Chapter 47

Prelude to Zion

Progress towards Zion in a stake requires lots of walking by its leader—The Springville and
North Ogden stakes enjoy great prosperity exceeding that even of the Church itself—Large, Zion-class
twin-temple complexes are announced for both cities—The building of temples for Zion follows the same
pattern as the building of Zion itself; many details are unknown to us at the start—President Chandler
sees in vision a pre-dedication tour of the temples’ grand celestial room.

President Chandler walked.

He walked as he left home and to start his work every morning. He walked to meet up
with his companions who accompanied him on visits. He walked to his appointments at member
homes. He walked to local church buildings to meet with ward leaders. He walked when
returning home for lunch and for dinner. Like the pioneers crossing the plains, the march to Zion
required a significant amount of walking, as in the beloved primary children’s song:

Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked.

Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked.

They washed at streams and worked and played.

Sundays they camped and read and prayed.

Week after week, they sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and
walked.

Seven years had passed since Mark had resigned from his full-time job at the plant and
become a part-time management consultant. During that time, it’s possible that he walked over
ten thousand miles throughout the stake.

Like a missionary, his suits, shirts, ties, shoes, and even his scriptures received significant
wear. He often got involved with small work tasks at the homes of people he visited in the stake:
moving furniture, fixing a leaky pipe or a shorted-out wire, helping to get a car started, fixing a
hole in the roof, cleaning out a rain gutter, repairing a flat tire on a child’s bike, shoveling snow,
and so forth. Even so, Kathleen would not allow him to leave the house wearing less attractive,
but more durable suits—that was unthinkable in her mind. A husband of hers, especially one
wishing to lead a stake to greatness, needed to be well-groomed and look the part. She didn’t
demand that he wear expensive, top-of-the-line suits, but he at least needed to wear those that
were nice, professional-looking, and mid-range in terms of cost. Mark was in agreement with
this line of thinking, especially since he still went into the plant regularly and needed to keep up
appearances there as well. But when at the plant, Mark tended to remove his suit coat and make

his way out onto the production floor to work more closely with the operators and supervisors.
Things had not changed in that respect. Thus, there were many days when Mark came home to
Kathleen with his shirt, pants, shoes, tie, or suit coat dirty—like a little boy who had played
outside in the mud. But there was no way to avoid this. Excellence in manufacturing and
excellence in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ demanded it.

Reading the words of Nephi at the beginning of the Book of Mormon, one encounters a
person who never seems to age. Even at the end of his life, Nephi’s manner of speaking was
more like that of Lehi’s young son, rather than that of an old Nephite king ready to die, such as
King Benjamin or his father Lehi. Nephi was forever young. He became a man of God at a
young age, and in the later years of his life, he was still a young man of God. Joseph Smith was
like this all of his life, too, and what a great young man of God was he!

At the young age of sixty-two, Mark, too, was like this. His age had increased by seven
years, but his face and hair had hardly changed. He was like an elders quorum president, or a
young missionary out in the field. His clothes had received much wear and tear, as had the soles
of his shoes from all the walking, but physically, Mark was as strong and vibrant as ever... or
even more so. There was a light in his eyes, a sort of radiance about him that could be seen from
time to time—the result of having faithfully served the Lord for such a long period of time.

The same quickening effect of the Spirit had been experienced by Kathleen. Her blue
eyes, countenance, and engaging smile were more beautiful than ever.

On summer evenings, after say, a wonderful dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes,
and corn on the cob from the garden, Mark and Kathleen would still go out and sit on the patio
swing together as in past years. The gospel in their lives had been sweet before, but it was even
sweeter now. Their marriage relationship had been strong before, but it was even stronger now.
The Spirit had quickened all of their life experiences, and most especially their marriage
relationship.

If asked, Kathleen probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you the last time there had
been any kind of fight between them. Occasional disagreements tended to get resolved quickly
with a friendly grin, by taking the other spouse by the hand with a reassuring glance, or by the
two of them laughing at themselves or at the problem itself, and then sharing a hug afterwards.
Problems were dealt with promptly and attacked from both sides of the marriage, which is why
Mark and Kathleen were such a great team in life. The love between them increased as they did
things together. It increased further as they did things together in the gospel.

Up in Ogden, in the northern part of the state, President James Hancock had also worn
through a number of suits in recent years. In contrast with Kathleen, who was more prone to
throw out a worn suit entirely, Beth was quite handy with a needle and thread, fixing James’s
suit clothes when needed, and regularly cleaning them to maintain their appearance.

