A Provo, Utah, landmark got a much needed makeover Saturday by congregations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the Provo Community United Church of Christ.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
The service project is part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare program. Local Church members worked side-by-side with Reverend Daniel Haas, pastor of the Provo Community United Church of Christ, and his congregation, offering their time, talents and some monetary donations to spruce up the 120-year-old Provo Community UCC chapel at 200 North University Avenue.
Reverend Haas, commenting on the service project and friendship that has existed between the two faiths, said, “The Community United Church of Christ began in Provo in 1891. For 120 years our people have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with our Mormon neighbors. Their willingness to make this kind effort to help restore our building is a wonderful honor to us. We are grateful for this outpouring of love and fellowship.”
In recent years, the meetinghouse has needed maintenance and repairs. For a second weekend in a row, two Latter-day Saint congregations, the Lakeside Seventh and Tenth Wards, and Provo Community UCC church members performed general cleanup and landscaping, refurbished restrooms, cleaned carpet and replaced drafty windows.
Goodwill between the two faiths and a spirit of working together was demonstrated just prior to Christmas last year, when the Church’s historic Provo Tabernacle was severely damaged by fire. Reverend Haas came quickly to the aid of his Latter-day Saint neighbors and friends and generously offered his nearby church as a place for meetings and events displaced by the devastating fire that had gutted the tabernacle.