The land of the Payson Utah Temple has a very special history, prepared by the Lord for a Temple of God. Each Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a unique story on how the land was found and acquired, the land of the Payson Utah Temple is equally as special, prepared well before the temple was announced for a great work. The Payson Temple lot was owned by a generous family with a desire to help people in need in the Payson area. This family grew and farmed wheat with the sole purpose to give to those in need in their area. Little did they know that their act of kindness was in preparation for an even greater calling. "The Giving Field", is what the lot was nicknamed by the Stake authorities who distributed the wheat to the needy in the area. The whole process seemed to prepare the land and the people for a temple of God.
Purchasing the Temple Lot Background
A real-estate manager for the special projects department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was asked to look for lots for the new temple in Southern Utah County. His job was to find lots with specific requirements and present them to the Prophet of the Church. President Thomas S. Monson. This man looked all over Southern Utah County from Springville to Santaquin for the perfect lot, and narrowed the search to four lots that seemed a good fit for a Temple. One of the four was the Payson Temple lot.
After the initial search he brought a team of people down to check out the lots selected and all involved went to chech out the temple lot. Each person in the selection group walked around the lot, praying and asking God if this is where He would like His temple. They each walked the site and waited for a spiritual confirmation, along with considering the surrounding environment. All agreed that this was the best piece of land to present to the Prophet, and felt the Lord was with them in the decision.
The land of the Payson Temple was privately owned and not for sale at that time. Before, moving forward on this piece of land to the committee had to make sure the land was available to purchase at market value. The real-estate manager met with the owners of the land to discuss the options, and see if they could move forward, if approved. During the meeting the real-estate manager explained to the owners what the intended use would be for the land and the eyes of the wife started watering, she was touched by the intended use of the land, and felt like this land had been prepared for this purpose.
The faithful couple, who owned the land of the temple lot had been sod farmers for years but had started growing wheat the last couple years before the Church offered to buy the land, giving the wheat to the needy in their area. It seems as though this couple had helped prepare the land of the Temple by using it to help people in the community physical needs. Now the Payson Temple helps with the Spiritual needs, endowing the people with Gods power and sealing families for eternity.
Family Story
The owners of the lot had been sod farmers for years and had owned the land for about 18 years. They had a home on the side of the property and hoped to build a new house on the little elevated area where the temple now stands. The family submitted plans to build a new house, and nothing was working out. Even though the couple had used the same contractor twice before in building homes, this time every nothing was working out. Every time the couple would go to finalize things on building the house it was not what they wanted. The plans would come back either too big or just not right. The couple decided to table the idea and wait on building the house, when the economy turned.
With the economy change this couple needed the land to start producing. The family owned the land for 14 years at this point, and were nervous about how the economy would impact them. The family had been turf growers and the part they were looking to build on(where the temple now sits) did not work for growing grass because there were too many rocks and too much slope. This is when the family decided to use the land to grow wheat.
They had never grown wheat before but because it was in the grass family, they felt confident that it would work out. The parents counseled with their children about growing wheat on their land and shared that they would like to dedicate the harvest to the Lord. They wanted to grow, harvest, clean and bag the wheat for the people in their ward that were in need of help. The first year of growing wheat they were surprised when the wheat grew better than expected and they were able to help multiple families in their ward area. The next year the harvest was even better and they had enough wheat for more than their ward and opened up to helping people in their stake. This is when a man in charge of distributing the donations from their Stake, gave the name of the field "The Giving Field" because of all the people helped with this sacrifice.
In October of 2009 the real-estate man from the Church called the couple while they were out of town, asking about their land and if it was available for sale. The man from the Church told the couple that their land was one of four sites the Church is looking at to possibly build a temple.
The couple went home and discussed the options with their children. This would effect their inheritance and retirement for this faithful couple. The children quickly and unanimously agreed to donate the property to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be used as a Temple to God.
When the men from the Church committee came to look at the land, they asked the couple to tell them about the land. The couple shared their experience in growing and giving the last couple years. Sharing that it seemed as though the Lord was preparing them for this moment. The committee told the couple that the Prophet would probably come see the land to make the final decisions.
The first time President Monson came to look at the property he only rolled down the window and then went and looked at the other locations. After seeing the other locations the Prophet asked to go back to the Payson property. President Monson walked out of the car and said "Brethren, this is where the Lord wants his temple built." President Eyring and Uchtdorf were there too and responded "We concur."
When summing up what her experience with giving the lot to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build a temple the wife of the couple said this:
"I would like to think this field's preparation for being a temple site was to be a "giving field". We feel, as in all things in life, we are just borrowing from our Heavenly Father everything we receive. We had the amazing opportunity to be the stewards of this hollowed piece of ground for 18 years before returning to the Lord for a much greater purpose that will benefit many thousands more."
References:
Church Archives "Building The Payson Utah Temple, 2010-2015, 2015" Pages 11-13