SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah, Oct. 19, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Ground was broken Saturday for the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple in northern Utah County, officials said.
Elder Craig C. Christensen, Utah area president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presided over the event, with members of the Area Presidency attending, said a news release from the Church.
“Latter-day Saint and community leaders, along with local clergy, attended the traditional ceremony,” the news release said. “Guests were invited to turn over a spade of dirt using ceremonial shovels.”
The event marks the beginning of construction of the three-story, approximately 87,000-square-foot temple. The public living in the general area watched the proceedings live from local meetinghouses.
The temple, announced in April 2017 by then-Church President Thomas S. Monson, is located at 897 South Ensign Drive, in the new Beacon Pointe subdivision, west of Redwood Road and north of Meadow Side Drive. An adjacent 21,000-square-foot meetinghouse will also be built.
Christensen expressed the love of President Russell M. Nelson and the senior leaders of Church when he said, “We are gathered here under their direction.”
About a month ago, the Utah area president said he walked the temple site. “After I had absorbed the prominence of this particular setting, I started to picture in my mind’s eye the construction of the temple over the coming months.”
Then, Elder Christensen said, something more important occurred: “I started to think about what will take place within the walls of the temple once it is completed and dedicated, the sacred ordinances and covenants that will be administered here. I realized, in a more profound way, how this particular temple will bless many individuals and families, including your children, your marriages, your families, and, especially, many of your ancestors.”
Saratoga Springs resident Jennifer Raventos said her family is excited to have the temple literally in their backyard. “We’ve been excited ever since President Monson announced the temple two and a half years ago,” she said. “The temple, to me, is a place that represents everything that is important; it represents our testimony of Jesus Christ and the strength of the family. It represents all that we believe in.”
Utah currently has 17 operating temples. In addition to the one in Saratoga Springs, temples have also been announced in Layton, Orem, Taylorsville, Tooele Valley and Washington County.
