Elizabeth Smart married her Scottish fiancé, Matthew Gilmour, last Saturday (February 18, 2012) in a private ceremony in the Laie, Hawaii temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes misnamed the “Mormon Church” by the media). Elizabeth and Matthew, who are both Mormons, chose the Hawaii Mormon Temple because of the time Elizabeth spent on Oahu with her family recovering from her 9-month kidnapping ordeal as a young teen. Elizabeth, who was only 14 years old at the time, was abducted from her home at knife-point and forced into a polygamous “marriage” by Brian David Mitchell, a deranged man who raped Elizabeth repeatedly during the time he held her prisoner. After being rescued and reunited with her family, Elizabeth spent several months in Hawaii with them, and it has become a special place to her that she wanted to share with her new husband.

A Wedding for Time and for All Eternity

It is a wonderful thing to see Elizabeth’s amazing recovery from her horrifying ordeal crowned by such a beautiful moment as her wedding. Elizabeth and Matthew met while they were both Mormon missionaries in Paris, France. Although missionaries do not date, after their missions the two of them began seeing each other and fell in love. Because of their Mormon faith, Elizabeth and Matthew wanted to be married in the temple. In Mormon temples, faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have qualified by keeping God’s commandments make covenants, or promises, with God. One of the blessings they receive in return is that a couple who remain faithful to each other and to God can be married not just for this life, but for time and for all eternity. Their marriage will endure forever.

Preparing for the Temple Ceremony

When they arrive at the temple on their wedding day, a bride and groom are taken to special rooms to prepare for their wedding. The bride’s room is one of the most lovely in the temple. There, escorted by her mother or another female family member or friend, the bride dresses in her wedding gown and adds finishing touches to her hair and makeup. The groom likewise changes from his street clothes to all white. After they are ready, the bride and groom are often escorted to the Celestial Room, which is the central room of the temple, designed to remind those who are there of the highest heaven. The bride and groom spend a few moments together in this beautiful room to gather their thoughts prior to the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the wedding guests arrive at the temple. Only adult members of the Church who qualify can enter the temple proper, so other guests and young people remain in the temple waiting rooms until the ceremony is over. The guests who will witness the ceremony are escorted to a room where they remove their street shoes, just as Moses removed his shoes when he approached the burning bush. Then, dressed in their Sunday best and stockinged feet, they are shown to the room where the wedding will take place.

The Sealing Room

The room inside the temple where weddings occur is called a “sealing room.” This room features an altar in the center, covered by a lacy altar cloth. Chairs are distributed in one or two rows along opposite side walls. Above the chairs are mirrors, which reflect the image of the beautiful chandelier hanging over the altar back and forth until it fades into the distance. Along a third wall is a bench where the bride and groom will sit; opposite the bench at the head of the altar are three chairs. One is for the “sealer,” who has priesthood authority to perform the ceremony, and the other are for each of the two witnesses, who are usually the fathers of the bride and groom.

A temple wedding is a form of “sealing,” which binds in heaven that which is bound on earth. It is the authority to perform a sealing as well as a civil and religious ceremony that sets a temple wedding apart from one held outside the temple. Jesus bestowed the sealing power upon Peter during His mortal ministry:

And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:9).

The authority to perform sealings, which was lost during the period of apostasy following the deaths of the early apostles, was restored to the earth and bestowed upon Joseph Smith by the prophet Elijah, who visited the Kirtland Temple of the Church in 1836 for this purpose (see The Doctrine and Covenants section 110). Since that time, the priesthood authority to perform sealings has been passed down to certain men, known as sealers, who have the specific assignment of performing ceremonies binding husbands and wives, parents and children in Mormon temples throughout the world.

A Mormon Temple Wedding Ceremony

The wedding guests wait in complete silence for the bride and groom to arrive. Mormons believe that the temple is the House of the Lord, and the most sacred place on the earth. Any conversation is kept to a whisper. The quiet atmosphere allows all those present to feel the presence of God, and to contemplate the great blessing which is about to be bestowed. The parents of the bride and groom arrive quietly and are seated, with the mothers sitting next to the bench where the bride and groom will be and the fathers sitting in the witness chairs. Then, the bride and groom enter and are seated next to each other on the bench.

Like most weddings, Mormon weddings begin with the sealer offering words of counsel to the bride and groom. In addition, he explains the nature of the wedding ceremony, and reviews the promises they will make to God along with the blessings God is promising them. He invites the bride and groom to kneel at the altar. The sealer then performs the ceremony. Afterwards, the bride and groom may kiss and exchange rings if they desire. Wedding guests are invited to congratulate the bride and groom quietly as they leave the sealing room.

