By Pam Ellis
Alan and Mary Harter have been serving as ordinance workers in the Las Vegas Temple for the last fourteen years. Temple involvement is what anchors their family.

The Harters were married 52 years ago in the St. George Temple. With the exception of brief residencies in Reno, Nevada and Alexandria, Virginia (where Bro. Harter pursued his law degree at George Washington University), they have made Las Vegas home. As the temple was being constructed in 1988, Mary drove by the building site of this much-awaited edifice to check on the progress and noticed a piece of property across the street. When she returned home she told Alan that she really thought they needed to build a home on that lot, with the temple in their sights on the northeast side of their home and all of the Las Vegas Valley visible on the southeast. Alan was dubious. “Just go see it,” she encouraged. They bought the property.

Even living across the valley from the temple, they came several times a week while their home was under construction and began working two shifts a week in 1995, prior to Alan being called to the Stake Presidency of the Sunrise Stake. This participation within the sacred walls of the Lord’s house has allowed them to keep a focus on those things which are most important–their five sons and a Celestial family.

By the time the Harters moved into their new home near the temple, their last son was on a mission. They can easily count their blessings as three sons have served missions–in Northern Italy, Germany, and Virginia–and all five have been married in the temple. Today, all but one son has followed in their father’s footsteps and have careers in the legal field: one attorney, one judge, and two preparing to take the bar. The “renegade” son certainly didn’t disappoint his parents as he is a much loved and respected obstetrician in the valley.

With a drive and commitment to temple work, Mary set a personal goal of doing at least two endowments per week in 2008. By the close of the calendar year, she completed endowments for 253 sisters. Not only her children and grandchildren will rise up and call her “blessed” in the next estate!
With parents who live what son Steven refers to as “celestial lives,” each member of the family has been blessed. He spoke with such tenderness, love and respect for these two people who have lived exemplary lives, have been steadfast in all things and an inspiration to their entire family. They have been “The Rock” of their family—and much of that is attributed to their devotion to the Lord and their service at the temple.

Steven remembers a tragic car accident involving his 8-year-old daughter. She was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in L.A. in a coma with a bleak prognosis. Steven did what he’d done on countless occasions when difficulties arose—he called his parents. 
Upon hearing the news, his father walked across the street to the temple, and there, on holy ground, talked with his Heavenly Father and was given an assurance his granddaughter would make a full recovery.

Doctors could not explain it, but that little girl who medically should either never have survived at all or at best should have suffered lasting effects from the accident, went home shortly after to resume an active life, in great measure the result of a grandfather who lives close to the Lord, communes with Him often, trusts Him explicitly, and serves Him faithfully.

With five wonderful sons, five equally wonderful daughters-in-law, and twenty-three beloved grandchildren, the Harters are aware of their blessings—and can attribute most of those to their involvement in Temple work. Brother Harter says that when he’s at work in the temple and he knows that Mary is there also, he can feel the power of the Lord’s blessings descending on their lives. It is where the Lord would have them, and it’s where they love to be.

The Harters are members of the Frenchman Hills Ward, Central Stake.