How long is the endowment presentation at your local temple?

[Sunday21]

How long is the endowment presentation at your local temple? A group of people in my stake are trying to persuade our local temple (Detroit) to move to a 45 minute presentation (the standard in Toronto) rather than a longer presentation. I can’t remember how long the Detroit presentation is but over an hour.

We have a huge backlog of endowments here. I suspect that our area has a high percentage of converts. Converts, like me, often have hundreds of names to process and we are gumming up the system. The endowment backlog is driving us to tears. We lack retired lds people who are often frequent temple attendees. Retired people here often leave for Utah, which is nice in a way as this move shows where their heart is! We could complain if these retired people were taking off to gamble in Vegas. 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by Sunday21

[Fether]

8 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

How long is the endowment presentation at your local temple? A group of people in my stake are trying to persuade our local temple (Detroit) to move to a 45 minute presentation (the standard in Toronto) rather than a longer presentation. I can’t remember how long the Detroit presentation is but over an hour.

We have a huge backlog of endowments here. I suspect that our area has a high percentage of converts. Converts, like me, often have hundreds of names to process and we are gumming up the system. The endowment backlog is driving us to tears. We lack retired lds people who are often frequent temple attendees. Retired people here often leave for Utah, which is nice in a way as this move shows where their heart is! We could complain if these retired people were taking off to gamble in Vegas. 

 

 

Don’t know, never been awake for one

[Sunday21]

7 minutes ago, Fether said:

Don’t know, never been awake for one

Fether! 😱 Is that you I heard snoring?

[Vort]

25 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

How long is the endowment presentation at your local temple? A group of people in my stake are trying to persuade our local temple (Detroit) to move to a 45 minute presentation (the standard in Toronto) rather than a longer presentation. I can’t remember how long the Detroit presentation is but over an hour.

We have a huge backlog of endowments here. I suspect that our area has a high percentage of converts. Converts, like me, often have hundreds of names to process and we are gumming up the system. The endowment backlog is driving us to tears. We lack retired lds people who are often frequent temple attendees. Retired people here often leave for Utah, which is nice in a way as this move shows where their heart is! We could complain if these retired people were taking off to gamble in Vegas. 

I have never heard of a 45-minute endowment. I don't see how the endowment in its current form could possibly be presented and completed in 45 minutes.

[Sunday21]

40 minutes ago, Vort said:

I have never heard of a 45-minute endowment. I don't see how the endowment in its current form could possibly be presented and completed in 45 minutes.

Hmmm. I have paticipated in 45 minute sessions. There must be different, perhaps older versions, of the presentation.

[Jane_Doe]

I don't remember the lengths, but the older video's were shorter.  They made the newer videos a few years ago which, while having the same script, are longer because they include more pauses.  The pauses are needed for other languages where it takes longer to say things.  

[Fether]

1 hour ago, Sunday21 said:

Fether! 😱 Is that you I heard snoring?

Oh...indubitably

[Sunday21]

15 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

I don't remember the lengths, but the older video's were shorter.  They made the newer videos a few years ago which, while having the same script, are longer because they include more pauses.  The pauses are needed for other languages where it takes longer to say things.  

Ok. This makes sense. As they needed to lengthen the duration I doubt that the Detroit temple will agree to go back to the older presentation. Thanks!

[Vort]

31 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

I don't remember the lengths, but the older video's were shorter.  They made the newer videos a few years ago which, while having the same script, are longer because they include more pauses.  The pauses are needed for other languages where it takes longer to say things.  

Even the 1990-era presentation films weren't 45 minutes. If you had a live-acted presentation of the endowment with only a few people jparticipating where everyone said their lines as rapidly as possible without error, clothing changes were all accomplished in under a minute, and the veil went very fast, you could probably get through in 45 minutes. Short of this, no way.

[Fether]

1 minute ago, Vort said:

Even the 1990-era presentation films weren't 45 minutes. If you had a live-acted presentation of the endowment with only a few people jparticipating where everyone said their lines as rapidly as possible without error, clothing changes were all accomplished in under a minute, and the veil went very fast, you could probably get through in 45 minutes. Short of this, no way.

Just hit the x3 speed on the remote, remove commas, periods, skip all parts of the video that do not have dialogue, and everyone sits next to an officiator.

[Vort]

3 minutes ago, Fether said:

Just hit the x3 speed on the remote, remove commas, periods, skip all parts of the video that do not have dialogue, and everyone sits next to an officiator.

I am dismayed at how negatively so many Saints portray the endowment presentation. I think it is the most profound and, in many ways, interesting presentation of doctrinal teachings about our relationship with and obligations to God that I have ever seen. It breaks my heart to see it cast as pearls before swine, who cannot see past their own callow perceptions and refuse to invest the time to do scores of such endowments, paying close attention each and every time, until the beauty of the endowment settles on their minds. When someone at a Church meeting casually mentions the "boring" endowment presentation, it's all I can do to bite my tongue and keep my frustration to myself. I do not stop myself from correcting their false impression, however. (I do try to be polite about it.)

[person0]

3 minutes ago, Vort said:

. . . invest the time . . .