On the other hand, and with respect to James, he seemed to find many more ways than
Mark to get his clothes dirty every day, particularly in winter, inasmuch as there was always
more snow, slush, and wetness in the North Ogden area to deal with. In spite of Beth’s best

efforts, the number of suits discarded and replaced by the presidents of both stakes ended up
being about the same year to year.

In these two stakes, the North Ogden 2nd and the Springville East, the last seven years had
been a time of great prosperity and happiness. Excellence in living the gospel had led to great
prosperity among them. Is there any reason for us to doubt that something like this would
happen?

Instinctively, as Latter-day Saints, this concept is bred into us from the moment we are
born and hear the immortal words pronounced from the Book of Mormon, “Inasmuch as ye keep
my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land.” We sometimes worry that the principle of
diminishing returns is applicable here and that there is a limit to what we will receive back in
blessings from the Lord. If so, our concerns are misplaced. Because, in fact, the opposite is true.
For it is very reasonable to expect that prosperity and happiness will increase in our lives not
marginally, but indeed, many fold in relation to our faith in God and our obedience to Him.

Case in point is the prosperity of the entire restored Church of Jesus Christ itself, an easy
reference point, and an unmistakable testimony of this important principle of the gospel.

It wasn’t always easy. Several decades passed before the roots of financial strength
finally took hold. But once the foundation was firmly laid, and the dust had settled in the Latter-
day Saint cities and towns out west, the Church quickly became a role model of success for all
other institutions of the world to learn from, be they religious, business, government, nonprofit,
or otherwise. The Church has become so prosperous that all other religions and churches—even
those many times greater in size—cannot help but look in amazement at how well it is managed
and how stable it is year after year. Critics, armed with pens, printing presses, and computers, try
to chip away at this large stone made without hands, but their works always come to naught in
the end.

In saying this, we do not wish to glory in our own works; rather, like Alma, we glory in
the Lord and take enormous pride in His works. As members, we simply want to be counted
worthy to perhaps tag along with Him, to share in the blessings of His Church, and to watch
closely the marvelous things He accomplishes every day. The prosperity of the Church is a
testimony of the great Supervisor and Leader we have in the heavens. Jesus Christ is the ultimate
leader of men. His Church on earth is the ultimate organization of mankind.

The prosperity seen in the Church overall was experienced to an even greater degree in
the two stakes in Springville and North Ogden of which we have spoken. There had been seven
years of plenty, so what was to come next? Seven years of famine? Well, if this was the plan of
the Lord, surely there were not any stakes of the Church better prepared with food storage than
these two. But no, a famine of seven years was not what was in store for them. Instead, these
righteous saints were about to enjoy a level of prosperity to exceed that of even the past seven
years.

In fact, the faith and obedience of these members had increased to such a degree that
announcements of new temples for both the Springville and North Ogden areas were made by

the Church leadership at the next general conference. And what was most unusual about this
particular announcement was that instead of the usual plan of constructing one temple at a site,
the plan called for the building of two, side by side—four temples in total. Furthermore, these
new sets of twin-temples would be the largest, the most beautiful, and the most ambitious temple
construction projects ever attempted by the Church.

The reason for building the new temples in twos was not fully understood at the time of
the announcement. The final design details of the new temples had not yet been fully revealed by
the Lord. Thus, the Church engineers were still grappling with many unanswered questions.

Nevertheless, the Lord had commanded that the work of building these temples should
commence immediately, with the understanding that many of the design details would come later
based on the faithfulness of the members. Therefore, the Church engineers, the Church
architects, the construction companies, and even the Church leaders in large measure had to take
on faith that what they were doing in building these new temples for Zion was not a wasted
effort, and that, as they progressed in the work, further light and knowledge would be provided
by the Lord to help guide them. The building of temples for Zion seemed to mirror the building
of Zion itself—one had to have faith in God and work towards something extremely beautiful in
concept without knowing many of the details beforehand of how to get there. The leaders of the
Church had to go into the project mostly blind—a test of their faith, and a test, also, of the faith
of the members.

Early, preparatory construction work on the temples commenced in that very same year.

For Springville, a large site was chosen near Mapleton. The first task was to put up a
temporary chain-link fence around the site. The time required to complete the construction work
for the better understood parts of the project—the temple grounds, a foundation for the two large
structures, and a state-of-the-art visitors' center—was estimated at one year. At that point,
construction work on the temples would then stop in mid-assembly and wait for further
revelation from the Lord. Having two unprecedented, large-scale temple projects like this
underway in both northern and central Utah, and without yet having released an architect’s
sketch to the public for either one (as had been the practice of the Church in earlier
announcements), was already an embarrassment the Church public affairs department had to deal
with. But then, to stop work on the temples after the first year, and to wait an unspecified period
of time before continuing the construction, this seemed like a public relations nightmare ready to
happen:

Won’t we as a Church look like fools in such an endeavor?

