What we learned about temples on our 10 temple trip

The most impressive thing to us as we made our tour was learning how much the saints love their temples.  This seemed especially the case for the smaller temples, Reno, Sacramento, Fresno, Redlands, and also Las Vegas, where we heard evidence of this as we became acquainted with workers and patrons.  We also saw examples of persons who made great sacrifices to attend the temple and to work in the temple, people driving hundreds of miles to be present in these buildings and participate in the ordinances there.

We recognize a lot of devotion to the temples also in Utah where most members live within 15 or 20 minutes from multiple temples, but perhaps the temple has even greater meaning to members who live in areas where they are an extreme minority and in some cases are in environments that have very different values and standards of behavior from those of the Church.  For them, the temple becomes a place of protection and refuge from the storms.
“Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people.”  (Boyd K. Packer, “The Holy Temple,” Feb 1995)
“Flee unto...  the Mountain of the Lord’s House.” (D&C 133: 13)