Our last day serving at the Temple Open House and other information about the Temple.

We served our last day at the Open House on Friday the 8th of August. Elder Nielson said that we're averaging between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors a day. Fridays and Saturdays are averaging between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors. As of 7:00 a.m. that morning, there have been 295 self-referrals to the church. That's pretty exciting. He didn't have any neat stories to share this time. (Some of the neat stories will be written down and put into the cornerstone-to be opened in 100 years from now.)
Both of the other times, we were able to serve in the Temple for at least part of the time. This time, Rick served in the Temple, but I volunteered to serve in the Stake Center. ( I was directing traffic flow in the chapel. We were so busy for about 2 1/2 hours, that even the choir seats were full besides the chapel being full. Everyone came at once and had to go on a first come basis.)
I was aware of 2 situations that I know happened because Heavenly Father wanted them to happen. There was a small group of people that had at least one Japenese with them. They wanted someone to translate for him. One of our security people from our Stake that was assigned to work - just happened to have gone to Japan on his mission. He was their translator. Another incident like that: A small group came in that had a deaf person. He wanted someone that could sign for him. I told them that I would find out if we had someone. Sure enough, we did. The wife of our 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency knew how to sign. She was actually one of our tour guides. We had to do a little switching around of people, but she ended up being their translator. Heavenly Father makes things happen in such a natural way, that many people don't realize that He has a hand in all things-but I know He wanted these people to be there when we could best serve them.
We were only assigned to work the early morning shift. That's all Rick served. When it got time for my replacement to come, not many people showed up. I volunteered to work a double shift-after we got some food for Rick. It's a good thing that I did go back. Almost all of the ushers that were assigned to the early morning shift (in the Stake House) ended up staying for all or most of the next shift. At first, the afternoon wasn't as busy as the morning. It ended up being almost as busy for about an 1 1/2 hours. I caught a ride home with someone from our Ward.
My girlfriend is in the choir that sings for the dedication. She gets to see the Prophet. She is allowed to take her family. Both Rick & I told her that we thought we were part of her family-so she should invite us also. I don't think she's falling for that line.
I can hardly wait for the Temple to be open. My first day of serving is Friday, August 29th.
There's some confusion about the times that people can go. At first, we were told that it was by appointment only. I don't think that's right-but I'm not sure. Now, my understanding is that appointments are taken for the 1:30 session only. All other sessions, they will reserve 10 seats for out of town patrons. The rest of the room is filled by first come-first serve. The sessions will be every 2 hours, iniatory will be every 2 hours also. If needed afterwards, the sessions will be every hour instead of every 2 hours. The sessions start at 7:30 a.m. except on Wednesdays. That day, they will start at 5:30 a.m. The last session starts at 7 :30 p.m.
Baptism sessions: Weekdays will be at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and also 1:30 p.m.