How busy are your temples?

[KScience]

I am currently  lucky enough to live in very close proximity to the London temple (about 50mins). This has made regular attendance fairly easy. I usually go from work on a Friday night and catch the last session of the day. I have attributed the low number of attendees to the time of day/week. Going at a quiet time suits me well (being an antisocial type)

This week I was unable to go on Friday and with the impending 6 week closure (and my moving house to a greater distance from the temple) I braved what I anticipated would be a busy Saturday morning.  I was shocked that a Saturday morning session had only 7 of us participating. I wrote this off to the unusually good weather and people anticipating bad traffic, people being away on holidays this time of year etc.  I had a chat with a couple of workers over lunch and was even more shocked that this is not an uncommon occurrence!!  

This temple serves the whole of southern England and I often see visitors from Europe. SIgn of the times, or a common occurrence in other places?

Am I the only one shocked (and TBH disappointed) by this?  There are many temples being announced and opened world wide - have any ever been closed?

[Fether]

17 hours ago, KScience said:

I am currently  lucky enough to live in very close proximity to the London temple (about 50mins). This has made regular attendance fairly easy. I usually go from work on a Friday night and catch the last session of the day. I have attributed the low number of attendees to the time of day/week. Going at a quiet time suits me well (being an antisocial type)

This week I was unable to go on Friday and with the impending 6 week closure (and my moving house to a greater distance from the temple) I braved what I anticipated would be a busy Saturday morning.  I was shocked that a Saturday morning session had only 7 of us participating. I wrote this off to the unusually good weather and people anticipating bad traffic, people being away on holidays this time of year etc.  I had a chat with a couple of workers over lunch and was even more shocked that this is not an uncommon occurrence!!  

This temple serves the whole of southern England and I often see visitors from Europe. SIgn of the times, or a common occurrence in other places?

Am I the only one shocked (and TBH disappointed) by this?  There are many temples being announced and opened world wide - have any ever been closed?

The SLC, St George, Cedar City, And Bountiful temples are almost always packed. I imagine it is that way with most Utah temples.

the Louisville temple is small and  does not see masses of people attending. The Vegas temple on the other hand is absolutely massive and I always felt like it is constantly under staffed due entirely to its size, not so much because of the attendance, cause the attendance isn’t particularly impressive.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Fether

[Traveler]

20 hours ago, KScience said:

I am currently  lucky enough to live in very close proximity to the London temple (about 50mins). This has made regular attendance fairly easy. I usually go from work on a Friday night and catch the last session of the day. I have attributed the low number of attendees to the time of day/week. Going at a quiet time suits me well (being an antisocial type)

This week I was unable to go on Friday and with the impending 6 week closure (and my moving house to a greater distance from the temple) I braved what I anticipated would be a busy Saturday morning.  I was shocked that a Saturday morning session had only 7 of us participating. I wrote this off to the unusually good weather and people anticipating bad traffic, people being away on holidays this time of year etc.  I had a chat with a couple of workers over lunch and was even more shocked that this is not an uncommon occurrence!!  

This temple serves the whole of southern England and I often see visitors from Europe. SIgn of the times, or a common occurrence in other places?

Am I the only one shocked (and TBH disappointed) by this?  There are many temples being announced and opened world wide - have any ever been closed?

Most of the temples I attend require a reservation or in other words we are given a time when a session is not full yet.  It use to be that I could go to the temple and get in the next session but here in Utah I think that showing up just before a session is not a good idea.  I have gone to the temple and not been able to schedule a session for 3 hours.  I recently visited the Nauvoo temple and that was not so busy - but then much of the temple staff are serving missions and most of those attending appeared to be tourist like myself.   Often, when I travel, I like to visit a temple.

BTW - I was recently in Independence Missouri and stopped by the "Reorganized" Temple.  I learned that the shift to the "Community of Christ" is not a complete and legal name change - officially (Legally) they are still the RLDS church.  But we (those with my wife and I) had no problem getting a private tore.  We made friends with our hosts and were given private access to several of their historical places in Independence.  I called them our religious cozzens and they seemed to like that.  I was very sad to hear that their official member numbers are so few and I worry that they can maintain the historical property they have.  I was shown a piece of original stuckle from the Kirtland temple.  It is sad what is being lost.  I wonder if 90% of their visitors  are from our Church and that we contribute more $$$ to preserve their holding than from their own.

 

The Traveler