A Dream Come True: A Mormon Temple Wedding

One unique feature of a Mormon temple wedding in today’s world is that the bride and groom have had no sexual relations before the wedding. Only those who refrain from sexual activity outside of marriage are allowed to be married in the temple. It is thus certain that Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour did not move the time of their wedding ahead for any reason other than that they wanted it to be a private, personal day, sheltered from invasive media attention. A day when a couple makes such a sacred covenant with God and with another person should be one of the crowning days of their lives, and it appears that Elizabeth Smart’s special day lived up to her hopes. May all her dreams continue to come true.

Yes, for just as Jesus empowered his apostles that “whatsoever ye bind (seal) on earth shall be bound (sealed) in heaven,” so too he declared “and whatsoever ye loose (unseal) on earth shall be loosed (unsealed) in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

Marriages in Mormon temples are meant to be eternal covenants.  Children born into those marriages are meant to be sealed to their parents for eternity.  Mormon temple sealings are also meant to seal the participants into God’s eternal family.  Those who continue in worthiness and charity (defined as the “pure love of Christ”) may inherit the highest kingdom of heaven, where God dwells, and where marriages and families can continue.

The divorce rate for Mormon temple marriages is about 7%, too high, but much lower than the divorce rate for religious people of all faiths (25%) and the general American population (about 50%).  Any divorce is lamentable, as the break-up of families causes devastation to both spouses and their children, but the break-up of a temple marriage is even sadder.  Grounds for the break up of a temple marriage must be more serious than irreconcilable differences, and sometimes the break up is due to serious sin without repentance.

If a temple-married member of the Church believes he or she has grounds to be unsealed from his or her spouse, he or she must first meet with the bishop (like a pastor) of the ward (congregation) to determine, through discussion, fasting, and prayer, if alternatives to unsealing might be appropriate. If no appropriate alternatives are found, the bishop refers the member to the stake president (who administrates a regional group of wards) for further consultation. Should the stake president and the member be unsuccessful in finding alternatives, the stake president prepares the necessary documentation to refer the matter to the First Presidency of the Church, consisting of the president and prophet of the Church and his two counselors, who are also apostles.

If the First Presidency concurs that the reasons for unsealing the couple are legitimate, the president places his signature on a document entitled “Cancellation of Temple Sealing,” which is then mailed to the stake president, who then conveys it to the member. The member is thereby officially unsealed from his or her spouse. The unsealing of the parents as spouses does not necessarily affect the sealing of the children to each of their parents. The disposition of the sealing of the children to their parents will ultimately be decided by the Lord himself, since only he has all knowledge of the persons and circumstances concerned.

Often the sealing is left in place until the complaining party has the opportunity to wed again in the Mormon temple, because the power and blessings that accompany this temple covenant are so desirable, that they should stay in place as long as possible.

It is certain that the Lord will decide such issues with perfect love, justice, and mercy. No child or adult will be unfairly treated in the Day of Judgment when the Lord Himself will determine the status of all sealings. On Judgment Day, no person will remain sealed to someone who doesn’t truly love that person nor whom they do not truly love, nor will any worthy person who was single on the earth remain unsealed in eternity if he or she desires to be united in matrimony. For each of these worthy persons, the Lord will provide an equally worthy and loving companion for eternity.

*This article has been adapted from Mormons Under a Microscope, by D. Lauritsen, Cedar Fort, Inc., Springville, Utah, 2010, pp. 15, 16.

Additional Resources

Mormon Temple Covenants

Basic Mormon Beliefs

Life Before Life

Mormons and the Bible

Challenging Questions

At the October 2009 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”) it was announced that a Mormon temple would be built in Fortaleza Brazil.  There are 13 stakes near Fortaleza and several more in outlying areas. Members currently travel nearly 500 miles to attend the Recife Brazil Temple.  The Fortaleza Temple will be the seventh Mormon temple in Brazil, where there are nearly 1.2 million Latter-day Saints.

The Fortaleza Brazil Temple will be built in the coastal neighborhood of Dunas on a site located across from the esteemed FANOR, an institute of higher education.  The exact location is   Avenida Santos Dumont esq Rua Mal. Mascarenhas Morais, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

The design for the Fortaleza is a classical colonial design with two spires.  An accommodation Building, a meetinghouse, and maintenance buildings will also be constructed on the site.

The groundbreaking for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple took place on November 15, 2011, with Mormon Apostle Elder David A. Bednar presiding.

That a new Mormon temple would be constructed in Sapporo Japan, was announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 3, 2009 at the 179th General Conference of the Church in the Saturday morning session.

