Lodi Invited to Modesto CA Temple Groundbreaking

  There was great excitement about the news that a temple would be built in Modesto.  There is a possibility that Lodi will be a part of the temple district.  The groundbreaking on Oct. 7 was limited only to those who had a ticket to get in. Never-the-less there was still a large group of people who attended. The picture on the lower right was taken when about half the audience had arrived. (See more chairs in the background.)

     Our stake president (and ward member) Scott Means and his wife Jill and daughter Natallie were in attendance and sat in the reserved first four rows. President Means and Jill were able to participate in the groundbreaking. (On the far right in the above bottom picture.)

    Before the groundbreaking there were wonderful talks by Corbin Curran from Lodi, as well as Addison Castleton and Jerry Callister from Merced. An excellent talk was then given by Sue Zwahlen who is the Modesto City Mayor. There were many invited people there who were important people in Modesto, but not members of the church. She was surely teaching them about temples. She invited them to "Please come often to the temple grounds and feel the peaceful surroundings.  The same guiding, peaceful principles we feel in our homes and the temple will improve our communities."

   

Following the talks the Modesto Primary Choir sang "I Love to See the Temple" and "High on a Mountain Top."  They did an amazing and wonderful job.  

    Then Elder Gary B. Sabin of the Seventy, who was there with his wife, gave some remarks and a beautiful dedicatory prayer. In his remarks he said: "We are reminded that temples bring us closer to Christ, and when we come closer to Christ, we are more joyful."  

   He prayed that the new house of the Lord "will stand as a beacon of light and hope and a witness of the reality and divinity of Thy Beloved Son and the eternal nature of  the soul and the divine potential of Thy children." 

      A special thing about the event was the opportunity to meet former Lodi friends who now live near Modesto.  President Means and Cliff  Kerr had a great discussion with Bobby Boice who lived in our ward as a teenager and his father was a previous stake president in Modesto.  In the upper right picture with Cliff and Ann Kerr are Drew Kraude and his wife.  Drew was a teenager living in Lodi and played basketball with Doug Kerr, Seth Hoyt, Bobbie Boice, Vince Koeppel, and others.

   Drew told a fascinating story about how he left college short of three classes because his business was doing well and he wanted to continue work. One day he just had a feeling he needed to finish those three classes and get a degree. That's where Pathway came to the rescue.  He finished the three classes and and graduated with a degree. Just recently because of his degree and experience he had the opportunity to become Project Manger for the Modesto Temple. He will now oversee the building of the temple and after it is completed he will have an office in the temple to continue to manage the operations of the temple.