Editor’s note: This is part 1 of a three-part series on temple milestones in 2022.
The year 2022 can be remembered as a year of many temple milestones for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Consider the following highlights:
- The total number of temples — dedicated, under construction or announced — reached an even 300.
- The number of dedicated temples now sits at 175, with several more already scheduled for 2023.
- The number of new temple locations announced by President Russell M. Nelson first hit 100, then surged past that. Since becoming President of the Church in January 2018, he has announced 118 new temples — and counting.
- The 35 new temples he announced in 2022 make for the most new locations released in a single year.
- When Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple on May 8, it marked the first time in Church history that each sitting member of that quorum and the First Presidency had presided over either a temple dedication or rededication.
- And the 16 temple groundbreakings is the second-most in this 21st century, exceeded only by the 21 new construction starts in 2020.
At the end of 2022, the Church currently has 300 total temples:
- 175 dedicated temples, including four under renovation,
- 56 under construction, and
- 69 announced that are still in planning and design.
This article serves as the first part in a three-part series looking at temple milestones in 2022, with an emphasis on dedications and rededications over the past 12 months as well as those announced for the coming year.
Part 2 focuses on groundbreakings over the past year and total temples under construction as well as current and scheduled temple renovations. And Part 3 deals with temple announcements in 2022 and temples that are still in planning and design phases.
Each temple a ‘true’ milestone
Numbers and locations don’t make for true “temple milestones” or give a temple any special prominence.
Rather, each and every temple is noteworthy and special for the Latter-day Saints within that district, since the temple provides — as taught by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — opportunity to participate in sacred saving ordinances and to connect with the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
Temple dedications in 2022
Five temples were dedicated this past year — each by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
On May 8, Elder Stevenson dedicated the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, the Church’s eighth in the South American country and 171st dedicated temple worldwide.
Temples help individuals fulfill their divine potential as children of God, said Elder Stevenson, adding that by participating in ordinance work in the temple and being worthy to be there, individuals fulfill God’s vision for them.
His offering the dedicatory prayer and leading the day’s three sessions resulted in each current member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles having presided over at least one temple dedication or rededication.
Later that month, on May 22, Elder Bednar dedicated the Yigo Guam Temple, providing a temple and temple ordinances for those on the United States island territory in the western Pacific Ocean.
Previously, temple attendance required long flights to distance lands — five hours north to Tokyo, Japan; eight hours east to Honolulu, Hawaii; four hours west to Manila, Philippines; or six hours south to Brisbane, Australia.
A month later, half a world away and on an island in another ocean, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Praia Cape Verde Temple on June 19. Praia is the capital city of the 10-island nation off the west coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.
In his dedicatory prayer, Elder Andersen pleaded for much-needed moisture for dry Cabo Verde, which had been plagued by a drought dating back to 2017 and magnifying food insecurities. The result of that prayer was “the miracle of the rain” — not just sustained for days or weeks but ongoing for months.
The year’s last two dedications came on the same day — a first for the Church in more than two decades — and on the same South American continent.
On the northeast coast of Brazil, where the mighty Amazon River empties into the Atlantic, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Belém Brazil Temple, tying the world’s largest waterway and its “pororoca” — a tidal bore where the river temporarily reverses course — as a representation of temple worthiness and ordinances and covenants.
Individuals should put off their natural tendencies, follow the direction that comes from the Holy Ghost and rely on the merits, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, he said. “It is our choice whether we ‘go with the flow’ or follow the Savior to receive His transforming power in our lives.”
Two hours later, on the Andean foothills facing the Pacific Ocean, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Quito Ecuador Temple, encouraging Latter-day Saints there to stay focused on the covenant path.
“The Savior’s Atonement is real, temple covenants are eternal,” he said, “and we must not let distractions and rationalizations pull us away from the path that will lead us back to the Savior.”
Temple rededications in 2022
Four temples that had been closed for multiple years for extensive renovations were rededicated during the past year.
On June 19, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles rededicated the Hong Kong Temple. It was the 48th temple built by the Church, dedicated in 1996 by President Gordon B. Hinckley. The temple had been closed since 2019.
On July 3, President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, rededicated the Tokyo Japan Temple. President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the temple on Oct. 27, 1980, which was not only Japan’s first temple but the Church’s first built on the vast Asian continent.
Calling every temple “a symbol of Jesus Christ,” President Nelson rededicated the Washington D.C. Temple on Aug. 14, 2022. The iconic temple was announced in 1968 and dedicated by President Kimball six years later.
And on Oct. 16, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles rededicated the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. Built from the exhausting efforts of labor missionaries in the 1950s, the New Zealand Temple — as it was known then — was originally dedicated on April 20, 1958, by President David O. McKay.
Scheduled for dedication in 2023
Three temple dedications are already scheduled for the coming year:
- San Juan Puerto Rico Temple, Jan. 15, 2023, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding.
- Richmond Virginia Temple, May 7, 2023, with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding.
- Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, Aug. 13, 2023, with President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, presiding.
Scheduled for rededication in 2023
One temple rededication is set for 2023:
- Columbus Ohio Temple, June 4, 2023, with President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, presiding.
