Final touches added to the Pocatello Idaho Temple as the open house gets underway this week. This photo was taken on Sunday, September 12, 2021 (Courtesy: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
POCATELLO, Idaho — Top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are beginning tours of the Pocatello Idaho Temple. The open house runs most days through Saturday, Oct. 23, except for Sundays.
Church spokesperson Irene Caso said Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, who is serving as the president of the North American Central Area and other leaders hosting tours and media appearances for invited guests. The public is invited to tour the temple beginning Sept. 18.
Elder Nielsen said the open house is a chance for anyone to tour the temple and learn about its importance to church members.
“This is an opportunity for all of the Saints here to be great neighbors in normal and natural ways to just reach out and love those around them and invite them to help them understand what the temple is all about,” explained Elder Nielsen.
The temple sits high on the eastern foothills of Pocatello. The exterior is a light gray granite.
The art glass features wildflowers of the Idaho mountain desert, including the syringa, which is the Idaho state flower, and the bitterroot. The colors in the art glass are sage, representing the sagebrush of the region; gold, representing the wild grasses that turn gold in the summer; and pink and coral, representing the sunset, the bitterroot flower and Red Hill above Pocatello.
Camille N. Johnson, Primary general president and a native of Pocatello, said this was a really special opportunity to come home to her birthplace, and to celebrate the Church’s newest temple.
“I’m delighted for the dear Saints here that will have the blessing of the temple here on their hillside,” said Johnson.
Ground was broken for the newest temple in the spring of 2019. The temple was announced in April 2017 by then Church President Thomas S. Monson.
This will be Idaho’s sixth operating temple. Temples are in Boise, Idaho Falls, Meridian, Rexburg and Twin Falls. A seventh temple has been announced in Burley.
Idaho is home to more than 460,000 Latter-day Saints. The Pocatello Idaho Temple will serve about 61,000 members from the area.
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