Portland Temple

During August and September there are tours each Sunday afternoon of the Portland LDS Temple grounds. Since we are new to Portland we decided to go yesterday. Volunteers lead small groups around the grounds and point out interesting little tidbits about the temple. The Portland Temple was built in 1989 at a cost of $20,000,000. Sunday services are not held in this building but in smaller meeting houses located in hundreds (in fact probably thousands) of different places all over the world, including one in my hometown of Lonoke, Arkansas. Worldwide there are 130 temples to serve the approximately 14,000,000 members. When I joined the LDS church in 1972 there were 16 temples. This sacred building is used for special religious ceremonies, including marriage for time and all eternity. If you came to see the grounds on a Saturday, chances are you would see a number of brides and grooms being photographed outside the temple after their wedding ceremony.

I enjoyed visiting with the other couple on our tour. They were not members of our church but just came to see what they could learn. I got the opportunity to talk to them about missionaries - both the young familiar to everyone young men in the dark suits, white shirts, and name tags and the less familiar senior couples who serve all over the world in a variety of capacities....from leadership training to clerical help to church security! George and I hope to join their ranks one day!

If you'd like to learn more you can go to http://lds.org/temples/faq/0,11264,1904-1,00.html

for answers to frequently asked questions about LDS temples.

The white marble is from Virginia and the green slate is from Pennsylvania.

The guide said that in Oregon the motto is "If you plant it, it will grow." The flowers are stunningly beautiful!

The words over the front door say, "Holiness to the Lord - The House of the Lord". We believe that it truly is!