What Is a Mormon Temple Open House?

by Karla

Have you ever seen a building that looks so marvelous, or that is historical and of great importance? How did it feel when you were able to behold the beautiful rooms of the building and had the chance to enter every room? What then do you think you would feel when given an opportunity to enter a the temple of the Lord?

An online dictionary defines an open house as a social event in which hospitality is extended to all. It could also be an occasion when an institution is open for visiting and observation by the public. Before a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated, it is opened for public viewing. It gives a chance for friends of other faiths, and local government officials to behold what is inside. A Temple Open house is then a great chance and an awesome experience both for members and non-members of the Church. Indeed, it is an event that is worth waiting for.

Reservations for entry into the temple are often required and tickets are available and are free of charge. Oftentimes, Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons) invite people they know to tour the temple with them when an open house is held. Missionaries of the Church can also extend the invitation.

Since it is open for the general public, anyone is allowed to come, once he or she has secured a ticket. Guests will then be taken on guided tours in the temple. Even though the temple is not yet dedicated at the time of visit during an open house, all are still asked to be reverent and respectful of the building, as it is the house of the Lord. Even if it is still to be dedicated, the Spirit can still be felt while in there.

Some who have attended a Mormon Temple open house bear witness of the feeling they had. Some even have borne a testimony that the Spirit testified to them that the building is truly a house of the Lord. It is a chance to share the restored gospel, and sometimes an opportunity that leads the people to want to be baptized members of the Church.

A missionary shared his experience about the open house of the Kyiv Temple. “People are saying, “Wow! If I had known you had such a beautiful building, I would have invited ALL of my family and friends to see it!” Some have said they plan to make a second trip to do so.
Miracles are happening, and it’s only day two of the public open house.”

A simple open house can also lead to a great opening of the heart. Below is an experience shared by Sister Wendy Kenney:

Eternal marriage just felt right to me.

I was 14 years old when I moved from California to the Salt Lake Valley, and I was more than a little worried about how I was going to fit in with all those Mormons I had heard about. One of the few things I knew about Latter-day Saints was that they didn’t let people from other churches into their temples. That had been a big disappointment to me when my family stopped at Temple Square on our way through Salt Lake City on vacation. My parents had warned me that we wouldn’t be allowed inside the temple, but I thought maybe they had changed the rules. “Sorry. Because the temple is so sacred, only people with a current temple recommend can go inside,” the missionary told me.

A couple of years later the Jordan River Temple was nearing completion, and my LDS friends were excited to have a new temple close by. I didn’t pay much attention to it until a man my father worked with invited our family to the temple open house. I hadn’t realized that during an open house, the temple is open to the public and that anyone could go inside. It felt like, in a way, the rules had changed for me, at least until the temple was dedicated.

From the moment I stepped into the Jordan River Temple, I could tell there was something special about this new building. It was more than the physical beauty of the exterior or the lovely decor inside. Instead, it was the unique work that went on inside that most intrigued me.

At one point our guide led us into a sealing room and showed us an altar where couples would kneel across from each other to be married for time and all eternity. As I gazed into the mirrors hanging on opposite walls in that room and saw countless images of my face, I knew in my heart that God intended for marriage to last forever. I was at the age when I was beginning to envision my future as a wife and mother, but I had never even considered that marriage could last longer than “till death do you part.” My whole philosophy of marriage changed that day, and I decided then and there that I would marry someone for eternity.

There was one small problem. I didn’t belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fortunately, my LDS friends recognized a “golden opportunity,” and began slowly teaching me about the Church. Though it took me a few years to feel comfortable meeting with the missionaries, I eventually overcame my anxiety, took the missionary lessons, and was baptized.

As I look back on the many people and events that led to my conversion, one event stands above the rest—the tour of the Jordan River Temple. That open house opened my mind to the sacred sealing ordinances performed in the Mormon temple and opened my heart to the dream of eternal marriage. A few years later when I went to the Salt Lake Temple to be married, I looked again into the endless succession of mirrors and knew my dream had become a reality.

It is important to realize that an open house is not just a simple event meant to let others see the building and just appreciate its beauty. It is meant to let others feel the Holy Spirit and give them a testimony that what they are beholding is a true house of the Lord. An open house can change lives, even as a dedicated temple of the Lord helps people go back to his presence.

References:

“An Open House Opened My Heart,” Wendy Kenney