RIVERVIEW, Florida — “Three specific reasons” that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds temples, said Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, are: to increase faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to perform ordinances that last beyond this life and to provide a place of refuge and peace from the world’s difficulties.
“We live in a secular world, a world that, to some extent, is sliding down the slope of unrighteousness,” Elder Andersen said. “And yet, the Lord has said we must become a people who love God above all else and who serve Him. … As much as we have faith in Him, this house [of the Lord] will strengthen our faith and give us the courage to be who we should be.”
Elder Andersen testified of the temple’s power during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Tampa Florida Temple on Saturday, Aug. 23. The temple site is southeast of Tampa in Riverview, Florida.
He was joined by his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen. Tampa has special significance to Elder and Sister Andersen; it’s where Sister Andersen grew up and where she and Elder Andersen raised their family.
Elder Brook P. Hales, General Authority Seventy, conducted the groundbreaking services.
“As we celebrate the commencement of the construction of this house of the Lord, let us remember the reason that we build these sacred temples,” Elder Hales said. “It is so that we can make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father and receive priesthood ordinances that will bind us to Him and to the Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Elder Hales also quoted from President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2024 general conference talk: “Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping 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.”
Additionally, three local Church members spoke during the groundbreaking: Joseph Anthony Meyers II from the St. Petersburg Florida Stake; Levi Martinez, a young man from the Sarasota Florida Stake; and Samantha McLaws, a young woman from the Lakeland Florida Stake.
In attendance at the groundbreaking were Florida state Rep. Michele Rayner and the Rev. Glenn Dames, senior pastor at the Allen Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The audience also included other religious, education and government leaders, Andersen family members living in the area and dozens of local Latter-day Saints who turned out in the pouring rain to celebrate the start of construction for their new temple.
In addition to his prepared remarks, Elder Andersen offered a prayer dedicating the temple site and the construction process.
“We are humbled as we consider Thy noble and devoted disciples of past years who worked and prayed and lived their lives so that this day might come,” Elder Andersen said in his prayer. “We are so grateful for those upon whose shoulders we stand. We express our appreciation for the faithful Saints who now live here on the west coast of Florida … and for their faith in Thee and Thy Son. Without their righteousness, this house of the Lord would not be built.”
‘A beautiful time’ of temple building
Speaking during Saturday’s groundbreaking ceremony, Sister Andersen reflected with deep gratitude on her forebears whose faith had such a “great effect” on her and subsequent generations.
She recounted how her great-grandparents sold their Florida home and property, then took their children by train to Utah to be sealed in the temple, as there were no closer temples. Later, Sister Andersen’s own parents drove their family 2,500 miles from Florida to Utah so they could be sealed.
Sister Andersen was 4 years old at the time, but one memory shines brightly in her mind: her family entering the sealing room, kneeling around the altar and being sealed together for all eternity.
Now, during a day of “joy and happiness,” work begins on a temple for “this beloved area,” Sister Andersen said.
During his remarks, Elder Andersen spoke fondly of his and Sister Andersen’s time in Tampa — they even thought they’d spend the rest of their lives there, before Elder Andersen’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve changed those plans.
He mentioned the Church’s growth in Florida, noting the Orlando temple’s dedication in 1994, the Fort Lauderdale temple’s dedication in 2014 and the Tallahassee temple’s dedication in 2024. Plans to build a temple in Jacksonville were announced during October 2022 general conference.
President Nelson has ushered in “a beautiful time” of temple building, Elder Andersen said.
“It is an enormous blessing to be at a time when our members throughout the world are so generous, that the Lord has blessed us so much that we can build these temples,” he said.
A temple, Elder Andersen continued, is literally a house of the Lord, where He can dwell and bring His Spirit among the people.
“We know that He is the Son of God, that He lives,” Elder Andersen said.
He also testified that Jesus Christ will come again. That day will be breathtaking, Elder Andersen said — the scope, the grandeur, the vastness, the magnificence.
“I give you my assured and certain witness that Jesus is the Christ,” Elder Andersen said, adding, “His life, … His Crucifixion, His time in Gethsemane, His Resurrection, are the most important events of all human history.
“And when the real history of the world is written, He will be the center of it all.”
A ‘beacon of faith’ to all
Sister Andersen also spoke about the rich religious community she experienced as a child growing up in Tampa. In an interview with Church News after the groundbreaking, she said a temple will further enrich the “very loving and very kind” Tampa community.
Elder Andersen added in an interview that the Tampa temple will be a beacon of faith to all who see it.
“They will say, ‘There is a community of believers here that are very devout who believe in Jesus Christ, and maybe I should believe more in Jesus Christ.’ And it will help the whole community,” Elder Andersen said.
Each temple is a miracle, he continued, especially in how they make temple blessings much more accessible for people who previously traveled long distances to worship.
“This is what President Nelson is bringing to the whole Church,” Elder Andersen said. “And in the days ahead, as we prepare ourselves, we will have a more devoted membership and love the Savior because of these temples across the world.”
Fort Myers Florida Stake President Christopher Thompkins echoed Elder Andersen’s sentiment, saying the Tampa temple shows that the area is growing and missionary work is progressing.
“Members are demonstrating to the Lord that we can be good spirits,” he said.
Crystal Wall, Fort Myers Florida Stake communications director, added that the temple is what held her family together during difficult times while her children were growing up. “It was temple attendance that helped [us] to have the Spirit in our home, to know that we weren’t alone, that our Heavenly Father was there right along with us.”
A ‘life-changing’ temple
Local Latter-day Saints attending the Tampa temple groundbreaking expressed a range of gratitude, excitement and tender emotion about the temple.
When Amber Pirotta was asked what having a temple in Tampa means to her, her eyes instantly filled with tears.
Pirotta, a member of the Apollo Beach Ward in the Brandon Florida Stake, said she’s an adult convert to the Church whose temple experiences have largely occurred in the Orlando Florida Temple, about an hour and a half away by car.
She’s well acquainted with the sacrifice of time and energy it takes to worship in the Orlando temple; so “knowing that we’re worthy to have [a temple] close to home but also having the added understanding of how much our Savior loves each individual person … and having [the temple] so much more accessible to all of the members here is literally life-changing.”
Her husband, Tony Pirotta, said the Tampa temple will be only 15 minutes from the Apollo Beach Ward building.
As a young man, he watched the Orlando temple be built and later served during the open house. Now, he feels it’s “such a blessing” to know a temple will be even closer to people in the Tampa area.
“We absolutely can’t wait for the opportunity to walk through the doors of the Tampa Florida Temple,” Tony Pirotta said, adding that the “gospel is alive” in this area.
Bonnie Kelly, a member of the Citrus Park Ward in the Odessa Florida Stake, also became emotional while talking about the Tampa temple. She recalled the community’s excitement when the temple was announced during April 2022 general conference — excitement not only for themselves but also for all the proxy ordinances that will be completed in the Tampa temple.
The blessings of proxy ordinances are particularly meaningful to Kelly, who said she has two sisters who recently died and whose temple work she looks forward to doing.
“The whole area will blossom,” she said of the Tampa temple. “Whenever there’s a temple, the whole area becomes just beautiful.”
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Florida state Sen. Darryl Rouson and Hillsborough County Branch NAACP President Yvette Lewis were in attendance at the groundbreaking.
