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The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, click here.
Shawn Calvert seemed to exhale a bit Sunday after stepping outside the newly rededicated Houston Texas Temple.
The low-key rededication ceremony signaled better days ahead for Calvert. For perhaps the first time in nearly eight months, he and legions of other hurricane-weary Mormons living in southeast Texas were catching their breath and looking forward.
Calvert never wants to repeat the events following the unwanted arrival of Hurricane Harvey last August. Relentless rains flooded his house — one of the more than 200,000 homes damaged or destroyed by the historic disaster.
Emotions assumed myriad forms in the days following Harvey. Calvert remembers the pain of watching water fill his home and those of his friends and neighbors. But the bad memories share space with the good. He can’t forget the many offering helping hands, tired smiles and, perhaps, a warm meal and a few encouraging words.
“People from our ward were so quick to help us — and then we went and helped others,” he said.
During the initial days of the disaster, Calvert’s and his wife, Lidia’s, frustrations were compounded by news that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ towering Houston Texas Temple was also flooded and closing for major repairs, refurbishment and improvements.
Now the Calverts are back in their home — and, as of Sunday, the temple they love has been reopened.
To read the full article, click here.