- President Dallin H. Oaks dedicated the Burley Idaho Temple, his first temple dedication as church president.
- He emphasized the temple's role in pointing people to Jesus Christ's teachings.
- President Oaks highlighted challenges ahead for Latter-day Saints and the importance of temple covenants.
BURLEY, Idaho — President Dallin H. Oaks of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave his first temple dedication of his presidency Sunday at the church's new Burley Idaho Temple.
Appointed in October of last year, President Oaks was joined at the dedicatory service in Burley by his wife, Kristen, and several church leaders.
Acknowledging that the church has 212 operating temples, plus 150 temples in design or under construction across the world, President Oaks said at the dedication that the purpose of the temples is to point people to Jesus Christ.
"The work of temples is centered on our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. All that is learned and done here relates to him," President Oaks said. "Here in his house, we make sacred covenants with and in the name of Jesus Christ, which among other meanings signify his authority and his work. All who worship here receive the blessings of his authority and participate in his saving work. These blessings and this saving work, which we call 'temple work,' are supremely important for all of God's children, those still living in mortality and those in the spirit world."
President Oaks said Latter-day Saints will need the spiritual strength that church temples provide in the future.
"As we experience Satan's deadly onslaught on morality and the integrity of families, and as we read the prophecies and feel the signs of the times, we cannot doubt that the future holds great sacrifices and challenges for Latter-day Saints individually and for the divinely prescribed work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," he said. "The scriptures speak of perilous times, when men's hearts will fail them. They also speak of worthy disciples escaping these things, of their standing in holy places and not being moved."
Latter-day Saints make covenants with God in the temples, President Oaks added. Those covenants remind the faithful to stay worthy of God's blessings.
"Surely," President Oaks said, "the times ahead will call for us to remember our temple covenants and to rely on the blessings promised in these houses of the Lord here in Burley and throughout the world."
"This is his house. This is his work. We are his servants," he said.
Former President Russell M. Nelson announced the Burley temple at the April 2021 general conference. Ground was broken on June 4, 2022.
The Burley Idaho Temple is a 45,300-square-foot structure and is the seventh dedicated church temple in Idaho. Idaho is home to nearly 500,000 Latter-day Saints in around 1,300 congregations.
At the dedication, President Oaks said that the new temple is close to his heart as he lived in nearby Twin Falls for about five years as a child.
Also over the weekend, President Oaks gave a Saturday interview in Idaho, joined by his wife. The prophet discussed in the interview his transition to becoming the new church president, what he has learned from past prophets and what his hopes are for the impact of new temples.
At one point, President Oaks outlined what he thinks happens when Latter-day Saints spend more time in temples.
"I think it will support choices that are more harmonious with qualifying for and listening to the promptings of the Spirit in all of our temporal decisions and also lifting our eyes to the end of the covenant path," he said.
Sister Oaks told how temples have blessed her life in the interview, as well.
"I go (to the temple) for comfort, instruction, revelation, and it makes me a better wife, a better mother," she said. "I know when I go, I'm more patient. I'm kinder. It's made a major difference in my life."
The church president also said he believes the best place to announce future new temples is within that temple district.
"It's a pattern that we will follow as long as I have influence in determining those things," he said. "This does not change the pattern of decision-making or gathering facts and determining the agreeable timing and the need. And all those things will continue to be analyzed. But when it comes to making a decision from all those facts, the First Presidency will continue to make the decisions. But they'll assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built."
