Temple prep

[TripletDaddy]

SLC and Manti do live sessions.

The newer temples (Oquirrh Mountain and Draper) combine the best of both worlds - you see the film in the telestial rooms then you get up and go into the terrestrial rooms.

I did not know this. Thanks for the heads up. That sounds like a cool thing to try.

I am not down for the live session anymore but the room to room action will soothe my OCD. Do the ceilings and walls have intricate patterns and things to count?

[KillerDog]

I wasn't weirded out by the temple at all and I did not have any prior understanding of what would happen. I guess the reason I wasn't weirded out was that I had already identified being LDS as "unusual" so my expectations were that at some point I would find out just how odd we were.

[Lost Student]

During my temple recommend interview with the stake president, he gave a brief overview of the ceremony (bare bones, but more than a lot of people talk about). I appreciated it, except for the part where he mentioned the film and I piped up, "Yeah, I know. And a few temples do a live ceremony." He said sharply, "Where do you hear that? One ought not speak of such things." I was sad and worried I had done something wrong. Doesn't everybody know that there used to be live sessions before the predominant switch to the films?

I recommend the book Amazon.com: Endowed from on High: Understanding the Symbols of the Endowment (9780882906140): John D. Charles: Books to my friends going through the temple for the first time. It was way more useful than anything I heard in temple prep class.

I know SLC still does live sessions. Does Manti? Or anywhere else?

Live sessions are too long, the acting is awful, and I dont want to see an 80 year old eve. It is cool to get up and walk room to room, though. I enjoy that. I find the inside of the SLC temple to be enjoyable. Lots of stuff to look at, things to count on the walls and ceilings, when the show gets kind of slow.

I don't think I would have made it in the early days when the whole thing took the entire day. Although some of the zany stuff they used to do might have made the time go by in a more interesting manner.

Idaho Falls was (I think) the most recent to drop the live ceremony (about 15-20 years ago, several years before I "took out" my endowment). The Post Register (a mildly anti-mormon paper, btw) published the fact that the switch to video was made. So it wasn't all that much of a secret.

[pellegrino]

I wasn't weirded out by the temple at all and I did not have any prior understanding of what would happen. I guess the reason I wasn't weirded out was that I had already identified being LDS as "unusual" so my expectations were that at some point I would find out just how odd we were.

This is similar to my first experience. I don't know why, but it didn't seem that strange to me. Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by rituals. I had never seen temple clothes until I was in the locker room at the Provo temple. Several guys came back to the locker room all decked out and my first thought was, "That looks cool." Nothing about the temple felt weird to me, though I can understand why it would be for others.

[myboynoah]

This is similar to my first experience. I don't know why, but it didn't seem that strange to me. Perhaps it's because I've always been fascinated by rituals. I had never seen temple clothes until I was in the locker room at the Provo temple. Several guys came back to the locker room all decked out and my first thought was, "That looks cool." Nothing about the temple felt weird to me, though I can understand why it would be for others.

I wasn't weirded out either. At the end, I was thinking, "Oh, so that's it?"

I loved the old initiatories and remember telling my wife to pay special attention during that part when she went through the temple for the first time. She loved it as well and we both are bit dissapointed that they changed that.

The only prep I had was my father telling me just to remember that everyone who goes through the temple does the same thing, even the prophet. He must have thought I would be weirded out by the whole thing. I'm going to be much less embarrased with my children.

[grapevine]

Twin Falls you have to go room to room. Go twice. Idaho Falls you go through 4 times. I remember once I had to hurry and change. Have an incurable form of deaconitis. Do not know how to tie a tie. Solved that problem with jump suits but they don't give them anymore. My cure is zip up and clip on. Taught 100 times still can't tie a tie.

Anyone I remember temple workers pushing me to the room hurry hurry. Made worker tie my tie I had to rent. I was thinking telling me to hurry in temple as they do sessions on hour. Than I thought God goes a lot faster than I do as he goes throughout the universe. Faster than Light. I had astronomy class that semester.

I did not mind initory myself. Got girls last names mixed up doing confirmations before. Learned more as I go through more. Nothing to freak out about. I enjoye going need to go more.