Temple Tuesday — Mesa Arizona Temple

(Note: Temples are sacred places. This is the first in a weekly series about individual temples. Learn more about temples at mormon.org or on my blog.)

All temples are beautiful and special, but the Mesa Arizona Temple is especially important to me because many of my dear friends and family have been married or sealed there. I love each of them, and I'm grateful for the example they've set for me by being married in the Lord's house.

Mesa Arizona Temple

The Mesa Temple is unique. Every year, the grounds of the temple host two major events—the Easter pageant "Jesus the Christ", the largest outdoor Easter pageant in the world; and a Christmas light and nativity exhibit.

Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple

The Mesa Temple is one of the largest temples in the Church and the most-heavily trafficked temple outside Utah. Located in Downtown Mesa, it attracts visitors from throughout the Phoenix area and the world. It is one of only three temples without spires and is suggestive of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Mesa Temple was the first to offer endowment sessions in a language other than English—Spanish. It blessed and continues to bless hundreds of thousands of faithful Latter-day Saints who live in Arizona and the surrounding area.

The Mesa Temple was originally dedicated in 1927 by President Heber J. Grant. It was rededicated in 1975 by President Spencer W. Kimball. At the re-dedication, President Kimball said in the dedicatory prayer:

"May Thy peace ever abide in this holy building, that all who come here may partake of the spirit of peace, and of the sweet and heavenly influence that Thy Saints have experienced in other temples, may all who come upon the grounds which surround this temple, whether members of the Church of Christ or not, feel the sweet and peaceful influence of this blessed and hallowed spot. And may this building be sacred unto Thee and protected from the elements of destruction."

Like all other temples, that 'spirit of peace', that 'sweet and heavenly influence', pervades in the Mesa Arizona Temple.