President Russell N. Nelson and other church leaders and dignitaries turn the soil at the groundbreaking of the Ephraim Utah Temple in Ephraim on Saturday. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
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EPHRAIM, Sanpete County — President Russell M. Nelson made a surprise visit to Ephraim Saturday to break ground for a new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The first Latter-day Saints entered the Sanpete Valley in 1849, and the church president said his family helped settle the valley.
“The history of this area includes my own family,” President Nelson said at the event. “My dear mother was born in Ephraim, not far from this very temple site. My father was born in Manti. Three of my four grandparents were born here in Ephraim. All eight of my great-grandparents lived in Ephraim.”
The new temple will be located less than 10 miles from the church’s pioneer-era Manti Utah Temple, which was first completed in 1888 and is currently under renovation. That temple is expected to be rededicated sometime in 2023, according to a statement from the church.
The church says the Ephraim Utah Temple will serve more than 31,000 church members in Sanpete, Carbon and Emery counties.
“We pray that the construction of this temple may be accomplished to accommodate thy divine purposes,” President Nelson said in the dedicatory prayer. “We are deeply grateful for our ancestors. They have laid a foundation of faith that undergirds our spiritual strength. May we learn who they are, find their qualifying information, and bless their lives with sacred rites offered vicariously in this holy house.”
President Nelson’s participation in Saturday’s groundbreaking was a surprise to those gathered for the ceremony, according to the Church News. He was accompanied by his wife, Wendy, and Elder Walter F. González, a general authority seventy, and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the church’s Temple Department, and their wives. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Ephraim Mayor John Scott, and others participated in the ceremony. Cox is a native of nearby Fairview in Sanpete County.
Rain began to fall as President Nelson finished his prayer dedicating the site for the temple and continued to fall as church leaders and guests broke the ground with shovels, the Church News reported.
Jude Price — who is President Nelson’s first cousin once removed — watched the rain and immediately claimed to know the source. As President Nelson left the groundbreaking ceremony, she yelled out to him: “These are the tears of joy of our ancestors,” according to the Church News.
Moments later, the sprinkles of rain became a downpour.
President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Wendy, arrive at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ephraim Utah Temple in Ephraim, Sanpete County, on Saturday. (Photo: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The Ephraim temple will be built on a 9.16-acre site located at the intersection of 200 North and 400 East in Ephraim. Plans call for a three-story temple of approximately 39,000 square feet. President Nelson announced that the temple would be built in May 2021.
A president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not broken ground for a temple since President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the site for the Rome Italy Temple on Oct. 23, 2010, according to the Church News. In his lifetime, President Nelson has only participated in two other groundbreaking ceremonies — for the Accra Ghana Temple and the Curitiba Brazil Temple.
President Nelson has announced 100 new temples since he became the church’s president in 2018, according to the church. Worldwide, the church now has 282 total temples in operation, under construction or renovation, or announced, including 28 temples in Utah.
Utah’s other temples are the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Deseret Peak, Draper, Heber Valley, Jordan River, Layton, Lindon, Logan, Manti, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Orem, Payson, Provo City Center, Provo, Red Cliffs, Salt Lake, Saratoga Springs, Smithfield, St. George, Syracuse, Taylorsville and Vernal temples.
Latter-day Saint temples differ from the church’s meeting-houses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members to participate in sacred ceremonies such as marriages and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.
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KSL.com Staff
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