Mormon Temple Tours

[Yasa]

I don't have time to see it. I'll catch it in the latter days.

[slcrocket]

Looks beautiful. As an active LDS member myself, I can vouch for the beauty of these buildings...I've probably only been inside a half a dozen or so, but while many of them share the same general look, some are quite unique (San Diego, Portland, Hong Kong, Logan (UT), and the new one in Kiev).

Take advantage of the tours - I've been on a few tours before buildings are dedicated, and my experience has been that you are never approached and solicited for an email or phone number or anything like that. Obviously, I'm sure if you want to ask questions or get additional information I'm sure they're all over that, but otherwise it is just a cool building to tour.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by Heckubus97

I went to U of L and there is a big mormon population there as well. I reflect your sentiments on how polite and happy they are with one exception - sports. Watch out if you ever have to play the mormon team in intramurals. They tend to be athletically talented and in shape (no smoking or drinking could have something to do with that), but will show no mercy. They ran up the score on us in soccer and celebrated their 10th, 11th, etc goal as if each was the world cup winning tally. Extremely heightened aggressive tendencies in basketball were present as well. Our theory was that all their suppressed emotions and urges found an outlet in sport, to everyone else's misfortune.

True. Raymond, Magrath and Cardston are known for their talented amateur athletes. Basketball in southern AB is dominated by these guys and their football teams are almost always good. I do some business with a guy who coaches youth football in Cardston and there is a huge rivalry between them and Raymond.

Also on a side note, I've found many of the mormons down there to be ruthless businessmen. They take no prisoners in their dealings and generally will do whatever it takes to stomp out a competitor. Ruthless, I kid you not.

[Bigtime]

My wife and I went on the tour yesterday morning, very impressive. There was so much custom made stuff in the temple, right down to the door handles! Hard not to be impressed by the craftsmanship and quality that went into it. Incredibly well organized as well for the tours.

I would highly recommend you take the time to see it, a pretty neat opportunity.

[Rathji]

I think we are going next week. The wife wants to see it at night though, so might even make a second trip at some point, but I guess that can be whenever.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by Heckubus97

I went to U of L and there is a big mormon population there as well. I reflect your sentiments on how polite and happy they are with one exception - sports. Watch out if you ever have to play the mormon team in intramurals. They tend to be athletically talented and in shape (no smoking or drinking could have something to do with that), but will show no mercy. They ran up the score on us in soccer and celebrated their 10th, 11th, etc goal as if each was the world cup winning tally. Extremely heightened aggressive tendencies in basketball were present as well. Our theory was that all their suppressed emotions and urges found an outlet in sport, to everyone else's misfortune.

Not to mention that all, or at least all the ones I was in growing up, have a full scale basketball court inside. It's not just rag tag half court BS either, we are talk hardwood, glass backboards, the whole 9 yards.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Do they let you take pictures?

[Rathji]

I have heard conflicting reports on that. I plan on taking my camera but wouldn't be surprised if they didn't allow it.

[automaton 3]

We were told no photos inside. IIRC there are signs up that said the same.

Very well organised tour and well worth the visit. They must have hundreds of volunteers working there. We didn't book ahead and had no problem getting right in.

Excellent workmanship for sure. My expectations were pretty high though, my parents had the opportunity to tour the Cardston temple some years ago after a major reno and they said it was spectacular.

I had to fight off the temptation to check the temperature of the water in the baptismal font.

Some of the carpets have hand-carved designs in them, I can't imagine the work that went into those.

[jtfrogger]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Do they let you take pictures?

No. From the ticket I was emailed:

What to expect during your open house tour:

• Open house tours will begin in the church building adjacent to the temple where a short video will be presented.
• This video will provide an overview of temples and why they are significant to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• Following the video, a tour host will escort you to the temple. As you walk through the temple, the tour host will explain the purposes of various rooms in the temple, answering questions as time allows.
• At the conclusion of the tour, you are invited to return to the church building for light refreshments and to have any questions answered.
• Children of all ages are welcome.
• Appropriate dress is requested.
• Photography is not allowed within the temple.
• Backpacks, unnecessary packages, and strollers should be locked securely in the trunk of your vehicle.
• Outerwear worn into the open house will be carried with you throughout the tour.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I think we are going next week. The wife wants to see it at night though, so might even make a second trip at some point, but I guess that can be whenever.

It's like the haunted mansion tour

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by slcrocket

Looks beautiful. As an active LDS member myself, I can vouch for the beauty of these buildings...I've probably only been inside a half a dozen or so, but while many of them share the same general look, some are quite unique (San Diego, Portland, Hong Kong, Logan (UT), and the new one in Kiev).

Take advantage of the tours - I've been on a few tours before buildings are dedicated, and my experience has been that you are never approached and solicited for an email or phone number or anything like that. Obviously, I'm sure if you want to ask questions or get additional information I'm sure they're all over that, but otherwise it is just a cool building to tour.

