Temples to Open in 2006

Two new temples will have opened their doors to the public by the end of 2006—the Sacramento California Temple on July 29 and the Helsinki Finland Temple on September 21—bringing the number of operating temples to 124. Additionally, ground has been broken for the Twin Falls Idaho Temple, and the Los Angeles California and Papeete Tahiti Temples are currently undergoing renovation.

New Temples

A statue of the angel Moroni is already atop the Sacramento California Temple, a sign of its pending completion.

“We have faith-promoting experiences every day working on the temple,” says Jacob Jensen, the project superintendent for the Sacramento temple. To him, it is evidence of Heavenly Father’s hand in people’s lives.

The dedication of the Sacramento temple is set for Sunday, September 3, with the open house scheduled from July 29 through August 26. It will be the Church’s seventh temple in California.

The new Helsinki Finland Temple is scheduled for dedication in October. “Finnish members really feel the temple is a great blessing for such a small nation,” says Ville-Matti Karumo, Church public affairs director in Finland.

But it will bless more than just members in Finland, as it will be the closest temple for members in eastern European countries, including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and northwestern Russia. The dedication will include four dedicatory sessions on October 22. The open house is scheduled from September 23 through October 7, culminating with a cultural celebration on October 21. Until then, stake presidents have asked all the members to visit the Stockholm Sweden Temple as often as they can to show appreciation to the Lord for blessing Finland with a temple.

Renovations

In November 2005, the Los Angeles California Temple closed for various renovations, including a seismic overhaul.

“If there’s a big quake, the building will be fine,” explains John Dietrich, a temple recorder at the Los Angeles temple. He explains that a crossbeam in the 115-foot (35-m) tower on the temple was bent by a 1994 earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 6.7.

Meanwhile, members in Tahiti too, anxiously await the time when they can perform ordinances and receive blessings again in their beloved Papeete temple, one of four temples in the Pacific Islands. The temple closed for renovations in August 2005.

No rededication dates had been announced for either temple as of May 1.

Ground Broken

While work on these temples comes to completion, work on another has just begun. Ground was broken for the Twin Falls Idaho Temple on April 15, 2006, by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Presidency of the Seventy, the second temple on which construction began in Idaho during the past year. It will be the fourth temple in Idaho, serving 40,000 Church members from 14 stakes.

Ground was broken in April for the new Twin Falls Idaho Temple, now under construction.