Temple in The Hague, Part 3
A Photo Essay
Text: Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photos: Scot Facer Proctor

The Vision of the Small Temples

According to Keith Stephan, Managing Director of the Temple Construction Department, the idea of the small temple came to President Hinckley when he was visiting the Saints in Colonia Juarez, Mexico in June 1997. This was an early Mormon colony, with pioneers coming here to escape persecution and open the door to Mexico when it would have been easier to remain with the nucleus of the Saints in more settled regions. But they came, and true to their heritage, they have been remarkably faithful over the decades with scores of mission presidents and Church leaders counted among their ranks, and an activity and tithing level that indicates the highest level of commitment.

The Saints of Colonia Juarez had to drive three hours and then fly to get to their nearest temple, and as President Hinckley visited among them he said, “"I would like to see the time come when all of our people throughout the world could get to a temple without too much inconvenience," he said. "I think you are about as far away as anybody. And I don't quite know what to do about you. There aren't enough of you to justify a temple.”

He later told the Saints, “There are many areas of the Church that are remote, where the membership is small and not likely to grow very much in the near future. Are those who live in these places to be denied forever the blessings of temple ordinances?

“Thinking with love on these Saints as he was leaving, the idea of a small temple, available for use as the members needed it, came to his mind, and he took out piece of paper and drew an L-shaped temple upon it.”

He later described the experience this way, "While visiting such an area a few months ago, we prayerfully pondered this question. The answer came bright and clear."

He signed the picture he had drawn, Gordon B. Hinckley, and when he returned to Salt Lake, he took it to the temple construction department, discussed the idea with them, and asked if they could draw up plans.

Out of this devotion to the well-being of the Saints, the vision of the small temple was born, and the results are this: In the first 150 years since the formation of the Church, 50 temples were built. In the next 3-1/2 years another 50 were built. “That’s an explosion,” said Keith Stephan. During his life, President Hinckley has dedicated 76 temples.

President Hinckley gave the temple construction department this challenge: you have to do this additional building with the same people you have now. This is the direction of a prophet who understands that the work must move quickly with the resources available.

The staff in the temple construction department put up a little sign to remind them, “If you need to do something that has never been done before, you need to do it differently than it has been done before.” They prayed and pondered over the challenge, and finally turned to missionary couples for help, particularly those who had experience in construction. In this way, the managers from the Church department could travel and supervise the building of more temples while missionaries did the day-by-day supervision.

The results “were a miracle,” according to Keith Stephan. Missionaries in Nauvoo, for instance, gave over 88,000 hours to build the temple. The department was divided into four teams of people who each oversaw 15 temples apiece.

“President Hinckley’s timing was perfect,” he said. “This was before 9/11 when the economy was high, the world was safer and travel was freer.

“President Hinckley would sit with us and say, ‘I feel an urgency.’ He would joke that he had always driven the work forward with a 2x4, but now it was with a cane.”

President James E. Faust would josh Brother Stephan saying, “What did you do in the pre-mortal world to put you in this spot? What did you do to be put in the midst of this hurricane?” All he could answer was, “Thank heaven for the missionaries.”

On September 21, 2001 the angel Moroni was placed on the spires of three temples in one day—Nauvoo, Boston and The Hague. It was not planned that all three temples should hoist their Moroni the same day, but it was appropriate. It was the anniversary of the day that Moroni had first visited Joseph Smith, and now his message was moving even farther to penetrate the earth.

Roots in a Lake

The Saints of the Netherlands are filled with joy and happiness this day. It is a time of rejoicing. The suburb of The Hague where the temple stands is Zoetermeer. One member of the Church says, “I do not think it insignificant that now we have a temple in Salt Lake and in ‘sweet lake,’ the translation of Zoetermeer. And sweet it is.