OREM, Utah, Sept. 6, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A small group of invited guests gathered Saturday for the groundbreaking of the Orem Utah Temple.
The number of attendees was limited due to local government restrictions put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said a news release from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The new temple will be located on a 16-acre site at approximately 1471 S. Geneva Road, west of Interstate 15 and south of University Parkway, within close proximity of the Provo Utah Temple and Provo City Center Temple, as well as the campuses of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University, the news release said.
Elder William K. Jackson, a General Authority Seventy said, by way of the news release: “This temple will be a place of personal revelation and learning. It will be a refuge, a sanctuary of peace in an often cluttered and noisy world. It will serve to mend, help, strengthen and encourage all who come here to worship and be edified.”
Plans include a three-story temple of about 70,000 square feet with a center spire. A 20,000-square-foot meetinghouse is to be constructed on the temple site as well.
The Orem Utah Temple is one of two Utah temples announced in October 2019 by Church President Russell M. Nelson.
Utah currently has 17 operating temples. In addition to Orem, temples have been announced in Syracuse, Taylorsville, Tooele Valley and Washington County. Temples in Layton and Saratoga Springs are currently under construction. This brings the total to 24 temples announced, under construction, under renovation or in operation in the state. The Church has 168 operating temples in the world.
Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the “house of the Lord,” the news release said. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses. Unlike meetinghouses, where Sabbath worship and weekly activities take place, temples are open throughout the week and are closed on Sundays.
