The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marked a pair of important temple events this weekend in north-central California — the Sunday, Oct. 8, dedication of the Feather River California Temple, which was preceded by the Saturday, Oct. 7, groundbreaking for the Modesto California Temple.
The two houses of the Lord — one now dedicated and the other set to begin construction — are about two hours apart on California’s Highway 99. The Feather River temple is located in Yuba City, nearly an hour north of the state’s capital city and its own temple — the Sacramento California Temple — while Modesto is a little more than an hour south.
Elder Gary B. Sabin, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Church’s North America West Area presidency, presided at the Modesto groundbreaking services Saturday, offering remarks and a dedicatory prayer on the site and the construction process.
He prayed that the new house of the Lord “will stand as a beacon of light and hope and a witness of the reality and divinity of Thy Beloved Son and of the eternal nature of the soul and the divine potential of Thy children.”
In his remarks, Elder Sabin said: “We are reminded that temples bring us closer to Christ, and when we come closer to Christ, we are more joyful. We’re so grateful for all the members — past and present — whose faith and courage have made this possible along the way.”
Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen — a Latter-day Saint — was among the local faith, government and civic leaders attending Saturday’s groundbreaking. She had an invitation to friends, coworkers and neighbors throughout the Modesto area: “Please come often to the temple grounds and feel the peaceful surroundings. The same guiding, peaceful principles we feel in our homes and the temple will improve our communities.”
Elder Sabin paid tribute to John Davis, a widower with three children, who arrived in Modesto in the winter of 1905; he and his posterity formed the foundation of the Church in the area.
Jerry Callister, a local Latter-day Saint and longtime Modesto resident, acknowledged that the crowning evidence of the Church’s growth in any area is the dedication of a house of the Lord. “This temple is going to bless not just Modesto but all the communities around it,” he said. “It is in the temple that families can be sealed for time and for all eternity.”
Two youth also spoke about temple worship and the significance of temples in their lives and community.
“As we serve in the temple, we find joy as we strive to be like Christ,” said one preparing for missionary service.
Another added that the temple “will serve not only as a beacon of light to the community of Modesto but will be a place for those who are seeking home.”
History — so far — of the Modesto California Temple
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Modesto in April 2022 general conference.
The temple site was announced Oct. 10, 2022, with plans calling for a single-story edifice of approximately 30,000 square feet to be built on a 17.63-acre site next to an existing meetinghouse at 4300 Dale Road, in Modesto.
An exterior rendering of the Modesto California Temple was released Dec. 19, 2022, one of four such renderings of new temples released on that date by the Church.
California is home to nearly 730,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 1,130 congregations and 12 temples that are dedicated, under construction or in planning.
Other houses of the Lord in the state include the operating Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, Redlands, Newport Beach and Sacramento temples, the under-renovation San Diego temple, as well as the new Feather River California Temple, dedicated the day after the Modesto groundbreaking by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The Modesto temple joins the Yorba Linda California Temple as the Church’s two temples under construction in the state. Two additional houses of the Lord were announced for California — for San Jose and Bakersfield — as part of the 15 new temple locations identified by President Nelson in April 2023 general conference.
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