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SALT LAKE CITY — The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday that it has set groundbreaking dates for three temples that were announced in April in Utah, Idaho and California.
The Smithfield Utah Temple will have its groundbreaking ceremony on June 18. Elder Quentin L. Cook and Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will attend the ceremony.
This temple will be the second built in Utah's Cache Valley.
The Smithfield Utah Temple will be located at the intersection of 800 West and 100 North. This will be a larger temple, with plans for an 83,000-square-foot building with three stories on 13.3 acres.
"Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the 'house of the Lord' and the most sacred places of worship on the earth," a church statement says.
Temples are where members of the church participate in ceremonies, including marriages and proxy baptisms for deceased ancestors.
The church currently has 14 operating temples in Utah, not including three now undergoing renovations. There are also seven Utah temples being built, and four that have been announced but are not yet under construction, including the Smithfield Utah Temple and the Lindon Utah Temple that will have a groundbreaking ceremony on April 23. The other planned temples are in Ephraim, Heber Valley, Layton, Orem, St. George, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Taylorsville and Tooele.
The church also announced Friday that the Ephraim Utah Temple will be built on a 9.16-acre site located at the intersection of 200 North and 400 East in Ephraim, Sanpete County. The three-story temple will be 39,000 square feet. No groundbreaking date has been set.
There are a total of 28 Latter-day Saint temples in Utah.
Elder Brent H. Nielson of the church's Quorum of the Seventy will preside at the groundbreaking of the Burley Idaho Temple on Saturday, June 4. This will be the seventh temple in Idaho.
The Burley temple will be about 38,600 square feet and will be built on a 10.1-acre site.
Elder Mark A. Bragg of the church's Quorum of the Seventy will preside at the Yorba Linda California Temple groundbreaking ceremony on June 18. This will be the church's ninth temple in California, following the Feather River California Temple which is under construction.
This Yorba Linda temple is the smallest of the three at about 30,000 square feet on 5.4 acres.
