By Steve Fidel
Deseret News staff writer

Temple Square attracts more visitors than any other place in Utah. But tourists are hard to find there during Temple Square's two busiest weekends.
Those weekends, usually the first weekend in April and first weekend in October, see an influx of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the church's semiannual conference.
During the conference, church leaders preach to capacity congregations inside the historic Tabernacle while a public address system carries the sermons to overflow crowds that cover the lawns outside when the weather is good.
On other weekends, it's not unusual for as many as 15 tour buses to be idling along the curb outside Temple Square's walls on a Sunday morning. Tour operators are advised general conference is a blackout weekend for tours, reducing the number of tour buses to two or three.
''Temple Square belongs to the visitors 50 weeks of the year. Mormons claim it the other two,'' said Elder Lawrence Reichenbach, who just completed his service as second counselor of the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission. If an unwitting tourist does happen onto Temple Square during general conference, they probably won't stay as long because of the crowds, he said.
The 200 female missionaries and 30 married missionary couples in the Temple Square Mission escort visitors around the square, answering questions and introducing Temple Square guests to the history and doctrines of the church.
The 18-month duration of mission assignments means one-third of the missionary force at Temple Square is new each time general conference rolls around. So adjusting from generally non-LDS visitors to the LDS conference crowd is anything but routine.
''During conference, we change our focus considerably,'' Elder Reichenbach said.
Missionaries undergo an orientation the week before general conference to review adjustments to Temple Square protocol: Picnicking, normally forbidden on the square, is allowed during conference because church members often arrive early in the morning and stay all day. Microphones used to help broadcast a guide's remarks to a large tour are turned off so they do not compete with sermons piped from the Tabernacle. Tours continue around the grounds and in the square's two visitors centers. But they stop and guides are silent during prayers that are also piped from inside the Tabernacle.
Crowd control is an additional duty. Missionaries are taught to be polite but to generally ignore detractors who frequent the sidewalks outside the square.
Many of the missionaries assigned to Temple Square come to Salt Lake City from other countries — as is evidenced by the 33 non-English languages spoken as a native tongue among the Temple Square missionary force. That creates another unique scenario for the missionaries, Elder Reichenbach said. ''Our typical missionary, say, from Japan, has never seen this many Mormons all in one place.''
Conference meetings fill the tabernacle on Saturday and Sunday. The square quickly returns to its normal operating schedule Monday morning.