{wHat to eXpect whEn tOuRinG the dRapEr temPLe}

On Wednesday night we went to the Draper Temple Open House. It was our mutual activity for the week. I believe the final total was 68 of us. We had to wait a long time, but it was so great.

Here is what to expect if you go on a busy night with a large group ...
Your ticket will tell you what church building (there are 5 different ones they are using) you are to go to. You park there and go inside. We went into the cultural hall and sat down. The rooms in the building play a 12 min. video about temples. Our group was so large that the cultural hall emptied twice before we were taken to the chapel to watch the video. After we got to the chapel we waited a long time again. We started to sing songs while we waited. Then we watched the video. Then we waited again, and Bro. Maryott and Sis. Burton shared some thoughts about the temple.

Then we went out into the foyer and waited for the buses. I think we ended up on 3 different buses. Once at the temple grounds they drop you off and you walk through covered pathways up to the temple. Surprisingly they did not have us put on booties over our shoes. The carpets were covered by the thick plastic carpet protectors similar to the industrial strength ones you use for a computer chair. Some rooms even had the plastic and a layer of carpet on top. I wondered if anyone had fallen, since it made it a couple of inches off the ground.

Since there are so many people coming through the temple, it is a silent tour. The rooms are all marked with plaques on the wall and there are posters set up to learn about the rooms. The last room you go into is one of the 4 sealing rooms. Here you get to sit down and listen to a couple talk about the spirit felt in the temple and about the importance of temples, etc.

Once you leave this room you head out of the temple and follow the covered walkway to the church building, on the same property. Here they have the cultural hall set up as a reception place. There are people to answer any questions you may have. You are encouraged to fill out a comment card and of course the best part, they have cookies!

From the time we left our church and I arrived home, after dropping kids off, we were gone about 4 hours. The difference with any other group will be that you will be done in 1 - 2 hours. Smaller groups will easily be able to get through the first church building to watch the video and get on the bus, where we had to wait for a very long time because of our group size. If you don't go on a mutual night, there will be fewer people. I had5 hosts tell me that they had an above average amount of people there that night. Also we spent more time at the church after touring the temple waiting for all our groups.