Editor’s note: After a lifetime of dedicated service, President Russell M. Nelson died on Sept. 27, 2025, at age 101. This article is part of a series exploring different facets of President Nelson’s exemplary, faith-filled life.
When it comes to President Russell M. Nelson’s relationship with the house of the Lord, a certain number of statistics come to mind.
During his ministry, he announced the locations of 200 new temples — more than any other latter-day Church president. In his lifetime, he dedicated five temples — including the Rome Italy Temple — and rededicated three. During his prophetic ministry, each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated or rededicated at least one temple.
However, the most significant thing to remember is President Nelson’s steadfast and strong testimony of the temple and its centrality to the covenant path. He repeatedly invited members to receive the blessings that come from attending the temple on a regular basis.
“My dear brothers and sisters, these are the latter days,” he taught. “If you and I are to withstand the forthcoming perils and pressures, it is imperative that we each have a firm spiritual foundation built upon the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.”
The temple lies at the center of strengthening one’s faith and spiritual fortitude “because the Savior and His doctrine are the very heart of the temple,” he said in his closing October 2021 general conference address, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation.”
“Everything taught in the temple, through instruction and through the Spirit, increases our understanding of Jesus Christ. His essential ordinances bind us to Him through sacred priesthood covenants. Then, as we keep our covenants, He endows us with His healing, strengthening power. And oh, how we will need His power in the days ahead.”
It seems ironic that a prophet who has announced the most temples of any Church president has dedicated relatively few of them. In fact, President Nelson has the lowest percentage of temple dedications done by any president of the Church in the latter days — less than 10% of the total temples dedicated during his administration.
As an Apostle, the first temple he dedicated was the Sapporo Japan Temple on Aug. 21, 2016. Before that, he’d rededicated the Nuku‘alofa Tonga Temple on Nov. 4, 2007.
During his presidency, he dedicated or rededicated six temples. The first temple he dedicated since he became President of the Church was the Concepción Chile Temple on Oct. 28, 2018.
Then on March 10, 2019, President Nelson dedicated the Rome Italy Temple, an event he described as “a hinge point in the history of the Church.” Notably, each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was present.
And following its extensive renovations, he rededicated the Washington D.C. Temple on Aug. 14, 2022.
On April 21, 2024, President Nelson rededicated the Manti Utah Temple, one of the Church’s pioneer-era temples that he had directed for renovation.
And at age 100, President Nelson dedicated two houses of the Lord — the Deseret Peak Utah Temple on Nov. 10, 2024, and the Syracuse Utah Temple on June 8, 2025. The Deseret Peak dedication gave the Church 200 dedicated temples worldwide; Syracuse was No. 206.
President Nelson also presided at the groundbreaking services of two Utah temples that remain under construction — the Ephraim Utah Temple on Aug. 27, 2022, and the Heber Valley Utah Temple on Oct. 8, 2022.
During his tenure as President, a total of 49 temples were dedicated, and 18 were rededicated. In a historic first, each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated or rededicated at least one temple during his administration.
Why delegate this task to them? Because watching his Brethren carry out the work of the Church across the globe brought him great joy, he said in a 2019 interview during a ministry stop in São Paulo, Brazil.
“Have you ever been a father and taken children on a fishing trip?” he asked. “Are you happy catching a fish? Are you happier watching your children catch a fish?”
In his closing address of the October 2022 general conference titled “Focus on the Temple,” President Nelson testified: “Let us never lose sight of what the Lord is doing for us now. He is making His temples more accessible. He is accelerating the pace at which we are building temples. He is increasing our ability to help gather Israel. He is also making it easier for each of us to become spiritually refined.
“I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can.”