The site for the Sapporo Japan Temple is at 1-620-5 Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan. The site is 9.8 acres. The parcel of land is on the Atsubetsu River, adjacent to the campus of Hokusei Gakuen University. The land was once occupied by the Shin Sapporo Golf Center and offers convenient access from the Hokkaido Expressway and the Ooyachi Subway Station.

The Sapporo Japan Temple was designed with inspiration from Asian architecture. The temple will anchor a complex of supporting buildings including an Arrival Center, a Patron Housing Facility, a Temple Missionary Housing Facility, a combined home and office for the Japan Sapporo Mission, and space for a future meetinghouse. The grounds will feature distinctive trees and plants, large landscaping stones, and a pond and waterfall spanned by a pedestrian bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Sapporo Japan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons“) was held Saturday, October 22, 2011, amidst wind and rain, marking the beginning of the Church’s third temple in Japan and sixth in Asia. Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy presided at the groundbreaking. He was joined by Elders Michael T. Ringwood and Koichi Aoyagi of the Seventy.

The goal to qualify for a temple on Hokkaidō was five stakes (groups of congregations).

This will be the third temple built in Japan, which has 29 stakes and 14 districts. Sapporo is Japan’s fifth largest city and is located on the northern island of Hokkaidō.

There are presently two Mormon Temples in Japan — the Tokyo Japan Temple (1980) and the Fukuoka Japan Temple (2000).

At the 181st semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new Mormon temple in Durban, South Africa.  This will be the second temple for South Africa.  The Johannesburg, South Africa temple was dedicated in 1985.

The first missionaries to South Africa arrived in April 1853, and in August, the first congregation was organized four miles from Cape Town. Two years later, there were three congregations totaling nearly 130 members. Missionaries were not sent to South Africa from 1865 to 1903 because of government restrictions and the inability to speak the Afrikaans language. A few years after missionaries returned to South Africa, the first Church building was built in Mowbray in 1916-17.

An area conference was held for the first time in October 1978, attended by 3,450 of the 7,200 members living in South Africa, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and South West Africa (Namibia). In February 1992, another conference was held in Johannesburg with 4,200 in attendance. In February 1996, another regional conference had more than 5,000 in attendance. Today, members of all origins work together to overcome cultural barriers that have been prevalent in South African society.  There are around 55,000 Latter-day Saints in South Africa of all races.  The LDS Church does not segregate races in congregations or in the temples.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

At the 181st general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of two new temples in Africa, one in Durban, South Africa, and one in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  These will be the fourth and fifth temples to be constructed in Africa, with existing temples in Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; and Aba, Nigeria.  Members in Congo currently attend the temple in Johannesburg, over 2000 miles away.  The Kinshasa Temple will serve 23,000 Latter-day Saints.

The first missionaries arrived in Kinshasa in February 1986, when the Church received legal status. Meetings were first held in the homes of members. Then the Church purchased a villa and had it remodelled into a meetinghouse. In September 1986, at the first meeting in the 200-seat facility, 208 Church members attended.

The Zaire Kinshasa Mission was created in 1987, and nine years later the Church had grown sufficiently for a stake (diocese) to be organized.

In 1991 a religious education program for youth and young adults was introduced.

For Mormon news and information about the recently announced temples visit the official newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ.

At the 181st semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in October 2011, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new Mormon temple in Star Valley, Wyoming.  The prophet joked that he would personally dedicate the new temple, because the fishing is good nearby.  This will be the first temple to be built in Wyoming.

Mormons in Wyoming had previously attended the temple in Rexburg, Idaho.  The journey was considerably more difficult during the winter.

Mormon pioneers in the first westward party in 1847 made their way through Wyoming, stopping at Fort Laramie to repair their wagons.   They followed the Oregon Trail along the Platte River to Fort Bridger

The pioneers used rafts and a boat to ferry themselves and their belongings across the Platte River. Nine men stayed behind to continue the profitable ferry, which found business from Oregon-bound travelers.

In Wyoming, the pioneers met Jim Bridger, who gave an optimistic opinion of the Great Basin area. Most pioneer companies traveled through Wyoming without incident; however, the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies of 1857 started later in the year and became trapped in the winter snows. Approximately 200 of the 1,075 in the companies died. Others were saved by Utah rescue parties.

In 1877, Church members settled the Star Valley area, and the following year, Church President Brigham Young dedicated the spot as a gathering place for members.  In 1992, Wyoming Latter-day Saints erected three monuments in memory of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. Later, the Church purchased land at the mouth of Sweetwater Canyon where 21 pioneers died in one night. These sites were dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

There are over 63,000 Latter-day Saints in the state of Wyoming in 154 congregations.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

In October 2011 at the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a second temple in Colombia.  The first is in Bogota.  The new temple will be in Barranquilla, Colombia, which is located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea.  Located on the delta of the Magdalena River, the city serves as a port for river and maritime transportation within Colombia.

