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ATLANTA, GA.
Excitement with a huge dose of gratitude ran high 28 years ago when the Atlanta Georgia Temple was dedicated. Those emotions surfaced again for LDS volunteers who served April 9-23 during an open house preceding the rededication of the temple, which had been closed since renovation began nearly two years ago. The temple will be rededicated May 1 by President Thomas S. Monson.
"We were expecting large crowds, and we got them, some 55,000 people," said Elder M. Keith Giddens, an Area Seventy and local coordinator of the temple's rededication committee.
Among special guests were Georgia's Gov. Nathan Deal, U.S. congressmen and other elected officials, leaders of other faiths and business and education leaders.
Elder Giddens said hundreds of volunteers served as tour guides, ushers, parking lot attendants and as musicians and servers of cookies and water in the reception tent. "Groups came every night to clean the temple," Elder Giddens said. "As I met each one of them and thanked them for serving, they said, 'It's a privilege and an honor.' "
Members from throughout the temple district attended the open house and served as volunteers. The district includes 15 and a half stakes spread throughout all of Georgia and parts of Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. The half stake is Ashville North Carolina; the other half of that stake is in the Columbia South Carolina Temple district.
Some members traveled long distances to attend the open house and serve as volunteers. "Some came from the Tifton Georgia Stake, down on the border of Georgia and Florida."
Elder Giddens said some volunteers came by bus, riding overnight. "Everyone was very positive and helpful."
Georgia's spring weather, for the most part, helped make the open house a pleasant experience. The one exception was a tornado that hit Sandy Springs, the Atlanta suburb where the temple is located, on Friday evening, April 15, around the time the last tour group had assembled.
The storm began with heavy rain and thunder. Then hail. "Television reports said the hail was two-and-a-half inches in diameter," Elder Giddens said. "The tornado was right on the temple grounds, but there was zero damage to the grounds. Cars in the parking lot weren't damaged by the hail.
"We ushered people from the reception tent into the temple, and moved people from the grounds into the [meetinghouse] chapel and waited out the storm. Everyone was fine.
"All the other storms that came through during the open house period occurred at night, when there were no tours."
Elder Giddens said members are looking forward to having the temple open again. "During the nearly two years it has been closed, members in the Atlanta temple district have gone to the Birmingham Alabama, Columbia South Carolina and Nashville Tennessee temples. They had a temple for 28 years and, while it doesn't seem far to travel to the other temples, they are excited to have the Atlanta temple open again.
"Stake presidents are reporting an increase in the number of members preparing to go to the temple."