SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — President Henry B. Eyring dedicated the Church’s newest temple Sunday, Aug. 13, and encouraged Latter-day Saints in the temple district to respond with faith and energy to the new house of the Lord.
The Saratoga Springs Utah Temple is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ 179th dedicated temple, and the first of six to be dedicated in a period of less than two months, with three scheduled for Sept. 17 and two on Oct. 8.
Church members “have been given this temple as a sign of the Lord’s trust ... and His confidence that [they] will respond with greater faith and energy,” President Eyring, second counselor in the Church’s First Presidency, told the Church News. “This temple is where you can draw more often on the powers of temple covenants. He knows your hearts. He knows your desire to be lifted and to become a more righteous people — just as the world becomes more contentious and fallen.”
In addition to the 179 dedicated temples, 57 are under construction or completed and awaiting dedication, and 79 more locations have been announced and are in planning stages — for a total of 315.
During President Russell M. Nelson’s five and a half years as President of the Church, he has announced 133 of the 315.
Locations of temples
President Eyring said: “Prophets of God have always keenly felt the Lord’s desire to provide temples for His children. I have been blessed to see how the Lord reveals the location of temples through His prophets.
“Every President of the Church has felt inspiration to make temple ordinances available to bless the Saints. They have been inspired to build temples closer to the members, wherever those members live.
“For a time, I was able to observe that inspiration as a member of the Presiding Bishopric. Part of my assignment was to help develop the process of determining where temples should be built. One major objective was to strategically place temples to reduce the travel time of patrons.”
Temples are operating, under construction or planned in 39 of the 50 United States and in 74 countries and territories.
The Saratoga Springs temple is Utah’s 18th, and the fifth in Utah County.
“In some places, members may still be required to make heavy sacrifices to enter a temple of God. Yet, the Lord is also generously directing the placement of new temples where members already have temples close by. That is your joy in this new Saratoga Springs Utah Temple.” President Eyring said.
Other temples in Utah County are the Provo, Mount Timpanogos, Payson and Provo City Center temples. The Orem Utah Temple is scheduled to be dedicated in January 2024, and a temple is under construction in Lindon.
Statewide, 10 additional temples are under construction or soon to be dedicated — for a total of 28.
Dedication services
Also attending the sessions Sunday were Elder Kevin R. Duncan, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Nancy Duncan; Elder Hugo E. Martinez, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Utah Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Nunia Martinez; Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran, General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Olufunmilayo Ojediran; and Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, and his wife, Sister Lori Budge.
Following the morning session, as attendees left the temple grounds, Greta Smith reflected on the 2017 announcement that a temple would be constructed in Saratoga Springs: “At first, I gasped, and I just stood in front of the TV, and I was bawling. We cheered and cried, and then the phone lit up.”
Smith has lived in Saratoga Springs for 40 years, going back to before there was a community of Saratoga Springs. She attended the dedication with a daughter and granddaughter and described the meeting as fabulous.
Jenny Brown grew up in Kentucky and traveled hours to get to a temple, first to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to St. Louis, Missouri, before a temple was dedicated in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2000. She attended a dedicatory session Sunday with her husband, Kevin. “It’s wonderful ... to have a temple where we can share with our family,” the Lehi resident said. “It’s a special experience.”
Seated outside the temple between dedicatory sessions were three more residents of west Lehi. Edy Howes described the session she attended as “heavenly,” and her husband, Ralph Howes, used the term “beautiful.” Liesa Gabriel reflected on the past six years from announcement to dedication of the temple: “We watched it being built.”
Saratoga Springs Utah Temple history
Late Church President Thomas S. Monson announced during April 2017 general conference that a temple would be constructed in Saratoga Springs, one of five locations he identified during his Sunday morning session address.
A ceremonial groundbreaking Oct. 19, 2019, was presided over by Elder Craig C. Christensen, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the Utah Area. He also offered the dedicatory prayer on the temple site.
A public open house April 15 through July 8 drew 587,749 visitors.
The Saratoga Springs temple is at 987 S. Ensign Drive, west of Redwood Road in the Beacon Pointe subdivision. A meetinghouse was also built on the 22.7-acre site.
The three-story temple is 97,836 square feet. Among the Church’s temples, that is smaller than the Mount TImpanogos Utah and Bountiful Utah temples and slightly larger than the than the Payson Utah and Oakland California temples.
Until just a couple of decades ago, the area of Saratoga Springs and neighboring Eagle Mountain to the west was mostly open space.
The combined population of the two in the 2000 census was 3,160 residents. The Census Bureau’s 2022 population estimate is a combined 103,503. Today, those two cities and Lehi to the east constitute three of Utah’s 20 most-populous cities.
The land around the temple was farmed by M. Tim Welch’s grandfather Ruel Evans from the 1920s to the 1960s as part of a 600-acre dry farm. Welch said the temple site itself was never farmed; it was a steep, rocky knoll that would have made planting difficult.
