Welcome To The Temple - Gilbert Arizona LDS Temple

The Agave

As a design theme, the humble AGAVE plant, native to
Arizona, dominates the architecture of the new Gilbert temple.
It is apparent in the stained-glass windows, stone work,
carpet, carvings, light fixtures, door hardware, and elsewhere.
The temple’s color palette incorporates soft blue, green, gold
and cream – colors of the succulent AGAVE plant.

After collaborating with church leaders, the principal
architect, Greg Lambright said, “We wanted something to
represent the living waters of Christ, and for the temple to be
an oasis in the desert.”  The AGAVE plant was chosen to
represent the Southwest – a humble, yet strong, tolerant plant.
It is extremely versatile, and has been used for a variety of
purposes, including food, beverages, rope, and basketry awls.
The Aztec used the plant for meat, drink, clothing, shelter, and
writing materials!  It is a common misconception that the
AGAVE plant is a cactus, but the AGAVE is actually a lily.
(That certainly gives new meaning to the scripture…”Consider
the lilies – how they grow”.)

The leaf design of the AGAVE plant used in the temple and on
the outside fencing is interlinked, representing families being
linked for eternity.  In the plant, the lower, older leaves are on
the bottom and the younger ones on top.  The lower leaves
support the younger ones and help them to grow as a plant.
After a decade or so the AGAVE plant grows a tall stalk in the
middle – it contains the plant’s short tubular flowers, which
are the plant’s “children”.  Once the plant has dropped all of
the “children”, the plant dies – It is as if the plant “gives her life
for her children”.

The Living Waters of Christ 

Interlinked fencing represents
families being linked for eternity

Windows representing the agave
       stalk with flowers
    reaching towards Heaven 

Blessings of the Temple

By President Thomas S. Monson
Sixteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The late Elder Matthew Cowley, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, once recounted the Saturday afternoon experience of a grandfather as hand in hand he took his small granddaughter on a birthday visit—not to the zoo or to the movies but to the temple grounds. With permission of the groundskeeper, the two walked to the large doors of the temple. He suggested that she place her hand on the sturdy wall and then on the massive door. Tenderly he then said to her, “Remember that this day you touched the temple. One day you will go inside.” His gift to the little one was not candy or ice cream but an experience far more significant and everlasting—an appreciation of the house of the Lord. She had touched the temple, and the temple had touched her.

 

They touched the temple, and the temple will touch them.
 

For more on the LDS tempel see ABC News 15 at:

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/gilbert/gilbert-mormon-temple-what-happens-inside-lds-temple