Canadian Mormons' home site becomes a House of the Lord

OKOTOKS, Alberta — It has been said the only place comparable to the temple in its sacredness is the home. For one Alberta couple, the phrase takes on a whole new meaning, because the Vancouver British Columbia Temple sits on the site where they raised their four children.

In 1988, Gerald McLean, son of prominent Mormons in the Vancouver area, and his wife, Linda, a convert from the small Alberta town of Stirling, were trying to find a piece of land in the Vancouver area for their two children to grow up on. They found a 2.5-acre spot on the highest part of Langley Township and raised their children, with two more born there, for four years before moving back to Alberta.

Fourteen years later, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was visiting the area in 2006 to see potential temple sites suggested by Abbotsford British Columbia Stake President Paul D.M. Christensen. The prophet was driving east on 82nd Avenue from the Langley meetinghouse when he had the car stopped.

"Here is where we are going to build the temple," President Hinckley said near a large hedge, just east of 200 Street. The property wasn't available at the time.

On May 25, 2006, the McLeans, of the DeWinton Ward in the Calgary Alberta Foothills Stake, heard about the announcement of the new temple and realized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had bought their old property, a neighbor's and one other parcel for the temple grounds. Later, they found out the temple itself would sit on the spot where they had reared their children a decade and a half earlier.

"What a wonderful thing to think that this magnificent building, one that symbolizes eternity and families, is now standing where our family once lived," Linda McLean said. "For us, it's very special."

The entire McLean family was not able to go out to the temple open house that recently ended, but they were able to take the youngest two children — the ones whose lives began in a house where now sits a House of the Lord.

"The minute I walked into the temple with two of our children, the tears just came," McLean said. "Words can't express what I feel. We're such a family-oriented church, and that's what the temple represents: connecting families from the past and into the future. We'll always have that special connection because our humble home stood on those grounds."

Luckily, a second chance came during the dedication, when the entire family made the 608-mile trip to the temple.

"I sent a letter to President (Thomas S.) Monson's office detailing our connection, and sent some pictures," Linda McLean said. "We received a call from his office, and they invited us out to the dedication. The whole family now gets to go."

e-mail: nnewman@desnews.com