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The
Manhattan Temple Dedication
Part
6: The Gathering of the Saints (continued)
A
Photographic Essay
By
Scot and Maurine Proctor
click
photos to enlarge
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Every member of the Church has a story to tell.
We wish we could tell them all. |
President
Hinckley told the Saints he went to Hong Kong some six or eight years ago with the thought that we
needed a temple in China. Hong Kong seemed to be the place to put it but real
estate in Hong Kong is like New York City: “$10 million dollars
for a piece of land the size of a postage stamp.”
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President Mark Bench (‘like park bench,’ he
said), a local stake president, was so happy that this day
was really here. |
“I
couldn’t sleep,” President Hinckley continued. “I prayed
very earnestly. In the middle of the night I awoke. I got
up and took a piece of paper and sketched a temple with a
baptistery under ground. We could put in that building a
chapel and a temple with a spire.” The temple in New York
follows a similar pattern as the Hong Kong temple, building
up in a facility that also has some other uses.
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Members of the Church gathered from every walk
of life, from every background and all joined as one in the
temple. |
“Inasmuch
as the Lord is behind what has happened here,” President Hinckley
concluded, “I decided that I would make every effort to see
there were temples wherever they were needed.”
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I couldn’t help but include a picture of this usher. He patiently
tried not to look at me as I was taking so many pictures of
the line of Saints he was helping. He finally turned, looked
right at me, and waved. |
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Saints on the south side, blue-ticket line, waited patiently
for the doors to open so they could be seated for their
dedicatory session. |
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The Manhattan New York Temple will serve
approximately 42,000 members of the Church, with the
temple district area comprising parts of New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut. |
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Members of the choir who would sing in
the second dedicatory session gathered just before going
in to the temple. |
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The First Presidency announced the temple
on August 7, 2002. Less than twenty-two months later,
the temple was dedicated. |
Click
here to go to Part 7: The Gathering of the Saints (continued)
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Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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