Manti Temple Needle-Point Chairs

here's my story :-) Luv, Merilyn Jorgensen

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Our Manti Temple was closed 1981-1985 for extensive renovations. 

Somewhere in the late spring, 1984, the sisters in our stake were asked by the stake Relief Society presidency to volunteer for a special project for the year—to make needle-point covers for chairs and the altar for one of the large temple sealing rooms.  (It is now called, appropriately, the ‘Needle-point Room’.) The temple was scheduled to open the fall of the next year. I vividly remember thinking how much I would like to do that, but I’d never done any needle-point, and felt I didn’t have time, and shouldn’t experiment on something so detailed. 

During that summer, the needle work seemed to go quite slowly, and periodically there was a plea for more help.  By August, I had had so many feelings pushing me—I felt like my Grammy Carlson (who had worked at the temple for many years) was telling me I should do it, and that I could do it.  I was Manti First Ward Relief Society president, I worked full-time, had children who needed attention, a missionary out in the field, and I felt my proverbial plate was full.  But, finally I said I’d like to do a piece.  I hadn’t had the course of instruction given at the beginning, and had not done the little practice piece that others had, but I felt I just needed to hurry because I was behind.  The work needed to be finished by May of 1985.So, with minimal instruction, I began, doing a little bit at a time, then would put it off until ‘this’ or ‘that’ got done.  In October we were told our project needed to be completed by April.  I began working more feverishly—such as when we went up to Cook’s cabin with family that month. I worked almost the entire week we were gone. 

In November the deadline was moved up to February, and I began to panic.  I counted the number of ‘squares’ or ‘diamond’ areas that needed to be finished, and calculated how long it took for me to complete one area.  When I multiplied the hours required, I was dismayed.  It was now holiday season, we had family stuff to do, church programs and Relief Society welfare responsibilities, work quotas, etc. etc.  There were not enough hours!!  I decided to just do the best I could, thinking someone else may have to finish it. (There were some women dropping out quite regularly, and a diligent handful of sisters were doing needle-point many hours every day to pick up the slack—and I surely did not have ‘many hours’ in any given day to devote to that project!)

The first part of December our deadline again moved—to January!!!  Unbelievable!  All I could do was pray—mightily—for help to do as much as I could.  Things seemed to go pretty smoothly—meaning that I didn’t have to unpick a lot—but still, the hours didn’t add up so that I should be able to finish my piece.  I worked every possible minute, but ‘possible’ minutes were in very short supply.Miracles happen.  I finished, and handed in my piece the very day they were due.  Logic is not applicable here.  There absolutely was not enough time—I even kept track of the time I put in, and it did not add up even close to what I had calculated was needed.

It was absolutely marvelous to be part of such a sacred calling, and then to have the privilege of a personal ‘tour’ of the temple, before the open-house, with sister Florence Jacobsen.  She told us so many marvelous stories about so many of the artifacts, the carpet in the Celestial room, etc. (She was in charge of the interior decorating, and had created the design for our needle-point project).  But that’s not the end of my story. 

I decided I wanted (needed) to make up the small sample canvas for needle-point that I had been given for practice (but hadn’t done), so that I could put it in my album with the certificate, articles, pictures, etc. that I had collected.  (Brother John Henrie Nielson, temple recorder, had taken pictures of our chairs and I persuaded him to let me have some copiesJ  That was also a miracle).  So, this is the ‘rest of the story’.  I began working on my little ‘sample’.  It should have taken minimal time—I knew what I was doing by this time.  However, it was awful!  I unpicked, unpicked, and unpicked.  I didn’t make any where near that many mistakes on the entire chair piece!!  It took me forever to do a little 3x7 inch piece.  I decided needle-point isn’t all that easy, and I never want to do any again!

I was correct, I needed to do that sample piece—to let me know that Grammy really did want me to be part of that wonderful experience, and that she (and Heavenly Father) had indeed been helping me.  I became fully aware that my miracle was much greater than I had realized at the time.