For the more than 1,000 Lawrence-area Mormons, faith is about to be a little closer to home.
On April 22, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will dedicate its Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple in Omaha, Neb.
Photos courtesy Intellectual Reserve Inc. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will dedicate its new Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple in Omaha, Neb., during an April 22 ceremony. The church's temples are sacred buildings that are used for religious ceremonies and other special events.
It is the Mormon church's first temple in Nebraska and its 104th temple worldwide.
With the dedication, Latter-day Saints in the region won't have to travel as far to visit a temple.
"There's been a big effort by the church to build significantly more temples, a little bit smaller than they were before, but closer to more of the people," says Howard Rytting, a Mormon church member and professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at Kansas University for the last 32 years.
He and his wife, Kay, will travel from Lawrence to the temple to offer tours in the coming weeks.
The baptistry at the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple is used to perform baptisms and other ordinances on behalf of ancestors who have died.
"They've decided to concentrate on these smaller temples to make them much more convenient for people to get to," says Kay Rytting, Lawrence media coordinator for the Latter-day Saints. "In the last four years, the church has built 54 more temples."
The public is invited to tour the new Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple during an open house that begins today and runs through April 14. No tours will be offered Saturday, Sunday or April 8.
Tours of the temple will be given from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, except on Mondays, when they'll be offered from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A public cornerstone ceremony will be at 9 a.m. April 22 at the temple, 8283 N. 34th St., Omaha, Neb.
Holy place
To members of the Mormon church, temples are literally the "House of the Lord."
They are sacred buildings in which Latter-day Saints receive instruction about the purpose of life and their relationship to God. There they take part in religious ceremonies that members believe reach beyond mortality, both for themselves and on behalf of deceased ancestors.
The Mormon church says couples are married "not only for life but also for eternity" in the temple's Sealing Room.
Sacred ordinances such as marriage and vicarious baptisms for the dead are done only in temples, which have specific rooms for such events.
The Nebraska Temple's exterior facade is Bethel white granite, and the building is topped with a gold statue of the Angel Moroni.
The interior includes a celestial room, two ordinance rooms seating 400 people each, two sealing rooms and a baptistry, as well as dressing rooms, offices, a laundry and an eating area.
Other features of the temple are: brass entry doors; handcrafted period-style furniture; 18 scenic stained-glass windows, some depicting historic Winter Quarters sites and events; original artwork, including oil paintings of old Winter Quarters, the Missouri River and Chimney Rock; and a handmade quilt of authentic period design.
Information about construction costs was not available.
A joyous occasion
Previously, Mormons such as the Ryttings had to travel to temples in cities such as St. Louis, Chicago or Dallas.
"A temple is a refuge that is away from the world. You have time to meditate and have peace," says Kay Rytting. "At one time, we spent three days at the temple in Dallas. There have been times we have just gone to be there to work on problems in life."
The Ryttings were married on April 9, 1965, in the Salt Lake Temple and their marriage was "sealed for eternity" there.
The location has important historical and spiritual meaning for the Latter-day Saints.
In February 1846, church members left Nauvoo, Ill., and traveled west until they reached the Missouri River, which separated Iowa and the American Indian territory of Nebraska. The Omaha and Oto Indian tribes granted permission for church leaders to establish a city there.
The site was called Winter Quarters, and it served as the Mormon church's headquarters during the great migration west to the Salt Lake Valley.
Later, this site was called Florence, and Omaha grew up around it. The temple is situated on land adjacent to the old Winter Quarters pioneer cemetery.
Most of the estimated 600 Latter-day Saints buried in the cemetery died of exposure and hunger during the winter of 1846-47.
The Winter Quarters served as the staging area for many of the estimated 70,000 Mormon pioneers who made the historic 1,000-mile trek across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains in 1847.
About 100 Mormons from the Lawrence and Topeka area will travel to Omaha in the next two weeks to help run tours at the open house. That doesn't include the many Mormon families from the region who will make the trip to take a tour of the temple themselves.
The Ryttings visited the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple earlier this month to receive instruction on leading tours through the building.
"I think quite a few people from here will be going," Howard Rytting says. "An open house is the only time that nonmembers of the church can visit and find out what it's like. There's a special feeling when you're there, whether you're a member of the church or not."
The Latter-day Saints have three wards and one branch in Lawrence.
Members of the Lawrence 1st and 2nd wards meet for worship at 3615 W. 10th St. Members of the Lawrence University Ward, which includes many Kansas University students, meet at 1629 W. 19th St. The Haskell University Branch meets for worship at 120 Indian Ave.
Completion of a Latter-day Saints temple is a joyous occasion, and the Ryttings welcome it.
"Each time a temple is finished, it brings a greater spirituality to the area it comes to. It becomes more convenient for people to attend," Howard Rytting says. "You can go more frequently and enjoy the blessings of the temple more effectively."
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