The community and students have taken heightened interest in the completion of the Gilbert Arizona Temple that has been open to the public for the past few weeks.

The Gilbert Temple is largest temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints  has constructed in 17 years, standing at 195 feet tall (also the tallest building in Gilbert).

In April 2008, Church President Thomas S. Monson announced plans to build a temple in Gilbert. There was much excitement for church members, as the Gilbert Temple will be the fourth operating temple in Arizona, with the Gila Valley, Mesa, and Snowflake Temples already established. Two other temples will be built in the coming years, one in Phoenix and another in Tucson.

In November 2010, they broke the ground and construction began, and excitement continued.

The temple has taken three years to complete due to the structures largeness and the attention to detail in the architecture. On Jan. 18, the temple doors were open and anyone could go inside and see the beauty behind the white walls.

The difference between a temple and a meetinghouse is meetinghouses hold regular Sunday worship in addition to social and recreational activities. Inside temples, members participate in ordinances such as eternal marriage and baptism for deceased ancestors. These ordinances can only be performed inside the temple.

The purpose of a temple to members is to learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ.

After the public views the temple, it will be dedicated on March 2 and will only be open to members in good standing.

With the opening and dedication of the temple, the youth in the temple’s district will participate in a temple cultural celebration. Approximately 13,000 youth will sing and dance to celebrate the new temple.

Senior Baylie Bowman has a special role in the program and is involved in a specialty group for the song “I Love You Arizona”.

“A bunch of other girls and I had the opportunity to record the song as a group, and it’s been really neat to see all the hard work and preparation start to pay off.” Bowman said.
The cultural celebration will be on March 1 at Discovery Park. The cultural celebration will be broadcasted to all the meeting houses in the temple district.