5 new temples celebrated major milestones in June

Several temple dedications, including in Tokyo, Rio, and Washington DC, were put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But now new temples are beginning construction or being dedicated at a rapid pace. Earlier this week, a groundbreaking date was set for the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, and dedication dates were announced for the Belém Brazil Temple and the Quito Ecuador Temple. And the month of June alone saw three new temple groundbreakings and two temple dedications.

Here are a few highlights from those special occasions.

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Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Presidency of the Seventy presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Burley Idaho Temple, held on Saturday, June 4, 2022.

“As we symbolically turn this ground today to begin the construction of this temple, may each of us symbolically turn our hearts to our Father in Heaven and let Him know of our gratitude that a temple is coming to this community,” Elder Nielson said in his opening message.

Idaho is home to more than 470,000 Latter-day Saints in over 1,200 congregations. The Burley Idaho Temple will join eight other temples in operation, under construction, or announced in the state of Idaho: Boise, Idaho Falls, Meridian, Montpelier, Pocatello, Rexburg (Rexburg Idaho Temple and Rexburg Idaho North Temple), and Twin Falls.

You can watch the full groundbreaking ceremony in the player above and read more about the groundbreaking on Church Newsroom.

On Saturday, June 18, 2022, Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Gary E. Stevenson attended and spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Smithfield Utah Temple. Both Apostles are natives of Cache Valley in northern Utah.

“Our hearts are full of appreciation for those who have gone before us and who have laid the foundation for a temple in northern Cache Valley,” said Elder Cook in the dedicatory prayer. “We pray that this temple will be a beacon of light for the communities it serves.”

The Smithfield Utah Temple will take its patrons from those members currently attending the Logan Utah Temple, one of the oldest temples in the Church.

You can read more about the groundbreaking ceremony on Church Newsroom here.

Ground was broken for California’s eighth temple—the Yorba Linda California Temple.

Elder Mark A. Bragg, a General Authority Seventy, presided at the groundbreaking on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

In his remarks, Elder Bragg spoke of the blessings a temple will bring to the area. Invoking the motto for the City of Yorba Linda (“Land of gracious living”), he promised “that this house of the Lord will represent the highest in gracious living and those who enter will leave with a higher commitment to gracious living. … We commit to being neighbors of gracious living.”

This groundbreaking ceremony marks a unique occasion. Once the Yorba Linda California Temple is completed, Orange County will be the only county outside Utah, Arizona, and Idaho to have two temples within its borders. The Newport Beach California Temple is also located in Orange County.

Just days before its groundbreaking ceremony was held, the Church released a new photo with an updated rendering of the Yorba Linda California Temple. You can see the initial and final renderings side by side here.

More details and photos from the groundbreaking ceremony can be found on Church Newsroom here.

Elder Neil L. Andersen, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated the Praia Cabo Verde Temple on Sunday, June 19, 2022. The new temple in Cabo Verde’s capital city is the first temple in the country and the 173rd temple in the world.

The small island nation off the west coast of Africa is just over 1,500 square miles in size with a population of around 484,000 people, and its official language is Portuguese. The first Latter-day Saint missionaries to enter Cabo Verde arrived in 1989, and today there are more than 16,000 members of the Church in 41 congregations in Cabo Verde, many of whom are second and third-generation Latter-day Saints.

Alciane Delgado, a young member of the Church in Cabo Verde, said that for her “the temple means a little bit of heaven that we can have here on earth, and there we can be closer to our Heavenly Father.”

You can read more about Elder Andersen’s remarks and the significance of the new temple for Latter-day Saints in Cabo Verde on Church Newsroom.

After three years of renovation work, the Hong Kong China Temple will reopen in July after its rededication ceremony was held on June 19, 2022.

Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided at the services. In his message, Elder Gong shared, “This beautiful Hong Kong Temple invites us in this Asia area to draw closer to our Savior Jesus Christ, build daily our spiritual foundation, and bless our family generations.”

Elder Gong’s parents and ancestors all have deep roots in China. Elder Gong himself served as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, China in 1987, and from 2011 to 2015, Elder Gong was a member of the Asia Area Presidency, headquartered in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong China Temple was the 48th temple built by the Church and was dedicated in 1996 by President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Read more about the rededication ceremony on Church Newsroom here.