President Nelson’s 7 years as Church President: Preserving and making history

President Nelson’s efforts to preserve Church history include restoring pioneer-era temples, acquiring the Kirtland Temple, directing the four-volume ‘Saints’ and commemorating a bicentennial year

Published: Jan 21, 2025, 5:14 p.m. MST

President Russell M. Nelson stands in front of the two-spired Manti Utah Temple prior to the rededication in Manti, Utah, on Sunday, April 21, 2024. — President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated the Manti Utah Temple in Manti, Utah, on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

All 185 new temple locations President Russell M. Nelson has announced since becoming President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seven years ago have come in a general conference — except for one.

While speaking at the groundbreaking of the Ephraim Utah Temple on Aug. 27, 2022, President Nelson recalled how the announcement of this second house of the Lord in central Utah came to be — a temple less than 10 miles from the Manti Utah Temple.

President Nelson said shortly after April 2021 general conference, he “received very clear instruction” from the Lord that the pioneer craftsmanship of the Manti temple — then set to be renovated by the Church — should be preserved and a new temple should be built in nearby Ephraim.

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