Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Ephraim Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, Oct. 11.
“This is sacred ground,” he said. “The community of Ephraim and those in this temple district will never be the same because of this holy house of God.”
This is the Church’s 223rd dedicated temple, with the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple — also dedicated Sunday — becoming the 224th.
The first Latter-day Saints entered the greater Sanpete Valley, where Ephraim is located, in the fall of 1849. That same year, missionaries in Denmark taught and baptized Elder Rasband’s great-great grandparents, who faithfully left their prosperous family farm in 1850 for “the promise of temple ordinances” and settled in Ephraim. His great-grandfather worked on the building of the Manti Utah Temple, just seven miles south of Ephraim.
“Because of their faith in the Savior and His words, ‘I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, there ye may be also,’ their lives were forever blessed,” Elder Rasband said, referencing Jesus Christ’s words to His apostles in John 14:2–3. “He was speaking of the eternities that day, but that promise also has meaning right now, for He has prepared this place, this temple, for us today.”
Visit the Church News to learn more about the Ephraim Utah Temple dedication.
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