More and more new temples are reaching important benchmarks as the Church continues to keep up with President Russell M. Nelson’s rapid rate of temple announcements. Each month, dedications, open houses, location announcements, and other updates are taking place. Here are the five major temple milestones from June 2023 and a list of the nine temples currently scheduled for dedication later this year.
Columbus Ohio Temple Rededication
After three years of extensive renovations, the Columbus Ohio Temple was rededicated by President M. Russell Ballard on Sunday, June 4, 2023. The temple was first dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley on September 4, 1999.
According to Church News, more than 63,000 members of the Church live in the US state of Ohio, attending 15 stakes and 125 congregations. Latter-day Saints in this temple district will soon have access to Latter-day Saint temples like never before: new temples in Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have been announced as well.
At the Columbus Ohio Temple rededication, President Ballard said he hopes Latter-day Saints will “see the temple as a place of refuge, a place of peace, a place where people can commune spiritually just by being in a dedicated house of the Lord. … Heaven is as close as it can be in the temple because it is the house of the Lord.”
You can read more about this temple’s rededication on Church Newsroom.
Bentonville Arkansas Temple Open House Begins
The Bentonville Arkansas Temple began its public open house on June 17, 2023, and will host tours through July 1 before its dedication on Sunday, September 17. Elder David A. Bednar will dedicate the new temple, which will serve Latter-day Saints in Arkansas and Missouri. The Bednars lived and raised their young children in northwest Arkansas.
“We have come back home,” Elder Bednar said at a news conference on Monday, June 12, 2023. “We are not Arkansans by birth, but whatever degree of adoption is necessary to be a full-blown Arkansan—that’s what we are.”
“[The Bentonville Temple] is spectacular,” Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston told Church Newsroom. “I’ve been involved in a lot of construction work. Years ago my grandpa was a paint contractor. So I’m looking at the paint. I’m looking at the trim. It is pristine. That is probably the most pristine structure that I’ve ever seen.”
You can read more about the open house for the Church’s new temple in Arkansas on Church Newsroom.
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Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple Groundbreaking
On June 17, 2023, ground was broken at the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple site and dedicated by Elder Juan A. Uceda, a General Authority Seventy and Second Counselor in the Brazil Area Presidency.
“I ask Thee, dear Father, that this place and all who live within the boundaries of the temple district enjoy special protection,” Elder Uceda prayed, as reported by Church News. “And may the light of the gospel shine throughout this region. We pray that no influence will stop or delay the building of the temple and that in due time it will be dedicated as the house of the Lord. May Thy spiritual power be strongly felt in this region.”
The new temple in Belo Horizonte will be approximately 26,884 square feet and join 17 other temples across Brazil. Nearly 1.5 million Latter-day Saints live in Brazil and meet in more than 2,100 congregations.
Longtime Church member Carlos Inéas Bueno, who helped build one of the Church’s first meetinghouses in Belo Horizonte, told Church News, “I want to testify that I know that here, now, with the building of this temple, we will grow stronger and stronger in the gospel in this state.”
Read more about the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple groundbreaking on Church News.
Helena Montana Temple Dedication
On Sunday, June 17, 2023, Elder Gary E. Stevenson dedicated the Church’s 178th temple, located in Helena, Montana.
“This temple dedication,” he told Church News, “serves as a testament of the strength and devotion of the Saints who reside in this beautiful region of Montana.”
The new temple in Helena is historic for a number of reasons. First, the new Helena Montana Temple district is made up of stakes in Helena, Butte, Bozeman, and Great Falls—roughly half the US state of Montana. On top of that, according to Church News, less than three weeks after it was announced in April 2021 general conference, the Helena Montana Temple had a site location and exterior rendering. Later that year, the building’s structure was assembled on site in Montana in just two weeks.
“No buildings have ever been tried to be built at this level with modular construction,” Matt Burke of the Church’s Special Projects Department told Church Newsroom prior to the dedication.
► You may also like: Modular temples? See how the Church is keeping up with new temple announcements
“What a great blessing it is now for this great area of Montana to have access to a temple like this,” Elder Stevenson told Church News. “It is part of the blessings that are coming to us as our dear prophet is so focused on gathering Israel on both sides of the veil. This temple will bless the lives of many people.”
“To have this temple here for these humble, sweet people—it’s just been their dream,” Sister Stevenson told Church News. “They never thought this would happen. And now these temple blessings are taking place in their part of the world.”
You can read more details about the new temple and its dedication on Church News.
Montpelier Idaho Temple Groundbreaking
Ground was broken for the new Montpelier Idaho Temple on Saturday, June 17, 2023.
“It is with deep gratitude and in humility that we assemble in this sacred place to prepare the ground and dedicate this site for the construction of the Montpelier Idaho Temple,” Elder Ryan K. Olsen, a General Authority Seventy, said during the dedicatory prayer.
The current plan for Idaho’s ninth temple involves a two-story, 27,000-square-foot structure to be built on a 2.6-acre site.
You can read more about this temple’s groundbreaking on Church Newsroom.
Here are more temples currently scheduled for dedication or rededication later this year:
- Saratoga Springs Utah Temple: dedication scheduled for August 13, 2023
- Bentonville Arkansas Temple: dedication scheduled for September 17, 2023
- Brasília Brazil Temple: dedication scheduled for September 17, 2023
- Moses Lake Washington Temple: dedication scheduled for September 17, 2023
- Feather River California Temple: dedication scheduled for October 8, 2023
- McAllen Texas Temple: dedication scheduled for October 8, 2023
- Bangkok Thailand Temple: dedication scheduled for October 22, 2023
- Okinawa Japan Temple: dedication scheduled for November 12, 2023
- St. George Utah Temple: rededication scheduled for December 10, 2023
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