{"chapter_no":"13","chapter_title":"A New Temple Square","book_id":"4","book_name":"Beauty the World Has Never Seen","subchapter_no":"0","page_no":"699","page_number":"1","verses_count":0,"total_pages":3,"page_content":"

 <\/p>

Chapter 13<\/p>

A New Temple Square<\/h1><\/p>

 <\/p>

The public display of the golden plates is a great blessin<\/i>g to the members of the <\/i>C<\/i>hurch––<\/i>
Preparations done in prior years to strengthen wards and stakes create excellent landing places for th<\/i>e
large number of new converts––<\/i>The <\/i>C<\/i>hurch grows faster than ever before, more than doubling in size in
just a few <\/i>years––<\/i>The old, historic buildings of Temple Square are torn down and a new Zion-<\/i>c<\/i>lass
Temple Square emerges to serve the needs of a growing, worldwide <\/i>C<\/i>hurch. <\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

 <\/p>

On the other hand, for the members of the Church, those who had already believed in the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the other latter-day scriptures, the presentation of the
plates before the world was a great testimony builder. The marvelous culture of the Church was
bolstered by this grand event. Blessings and new gifts from God seemed to be coming at every
turn of the road, creating the same \"snow globe\" effect throughout the entire Church that had
been experienced earlier in the Springville and North Ogden areas. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Missionary work prospered like never before in the history of the Church. The number of
investigators, although small relative to the world's population, was nevertheless large relative to
the size of the Church. All missions throughout the world were overwhelmed with new referrals,
a backlog of new families and individuals to teach that was in the millions. There was almost no
time anymore for missionaries to do proselytizing––the ideal situation for missionary work. It
became necessary for missionaries to group family appointments together, whereby two or three
investigator families would gather in the home of one (or in a classroom at the nearest
meetinghouse) to hear the discussions and be prepared for baptism. But it was quickly realized
that even this was not enough to keep up with demand. The increased flow of new referrals made
it necessary for the ward mission leaders and priesthood quorums to get directly involved and
help out. Ultimately, more than half of the new referrals throughout the Church ended up being
assigned to priesthood companionships in the local wards.<\/p>

 <\/p>

While it is true that many of these new converts were initially brought to the doors of the
Church because of the public excitement over the plates and, therefore, didn't always have the
staying power in and of themselves to remain active for the long term, the principles of Zion
implemented in prior years, even at a rudimentary level, had helped prepare wards for their
arrival. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Thus, converts arriving in large numbers to the doors of Latter-day Saint meetinghouses
found not just good, but great landing places, as though they had just passed through thickets of
the trees of the forest and beheld the people of Alma being baptized at the waters of Mormon. <\/p>

Being well-prepared, members of the Church received these new converts much like the
people of Ammon received those cast out from among the Zoramites:<\/p>

 <\/p>

Now the people of the Zoramites were angry with the people of Ammon who were in
Jershon, and the chief ruler of the Zoramites, being a very wicked man, sent over unto the people
of Ammon desiring them that they should cast out of their land all those who came over from
them into their land.<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

And he breathed out many threatenings against them. And now the people of Ammon did
not fear their words; therefore they did not cast them out, but they did receive all the poor of the
Zoramites that came over unto them; and they did nourish them, and did clothe them, and did
give unto them lands for their inheritance; and they did administer unto them according to their
wants.<\/i><\/p>

 <\/p>

The Church by this time in its history had now exceeded thirty-five million members and
was continually growing day by day. It, therefore, became necessary for Church officials to take
a fresh look at the layout of Temple Square and all Church-related buildings downtown. A new
and larger Zion-class Temple Square and Church headquarters in Salt Lake City were needed. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Purchases of the surrounding land and streets were negotiated with the city, businesses,
tenants, and landowners, with the Lord intervening in some cases to help soften hearts and
broker deals. Efforts were made to make sure all parties were happy to the greatest extent
possible and with the least amount of controversy among the loyal opposition of news media and
political activists—a miracle wrought by the Lord in downtown Salt Lake City that was even
greater perhaps than the bringing forth of the golden plates before the world.<\/p>

 <\/p>

With the new lands secured, the construction of the new Zion-class Temple Square could
begin. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Unfortunately, many of the iconic buildings of the past, including some going back even
to the early days of the pioneers, would need to be torn down to make room for the new ones: the
famous Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle, the North and South Visitors' Centers, the Assembly
Hall, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Lion House, the Beehive House, the Relief
Society Building and the Church History Buildings. <\/p>

 <\/p>

Critical operations of the Church still needed to be managed every day, while allocating
time and money and reapportioning land to the new construction projects. Thus, old and new
buildings coexisted for a while during the transition. <\/p>

 <\/p>

The new design included landscaping and a set of large multi-story buildings to handle all
the functions of the earlier visitors' centers, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and the Church
History Museums in one facility, as well as leaving plenty of room for future expansion. The
existing buildings—the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the Lion House, the Beehive House,
and the old Church Office Building—were all torn down to make room for a much larger Church
administrative building many stories high that covered the entire block.<\/p>

The Conference Center was expanded to have a capacity of 50,000. The stage area was
increased to allow all three Tabernacle Choir groups to be seated together as one on the stand,
with increased space for stage performers, two organs, and the Orchestra at Temple Square, as
well as additional seating to handle the expanding Church leadership of men and women for
semiannual general conferences.<\/p>

 <\/p>

The centerpiece of the new design, however, was the large, Zion-class, twin-temple
complex that covered the entire center block area of the old, traditional Temple Square. Modeled
after the original Salt Lake Temple design, the two temples individually were significantly
larger, more beautiful, and more functional than the older single temple, providing a dramatic
increase in overall patron capacity. Furthermore, this pair of flagship temples was connected by a
spectacular celestial room building three stories high, parallel in height to the surrounding
temples themselves, and representing the three degrees of glory of the celestial kingdom. In this
case, however, the architectural plans were revealed by the Lord at the onset, allowing the
Church public relations department the opportunity to release an artist rendition well ahead of
construction. <\/p>

 <\/p>

The last to be built, the large temple project took more than five years to complete. But it
was well worth the wait. The new twin-temple complex at Temple Square in Salt Lake City was
among the most beautiful building designs ever witnessed by man and, thereafter, people from
all nations of the world flowed unto it. <\/p>"}