MONTPELIER, Idaho — When President Henry B. Eyring dedicated the Montpelier Idaho Temple on Sunday, Oct. 18, he did so with a hope and a promise to those who would serve in it and any other house of the Lord.
“I promise all who will serve in this temple, in any capacity, that they will have an increasing feeling of the Lord’s love and a growth in love for Him,” President Eyring said on Sunday morning.
The first counselor in the First Presidency, President Eyring talked about the peace that individuals feel as they worship in any of the now 226 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“You will feel peace that will extend into your home and family,” he said.
The temple in southeastern Idaho was the 11th temple that President Eyring has dedicated. He has also rededicated eight others. Most recently, he dedicated the Lindon Utah Temple on May 3. His dedication in Montpelier of the Church’s 225th temple took place simultaneously with the dedication of the Managua Nicaragua Temple — the Church’s 226th temple — by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Eyring was accompanied at the dedication by General Authority Seventies Elder Steven R. Bangerter and Elder Ricardo P. Giménez and their wives, Sister Susan A. Bangerter and Sister Catherine Giménez, respectively. Elder Bangerter serves as the executive director of the Church’s Temple Department. Elder Giménez serves in the United States Central Area presidency.
Long-awaited blessing
When the Montpelier temple opened for public tours in September, Robyn Alleman called that day “a happy day, a day waited for, for a long, long time.”
Alleman said her husband, Robert Alleman, had a grandfather and great-grandfather immigrate from Switzerland to Montpelier. Shortly after arriving, they helped build the Montpelier Stake Tabernacle that was dedicated 106 years ago. That tabernacle is located directly across the street from the newly dedicated temple.
While the tabernacle has historic importance to the Alleman family, Robyn Alleman said the temple is different because of its spiritual significance for everyone who serves in it.
“We make promises in the temple to bind us to God and to our families for eternity,” she said. “This is His home, a source of strength, a refuge, a place that can heal.”
President Eyring said Sunday that he hopes those who come to the temple “may feel, in this house of God, Heavenly Father’s love for His children and of His desire to bring us back into His presence.”
Robyn Alleman said she hopes that those who live near the new temple will reflect on the blessing they have that their ancestors did not have of being so close to a temple and having the opportunity to serve in it.
“It is our privilege to do saving ordinances for those who came before,” she said.
A dual evidence
President Eyring said that temples are an evidence of two things. First, they show that God is a God of covenants. Second, Heavenly Father’s plan reaches beyond mortality into eternity.
Making covenants in the temple with God helps individuals to have strength and joy when confronted with challenges of mortality like feelings of loneliness or loss, President Eyring said. Those who make such covenants should not confuse those blessings of strength and joy with the elimination of challenges. The blessings help with overcoming and persevering, not removal of trials.
To avoid forgetting the blessings of honoring covenants, President Eyring invited individuals to set aside time to worship in the temple.
“As we return often, we remember the covenants we make therein, providing strength to bear every trial and overcome temptation,” he said.
He said this blessing includes the binding together of hearts in marriage and family relationships.
In addition to the blessings offered to covenant keepers during mortality, those they serve on the other side of the veil are also blessed by the opportunity to have temple ordinances performed on their behalf.
“The privilege of serving here will bring blessings across the world and across generations,” President Eyring said.
He expressed his joy that young men and women in the Church can participate in temple ordinances for their ancestors. He said that as they serve in the temple and in finding names of individuals to take to the temple, they will exude “a skill and enthusiasm that will amaze their parents.”
A valley’s deep pioneer history and legacy
When pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Church President Brigham Young did not limit the settlement of the Saints to the Wasatch Front. He sent families in every direction to settle additional locations around what became Salt Lake City.
Sixteen years after that arrival, Brigham Young sent individuals north to the Bear Lake Valley. The lake and valley straddle the current state lines of Utah to the south and Idaho to the north. The valley is marked by the Preuss Range on the east and the Bear River Mountains on the west. Fur traders had passed through the area prior to this time, but no permanent pioneer settlements had been established.
