President Hinckley Breaks Ground for Sacramento California Temple

President Gordon B. Hinckley presided at the groundbreaking for the Sacramento California Temple on August 22, 2004. The temple will be the seventh in the state.

Prior to the groundbreaking, President Hinckley addressed nearly 2,000 members gathered at the Fair Oaks California Stake Center, adjacent to the temple site, and offered a short dedicatory prayer. Thousands more viewed the proceedings via satellite broadcast in 40 meetinghouses within the temple district. The temple will serve about 80,000 California residents, with boundaries from Stockton to Red Bluff.

“I pray that this building, when it is dedicated, standing in your midst, will bring with that dedication an added spirit of testimony and faith, of love for the Lord and His great work, of dedication to the work of His cause and His kingdom,” said President Hinckley before dedicating the site. “I pray that families may be blessed and prospered and live together in love and peace with respect and appreciation one for another. I pray that the gospel light may shine on the countenances of the members of this Church in this area, that they may be known and recognized as those who walk in that light which has come from the God of heaven through the restoration of His great work in this the last and final dispensation of time. I pray that the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon this whole area and that that Spirit may touch the hearts and minds of men and women who will embrace the gospel and partake of its richest blessings.”

President Hinckley met several local priesthood leaders and Latter-day Saint politicians outside for the groundbreaking. Roseville Mayor F. C. “Rocky” Rockholm, California State Representative John Doolittle, and President Hinckley all used gold-plated shovels to break ground.

Church News contributed to this report.

President Gordon B. Hinckley broke ground for the new Sacramento California Temple on August 22, 2004. (Photograph by Greg Hill/courtesy of Church News.)