Evans sold the property to the Church in 1966, and the area around the temple site continued to be farmland. Welch said that when he and his wife left on a mission in 2016, it didn’t look much different than he remembered it as a child, including some of the outbuildings. When the Welchs returned from their mission in July 2019, the temple had been announced, with the area around the temple site having begun to be developed.
Welch’s great-great-great-grandfather David Evans was a founder of Lehi, and the Evans family’s Church roots go back to the 1830s. But across the generations many family members had become disaffected with the Church. With a nearby temple, that’s changing.
“Now, we’re seeing, because of the temple, the Evans family come back,” Welch told the Church News. During one day of the open house, 55 Evans relatives attended. Where once the Church was not talked about in extended-family gatherings, now it is.
Mark Wilkinson was part of creating a history of the temple site, in his assignment with his wife, Julie, as co-chairs of the temple committee’s history subcommittee. He sees the Saratoga Springs area of recent rapid growth as between bookends of longtime Church history.
Elder Parley P. Pratt in December 1847, just months after the first Latter-day Saint pioneers came to the Salt Lake Valley, brought a rawhide boat up from the valley and explored the west shore of Utah Lake. Families started settling Lehi to the east in 1851 and in Cedar Fort, to the west of Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain, in 1852.
In 1854 a Latter-day Saint pioneer planted an apple orchard along the west shore of Utah Lake. In 1865, that land was leased by someone else, and its warm springs eventually became the Saratoga Springs Resort, which closed after lake flooding in 1983.
Then in the early 2000s, residential construction exploded. Just in the six years since the temple was announced, Wilkinson said, the number of stakes in the area — Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain and west Lehi — has grown by 36%.
Church members’ preparations for a new temple
Stakes, wards and members within the new temple district participated in a variety of events and spiritual experiences over the past few years as they anticipated completion of the Saratoga Springs temple, according to Elder Chad R. Wilkinson, an Area Seventy who served with his wife, Sister Allison Wilkinson, as coordinators of the open house and dedication committee.
The Lehi Utah Jordan River YSA Stake compiled stake members’ personal experiences from participating in the open house and other events preceding the dedication. Fifty-three stake members wrote items for the project.
Lauren Holbrook of the Hardman Farms YSA 1st Ward wrote: “As a speaking usher at the bride’s room and before the celestial room, I had the unique opportunity to teach, testify and introduce visitors to the purposes of the temple. It was powerful to see parents encourage their young children to listen and then share their own testimonies of the importance of the temple in their lives. Missionaries came with friends who didn’t speak English, and through their translation, you could see understanding and peace come into their hearts.”
More than one stake in the temple district held its traditional pioneer trek event for youth in the area. One of those stakes is the Eagle Mountain Utah East Stake. Its trek ended at the temple site, “where we paused, talked and reflected on the physical and spiritual beauty of the temple,” said Stake President Taner S. Maia.
One of the owners of a construction supply company was in the Eagle Mountain Utah Porter’s Crossing Stake and wanted to find a way to help youth connect with the temple. At May 2021 seminary graduation, as the temple foundation was being constructed, youth were taught about the importance of building a foundation on Christ and anchoring themselves to Him. Each senior was invited to sign their name to an anchor bolt that would be set into the temple foundation, as a reminder that they would be cemented in Christ and focused on their temple covenants, reported stake President Nicholas A. Davis.
Other experiences among members in the temple district included:
- The Lone Tree 2nd Ward in the Eagle Mountain Utah Stake devoted three fifth-Sunday lessons over the past year “to helping our ward to get family names ready for those first few temple trips to the Saratoga Springs temple,” Bishop Sean K. Vance reported.
- Youth in the Eagle Mountain Silver Lake Stake during a stake youth activity embroidered the Saratoga Springs temple on white handkerchiefs to prepare for the dedication, and ward youth groups planted flowers at the temple.
- The Lehi Utah Gateway Stake gathered photos from stake members visiting temples around the world. “During June, our members visited 50 different temples around the world and sent pictures that we rotated in the foyer at the stake center, where people wait to be interviewed for recommends,” Stake President Peter J. Ehat said.
- Eagle Mountain Utah North Stake President Mark B. James took the engraved shovel from the temple groundbreaking and visited every second-hour class in the stake, testifying of temples and explaining that just as the shovels soften the ground in preparation for the temple, “we need to soften our own hearts. I invited them to prayerful set a goal of how they needed to prepare for the temple.”
- Primary children in the Lehi Utah Stake decorated 150 lunch sacks and cards for temple missionary meals. “Through pictures and words, the children expressed their gratitude for their temple and the missionaries who served there during the weeks of the open house,” said Brina Vance, stake Primary president. The stake Relief Society then filled the sacks with meals.
- Many stakes have goals to increase the proportion of endowed members who hold current temple recommends. One of those stakes is the Saratoga Springs Utah Saratoga Hills Stake, where President Bradley D. Wendel reported: “We want every worthy member in our area to be in and participate in temple blessings. Our stake set a goal of 80%. Today, the week of the temple dedication, we are at 85%. Amazing.”
This story has been updated with the square footage of the temple building.
