‘Let’s go forward and see what we can learn together.”

With those words, Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led the Daily Herald and a phalanx of other Utah media on a guided tour of the new Draper Temple. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve also accompanied media on the tour.

Before leading out the group, Ballard didn't resist the opportunity to poke a little fun at the media.

"If you behave yourself, you'll have some refreshments afterward," he said with a laugh.

Utah's 12th temple is unique in a few ways. It boasts the largest sealing room of all the state's temples. Made to seat 80, the larger sealing rooms were invented to better accommodate large families wanting to attend temple weddings, said Cook.

In addition, patrons of the new temple will find themselves moving through several rooms as they attend ordinance sessions, rather than sitting in a single room. Two of the ordinance rooms are hand-painted panoramas of mountain scenes, including one room depicting Draper's Corner Canyon and its view of the Salt Lake Valley.

And in what may be a sign of the times, ordinance rooms in the new temple feature two double-wide bench seats for those people who don't fit into the usual chairs, Cook said, noting the inspiration for those larger seats came from requests by patrons of the church's Samoan Temple.

The entire temple carries a sego lily theme. The lily is etched into glass at the entrance, where it is also found painted on a ceiling border. The sego, inside a geometric pattern, has also been hand carved into plush carpets in the sealing rooms.

"It's a wonderful thing for people to hold temple recommends," Ballard told the media, standing at the desk where recommends will be checked at the temple's entrance.

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign sparked major national interest in the LDS Church, and Ballard said he and other church officials were surprised at how many editorial boards around the country asked church officials why temple ordinances are secret.

Rather than being secret, "temples are set apart for this particular sacred work," Ballard said. "The work that occurs here is sacred and we hope you'll feel that. The issue of secret goes away as we understand the sacred nature of the temple."

In the temple basement there is a baptismal font atop a fiberglass sculpture of twelve life-sized oxen, made to look like marble. Reading several verses beginning in 1 Kings 7:23, Cook said the oxen were designed to make the font a replica, as close as possible, to the ancient temple of King Solomon. The room containing the baptismal font is decorated in classic art deco style, complimented by craftsman-style stained glass windows.

Talking about recent criticism of the church from Jews who were unhappy that Mormons were performing for Holocaust victims a ritual called baptisms for the dead, Cook said the church had been misunderstood.

"We see it as a great, loving effort to have proxy baptisms for people who will then make their own choices," Cook said. "For the vast majority, when they understand it, they recognize it as an effort of love and friendship."

The bride's dressing room is decorated with silver and crystal sconces and dressing tables that hints at a Grecian style. All patrons of the temple change into white clothing before entering temple worship services as a sign of purity, Cook said. The white clothing also brings everyone to an equal level because people cannot show social status or wealth by what they wear.

In the first of a series of ordinance rooms, Cook said the panoramic woodland paintings represent the lone and dreary world, and that moving from that room to the next, more elegantly appointed room, represents the human spiritual journey.

Patrons in the ordinance rooms will be taught by films depicting the meaning of life, he said. Those interested in knowing what is taught in the ordinance rooms would do well to study the Old Testament descriptions of the lives of Adam and Eve, he said.

"That can give you a good idea of the instruction given in this particular room," he said. "People are also making covenants that they will be a righteous people."

Leaving the "work-a-day world" behind to worship in the temple "starts a process toward things that are more celestial, more related to Heavenly Father," Cook said. "The peace that comes in the temple is just so precious to Latter-day Saints."

Worshippers move through a succession of three ordinance rooms, ending in the Celestial Room. Cook said it was important to note that each room in turn got bigger and brighter, with the Celestial Room featuring a monumental, sparkling chandelier hung from the center of a dome several stories high.

Media members were asked not to speak in the Celestial Room. Cook said the room is used only as the place where people come to feel the closest to Heavenly Father.

The church does not use the symbol of the cross, not because Mormons don't recognize the importance of what happened on the cross, but "because we worship the risen Lord, and he lives," Cook said.

Standing between two mirrors aligned to give an eternally repeating view of couples at the marriage altar, Cook bore his testimony to the media. He had never expected to be called as an apostle, he said, noting it is a challenging job.

"I want to testify to you, in that calling, of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and I know we can be closer to him because of the atonement," he said.

Following the tour, the Daily Herald conducted a one-on-one interview with Ballard. He called the temple "a beacon on the hill" and "a house of the Lord dedicated to a great and sacred work."

While the church announced a worldwide hiring freeze this week, the global economic slowdown will not delay construction of any announced temples, Ballard told the Herald. He said the church practices the same financial principles it teaches to its members, namely to avoid debt and live within their means.

The global slowdown could possibly slow construction of temples that have not been announced, but he added "if we need more temples, we'll have more temples."

Just the physical presence of the temple will be a blessing to the local area, he said. Those blessings will come particularly as part of the dedicatory prayer.

"It undoubtedly is going to have a positive feeling for the people who live near here who will come to love it," he said.

Asked what he hopes those who come to worship in the new temple will take away from their experience, Ballard said he hopes people will realize the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in its fullness, and that all of Heavenly Father's children can, through the temple ordinances, pass back into the presence of God after death.

Returning to a more light-hearted note, at the end of the tour Cook pronounced that the media had indeed behaved and would be rewarded with hors d'oeuvres.

INFOBOXES:

The public is invited to tour the Draper Temple from Jan. 15 through March 14, excluding Sundays. These tours will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Open house organizers request advance reservations be made online at www.lds.org/reservations or by calling 800-537-6181 or 801-240-7932.

A three-day dedication, including twelve dedicatory sessions, will be held on March 20-22.

Draper Temple facts:

• When it is dedicated, this will be the church's 129th operating temple worldwide, and the 12th in Utah.

• The temple will serve more than 60,000 church members in 25 stakes.

• The 58,000-square-foot temple sits on 12 acres, including an adjacent meetinghouse.

• Measured to the top of the Angel Moroni statue, the building is 168 feet, 8 inches tall. The Angel Moroni statue is 10 feet, 8 inches tall.

• The exterior of the temple features white granite from China, bronze doors and art glass windows by Utah artist Tom Holdman.

• The interior features limestone tile from Lyon, France, and makore wood imported from the west coast of central Africa.

• The temple was announced on Oct. 2, 2004, and the groundbreaking was held on Aug. 5, 2006.