In his concluding message of the April 2024 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson announced locations for 15 new temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bringing the Church’s total number of houses of the Lord to 350 worldwide — 168 which President Nelson has announced over the past six years.
“The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us. The temple is the only place on earth where we may receive all of the blessings promised to Abraham,” he said in a message shared Sunday afternoon, April 7, in Salt Lake City.
“This is why we are doing all within our power, under the direction of the Lord, to make temple blessings more accessible to members of the Church. Thus, we are pleased to announce that we plan to build a new temple in each of the following 15 locations.”
The 15 new temple locations President Nelson identified are:
- Uturoa, French Polynesia
- Chihuahua, Mexico
- Florianópolis, Brazil
- Rosario, Argentina
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Brisbane, Australia, South Area
- Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
- Yuma, Arizona
- Houston, Texas, South Area
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Honolulu, Hawaii
- West Jordan, Utah
- Lehi, Utah
- Maracaibo, Venezuela
With Sunday’s announcement, the Church now has 350 total temples — dedicated, under construction or announced and in planning. The 350 include:
- 189 temples dedicated.
- 7 temples scheduled for dedication.
- 45 temples under construction.
- 1 temple scheduled for groundbreaking.
- 108 temples announced and in planning and design.
President Nelson noted in his Sunday afternoon message that when he was born — on Sept. 9, 1924 — the Church counted six functioning temples — in St. George, Logan, Manti and Salt Lake City, Utah; as well as in Laie, Hawaii, and Cardston, Alberta, Canada.
Adding in the 15 new locations, President Nelson has now announced 168 new temples since becoming President of the Church in January 2018.
The 168 include:,
- 9 temples dedicated.
- 2 temples scheduled for dedication.
- 44 temples under construction.
- 1 temples scheduled for groundbreaking.
- 36 temples with site locations identified.
- 76 announced temples in planning and design.
The 15 new houses of the Lord will eventually be constructed, dedicated and help bless the lives of Latter-day Saints living in and around those areas. In his address Sunday, however, President Nelson provided Church members worldwide with invitations and promises to now rejoice in the gift of priesthood keys, especially those that deal with temple worship and temple ordinances of salvation and exaltation.
He invited his listeners to read the Prophet Joseph Smith’s dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple — found in Doctrine and Covenants section 109 — and called it “a tutorial about how the temple spiritually empowers you and me to meet the challenges of life in these last days.”
Those who serve and worship in the house of the Lord, he added, “can expect to receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge and increased power.”
He revisited the theme of “Think Celestial,” which he introduced six months ago while speaking during the October 2023 general conference. “Time in the temple will help you to ‘think celestial’ and to catch a vision of who you really are, who you can become and the kind of life you can have forever. Regular temple worship will enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God’s magnificent plan. I promise you that.”
After listing the blessings promised from section 109, President Nelson added: “Here is my promise: Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshiping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement or help you understand God’s magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more — nothing.”
