Elder Kearon Dedicates Tallahassee Florida Temple

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“Our Savior can be found everywhere in the temple,” said Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who dedicated the Tallahassee Florida Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, December 8, 2024.

He is found “in every ordinance, in every covenant, in every promised blessing and particularly in the power and grace we receive as we shed the practices and priorities of the world in favor of pursuing our relationship with Jesus Christ,” the Apostle said.

Christ declared, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Elder Kearon added, “We are invited to assist Him in this work of seeking and saving those who are lost.”

Those who come to the Lord’s house may receive solace, peace and refuge at any time, Elder Kearon said, but especially when they feel lost.

“In this sacred space, our true selves can be found as we leave the distractions and pettiness of the world outside and receive an extra measure of the Spirit of the Lord to help us hear His still, small voice and meet the demands of life.

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Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Jennifer, greet Latter-day Saints gathered for the Tallahassee Florida Temple dedication in Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday, December 8, 2024. 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Elder Kearon recounted a story he heard an Area Seventy from Germany share during the 2019 rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. He, his wife and their young children had been walking around Paris, France, when they realized their 6-year-old son, Matthias, was missing.

“Please, please, dear Father, keep Matthias safe,” they prayerfully pleaded. “Help us find him. Lead us to him.”

The desperate parents kept searching until the father saw a woman holding a sign that read, “Matthias found. He lives near the temple in Friedrichsdorf.”

“[Matthias] did not know any identifying information,” Elder Kearon explained, “except that he lived near the temple. So that’s what was written on the sign held by the woman until his father returned.” The boy was safe, waiting with French police until his parents could retrieve him.

“We can think of each of our ancestors as little Matthias,” Elder Kearon said, “doing his best to find his way back to safety, back to his parents, but in serious need of being found through our searching work, now made so much easier through the technology the Lord has provided us.”

“We can be found here in the temple because here in the temple, we find Jesus Christ.”

The Tallahassee Florida Temple is the Church’s 16th house of the Lord to be dedicated in 2024. It is the third dedicated temple in Florida and the 202nd dedicated temple for the worldwide church.

It is also the first house of the Lord that Elder Kearon has dedicated, having been called and set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles a year ago in December.

The Tallahassee temple district comprises eight stakes — five in northern Florida, two in southern Georgia and one in Alabama.

More than 170,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 275 congregations live in Florida. Four additional temples in Florida are in operation, are under construction or have been announced. The others are or will be located in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. The Tallahassee temple will serve more than 30,000 members of the Church in 77 congregations.

Elder Kearon was accompanied by his wife, Jennifer; Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Nancy; Elder Massimo De Feo, a General Authority Seventy and Second Counselor in the North America Southeast Area Presidency, and his wife, Loredana; Elder Steven R. Bangerter, a General Authority Seventy And First Counselor in the North America Central Area Presidency, and his wife, Susan; and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, and his wife, Carol.

President Russell M. Nelson first announced the temple during general conference on April 5, 2020. Ground was broken on June 5, 2021, and the public open house was held from November 4 to 23, 2024.