilman John Black said he feels the temple’s presence will bring future blessings to the community and will benefit it many ways, including economically.
“There will be an awesome future galore in Cedar City because of this temple,” Black said. “First of all, spiritually. Second of all, civically, and third of all, economically. What a blessing.”
Iron County Sheriff Deputy Lt. Del Schlosser, representing Sheriff Mark Gower (who was unable to attend), said he believes the construction of the temple will bring a change that will be felt throughout the community.
“I think there’s a difference that comes with a temple, a different feeling,” Schlosser said. “If you take where we are here on this ground and that feeling just permeates from this ground out.”
Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy presided over and offered the dedicatory prayer at the service. Other participants in the program included Clayton’s wife, Kathy; Elder Richard’s wife, Marsha; and Elder Leavitt’s wife, Ruth.
Several political and religious dignitaries participated in turning the soil with the golden shovels, including stake presidents and their wives who serve within the temple district. The former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt with his wife Jackie also attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
Elder Clayton asked attendees to remember, as they broke ground, all that the early Saints built and gave before.
“May we remember their broken picks and their worn-out shovels as they broke the hard soil and slowly turned Cedar City and the other communities in which all of you live into gardens, fruit fields, and homes, churches, schools,” he said. “Surely we should not turn this soil today without remembering and thanking them. As we break the ground, we remember them and their devotion and we acknowledge what they accomplished.”
After shoveling some dirt, Elder Clayton and Elder Richards both literally broke ground where the temple will stand using an excavator that was on site.
