SYRACUSE, Utah — President Russell M. Nelson dedicated the 206th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday.
Seven months ago, President Nelson dedicated the 200th temple. Sunday’s dedication of the Syracuse Utah Temple marks the 200th temple to open its doors during the Church President’s 100-year life.
When President Nelson was born, only six temples had been dedicated. The first four were located in Utah — St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake. The other two were in Laie, Hawaii, and Cardston, Alberta.
“We are such a blessed people,” President Nelson said in Syracuse.
The temple provides an opportunity to increase access to blessings from Heavenly Father, he said.
“This is the Lord’s house. It is filled with his power,” President Nelson said. “Those who live his higher laws have access to his higher power. God’s power helps us to grow from the trials of life, rather than be defeated by them. God’s power also helps us to withstand temptations with joy in our hearts.”
President Nelson was accompanied at the 4 p.m. Sunday dedicatory session by his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, and Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Mary Cook. Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Nancy Duncan, and Elder Hugo E. Martinez, General Authority Seventy and counselor in the Utah Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Nuria Martinez, also attended.
‘Sacred place of revelation’
President Nelson also spoke about the role temples play in helping individuals receive personal revelation.
“This house of the Lord can become a sacred place of revelation for you. You can learn things in the temple that you cannot learn anywhere else on earth,” he said.
That promised blessing of revelation comes with additional benefits of peace and confidence — confidence he also spoke about in his most recent general conference address.
“Because of your worship here, you will be blessed with peace, even in your most turbulent times. You will feel closer to your Heavenly Father and to your Savior, Jesus Christ. You will experience greater spiritual confidence,” he said Sunday at the Syracuse temple.
As examples of the types of revelation that can be received in the temple, President Nelson said: “As you sincerely seek Jesus Christ, you will find Him here, in his holy house. You will feel his mercy — here. You will find answers to your most vexing questions — here. You will better comprehend the joy of his gospel.”
Sister Nelson said being in the temple feels different than any other place on earth because it is the Lord’s house.
“Time in the temple puts everything into an eternal frame,” she said. “What we experience inside the temple is real and really important.”
Elder Cook said temples today are more important than they have ever been.
“We need them at this time. In this world we are in, we need the temple. We need the ordinances of the temple. We need the warmth and love of the temple. We need the teaching that goes on in the temple more than we ever have before,” he said outside the temple following its dedication.
This was President Nelson’s fifth time dedicating a new house of the Lord. When serving as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he dedicated the Sapporo Japan Temple. As President of the Church, he has dedicated the Concepción Chile, Rome Italy and Deseret Peak Utah temples. He also rededicated the Manti Utah, Washington D.C. and Nuku’alofa Tonga temples. The Tonga temple’s rededication came as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Church strength in Syracuse
The church’s first ward in Syracuse was created on Dec. 1, 1895. In the 131 years since, the city and surrounding area have grown to include many Latter-day Saints. The new temple’s district comprises 16 stakes. Latter-day Saints in those stakes watched the broadcast of the dedication from their local meetinghouses.
“Each stake has many diligent and faithful Saints. You are truly blessed to live here,” President Nelson said. He added that the area is known for producing “valiant youth, strong families and saints who are willing to let God prevail in their lives.”
Those youth mentioned by President Nelson will have the unique opportunity of participating in the temple’s baptismal ordinances in one of two baptistries. The Syracuse temple is the church’s first to open with multiple baptistries. Others will also have two baptistries in the future, as well. The Church announced in March 2021 that the renovated Salt Lake Temple will be one of them when it is reopened potentially in 2027.
Elder Cook said he knows youth are excited for the extra capacity.
“With two baptistries we know the youth will rejoice as they make the Syracuse temple an oasis for sacred ordinances,” he said. “Having a sanctified temple of the Lord, the dedicated Syracuse Utah Temple, is truly a supernal blessing.”
Elder Cook said there are more than 10,000 youth in the temple district.
“I think the Lord provides where the people are willing to respond,” he said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional baptismal fonts in other temples, but this is a good place to start.”
Sister Cook said participating in temple covenants allows individuals to have testimony-building experiences.
“Spiritual experiences occur when we participate and perform the ordinances and make the covenants which link families for eternity,” she said.
