Another 8,700 Mormons and non-Mormons from throughout the Northwest visited Friday, meaning nearly 35,000 people toured the temple in the first two days of the weeklong open house.

The strong turnout on a sunny spring Saturday surprised church leaders, who put in another order for shoe covers.

"The carpet got a little dirty," said Doug Baird, president of the Medford Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Although closed today, the temple will be open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

"This is not a proselytizing effort -- this is just a warm welcome to the community," Baird said. "We're not trying to push anything on anybody."

The temple, nearly 11,000 square feet, is at 2305 Taylor Road in Central Point.

Because of limited parking, visitors should park at the Jackson County Expo, where a free shuttle will be provided to and from the temple.

Although the temple is actually in Central Point, it's called the Medford temple because of the practice of naming a temple after the largest local community in the vicinity.

After it is dedicated on April 16, only Mormons judged worthy will be admitted to the temple.

Although built by local craftsmen, the materials for the temple came from throughout the world.

Visitors may be surprised to find no large halls within the temple. Instead, there are a series of relatively small rooms, each designed to accommodate certain functions such as weddings, instruction and baptism.

"The temple is divided up into functional sections," Baird said. "It's not a Sunday meetinghouse but it is a house of prayer, a house of service, a house of worship.

"All the temples have the same type of essentials, the same type of instructional rooms, sealing rooms where marriages take place and the baptismal fonts," said Ed Hanson, president of the Central Point Stake.

The baptismal font looks a bit like a conventional hot tub, until you notice it rests on 12 oxen heads representing the 12 tribes of Israel.

"The symbolism is obvious: When you are baptized and become a member of the kingdom of God, you are part of the covenant of Israel," Baird said. "It's the same covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Converts coming into the church are baptized in baptismal fonts within the chapels. The temple baptismal font is used for Mormons to baptize ancestors by proxy, Baird said.

"In the temple, baptisms are performed for and on behalf of our kindred ancestors who have passed through the veil and are very much alive in the spirit world," he said. "We seek out members of our families who lived on earth when the gospel wasn't here, and bring their names in."

The temple includes two sealing rooms for marriage ceremonies.

"They are dressed in white, representing purity," Baird said of the participants. "Marriages represent eternity."

Opposing mirrors in the sealing rooms represent infinity, symbolizing the permanence of marriage.

A 4,200-crystal chandelier sparkles in the ceiling in the celestial room at the far end of the temple.