HELLFIRE!

Miraculously, no one was injured. I feel compelled to say that first off.

Yesterday we had Stake Conference which this year was one of the newfangled broadcasts from SLC rather than one with our local leaders. It was right during Liesel's normal nap time at 10AM so of course she was fidgety. Brent and I took turns taking her into the hall to work it out in the vain hopes she might fall asleep. Elder Eyring was the last to speak and as he began his talk, the feed went awry so there was no sound. I joked to Whitney (who opted to come to the Belmont chapel with us rather than the Longfellow chapel) that I wasn't getting anything out of Elder Eyring's talk... was it because I was so hard-hearted? She obliged me with a laugh and Brent told me he overheard in the hall that the Longfellow chapel had been having feed problems all day.

At the conclusion we sang a closing hymn when Elder Christensen (recently released as an Area Seventy) got up on the stand. That was a little odd since President Lowe had been conducting. Then he explained that while we were listening to Stake Conference, a fire had erupted in the Longfellow chapel. Like I said, everyone was safe, all 300-ish people, but the building was completely gutted and will have to be rebuilt. Welllll, that helps explain why they were having trouble hearing conference! We were asked not to rush over there and mob the place as fire fighters were still working on the blaze, which was finally extinguished an hour later at 1PM. A quick text to friends I knew would be there confirmed everyone indeed got out okay.

I waited until dark to head over and check it out with Whitney. Even after all the reports, I was shocked. It really was gutted! Had it been made of anything but brick it would have probably truly burned to the ground. Then I got sentimental. This building is where I attended church as a lost, broken-hearted, single girl with little hope or direction in life. I eventually left on the arm of my fiance to attend church in a family ward in Belmont. Consequently, that building was burned down by arsonists not long after the adjacent temple was built. But I digress.


This chapel is the one where I heard countless talks over the pulpit, made some of the best friends of my life, checked out prospective guys from the balcony in sacrament meeting and tried my best to live up to the callings I had the chance to serve in. The spiritual transformation that occurred for me in that chapel was my balm of Gilead so to speak. It wasn't the typical chapel either! It had chandeliers, high ceilings and a large round window behind the pulpit. To see the charred and broken windows, the complete lack of a roof and the dripping steeple just broke my heart. The building was dedicated in 1951 by David O McKay and was one of the first Mormon chapels in New England. Elder L. Tom Perry was a bishop there many years ago. Countless local leaders attended church there before membership in the area couldn't be contained within its walls. I'm not the only one who's sentimental about the Longfellow Park chapel, believe me. This video shows the curtains covering the windows of the chapel instantly going up in flames:



They will rebuild and because it's in a historic area kitty corner to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's house (hence the chapel name) it will likely retain some of that New England charm. In the meantime, the 3 congregations that meet there will have to find a temporary home. It will be interesting to see how that works out. I'm pretty sure all the church buildings in the area are at maximum capacity already with 2 or 3 wards utilizing them. Rest assured though, Whitney reports she received an email and FHE is still on for tonight :)

If you'd like to read more, the Boston Globe story here.