The new Saratoga Springs Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a beautiful building that will be dedicated to the Lord. There is a grand effort from the very begging to make these building beautiful, sacred heavenly spaces worthy of our Father in Heaven. Many hours are put in to make the building the best we can give, and there is a lot of attention to detail. Our Father in Heaven see’s these efforts and helps us along the way.
The process of building a Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it is not a small undertaking, it is a grand project with lots of people involved. The Missionaries of the Saratoga Spring Temple shared a wonderful story of how the Lord is in the details of His Holy Temples. Once the rendering of the Temple is drawn up there is no diverting from the original plans. The contractor knew this was a very important part of the Temple building process and agreed to the terms, but as we all know, everything is easier said than done.
The a rendering of the Saratoga Spring Temple was drawn up with a beautiful staircase up the main part of the Temple. On both sides of this grand staircase it is lined with a beautiful, blue stone. The temple missionaries were not sure why it was chosen to do a blue stone, they thought, maybe, as a representation of water, being so close to Utah Lake and the town called Saratoga Springs. Needless to say, a blue stone was to line the temples grand staircase, adding to the beauty of the building. Getting this blue stone was more difficult than they could have imagined.
After the contractor was chosen to build the temple, the team started looking for some blue stone that would work for this staircase. This blue stone was nowhere to be found. The team looked throughout the whole world for blue stone and were simply not able to find it.
The contractor spoke to the church spokesperson and told him the problem.
After speaking to the church spokesperson the contractor was told to keep trying. He was told that the blue stone was used in the Mesa Temple. The Mesa Temple was the 7th Temple ever built and that was in 1927! That was a long time to have the same blue stone, but the contractor did not give up!
Being weighed down with the problem the Saratoga Springs Temple contractor ended up going to his ward temple night, and took his problem to the Lord inside His Holy Temple. The contractor asked the Lord for guidance on what he should do to find this blue stone. When the contractor was sitting in the Celestial Room he had the name come to his mind. The name was man who was once a stone salesmen, way back, and worked with the builders of the Mesa Temple. This man might have some kind of connection, or know where he could find the blue tile he needed!
The contractor called the man, who was now very old and was dying of cancer. This stone salesman said he had been selling the blue stone in the 60’s and everyone wanted it, and he did well selling that blue stone. Then, the desire for that blue stone died off and he was left with a good amount of blue stone. For some reason he did not want to get rid of it. This stone salesmen ended up selling his stone business but still did not want to sell that blue stone, but never really understood why he did not want to get rid of it. Even when he sold his business he kept that blue stone, and did not understand the his own reasoning behind it.
This stone is not small, it is huge and heavy. The stones were large stones, they could only be moved with large machinery, and this stone salesmen kept them for over 50 years, not knowing why. When the contractor of the Saratoga Springs temple contacted the stone salesmen, he then understood why he had kept the blue stone for all those years. So, this beautiful blue stone could be added to the new Saratoga Springs Temple of the Lord. The contractor went and looked at the blue stone and it was just the right amount to make line the edges of the staircase of the Saratoga Springs Temple!
It is interesting that the Lord would help hold in reserve this blue stone for the Saratoga Temple that would be built in 2023. The temple building missionaries bore their testimonies about how the Lord wants to help us build these temples dedicated to Him, even saving this stone for 50 years, to be available to finish the Temple design. The Lord loves us enough to help us with these projects dedicated to Him!
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