The United States’ Homestead Act of 1862 helped push families to areas where they could lay claim to 160 acres of public land. Thousands of people had passed through the Bear Lake Valley due either to the fur trades in the decades prior or to the fervor to settle on the western coast of North America in what is now Oregon. Thus, Montpelier sits on the Oregon Trail.
Brigham Young called Charles C. Rich to lead an exploring party into the Bear Lake Valley in August 1863. Rich and others established Paris, Idaho, before stretching out to form other towns, including Montpelier. In 1864, Brigham Young named the town after Montpelier, Vermont — the capital of his home state. Previous to that time, many travelers referred to the town and its area as Clover Creek.
President Eyring taught that temples are more than beautiful buildings in which to worship. He said they are symbols of faith.
“Behind every temple are the sacrifices of faithful disciples who gave their time, talents and means to build a house for the Lord,” he said. “Their faith helps create an atmosphere where the Spirit can testify that this truly is His house.”
Perspective on temple growth
When Church President Dallin H. Oaks was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984, the Church had 25 operating temples. With the dedication of the Montpelier Idaho Temple, President Oaks has served to see 200 temples dedicated during his apostolic tenure.
This means that 25 temples were dedicated in the first 154 years of the Church. The next 201 temples were dedicated within a 42-year span that now sees the Church surpassing 18 million members and 90,000 missionaries around the world.
Six more temples are expected to be dedicated before the end of 2026. The Cody Wyoming Temple will be dedicated next week on Sunday, Oct. 25, by Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On Nov. 1, temples will be dedicated in Wichita, Kansas, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, by Elder Patrick Kearon and Elder Dale G. Renlund, respectively. Both are members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On Nov. 22, the Modesto California Temple will be dedicated by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Torreón Mexico Temple will be dedicated by Elder Gary E. Stevenson, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The final temple to be dedicated this year will be the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple on Dec. 13, also by Elder Cook.
That will bring the total number of temples in the world to 232 by the end of 2026.
Members around Montpelier
Montpelier’s Michael Wilding and three of his four children sat outside the newly dedicated temple after its dedication. His heart was filled with gratitude, he said.
“We already have an appointment this week,” he said of his family.
“We’re looking not towards ourselves anymore but toward Jesus and others around us,” he said.
One of two daughters to attend the dedication with him, Lucy Wilding, 12, said she is happy to have a temple closer to home than the previous temple they were assigned to in Star Valley, Wyoming.
“It means I can go to the temple almost every day, and that means a lot to me,” she said.
Across the state border in Garden City, Utah, Elder Carter Scott has been completing his home MTC experience before leaving to serve a mission in California. He attended the dedication three days before his scheduled departure for the Provo Missionary Training Center.
“I think it means everything to our community,” he said. “I know it’s just going to bring our community together.”
He said he can’t wait to share the feelings he had in the temple with those he teaches on his mission.
“I had a testimony before, but I think my testimony grew even more today just by hearing President Henry B. Eyring,” he said.
Camille Shinkle’s husband participated in the choir that sang during the dedication. The Shinkles live in Randolph, Utah.
“It was really neat to see President Eyring and to actually participate and feel the Spirit that was in the room,” she said. “I like the peace and comfort knowing that this is the Lord’s house.”
Christian Berg made the drive from South Jordan, Utah. His ancestors helped settle the Bear Lake Valley. Many are buried in the St. Charles Cemetery in Idaho.
“As I grew up as a kid, I heard these promises, and they were cute, trite phrases,” he said. “You don’t know what they mean, and then you experience the storms of life.”
Berg said that he has come to see those storms as blessings that help him appreciate the blessings that come from honoring covenants and from making needed changes in life.
“They’re deeply personal to me now,” he said. “Instead of just believing or borrowing that testimony from my mom or my grandparents, I know. I know that they’re real.”
Montpelier Idaho Temple
Address: 534 Washington Street, Montpelier, Idaho 83254
Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: June 17, 2023, presided over by Elder Ryan K. Olsen, a General Authority Seventy
Public open house: Sept. 10-26, 2026, excluding Sundays
Dedicated: Oct. 18, 2026, by President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency
Property size: 2.6 acres
Building size: 34,370 square feet
