TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Sister Kathy Andersen first saw the Tallahassee Florida Temple on Sunday evening, Oct. 27, as she and her husband — Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — were riding in a car going past the new house of the Lord.
She admitted to getting emotional as memories washed over her in the moment — memories of Florida, her extended family and the temple, all blending together.
“Last night, as we drove past the temple — I can’t even begin to tell the feelings of my heart and how happy I feel that this great blessing [the temple] will be here for the city and this area,” she said during Monday’s media day for the Tallahassee temple.
Local media representatives came for an introductory news conference and interviews with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a tour of the new house of the Lord, with invited-guest tours and a public open house following the media day.
As a native Floridian, Sister Andersen provided Monday’s perfect, multifaceted testimonial — of pioneer Church heritage in the state’s panhandle, of the importance that Church members place on temple ordinances and blessings, and of the sacrifices that Latter-day Saints in Florida have made to attend the temple over the decades.
She spoke of a paternal great-grandfather, Daniel Henry Arline, who joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Florida in 1898 at age 57. A well-respected, multitalented land owner in Chiefland, Florida, who was raising 13 children from two marriages, he was planting a field when he recognized two Latter-day Saint missionaries — the ones local ministers had been preaching against — waiting for him at the end of the furrow. They gave him a pamphlet on the Joseph Smith story, which he read on the porch of his home during his lunch break. He got up and announced to his wife that he had found the truth.
“He never read the Book of Mormon at that time or anything else,” said Greg Williams, Sister Andersen’s brother, who was among the Florida-based extended family and friends joining the Andersens on Monday. “He just read that tract, and the Spirit was so confirming to him about the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith.”
Several years later, following the conversion of other family members and recognizing the importance of being sealed as a family, Arline made a great sacrifice, selling all their possessions, boarding a train with his wife and 13 children, and traveling to Utah, where the Church’s only temples of that time were located.
“He worked there for a short time,” Sister Andersen recounted, “and then they were able to go to the temple as a family, and it was a beautiful experience for them, according to my grandmother, who was one of those children.”
Added Elder Andersen: “We’ve actually seen the record of the sealing in the Logan temple.”
However, Arline longed for Florida’s warmer climate, and the family returned back home. He is buried in Madison, about an hour’s drive east of Tallahassee.
Sister Andersen also spoke of her parents, Bernard and Martha Williams, who met while attending Florida State University in Tallahassee, with her mother soon joining the Church. They raised their family in Tampa, some 200 miles to the southeast of Tallahassee.
“I was about 5 years old when my parents made a trip — a very long trip — from Tampa to Salt Lake City so that we could be sealed together in the temple as a family,” she said of the one-way journey of more that 2,300 miles.
She added: “I think that is probably my earliest childhood memory, the experience as a little girl going to the temple and being there with my mother and father. That memory … really marked my life in a very, very special way.”
After meeting at Brigham Young University and later marrying in the Salt Lake Temple, Elder and Sister Andersen lived and raised their family in Tampa. Initially, the closest temple to them was the Washington D.C. Temple, more than 900 miles away. In June 1983, the Atlanta Georgia Temple was dedicated — cutting the distance from Tampa to the nearest house of the Lord by half.
The Andersens decided to drive to Atlanta for the temple dedication, not having a recommend ticket for admission and standing in the rain before a morning dedication session. They were invited in and asked to help usher attendees into the temple for the session, thus being able to be in the temple for the dedication.
Florida’s first house of the Lord — the Orlando Florida Temple — was dedicated in 1994, a year after Elder Andersen’s call as a Church general authority necessitated the family’s move from Tampa. A second temple — in Fort Lauderdale — was dedicated 20 years later, in May 2014.
The Tallahassee temple will be the state’s third when it is dedicated on Dec. 8 by Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with two additional houses of the Lord announced and in planning for Jacksonville and Tampa.
“I thought it was particularly special and significant that Elder and Sister Andersen were here for this temple, having raised their family in Florida and Sister Andersen being a fourth-generation Floridian member of the Church,” said Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the North America Southeast Area presidency. “To watch them exult with joy about this temple was a unique experience and privilege.”
Also participating in Monday’s media day events were two General Authority Seventies from the Temple Department — Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director, and Elder Steven R. Bangerter, assistant executive director.
Elder Andersen explained that he and Sister Andersen were in Brazil a week ago when he dedicated the Salvador Brazil Temple under the direction of President Russell M. Nelson, who in less than two weeks will in turn dedicate the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, the Church’s 200th house of the Lord. Elder Andersen added that there are nearly 50 additional temples under construction and another nearly 120 that have been announced and are in various stages of planning.
The Apostle emphasized that Latter-day Saints go to the temple to increase faith in Jesus Christ and to better understand and follow Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation.
“We go there to find peace, to find answers to our prayers, to seek to strengthen our courage so we can keep the commandments of God,” said Elder Andersen, also explaining the importance and validity of temple ordinances where Latter-day Saints make sacred covenants through eternal ordinances.
“Everything in the house of the Lord speaks to the immortality of the soul.”
President Benjamin J. Smith, president of the Tallahassee Florida Stake, said that community members — including those not of the Church of Jesus Christ — are calling the new house of the Lord “our temple.”
Beth Sundstrom of the Tallahassee 3rd Ward grew up attending meetings in the Tallahassee stake center located across the street from the new temple. Her first temple trip — at age 12 — was to the closest temple — in Atlanta, about 450 miles away.
“Upon entering the house of the Lord for the first time, I felt a shift in my commitment to follow the Savior,” she told media representatives, adding, “Inside I learned more about Jesus Christ and the role that He plays as my Savior. I learned to embrace His teachings and pattern my life according to His gospel. I learned that because of Him, there is hope.”
Today, some 30-plus years later, Sundstrom is married and has three daughters navigating a vastly different world.
“They face heightened levels of fear, anxiety, hostility and intolerance I never imagined. Now more than ever, they need a message of hope, and that’s why this Tallahassee Florida Temple matters.
“We find hope here because the heart and soul of our temples revolve around our Savior, Jesus Christ,” Sundstrom continued. “His teachings heal our hearts. His teachings replace animosity with love. His teachings comfort the lonely heart and lift the hands that hang. His teachings dissipate doubt, fear, darkness and pain and replace them with joy.”
