GRAHAM COUNTY, ARIZ.
Public tours of The Gila Valley Arizona Temple began April 23, welcoming visitors of all backgrounds to walk the halls of Arizona's third temple.
Thousands are expected to tour the new edifice, located at 5291 W. Highway 70 in Central, Ariz., a small town between Pima and Thatcher, Ariz. The public open house is scheduled to continue through Saturday, May 15, excluding Sundays. Following the public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, May 23. Three dedicatory sessions will be held to accommodate Latter-day Saints in the area who will be served by the new temple.
Prior to the public open house, state and community civic leaders visited The Gila Valley Arizona Temple on April 22. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer toured the temple as a special guest of Elder William R. Walker of the Seventy and executive director of the Church's Temple Department.
"Governor Brewer knows many Latter-day Saints, and there are several on her staff who are members of the Church," Elder Walker said. "She has been to the Easter pageant at the Mesa Temple, but she had never been inside a temple. She was very pleased and very impressed. She was particularly impressed with the Celestial Room. I was with her when we walked into the Celestial Room and she literally gasped at its beauty."
Accompanying Governor Brewer were several Latter-day Saints who are members of the Arizona Legislature, including Representatives Bill Konopnicki and Jack Brown representing the Graham County area; Representative Rich Crandall from Mesa; and Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Kirk Adams.
Also on the tour were elected officials and other special guests from Graham County, Ariz., including Mark Herrington, county supervisor; and Keith Crockett, president of The Gila Valley Arizona Temple, and his wife, Sister Kathleen Crockett, temple matron.
Mark Bryce, temple committee coordinator for The Gila Valley Arizona Temple and president of Eastern Arizona College, helped arrange the tour for Gov. Brewer.
"As I said goodbye to Governor Brewer," Elder Walker said, "she was very kind, very gracious, and told me how happy she was that she had made the decision to tour the temple."
Open house tours are available on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tours will begin at the Church meetinghouse adjacent to the temple. Free parking is available at the meetinghouse.
The First Presidency announced on April 26, 2008, plans to construct The Gila Valley Arizona Temple. Ground was broken on Feb. 14, 2009. The Gila Valley Arizona Temple is the 132nd temple of the Church worldwide and the third temple in Arizona, with others in Mesa and Snowflake.
Two more temples in Arizona have been announced for construction in Phoenix and Gilbert. The Gila Valley Arizona Temple will serve some 21,000 Latter-day Saints in the surrounding area of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico.
