16 Minutes of Glorious Light, Part Five
A Photographic Essay of the San Antonio Temple

Photography by Scot Facer Proctor
Story by Maurine Jensen Proctor

The pictures of the San Antonio Texas Temple in this essay were shot in 16 minutes, just as the sun rose on dedication day.

click photos to enlarge

A wheat motif adorns most windows, particularly noteworthy because the wheat stalks are made of polished agate, its rich tones ranging from copper to ivory. Members love to quote these lines from Isaiah about the temple windows:

"I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.  And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones" (Isaiah 54: 11,12).

The windows were created by Tom Holdman, a richly gifted artist who has also created art glass windows for many other temples including Palmyra and Nauvoo.  He hired 18 people to help him on the two-year assignment in a project where every window is filled with rich symbol and detail.

Embedded in many of the windows are hand-cut crystals, which pick up the light from the outside and appear as you drive by almost as if they are twinkling.  In the sealing room, said Tom, "We have trees at the top which are beveled out of crystal, so that when you are outside, the chandelier which hangs in the sealing room gets refracted through the beveled glass and just sparkles."

Conceptualizing and then creating this kind of detail consumed innumerable hours and working diligently against a deadline.  Tom had to occasionally remind himself when it became hard, "that the pain goes away, but the rewards stay."

Tom suffers from a stutter, and so to him creating these breathtaking windows is his way of expressing the depth of his love and testimony.  He tells an interesting story. "I was coming home off my mission in 8 days and my mission president called me up and asked if I could extend.  I told him that I'd have to pray about it.  I got on my knees and asked if I should stay.  I felt the spirit say to my heart, that if I stayed, that God would bless me.  I like everything spelled out from "a" to "z," so I asked, how would he bless me?  He told me that I needed to do art glass as my career.  That seemed odd to me because I never heard of a person earning a living doing art glass windows.  But I was meant to do it."

Tom began doing art glass for neighbors in his garage on a piece of lumber resting on two garbage cans.  Today he creates the art glass for temples.  God knows the capacities of his children.

Elder Mannewitz said that not only the windows, but the sculptured carpets, the designs on the wood—everything in the temple is layered with symbolism which those who attend the temple will begin to understand over time.

Meanwhile, President Hinckley had his own message about the carpets in the temple.  "I hope the members wear the carpets out."  Own this temple, love this temple, serve in this temple, rejoice in this temple—and use this temple.

The Texas sun began to burn brighter than Scot wanted for his photographs.  People were arriving now from every direction—the faces of whom will be in an upcoming photo essay.

Tom Holdman created art glass to bear his testimony.  Barbara McDonald transported new converts to the temple to bear hers.  One member, a full-time contractor, just began to take days off of work to show up at the temple and do whatever was needed, including using a blower to clean the temple lot the day before the dedication.

For us, these pictures are our testimony and running for 16 minutes to show what the sun can do.

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