To build something before the eyes of the people without really knowing exactly what we
are doing? How will the world react? Won’t they see this as a big mistake and waste of
resources on our part?

Concerns were raised about how the press would react, possibly asking embarrassing
questions like these:

Did the Church make a mistake in their initial designs here? If so, are they now
backtracking on their ideas? Maybe they will need to scrap the two temple project plans
entirely?

Or maybe the Church is finally running out of money? Perhaps the lavish budget planned
for these two strategic projects (projects presumably inspired in nature) somehow outpaced the
Church’s temple budget or was too far of a stretch for its overall financial resources.

What can we do as members of the press (the loyal opposition) to make this as
embarrassing for the Church as possible?

Yet, in spite of such risks, the two projects moved forward as scheduled over the next
twelve months. Mark and Kathleen drove over to the construction site frequently during that time
to see the work progress and to dream about the day when the temples might finally be built and
ready for use.

On Pioneer Day, the entire family—children and grandchildren both—drove over in their
cars to the temple site as part of a large family event planned for the day. A picnic in the
backyard of their home was to follow.

After arriving, the group gathered to take pictures at a scenic park that surrounded the
new visitors' center building. The visitors' center was scheduled to be open to the public soon,
having a construction schedule in advance of the temples. The park and visitors' center were
situated at the entranceway of the complex, with large iron gates extending out on both sides, and
a security guard office and a street entrance where construction workers, trucks, and authorized
personnel drove through in the present, and where members of the Church presumably would
pass through in the future. Much still needed to be done at the temple site itself; only thick slabs
of concrete and an early assemblage of walls for the ground floor were visible.

One of Mark’s favorite hobbies was photography. He had made a little money on the side
doing professional photo shoots for friends when called upon. On this occasion, in getting ready
to take a family picture, Mark prepared his usual camera setup as the family relaxed on the lawn.
After a few minutes, he was ready. The family gathered in front of the camera and looked to
Mark for further instructions.

There are pivotal moments in the lives of each of us that mark our course and help us to
know we are on the right path. Mark had experienced a number of these already. He would
experience another one now.

With the family set in position in front of him, Mark leaned over and glanced through the
camera lens. Almost immediately, he lifted his head in shock and stumbled backwards from the
camera. A few moments passed; he seemed unsure of what to do or say. Gathering himself, he
moved towards the camera to look again. What he saw the second time confirmed what he had
seen the first––a marvelous heavenly vision had been opened up before his eyes. The camera
lens in a sense had become like a modern-day Urim and Thummim.

While only one eye at a time could look through the viewfinder, he was still able to see
the vision with both. In the foreground, he saw his family assembled on the lawn of the visitors'
center, ready for him to take the picture. In the background, and in the light of noonday, he saw
heavenly beings present everywhere––in the park at the visitors' center and on the grounds in
front of the two temples. They walked alone or stood in pairs or groups of three or four,
conversing one with another or otherwise just going about their intended business. They moved
about the lawns and sidewalks, mostly coming and going from the main temple entrance in the
center.

Mark could see the outline of the two temples as though construction had already been
completed. Initially, he had seen the exterior of the buildings, but now the vision brought him
inside the temple complex to where a pre-dedication tour was going on. He saw the central
lobby. It was like the receiving areas of other Latter-day Saint temples he had seen before, but
much larger. In fact, it seemed that the most obvious characteristics of these temples inside and
out were that they were larger, more curious in workmanship, and more beautiful in style and
elegance than all the other temples the Church had previously built. They were a different
classification of temple, a Zion-class.

To use an analogy of naval ships of the nineteenth century, mid-range sized temples built
by the Church, such as the Logan, St. George, and Manti, were sloop-of-war class vessels, with
spiritual fire power in the range of sixteen to eighteen cannon; the larger Salt Lake Temple
(thirty-two cannon) and the Los Angeles temple (twenty-five cannon) were frigate-class vessels;
and smaller temples like the Monterey Mexico, Helsinki, and the Campinas Brazil, built for
speed, varying between four and fourteen cannon, and ranging in crew size between twenty and
forty, were of the smaller schooner class. The new Springville and North Ogden temples,
however, were of the ship-of-the-line category, having three decks and as many as one hundred
and twenty cannon, including powerful thirty-six pounders on the lower decks. Deployed in
temple fleets of two or more along with other supporting vessels, these large capital ships of the
Lord struck terror in the hearts of the evil. Who can stand before the great firepower of the
mighty ships of ZION?

