Consider 17,096

exterior stones, 47 miles or nearly 250,000 linear feet of

wood, 4,668 cubic yards of concrete, 407 tons of structural

steel, 80 miles of electrical wiring and 184 individual

doors.

These numbers

describe some of the construction details involved in

building the Oquirrh

Mountain Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter-day Saints. The supply list would not differ much

in quantity from any other construction project of more than

61,000 square feet, but temple construction projects operate

on one noticeably differing principle: prayer

At the beginning

of each workday, construction project managers, engineers

and specially called temple missionaries gather in a review

of the day's assignments and conclude that inventory session

with a prayer.

David and Bobbie

Arnson, missionaries assigned to the recently

completed Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple construction in Salt

Lake County, Utah, suggest that \"the teamwork achieved in

carefully creating a temple begins in a morning devotional

with the project managers and prayer.\"

Numerous

construction workers agree that the prayer makes a

difference in the success of the work. Often errors are

noted in a timely manner or calculations change to address

immediate concerns. Sometimes extraordinary challenges are

efficiently resolved.

Getting all the

pieces of a temple

together in a timely fashion challenges nearly every

construction project.

Nearing the

completion of the Sacramento California Temple, Okland

Construction project manager, Russell Mumford, reported that

the unseasonable weather posed a huge problem. \"It rained

almost every day for two months, the two months we needed to

install the landscaping and finish up the project. Instead

of being able to plant, we had a full lake surrounding the

temple. The landscape contractor was also frustrated with

the situation and pressured by the deadlines. We received

permission to invite local members of the church to

participate in the landscaping installation. In 10 days of 4

four-hour shifts and with about 200 volunteers a shift, the

orange-vested contractors carefully supervised the crowds of

volunteers and the landscaping was completed on time,\"

Mumford explained. \"We never could have done it without the

local support.\"

Lee Fugal,

engineer for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, had an

opposite experience with the landscaping on that temple.

\"All fall long we had unseasonably warm and clear weather,\"

Fugal explained. \"We laid the last piece of sod on December

12 and it snowed the next day and didn't stop for a week.

It's unheard of here in Utah to lay sod in December, but we

did.\"

Mark Lawrence,

the drapery contractor for the newly completed Utah temple,

described his attempts to find the right item in a timely

manner. \"I tried for several months to find the perfect

fringe trim for the draperies, but was unable to locate an

appropriate trim,\" Lawrence reported. \"After I had exhausted

all my resources, I turned to the head designer at the church. I searched some examples in his library and finally

found a beautiful match. I called the manufacturer, only to

discover that he was already producing that very trim in a

quantity of 50 yards. I needed 40 and because it was already

in process, I was able to meet my deadlines on the project.\"

Doug Welling,

president of Jacobsen Construction, said: \"Building a temple

utilizes the highest quality in every material, and every

fashioning of that material has to be the absolute best.

Assembling a temple is a unique building experience. We all

View Comments

have a desire to produce the very best workmanship for the

house of the Lord, implementing innovative design and

materials of the highest quality in an economical way that

will allow the project to continue.\" See the story in its original presentation at lds.org/newsroom.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.