Provo Tabernacle to rise from ashes as a temple

"I've gone early in the morning to do baptisms for the dead at the Provo Temple and waited for two-and-a-half hours for my turn," Heaps daughter, Stephanie, said. "It's just so busy there. A new temple will really be used."

"I know that every time I go to the temple, it's really busy and crowded, but you just kind of go with that," McGuire said. "I'm thrilled. I'm just so excited for it."

"I think that it shows that out of any supposed tragedies, the Lord can make something even better," said Bishop Randall Stokes, bishop of a Young Single Adult ward in Provo. "You can never assume that a tragedy is really a tragedy until you see where it's going."

The second Provo Temple was the first of six new temples announced during the Saturday morning conference session. There was another audible gasp when President Monson announced a new temple in Paris, France. The church's desire and "hope" to build a temple in Paris was actually announced earlier this year in response to a French newspaper's coverage of property negotiations there. But as far as church officials are concerned, Saturday's announcement during general conference is the official "announcement."

There was also audience reaction — laughter — when President Monson announced the construction of a new temple in Star Valley, Wyo., and indicated, "I think I'll dedicate that one. There's good fishing there!"

The temple in Star Valley will be the first in the state of Wyoming.

Smaller, but equally heartfelt, reactions accompanied President Monson's announcement of two new temples in Africa – in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Durban, South Africa – and in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Email: jwalker@desnews.com