Sunday marked another milestone in the long life of Russell M. Nelson and the global religion he leads.
The 100-year-old president of the 194-year-old Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled to Tooele to dedicate the faith’s 200th temple.
“When I was born, there were just six operating temples in the church,” Nelson said in a news release. “The Deseret Peak Temple will be the 200th in the world. Just think of it! It took the church until the year 2000 to dedicate the first 100 temples, and now, just 24 years later, we are dedicating the second 100.”
The single-spired, three-story, 72,000-square-foot Deseret Peak Temple stands as one of 185 temples announced by Nelson during his nearly seven-year presidency. That accounts for more than half of the faith’s 367 planned or existing temples around the world.
“The Lord is truly hastening his work,” Nelson said. “I am filled with gratitude for the Lord’s mercy in guiding us to bring temples closer to members of the church throughout the world.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Deseret Peak Utah Temple in Tooele is shown in May. President Russell M. Nelson dedicated it Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024.
Originally planned as the Tooele Valley Temple in 2019 and plotted for nearby Erda (along with a high-density housing project), the Deseret Peak edifice was renamed and relocated to Tooele City in response to grassroots opposition.
“I hope that our members in the Deseret Peak temple district will not just treasure the addition of a beautiful building to their community,” Nelson said Sunday, “but will arrange their lives so that they worship and serve in the House of the Lord as regularly as possible.”
That worship is growing increasingly easy for the faith’s 17.2 million members as more and more of the structures come on line. Apostle Gary E. Stevenson, who accompanied Nelson at Sunday’s dedication, noted that once all 367 temples are in place, 95% of Latter-day Saints will live within two hours or 200 kilometers of a temple.
“That is something that to me is an indication of Heavenly Father’s love for his children,” Stevenson said in the release, “and President Nelson’s love for each one of us.”
Latter-day Saints view temples as Houses of the Lord and, unlike the more common meetinghouses, places where devout members participate in the faith’s highest religious rites such as eternal marriage.
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) A waiting room inside Deseret Peak Temple.
The Deseret Peak Temple is one of 31 operating or planned temples in Utah. It also becomes the 21st such temple now functioning in the Beehive State. The others are: Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River (South Jordan), Layton, Logan, Manti (rededicated in April by Nelson), Monticello, Mount Timpanogos (American Fork), Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain (South Jordan), Orem, Payson, Provo City Center (converted from the former Provo Tabernacle), Red Cliffs (St. George — dedicated in March); Saratoga Springs, St. George (rededicated last year), Taylorsville and Vernal.
The iconic six-spired Salt Lake Temple, in the heart of Utah’s capital, is undergoing a seismic upgrade and extensive renovation. The Space Age Provo Temple, meanwhile, is being overhauled, redesigned and renamed the Provo Rock Canyon Temple.
Eight more Utah temples — Ephraim, Heber Valley, Lehi, Lindon, Price, Smithfield, Syracuse and West Jordan — are either under construction or in planning stages.
“The temple is a place of peace and power,” Nelson stated, “and spending time there will literally change a person’s life.”
