Yesterday I had the unique experience to sit in the temple for a devotional. I sometimes play the organ at the temple, and they had a devotional for all the volunteers. As we sat in the chapel, the temple presidency and matrons began telling us many very interesting stories about the St. George Temple. Some were about things that had happened in the temple, which I won't go into. They were cool stories meant to drive home the importance of treating people with kindness.
One story that President Hafen told us really struck home, though. This story was about the construction of the temple back in the beginnings of St. George, UT. The site for the temple had been chosen. Construction was ready. Then they discovered that right where they wanted to build the temple was some kind of underground stream or spring that made the ground boggy. This is highly unusual in St. George, as we are very much a DESERT... The saints let Brigham Young, the prophet at the time, know about the problem. They expected him to have them move the site over a little to avoid the boggy area and speed up construction.
They were surprised at his response. He told them to continue as planned. To fix the problem with the boggy ground, they were to go up into the mountains and bring down the huge lava rocks and use those to fill in the holes of the watery area. This process took the saints of the time eighteen months to complete. The lava rocks were so huge that they couldn't be lifted onto wagons. They had to be harnessed directly to the mules and dragged down to the site, where they were dumped into the area to fill in the holes. When the site was filled with larger rocks, they filled it up the rest of the way with smaller rocks to make sure it was steady for the foundation of the temple. After filling it with rocks, they compacted it down with a cannon they had. (They were told that when the cannon bounced three times, it was ready to build on.)
This made for a strong foundation. Unbeknownst to the saints at the time, it also protected the temple. In St. George, there is something called alkaline in the soil. Alkaline erodes sandstone over time. The temple is built of sandstone. Because the temple sits on lava rock and not soil, it could not be eroded by the alkaline that would have weakened the structure over time had they moved the site. President Hafen then commented that sometimes our trials are blessings.
He then quoted something Brigham Young said about the building of temples. I wish I could remember it to quote it exactly, but here it is to the best of my ability to remember: "Whenever we begin building a temple, the bells of Hell begin ringing. LET THEM RING! It is a beautiful sound!" Then President Hafen added that when the bells of Hell begin ringing, it means we are doing something right. :)
I think that applies to more than just temple building. I think Satan tries hard to discourage us from doing anything that is good. :) Just a thought.
