Audrey Wells received this from her cousin: A good friend of mine, who is also our former stake president, as well as the chief temple architect for more than half of our current temples, told me an interesting story about the Nauvoo Temple. His name is Keith Stepan. He was the managing director for the Temple Construction Department for the church.
When the Nauvoo Temple was being built, for various reasons, they had some challenges and delays in getting the statue of Moroni mounted on top of the temple. It was September of 2001 and one such delay was due to the 9/11 attacks, but there were other problems as well.
They started having some concern over exactly when they could mount the statue. As they looked over the construction plans, they decided that a particular day would be the last chance they would have to mount the statue without too much trouble. Anything beyond that would present big challenges.
That day came and the weather was not cooperating. It was stormy and very windy. The crane operator felt that it was unsafe to attempt to mount the statue with the wind blowing as strong as it was. Keith Stepan and some of the others on the project went off to a private spot and prayed for the Lord to temper the elements so that they could put Moroni in place that day.
Soon afterwards, the wind died down and the clouds opened up just above the temple. They decided to go ahead. Just as the crane began lifting up Moroni, a column of light shot straight down from the sky directly onto Moroni. The statue was successfully installed. The date was September 21st, just in time for a significant anniversary. It was September 22nd, 1827 that Joseph Smith received the golden plates from the Angel Moroni. Here is a photograph of the statue of Moroni being mounted on the temple in Nauvoo. Keith told me this story personally and gave me this picture.
When the Nauvoo Temple was being built, for various reasons, they had some challenges and delays in getting the statue of Moroni mounted on top of the temple. It was September of 2001 and one such delay was due to the 9/11 attacks, but there were other problems as well.
They started having some concern over exactly when they could mount the statue. As they looked over the construction plans, they decided that a particular day would be the last chance they would have to mount the statue without too much trouble. Anything beyond that would present big challenges.
That day came and the weather was not cooperating. It was stormy and very windy. The crane operator felt that it was unsafe to attempt to mount the statue with the wind blowing as strong as it was. Keith Stepan and some of the others on the project went off to a private spot and prayed for the Lord to temper the elements so that they could put Moroni in place that day.
Soon afterwards, the wind died down and the clouds opened up just above the temple. They decided to go ahead. Just as the crane began lifting up Moroni, a column of light shot straight down from the sky directly onto Moroni. The statue was successfully installed. The date was September 21st, just in time for a significant anniversary. It was September 22nd, 1827 that Joseph Smith received the golden plates from the Angel Moroni. Here is a photograph of the statue of Moroni being mounted on the temple in Nauvoo. Keith told me this story personally and gave me this picture.
Thanks for sharing, Audrey.
1 comment:
Brother Stepan was Rob's stake president growing up. He is a fine, fine person. Rob thinks (but is not sure) that he was a big part of the decision to start working on the small temples.
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