November 23

Thanks to my son, Spencer, we got more photos today...

Over the fence

The green fence has made my "drive-by shootings" much more difficult. Today, I was able to pull over for a minute during carpool and have Dillon O. take some pictures over the fence with my little point-and-shoot camera. I think he did a pretty good job!

Check this out!

Here is an OFFICIAL website from the LDS church about the new Gilbert Temple...


AWESOME!

Another Perspective

The people have cleared,
the dust has settled
but the joy still lingers in our hearts...

It was such a wonderful day. Thankfully, I am not the only one that had a camera. Here are some beautiful photos of the groundbreaking submitted by Teresa Hill. Thank you Teresa for sharing with us!

Sacred Ground

What a wonderful day!!!! Today was absolutely wonderful. 

Today, through a servant of God, ordinary farm land was transformed into Sacred Ground. 

Here, the Temple of the Lord will be built. 

Here will be His house.

Beautiful!

Here are some of photos from today.

Me and my son Jacob... I loved sharing this day with my children. 

I pray they will always look to the Temple...

 

The streets weren't the only places with traffic!

For the actual groundbreaking

Left to right: Elder William R. Walker, Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, Sister Margareth F. Costa

Far right is Elder David E. LeSueur sitting next to his wife.

Elder LeSueur is the one who donated the land for the temple.

Elder William R. Walker (Conducting the meeting)

President Daryl H. Garn, Mesa Arizona Temple President, First Speaker today.

Sister Viki Walker, Second Speaker

Elder William R. Walker, Third Speaker

Sister Margarath F. Costa, Fourth Speaker

Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, Fifth & Final Speaker, Dedicatory prayer.

Before the crowds...

After the crowds...

The next three images were taken by my friend's son (and neighbor) Dillon... 

Way to go Dillon, these are great shots that I missed!!! 

President Matthew Riggs is in the center. He is the Stake President for the Gilbert San Tan Stake, the stake in which the temple will be built.

Elder Costa with Dillon. Hopefully all our youth will look to our church leaders and to the temple like Dillon did this day. Way to go Dillon!

GROUND BREAKING THIS SATURDAY

Well, the GREEN FENCE went up today. So sad. Its going to make drive-by photo ops a little more tricky. No more passing the camera to my son as we drive by for carpool.

However, that does mean we are getting closer to building so I won't complain.

Here are some things I know about the Groundbreaking Ceremony that is being held on Saturday.

• Ceremony begins at 11:30. It is requested that everyone be seated by 11:00.
• 10,000 people are expected. Yup, you read that right. It's going to be crowded. 
• Seating is planned for 2-5,000 people -- so bring blankets and chairs to sit on.
• There will be some parking in the fields surrounding the temple site. 
• It has been requested that as many people as possible walk to the site.
• Ceremony is expected to last 45 minutes to an hour. Come in Sunday dress if possible, but more importantly, just come.
• Remember the site is surround by hay fields so you have allergies -- make sure to load up on Claritin (ok, I threw that one in myself :-))

Preparations down at the site

See you SATURDAY!!!!!!