Personally, I would really like to know what the 7 hour long original version was like.  Even if for no other reason than my curiosity, I would gladly sit through it!

Edited May 7, 2018 by person0

[Fether]

4 minutes ago, Vort said:

I am dismayed at how negatively so many Saints portray the endowment presentation. I think it is the most profound and, in many ways, interesting presentation of doctrinal teachings about our relationship with and obligations to God that I have ever seen. It breaks my heart to see it cast as pearls before swine, who cannot see past their own callow perceptions and refuse to invest the time to do scores of such endowments, paying close attention each and every time, until the beauty of the endowment settles on their minds. When someone at a Church meeting casually mentions the "boring" endowment presentation, it's all I can do to bite my tongue and keep my frustration to myself. I do not stop myself from correcting their false impression, however. (I do try to be polite about it.)

Ya...you are right 

[Guest]

I think all endowment sessions are the same length of time. I think where is gets confusing is the wait time in between. In Toronto you only have to wait 45 for the next session because the have 4 rooms in which the endowments are done. So while one seesion is going in one room another can start 45 minutes after in another room. The Detroit temple is smaller and possibly less busy, it only has two endowment rooms, so they have to space it out longer, it looks like they go every 2 hours on Saturday, with two room they could probably do them closer together but may not want to confuse people, it is easier to remember ever 2 hours rather than every hour and a half or however long would be.

Edited May 7, 2018 by miav

[Guest]

I think it depends on what you're counting as the "presentation".

There are parts of the endowment which are dependent upon the number of participants.  If you only have the witness couple and one other participant, then it won't take long at all.  But if you have a full session and the room is large, it could extend the session by a considerable margin.

But the "film" part is really pretty short.  I'll take my non-alarm clock with me this week and find out.

My wife got me a watch that looks like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Skeleton-Steampunk-Mechanical-Automatic/dp/B01D1AOHH2/ref=sr_1_9?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1525714288&sr=1-9&nodeID=7141123011&psd=1&keywords=skeleton+pocket+watch+steampunk

I love my wife.

[Sunday21]

@Carborendum Wow! That’s a great watch!  No wonder you love this woman. Great taste and not just in watches! I was wondering how long your endowment is scheduled for? Thanks! I am thinking that the Toronto temple still has the old presentation and therefore has shorter sessions.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

@Carborendum Wow! That’s a great watch!  No wonder you love this woman. Great taste and not just in watches! I was wondering how long your endowment is scheduled for? Thanks! I am thinking that the Toronto temple still has the old presentation and therefore has shorter sessions.

The Houston temple has two endowment rooms and there is a session every hour.  So, they alternate which endowment room starts a new session that hour.  So, the sessions must complete in less than 2 hours (all encompassing) regardless of the size of the group.

This has been the routine for every temple I've ever been in (i.e. 2 hr time limit).  I've been to 10 temples.

Of the Houston sessions I've been to, they have varied between 1h 15m to almost 2 hrs.  The new film only added like 5 or 10 minutes as I recall.  They even published the time difference somewhere that I read about it.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Guest

[zil]

@Sunday21, I think @miav and @Carborendum have it right - differences in duration are not significantly about the presentation length - they're mainly about the number of rooms available, the number of ordinance workers for the session, and the number of patrons in the session.  Of course, that's guessing on my part - I haven't gathered facts and run them through an algorithm to prove it.

[Sunday21]

@zil Thanks! Yes I see your point! What! No algorithm! 

[BJ64]

At the Idaho Falls temple, where you progress through five rooms the sessions start every hour on the hour.  

[BJ64]

On 5/6/2018 at 9:49 PM, Vort said:

I am dismayed at how negatively so many Saints portray the endowment presentation. 

I do not have a negative attitude toward the endowment but I wish it was shorter. Some of us need to use the restroom. 

[Vort]

On 5/6/2018 at 7:54 PM, Sunday21 said:

Hmmm. I have paticipated in 45 minute sessions. There must be different, perhaps older versions, of the presentation.

So, to be clear: You have begun an endowment session at, say, 7:00, and been in the celestial room by 7:45. Is this correct?

[BJ64]

2 minutes ago, Vort said:

So, to be clear: You have begun an endowment session at, say, 7:00, and been in the celestial room by 7:45. Is this correct?

I believe with the old films you could move through a session in as little as 50 minutes. Unless it was a crowded session. 

[Vort]

15 minutes ago, BJ64 said:

I believe with the old films you could move through a session in as little as 50 minutes. Unless it was a crowded session. 

I think that I don't believe it. I have done many sessions, including fast sessions with very small groups (a half dozen or so people). I have never gotten through a session in under an hour. I think probably 1:10 or 1:15 is the fastest I've ever experienced.

[BJ64]

38 minutes ago, Vort said:

I think that I don't believe it. I have done many sessions, including fast sessions with very small groups (a half dozen or so people). I have never gotten through a session in under an hour. I think probably 1:10 or 1:15 is the fastest I've ever experienced.

You may be right. I don’t wear a watch in the temple so I lose track of time. However I think the new films added about 15 minutes to the time.