The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple is the latest temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be designated as “under construction,” following its groundbreaking services Saturday, Oct. 29, in a suburb of Eugene, Oregon, reported ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Elder Valeri V. Cordón, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Church’s North America West Area, presided at the ceremony and offered the dedicatory prayer on the site and the construction processes.
Invited guests participate in the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, in Springfield, Ore.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“We pray that the temple will be a beacon of hope and peace that inspires this community to come unto Christ, even in its construction phase,” said Elder Cordón in his prayer.
He also paid tribute to the Latter-day Saints of Oregon, both from the past and in the present.
“We acknowledge the first Saints who came to this valley to live peacefully in their humble circumstances,” Elder Cordón said. “We are grateful for the faithful Saints who live in this area, for their sacrifice, devotion and obedience.”
Exterior rendering of the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
President Russell M. Nelson announced Eugene, Oregon, as a temple location in the April 2021 general conference — one of 20 sites for new temples, the most announced by the Church in a single day.
The First Presidency announced the temple’s Willamette Valley name on Sept. 2, 2021, the same day the site location and exterior rendering were released.
Site location map for the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Willamette Valley temple will be built on a 10.5-acre site at the intersection of International Boulevard and Corporate Way in Springfield, a suburb of Eugene. The exterior rendering reflects the initial plans for a single-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet.
The Willamette Valley temple will serve more than 30,000 Latter-day Saints in central-western Oregon and be the third temple in the state, following the Portland Oregon Temple (dedicated in 1989) and the Medford Oregon Temple (in 2000).
Oregon is home to more than 150,000 Latter-day Saints and more than 300 congregations.
The ceremonial shovels for the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple groundbreaking. The event was held on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022, in Springfield, Ore.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Of the 20 new temple locations identified on April 4, 2021, the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple is the last of the nine in the United States to hold a groundbreaking to start construction.
The eight already under construction are the Helena Montana, Casper Wyoming, Grand Junction Colorado, Farmington New Mexico, Burley Idaho, Elko Nevada, Yorba Linda California and Smithfield Utah temples.
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