The Temple Facilities Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is replacing the Angel Moroni statue that sits atop the Star Valley, Wyoming Temple in Afton. Replacement work is scheduled for Monday, August 5 beginning at 12 noon. It is anticipated that the process will take about four hours.

“A couple of months ago, we had a thunderstorm and lightning struck the statue, which blackened part of the backside of the statue,” said President Kirk Hathaway, President of the Star Valley, Wyoming Temple. “You can hardly tell where it is unless you’re looking for it. When our Temple Facilities Manager looked closely, he noticed that there was blackening on it, and so it was determined by the church’s Temple Facilities Department that we should replace it.”

Two large cranes will work together to complete the job. One crane will remove the damaged statue and replace it with the new one. The second crane will lift a facilities crew member to the statue, and he will secure the statue in place.

The temple and temple grounds will be closed for the day on Monday. President Hathaway is asking the public to remain off the grounds during the replacement work.

“You never know,” he said. “If there were a malfunction in one of those cranes and it came down, we would hate for anyone to be hurt. We ask that everyone remain off the temple grounds while the work is taking place. I’m hoping that people will use common sense and be safe around there while it’s going on. There will be a lot of people driving back and forth on the highway, and I would hate for anyone to have an accident while watching the Angel Moroni being replaced.”

The public is welcome to watch the proceedings from a location off the temple grounds.