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Utah Temple Worker Reflects On Select Latter-day Saint Temples Moving Forward In Reopening Phases

Scott Law

 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced on Monday that ten Utah temples will be reopening next week and allowing for more ordinances to take place.

“I was a regular temple goer attendee and really excited to go as a temple worker and spend early Saturday mornings there every week, and I have really, really missed it so I’m super excited to see it moving towards more open," Holly Richardson said.

Richardson is a temple worker at the Mount Timpanogos temple. After the church announced some temples will be moving into phase two of the reopening plan, Richardson said she is excited to see how many church members will be affected.

Up until this point, the amount of ordinances taking place has been greatly limited, with some not being performed at all. In phase two, more of these ordinances are now taking place which will greatly influence marriage sealings as well as missionaries who are receiving their endowment. 

Richardson said with all of the changes taking place, she still does not anticipate going back to work in the temple until phase three of the four step reopening plan. 

“We anticipate that it’s going to look different than it has, that there’s probably going to be social distancing, there’s probably going to be masks. We know that some changes have been made," she said.

The temples reopening into phase two this week include the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Logan, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Payson, Provo City Center, Provo, and Vernal temples. 

The church also has planned to open up seven more temples outside of Utah, with some being outside the country, the following week.00