So are any active LDS allowed in or is there a hierarchy?

[Rathji]

Basically, you need to be following all the "rules" and then get a temple recommend, which is like an ID pass to get in.

[slcrocket]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

So are any active LDS allowed in or is there a hierarchy?

Yes, what the previous poster said - you have an interview with your local ecclesiastical leaders where you are asked a number of questions (it's always the same questions, essentially for you to confirm that you abide by the basic teachings of the church). You then receive what is called a "recommend", which you have to display at the entrance to be able to get inside the temple.

So no real hierarchy per se - different individuals receive different responsibilities periodically (some of these have set time frames, others don't). Since the LDS church has no paid clergy, it is all volunteer. For some of these responsibilities, that is a difficult job - a bishop, for example, who acts as the ecclesiastical leader over a congregation (and usually serves for around five years) receives no monetary compensation and often has to commit 20-30 hours per week doing various tasks. It's hard work.

I currently help with the Boy Scouts program in my congregation - but I'm planning on moving within the next few months and so I'm sure that I'll be asked to do something different then.

[Clarkey]

Anybody fart in the master chamber during the tour yet?

[karl262]

I took the tour yesterday. Very interesting building and I reccomend everyone take the tour if they have the opportunity. I did the whole book online and select a time, print out the email confirmation and so on, but you really only need to show up as it seemed new tours were starting all the time and they never checked for tickets.

The level of craftsmanship and materials used was unlike anything I have ever seen, right down to the marble baseboards throughout and the custom Alberta themed door handles. They also had this movie theatre room with massive painted murals depicting local scenes of wildlife. The celestial room was pretty interesting too, I would guess the ceiling might have been 50 feet with a giant 25 foot long chandalier hanging overhead. I think once its dedicated or whatever it would be a strange place to be with everyone inside wearing their white outfits and such.

I don't even want to guess what the total cost of that building would have been. It seems that every material was the best of the best, and the furniture throughout was top of the line. None of it is exactly my style but still impressive. I avoided the refreshments post tour because I didn't want to be bothered, but during the tour they never really tried to push anything on you like when they come to your door.

I did not see any hot mormon girls either.

[Brad Marsh]

I'll qualify this post by saying that I am a Mormon, have been to several temples many tens of times, and currently serve in the church as a Bishop (the one who, among many other things, interviews members of the church and issues a temple recommend - which is a requirement for entrance into the temple after it's dedicated).

This is the third Mormon temple in Alberta. There is a much larger and older one in Cardston (this is the first one I had been to and was the one I was married in), a smaller (but still impressive) one in Edmonton, and now this brand new one in Calgary.

This is a great chance for members of the public to see the inside of a Mormon temple. There are lots of volunteers and missionaries around the temple site, but there is no proselyting - so you don't need to worry about feeling "pressured" or anything like that - that's not what this is about.

I took my family through last week, and, like others in the thread, was really impressed with the fine craftsmanship and custom detailing. I loved how the details throughout the temple portray Calgary and area themes (wheat, the wild rose, landscape murals, etc.). The building and grounds are impressive (to me anyway).

The tour consists of a short video describing the purpose of temples, both ancient and modern, and also a brief overview of the history of the Mormon church in Calgary and southern Alberta. The video is shown in a regular church meetinghouse adjacent to the temple. After the video, the tour host will lead you to the temple where you can walk through a number of the rooms and learn about the purpose of each of them. These rooms consist of marriage rooms (called "sealing" rooms), a baptismal font area, and other ordinance rooms, including the celestial room. Most people would consider the celestial room to be the most sacred room in the temple as it's symbolic of being in the God's presence.

The tour ends back in the church building where light refreshments are served and there is an opportunity to ask the tour guide questions (or not). And that's it.

You "hear" a lot about Mormon practices and beliefs (some of that is evident in this thread) and about Mormon temples. This is a great chance to go and see for yourself what these buildings are all about and why they have such a prominent role in the LDS/Mormon faith.

EDIT: I'll also just mention that we didn't need to produce our ticket, even though we had one. So while your are welcome to access the links in the OP and book one, it certainly isn't a requirement to go on the tour. It looked to me as though they were fully prepared to accommodate anyone at any time, ticket or not.

[MrMastodonFarm]

A Mormon Bishop on our forum since 2007! who knew!

Thanks for sharing that info.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Haven't read the entire thread, can anyone comment on the accessibility of the building and grounds.

[Rathji]

We drove past last night, but it was late for my kids, and we have a tour booked with my Dad for later on this week so we didn't actually do more than just drive by.

Its pretty easy to get to, we came in on 12 Mile coulee and there was a sign at the first (or second) intersection and we just followed them in.

Stopped at the bottom of the hill and took a quick picture with my Playbook, but the quality isnt that great.