Located on the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, Syracuse is 30 miles north of Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The temple in Syracuse is the 24th to be dedicated in Utah and the second to be dedicated in the state in the last seven months. The last to be dedicated in Utah was the Deseret Peak Utah Temple. Since then, the Casper Wyoming, Tallahassee Florida, Auckland New Zealand, Nairobi Kenya and Abidjan Ivory Coast temples have been dedicated.
The temple in Syracuse is situated at the western edge of the city’s growing housing developments and still surrounded on three sides by farmland. Many birds also call the area home due to its close proximity to the Great Salt Lake. More than 10 million other birds pass by the lake each year on their migratory flights.
The stained-glass windows of the temple reflect bold but reverent colors of the plants that grow along the lake’s edge. The blue, green and yellow glass appears to wave in the sunlight. Trees in front of the temple were in full bloom during the temple’s open house. As summer approaches, bushes filled with hundreds of huge yellow roses now brighten the entry on the east side of the temple grounds.
Utah has 32 total temples — dedicated, under construction, under renovation or announced and in planning.
Two temples in Utah are currently being renovated — the Salt Lake and Provo Rock Canyon. Four others are under construction — Lindon, Smithfield, Ephraim and Heber Valley.
The newest temple to be announced for the state will be located in Spanish Fork. That temple location was announced along with 14 others worldwide by President Nelson in April’s general conference. That brings the total number of temples announced by President Nelson to 200 in the seven years since becoming President of the Church.
Overall, the Church currently has 382 temples announced, under construction or in operation.
Saints of Syracuse
Neal and Caroline Briggs emerged from the dedication with what they described as both a sense of relief and a renewed sense of purpose. The land where the temple was built has been in Neal Briggs’ family since his great-great-grandfather purchased it in 1885 — 10 years before the first ward was established in the area.
The Briggs family had farmed that land for the 140 years they owned it.
“I’ve told my family for years that I hold this land dear, and I need every acre I can get to farm,” he said. He told them he wouldn’t sell or develop the land, and he didn’t allow family to build on it, either.
“But I always added the clause: ‘Unless the Lord happens to need it for a temple,’” he said. So when he had his first discussions with the Church about the land potentially being used to build a temple, he said he felt it was “game time” and that others were going to want to know if he would keep his word now that a temple was a possibility.
Thomas Briggs was that first ancestor who purchased the land. He had a quote that has been passed down and now hangs on Neal and Caroline Briggs’ wall.
“All that I have is the Lord’s, and in the end I hope to be his,” Thomas Briggs said.
The end result is a temple the Briggs family loves and looks forward to serving in.
“I love every inch of this temple,” Caroline Briggs said. “This was all our ground, and it was always sacred to us. Now it’s sacred to the Lord.”
Mike Moyes lives just minutes from the new temple, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to see the dedication. Moyes recently underwent brain surgery and has had to go through therapy to be able to attend the dedication.
“It was a miracle for me,” Moyes said. And while he couldn’t stand from his wheelchair in a show of reverence for President Nelson when the Prophet entered the room, Moyes knows that being in the celestial room for the dedication put him in a special position to bear testimony of a living Prophet.
Brielle Harper is 17 years old and attended the dedication with her brother and mother. She said recognized the importance of being in the temple for its dedication when she felt her concerns go away when she entered it Sunday.
“Peaceful, calm, I felt like all the stress I had was just lifted,” she said. “I felt like nothing really mattered besides where I was in that moment.”
And when she heard President Nelson pray for the youth in the dedicatory prayer, she said she felt something inside pushing her to go to the temple more frequently.
“I feel like being able to be super close to the temple will bring me closer to my Heavenly Father and raise my spirits, as well,” she said.
Syracuse Utah Temple facts
Address: 1098 S. 2500 West, Syracuse, Utah
Announced: April 5, 2020, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church
Groundbreaking: June 12, 2021, by Elder Kevin R. Duncan, General Authority Seventy
Dedicated: June 8, 2025, by President Russell M. Nelson
Property size: 12.27 acres
Building size: 90,526 square feet
Building height: 219 feet, 8 inches to top of spire
Temple district: 16 northern Davis County stakes in the cities of Syracuse, West Point, Clearfield, Clinton and Sunset
