SALT LAKE CITY — President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, Sunday afternoon, Nov. 11.
The temple is the Church’s 200th temple. Its construction was first announced in April 2019.
President Nelson said, “When I was born, there were just six operating temples in the Church. 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.”
A dedicatory ceremony was held and broadcast to all congregations in the temple district. President Nelson was joined by his wife, Wendy, and Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Lesa.
Elder Stevenson explained the dedication marked a time of “hallelujah” for the Church.
“When we think about what’s happening today, this is really unprecedented in several respects,” Elder Stevenson said. “The first, of course, is that we have a 100-year-old prophet of the Lord in this dispensation dedicating a temple, so that alone is really special, and you add to that the 200th temple in this dispensation being dedicated by our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.”
In his dedicatory remarks, President Nelson made multiple promises to those who enter the temple, including finding answers to their most vexing questions.
There are 367 temples in operation, under construction or announced around the world.
In Utah, there are 31 temples announced, dedicated or under construction or renovation. The others are the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Ephraim, Heber Valley, Jordan River, Layton, Lehi, Lindon, Logan, Manti, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Orem, Payson, Price, Provo City Center, Provo Utah Rock Canyon, Red Cliffs, Salt Lake, Saratoga Springs, Smithfield, St. George, Syracuse, Taylorsville, Vernal and West Jordan Temples.
Utah, the Church’s world headquarters, is home to nearly 2.2 million Latter-day Saints, approximately two-thirds of the state’s population of 3.4 million.