From the central entrance, Mark saw it was possible to enter hallways going to either
temple, left or right. He had not been permitted to see the architectural design of the buildings on
the outside very much, but on the inside, he was able to see quite a bit.

Feeling a speck of dust in his eye, he stepped away from the camera and used a finger of
his right hand to quickly wipe it away. He had been a little taken aback at first, but now he was
more confident, realizing the glorious nature of the vision he was seeing.

He again looked into the viewfinder. The tour had reached the new celestial room.

The room was massive. It was circular, almost globe-like in appearance. The large room
connected and was shared by the two temples—housed in a central building between them.
Inside the room, and looking outward towards the walls, it had a high-domed ceiling similar to
that of the Christus statue room at the North Visitors' Center at Temple Square, except that it was
an order of magnitude larger. The walls had the same painting orientation, making one feel like

he or she, while standing there in this large room, was in the middle of the universe, although the
universe was represented with bright peach, cream, and green colors, and not the darker blue
tones seen in the Christus room. The domed ceiling was transparent, but only in a spiritual sense.
An individual in attendance there might occasionally behold the glory of the celestial kingdom
firsthand if circumstances were favorable. The room was designed to be a place where angels
from heaven might enter and exit easily and converse with the patrons in regular order.

In this beautiful room, Mark was able to sense another very important reality of the
restored gospel that was true of all temples, but particularly true of these. He heard the voice of
the Spirit whisper to him, and then a vision formed in his mind of something truly grand. The
veil was, in reality, massive in size, a Hoover Dam-like structure holding back the glory of God
and the blessings of heaven, ready at any time to break through and flood the earth with
knowledge.

Zion-class temples were unique in another way––a detail Mark was permitted to sense in
his mind but not actually see through the viewfinder. Between the two temples, on the white-
domed roof of the center building where the celestial room was housed, was a large and
imposing statue of Moroni at least fifty feet high. Highly visible, the large gold-plated statue
brought the restoration of the gospel to life each time a visitor or temple-goer approached the
entrance of these magnificent houses of the Lord. The positioning of the Moroni statue in this
spot was a representation of a clear reality of Zion in which the angels of heaven are closer to us
and their presence on earth more common to our daily living. It also reminded passersby, that
this was not just another building in the community, and members of the Church, that this was
not just another temple site.

“Are you finished?” asked Kathleen.

Mark heard her voice and pulled away from the camera.

“Oh, sorry, honey! Just one second!” said Mark excitedly.

“We’re all hungry and want to eat now. The kids are getting restless.”

He looked into the viewfinder again but now saw only the uncompleted temple grounds
in the background. The vision had ended.

Stepping away from the camera, he studied the horizon, still in astonishment.

“Can we go now?” asked Danny, his boy Jeff’s five-year old son.

Mark didn’t seem to hear the question, although he warmly patted him on the head as he
walked past him. Reaching an open space some twenty yards beyond the assembled family, he
proceeded on a bit further. In this spot, he playfully reached out his hands to touch the open
spaces where spiritual personages had been visible to him just minutes before. He touched
nothing and saw nothing now. Looking around the temple grounds in all directions, he turned
back towards Kathleen, smiling, laughing, and acting strange... like one who is punch drunk.

“What in the world is going on with you?” asked Kathleen, stupefied as to his behavior.

Mark gave her a glance, smiled, then turned away from her again to look one last time.
Finally, his moment of discovery was over, and he rejoined the group. He took Kathleen in his
arms and twirled her around, lifting her off her feet, and then gave her a tight hug.

“Don’t worry, Honey. I’m not crazy! At least, I don’t think so!”

He then whispered in her ear, “I think I just saw a vision of some kind here on the temple
grounds!”

Kathleen’s eyes lit up.

“What?”

“Yes! It was absolutely amazing!” said Mark.

“But how? What was it?”

“There were people here, all around us. People... spiritual personages, resurrected beings,
or both. I can’t say exactly. But it was incredible.”

Mark turned around and looked at the temple grounds again. Kathleen, too, turned around
but saw nothing.

“Maybe you should write down everything you saw,” said Kathleen. “Let me get you
some paper and a pencil from my purse in the car.”

Using the front hood of the car, Mark wrote down notes of all he could remember, then
he took down his camera equipment and loaded it back into the trunk of the car.

The family picture-taking was over. It was on to the picnic.