Temple Open House Overwhelming

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual demands.  The Open House takes every ounce of energy - and then some.  We start at 7:15 in the morning and most days don't wrap things up until late in the evening.  But it's worth it.  Here's the view of the Open House "campus" we see from our apartment.

As of Saturday, November 6th,  25,000 guests had visited the Open House, with 5,000 that day.  We've also had almost 100 referrals for the missionaries. 

     Donna's assignment has focused on our "Special Needs" tent where folks in wheelchairs or those who are unable to walk up and down 50+ stairs begin their tour, (they use an elevator to go up and down the three levels of the temple).  Included in the picture is Lisa Bahen Ellis and Lorrie Porter.  Lisa grew up in Escondido (she's severall years younger than we are) and is married to Dean Ellis.  Dean is our "boss" and is chairman of the Ushering Committee.  Dean, Don and Merlin Waite, share in the overall duties orchestrating 200 +/- volunteers every day.  Lorrie (just sitting in the chair for the picture) is one of four coordinators of the Special Needs tent and is handles the evening shift every night.

     This picture was in the LDS Meridian internet magazine and shows Don pointing to the Special Needs tent while assigning Volunteers to their duty stations.