YORBA LINDA, California — Years before the Yorba Linda California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was announced, local members of the Church were preparing for a temple in their community — working to preserve the Church property where the future temple would be built.
In 2020, word spread that the Bastanchury meetinghouse and ball field in Yorba Linda might be sold. Local Church leaders compiled a detailed presentation outlining the property’s history, value and future potential for leaders to review. Instead of the property being sold, just a few months later, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple would be built in the area, and a few months after that, the site location was announced for that spot.
“We thought we were saving a ball field, but we were really saving it for a temple,” said John Dalton, who helped with the effort.
Fulfillment of scriptural prophecy
Youth in the area of southern California southeast of Los Angeles have also played a major role in preparing for this temple, including spiritual preparation for temple ordinances and covenants, and family history work for deceased ancestors.
“It’s a fulfillment of scriptural prophecy,” said Elder Robert L. Davis, an Area Seventy, referencing Malachi 4:5-6, where the Lord promises to send the spirit of Elijah to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers in the last days.
Elder Davis said members in the area have felt a deeper commitment to family history since the temple was announced. And he said the youth in the area really “get it” when it comes to family history.
“They seem to grasp it more than any generation I’ve seen,” he said. “And I think that’s a beautiful miracle and a kind of counterinfluence to what a lot of young people are experiencing in this life right now, with social media and other things pulling young people away from gathering.”
Unlike the influence of the world, “God is literally gathering his children through involvement in family history and the temple,” Elder Davis said.
As part of the public open house in May, 1,100 youth participated in a special day at the temple that included tours led by teenagers for their peers.
“The Spirit was super strong,” said Lauren Hall. “It just felt special to be with friends and other youth who want to feel the Spirit as well.”
John and Louise Dalton served with the youth, helping them plan and coordinate the “Temple Time for Teens” event on May 2. Louise Dalton said that as they planned, the youth grew excited and started to view the temple as a gathering place for themselves and their friends.
“There are great groups of youth who gather and say, ‘let’s all go to the temple on Thursday night and do baptisms,’” Louise Dalton said. “That’s what they do for their entertainment.”
Many of the youth took time to attend other nearby temples. Aaron Waite attended at least once a month and said he was “striving to live a cleaner, more Christlike life.”
John Dalton said the young men and young women led the tours through the temple, with endowed members speaking in the celestial, endowment and sealing rooms.
“They felt the importance of what they were doing, the spiritual importance of what they were doing,” he said.
Armando Velazquez was one of the attendees who was touched by the temple tour.
“In the celestial room, everyone was just quiet,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe. It was like you were there at heaven and you could just feel the peace on earth.”
In the land of gracious living
After its June 7 dedication, the new temple will serve more than 21,500 Latter-day Saints in the Anaheim, Brea, Chino, Hacienda Heights, Orange, Santa Ana, Whittier and Yorba Linda areas.
The Yorba Linda temple is scheduled to be dedicated on the same day and at the same time as the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple’s dedication, with the two becoming the Church’s 218th and 219th dedicated temples worldwide.
These two houses of the Lord were announced on the same day, April 4, 2021 — meaning they’ll have the same timing of announcement and dedication, down to the hour.
To start the construction phase of the Yorba Linda temple, a groundbreaking ceremony was June 18, 2022. Elder Mark A. Bragg — a General Authority Seventy and then the president of the Church’s North America West Area — presided over the ceremony and offered the dedicatory prayer on the site.
Referencing Yorba Linda’s city motto — “Land of gracious living” — Elder Bragg said: “This house of the Lord will represent the highest in gracious living, and those who enter will leave with a higher commitment to gracious living. … We commit to being neighbors of gracious living.”
Joe and Gail Ham, who served as coordinators of the Yorba Linda temple open house and dedication committee, said they were able to testify to friends and neighbors during the open house that the temple is truly the house of the Lord.
“I was able to tell our friends that even though you may never go inside this temple and do some of the things there, I hope you will feel the influence in our community of the goodness that comes from this temple,” Gail Ham said.
Joe Ham said it was awe-inspiring to see so many Latter-day Saints in the area willing to consecrate all they have to go help at the temple.
“I was so overwhelmed by the quality of the effort and of the people that were willing to give whatever it took to fulfill an assignment that lasted for days for some of them at the temple with no questions asked,” he said.
The Church in California
California currently has 12 houses of the Lord operating, under construction or renovation, and announced.
Eight have already been dedicated: Los Angeles (in 1956), Oakland (1964), San Diego (1993), Fresno (2000), Redlands (2003), Newport Beach (2005), Sacramento (2006) and Feather River (2023).
Of note, the San Diego temple was closed in July 2023 for extensive renovations and will soon be rededicated, on Aug. 23.
The Modesto California Temple is currently under construction, since its October 2023 groundbreaking. Two houses of the Lord are in planning stages: the Sunnyvale and Bakersfield temples, both announced in April 2023.
Today, California is home to more than 725,000 Church members in almost 1,100 wards and branches. This makes it the U.S. state with the second-most Latter-day Saints, after Utah.
California has 16 missions. On July 1, three more missions will be created in the state — headquartered in Oceanside, Ontario and Victorville. These three cities are within a 60-mile radius of Yorba Linda.
Karen Kimball contributed to this article.
Yorba Linda California Temple
Address: 17130 Bastanchury Road, Yorba Linda, California 92886
Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: June 18, 2022, presided over by Elder Mark A. Bragg, a General Authority Seventy
Public open house: April 30 through May 23, 2026, excluding Sundays
Dedication: June 7, 2026, by President D. Todd Christofferson
Property size: 5.46 acres
Building size: 30,872 square feet
Building height: 70 feet (including the spire)
