First off, thank you to everyone who commented, e-mailed or texted regarding the blog. I really appreciate the feedback, and hearing from you! The new comments come in as “someone” which I found to be a bit odd. If you want to remain anonymous that’s great – I totally respect that. But otherwise, if you can put your name in the comment, that would be appreciated. Either way, keep the comments coming – they mean a lot.

Even though our last official work camping day was April 15th, we opted to stay in Arizona until the end of the month, before heading North to Wyoming. It was just too cold in Wyoming to start moving! But when the temperature gauge in the RV tells us it’s 100 degrees outside, it’s too hot to stay in Arizona!

The halfway point on our trip to Wyoming is near St. George, Utah, where we decided to spend a few days. It’s a nice little town, and was the winter home of Brigham Young. Some friends from Yuma recommended visiting his home. Young was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) from 1847 until his death in 1877. He was also the first Governor of the Utah Territory (1851 -1858). The LDS offers free tours of the home and office. I was expecting a large house, but his winter home is a modest three bedroom home.

The main room of the house, where they received guests, has a box piano. The legs come off, and the piano can easily be transported between homes on a wagon.

The dining room and kitchen of the house.

To the left of the stove, what looks like a plunger, is actually the “clothes washing machine.” The clothes go into the pail, along with the soap on the left, and the plunger agitates and cleans the clothes. Pretty high tech for the late 1800’s.

There are three bedrooms upstairs. One for the housekeeper, one for his wife Amelia (it is believed he had 57 wives, but only stayed here with her. She did not have any children), and Brigham’s own bedroom.

Housekeeper’s room with spinning wheel and sewing machine.

Amelia’s bedroom and travel chest. She wanted a round top on her chest, so no one else could put anything on top of her luggage when traveling. Notice the chamber pot at the end of her bed.

Brigham had a very large bedroom. The drawers on his travel chest are numbered 1 – 4, but they are not sure why he did that. The ceiling in the house has been retrofitted with air conditioning, which is what the holes are.

After touring the home, we went to downtown St. George to see the Tabernacle. Unfortunately, it was closed as they were re-doing the steps. Someone recently fell down the steps, and they decided to make the stairs safer. The Tabernacle is normally open to the public, and is considered a gathering place. They hold concerts and other special events here.

If you are driving on I-15 through southern Utah, you will see a very large white building on the western side of the interstate for miles. This is the St George Utah Temple of the LDS. The Temple is only open to members of the LDS church. All members entering must be dressed (or change into) white clothing inside the temple. White is a symbol of purity, and having everyone dressed the same provides unity.

They do have a visitor’s center on the grounds, which is open to the public. We had a wonderful talk with a church elder at the visitor center that explained the temples are for sacred services and ordinances. There are approximately 300 temples throughout the world, four of them are in Utah. The temple and grounds are spectacular.

I always thought the temple was one large building inside, like a cathedral. The temple is a series of rooms where specific ceremonies, or ordinances, take place. The temple is the most sacred place for LDS members. The visitor’s center has photos of the various rooms inside the St George Temple. The church elder said I was welcome to take photos of their pictures. So the following photos are courtesy of the LDS visitor center.

Baptism in the temple is done by the living for those who have died without receiving the baptism ordinance. Living baptisms are not performed in the Temple. Although it’s hard to see from the photo, there are 12 oxen underneath the baptismal font following Solomon’s Temple in the Old Testament.

The Instruction Room is where the members learn their purpose in life, through the Endowment Ordinance. The LDS members make covenants with God on how they will live their life on Earth.

The Celestial Room is a place for quiet prayer and reflection. No ordinances take place in this room.

The Sealing Room is where a bride and groom can be married for eternity. Children born or adopted into an eternal marriage can be sealed with their family for eternity. Only both members of the LDS church can be sealed. If a bride or groom is not a member of the church, they can only have their marriage performed in the church.

There is also a large room that will hold special meetings regarding Temple business. I don’t recall if this room had a special name.

We had a “crash course” on the LDS church and their beliefs from the Church Elder at the visitor center, and I believe I have the correct information on the rooms and special ordinances that take place. I would highly recommend stopping in for a visit if you are ever in the St George Utah area. One additional “fun fact” about the temple. When it was completed in 1877, and dedicated by Brigham Young before he passed away, he commented that he did not like the steeple on the temple, and wanted it changed. Since it was already completed, they told him there was nothing they could do, and he went ahead with the dedication.

About 6 months after he died, the temple was struck by lightning, and the steeple, and only the steeple, burned down. The church members believed it was a sign from Young, and they rebuilt the steeple the way he had wanted it done. Below are photos of the original (left) and rebuilt steeple (on the right – that remains today).

Across the street from the temple is the St George Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We did not go into that church.

After a few days of visiting, we continued on our journey to Riverton, Wyoming. We knew we were getting close when we started seeing snow! And the temperature dropped by 65 degrees!

Stay tuned and stay safe! As always, thanks for following along. I believe Makena is getting antsy….!

Quote of the Day: “If you have a bad thought about yourself, tell it to go to hell because that is exactly where it came from.” – Brigham Young