Monday, May 24, 2010

Where to put the temple!

A LIGHTER SIDE TO THE TEMPLE DEDICATION!


In order to really appreciate this posting, you must have a sense of humor and understand the politics of living in a small town. The Gila Valley area consists of several small towns in eastern Arizona, but Pima, Thatcher and Safford are the larger towns and have been rivals forever. There is some real animosity between the schools, the students, and even sometimes the parents. It is no surprise that each town thought that their town was going to get the temple. People in Pima (which was settled first...) have been saying they would have a temple there for more than 100 years. People in Thatcher were sure they would have the temple built in their town since they were bigger! However, Safford is the biggest town and has more people in their stake. When they announced the temple, they called it the "Gila Valley" temple, giving no clue as to where the temple would actually be built.
In the middle of Pima and Thatcher, there is a little town (about a mile across or less) called Central. They have one ward in Central, but there was also a huge church softball complex built many years ago for recreation purposes for the Saints in all three towns. The brethren decided to build the temple there, in a nice "Central" location...LITERALLY!
When this announcement was made, I knew the people in Pima, Thatcher and Safford would be upset about this, crazy as it sounds. You would think after waiting so long that they wouldn't care at all where the temple would actually be built! Now that the temple is built, the saints feel so blessed, however, the competition still speaks. The saints in Thatcher say, "you have to look at the statue of Moroni on the temple--it is pointing toward Thatcher--and turning it's back on those sinners in Pima." Then the people of Pima say "Look at the statue Moroni on the temple--he is pointing his trump toward those sinners in Thatcher--and calling them to repentance." Oh the joys of living in a small town!

1 comment:

  1. That completely cracks me out!! I love that you know all these details, and to show and share with all of us that didn't is great!

    ReplyDelete