It's been more than two years in the making, but the 16th Street chapel which will house the DC 3rd ward and the Mt. Pleasant Branch is close to completion. The official dedication will take place sometime soon.
President and I have had a couple of tours and watched it's progress and then on Monday the zone leaders had a tour as well. Here is a compilation of pictures taken over time and hopefully a glimpse of what you would see if you came to the open house that is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday.
View from the parking lot.
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| View from Emerson. This is the side door. |
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| More of the view from Emerson. |
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| Corner of Emerson and 16th Street. |
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| From the front. |
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| Also from the front. |
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| Some missionaries pose on the front steps. Left to right: Elder Dillon, Elder Wells, Elder Mataele, Elder Croft and Elder Brown. |
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| These bike posts are one of the missionaries favorite features at the building. |
There is underground parking to supplement the spaces around the building.
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| Driveway to the underground parking. |
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| The door to the parking is on the right. |
On the main floor you'll find the bishop's office.
On the second floor is the RS room, Primary room and classrooms and media room. All of it is accessed by an elevator.
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Here are the members of the zone leader council. President and I are standing on the cultural hall floor looking up at the 2nd floor.
Left to right: Elder Sanchez, Elder Dillon, Elder Furugen, Elder Gleed, Elder Clapier, Elder White, Elder Brown, Elder Williams (tall), Elder Gillespie, Elder Croft, Elder Mataele, Elder Bigelow, Elder Wells and Elder Standing. |
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| This is the upstairs hallway. |
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| The media room several months ago. |
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| There are signs posted to help those on tour understand more about the Church as well as understand the purposes for the rooms. |
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| This is the Relief Society room several months ago. |
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| This is the Relief Society room today. |
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| One of my favorite rooms. |
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| The room is long and narrow. |
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| This elevator is wonderful for those who have difficulty with stairs. |
On the main floor is the Melchizedek Priesthood room, baptismal font, kitchen, baptismal font, chapel and cultural hall.
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| Again an explanatory sign for the open house. |
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| We used this room to have our zone leader council. Behind the doors at the back is a pass through window to the kitchen. |
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| The baptismal font several months ago. |
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| This is the baptismal font today. It may have been the eldes favorite room. |
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| The kitchen ovens are still being installed. |
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Another descriptive sign.
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Because the chapel has not been dedicated yet, we took this picture.
Front row left to right: Elder Wells, Elder Bigelow, Elder Gleed, Elder Croft, Elder Brown, Elder Gillespie, Elder Standing, Elder Furugen, Elder Williams, and Elder Sanchez.
Back row: Elder Mataele, Elder White, Elder Dillon and Elder Clapier. |
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| And this was the chapel several months ago. |
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| Looking at the cultural from ground level. |
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| Looking at the cultural hall from the second floor. |
The cultural hall right now is stocked with food in preparation for the Day of Service that is happening on Saturday, September 29. This particular event is what the Washington Stake is doing. In Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC, area congregations of many faiths as well as other organizations are devoting time and resources to help fight hunger and provide other services. If you would like to see additional information, go to: DaytoServe.org.
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| The plan is to fill 1000 boxes of food. |
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| There are many different items. |
