COLORADO SPRINGS — Local members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrate the announcement that a temple will be built in Colorado Springs.
“I don't think there was a family. In Colorado Springs that was excited as we were,” said lifelong Colorado resident and church member, Jim Wright, “Our phone was ringing, we were receiving texts from people, grandchildren screaming with excitement that a temple was coming to Colorado Springs. We've waited all these years, knowing, and hoping that someday a temple would come.”
Shaking his hands in the sign language motion symbolizing applause, Wright said that is what his grandfather who was deaf would do to show he was thrilled with the announcement.
In 1917 his grandfather moved with his young family from Utah to Colorado Springs for a job at the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.
“They were the only members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that lived in Colorado Springs, so they were the first family here in Colorado Springs,’ said Wright.
A couple of decades later when Wright was a kid growing up in Colorado Springs the number of church members had expanded to between 50 and 100.
Wright tells of driving to Utah to attend one of two temples.
“It took quite a while to get to Utah, took a lot of planning, 12 hours of driving to be able to get there.’
In 1986 a temple in Denver was dedicated.
Close to 150,000 Latter-day Saints in 310 congregations now call Colorado home and the many that live in Southern Colorado will soon benefit from a temple built in Colorado Springs.
Wright said, “By attending the temple, great blessings come into your life. Great blessings come to your family by being able to attend the temple.”
Church leaders tell News 5 that the decision on where the temple will be located has not yet been determined.
A timeline for completion will come after a location is finalized.
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