The first LDS Missionaries arrived in Colombia in 1966.  Five years later, 27 congregations were established in 10 cities.  Today, Church membership is nearly nineteen times that of 20 years ago.  Colombia has 172,534 members of the Church in 272 congregations, and four missions.

LDS.org has a separate website for Colombia (in Spanish), which you can access by clicking here.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

The Provo Tabernacle  was originally built between 1883 and 1898 on University Avenue between Center Street and 100 South, and was a city landmark for over 100 years.  The tabernacle had been updated as the years went by, but its distinguished architecture was never changed.  The building was  gutted by fire in December 2010.  Apparently, no arson was involved.  The building was beloved and venerated by generations of residents and BYU students who worshiped and attended a variety of meetings, concerts and other events there.

During the months after the fire and the investigation that followed, residents wondered whether the historical facade of the building could be saved.  There was an audible gasp of joy at the announcement in General Conference by Prophet Thomas S. Monson that the historic tabernacle would be remade into a temple.  There is a precedent for this action, since the Vernal Utah Temple (dedicated in 1997) was created from the 1907 Uintah Stake Tabernacle.  The new temple will include “a complete restoration of the original historic exterior.

Speculation had intensified during recent months as the church had been working on acquiring additional properties on the Tabernacle block. In late August 2011, it announced the acquisition of land from two businesses on the block, the Travelodge Motel and Los 3 Amigos restaurant.  At the end of September 2011 the Provo Municipal Council voted to sell to the church the property upon which the old Hotel Roberts used to be located. The hotel was demolished in 2004.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

With those acquisitions — and impending acquisitions — the Church will own the entire Tabernacle block, with the exception of the Post Office property. The Church has not indicated any plans for acquiring that property.

The Provo Utah Temple is the most-used temple in the Church, with the Brigham Young University campus and Missionary Training Center nearby.  This, second, temple in Provo will help to ease the crowding and waiting times experienced by the Provo Temple.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

That a new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be built in Paris, France, was formally announced at the Mormon General Conference of October, 2011. However, since the French press got hold of the plan many months before, an informal announcement was made in July of 2011, while government approvals were still in progress. The temple is planned for the area of Le Chesnay. Le Chesnay is located in the western suburbs of Paris 16.7 km (10.4 mi) from the center (Wikipedia).

There are more than 36,000 Latter-day Saints in France, and they have attended the temple in other European countries, especially Germany and Switzerland.

The first LDS missionary to France was the apostle John Taylor, who later became prophet and president of the Church. He departed for Europe in 1849. The first congregation in France, consisting of six members, was organized in April 1850 in Boulogne-sur-Mer. By July 24, 1853, nine branches (small congregations) had been formed with 337 members. Two hundred eighty-nine of those members were from the Channel Islands.

The Church grew slowly in France until after World War II, when the LDS Church contributed to the reconstruction of Europe. At that time missionaries were once more sent into France, and membership began to increase. In 1955, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir made its historic tour of Europe, performing in the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. (Later, the choir performed in Strasbourg in 1991 and in Marseille in 1998.) At the time of the Choir’s first performance, Church membership in the nation was only about 1,500. France’s first meetinghouse was completed in Nantes in 1962. By 1974, 29 French members were serving as missionaries for the Church.

In 1998 LDS prophet and president Gordon B. Hinckley visited France and predicted that a temple would someday be built there. He visited France again in 2004 and asked the Saints to be patient. Church members in France are organized into seven stakes (dioceses) that meet in 115 meetinghouses. Members come from every walk of life.

Updates

In France,  Le Parisien reported that the final hurdles were cleared for the construction of the Paris France Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“It’s now a done deal,” Le Parisien reported on November 9, 2011. “The city council has just given its green light by validating the building permit filed by La Foncie des Régions on behalf of the Mormon Church.” [1]

In February 2012 Voice of America reported controversy regarding the building of the Paris France Mormon Temple.  France is traditionally a Catholic country, but as in many countries in Western Europe, few attend church.  As a secularized country, France is wary of any religion, especially a religion as demanding of its followers as Mormonism.  The fact that only worthy Mormons can attend the temple also concerns some French people.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assures the French people that it is not extremist in any way, and that the gardens (open to the public) will be a blessing to local residents.  There is always an open house staged before a Mormon temple is dedicated for worship, and many LDS temples offer holiday programs for the public.