The Orem Utah Temple Will Bless Local Students, Young Adults, Community Members

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By Kaitlyn Bancroft, Church News

The Orem Utah Temple will bless people from all walks of life.

But with nearly 45,000 students at Utah Valley University — located just a stone’s throw from the new temple — and almost 35,000 students at nearby Brigham Young University, a significant portion of those people will undoubtedly be young single adults.

And Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, General Authority Seventy, wants his “YSA friends” to know that the temple can help them be happy now, whatever their circumstances are.

“When we think and talk of YSAs, usually people [think about] marriage, which is very important. It is a blessing,” Elder Parrella said. “But when I think about the YSA population in this area, I’m thinking about them participating in every ordinance of the temple and... [finding] peace, comfort [and] happiness in their journey.”

Elder Parrella took special guests and local media representatives on a tour of the Orem Utah Temple on Monday, October 23.

On the same day, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released more than a dozen interior and exterior images of the three-story, 71,998-square-foot sacred edifice built in a prominent, visible location just off Interstate 15 and near Utah Valley University.

Available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, the photos were accompanied by a three-minute video offering additional looks inside and out of the temple.

The Orem temple will be the state’s 19th dedicated temple, with another nine temples awaiting dedication or under construction.

Public open house tours begin Friday, October 27, and run through Saturday, December 16, excluding Sundays and Thanksgiving Day, with special-guest tours set for Tuesday through Thursday, October 24-26.

Reservations for the public tours, which are recommended and available online, are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Orem Utah Temple will be dedicated on Sunday, January 21, 2024, in two sessions, at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all meetinghouses in the temple district.

‘The Temple Is a Place for Me’

Just prior to Monday’s special guest and media tour, Sister Reyna I. Aburto, former Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, said although several other temples are near Orem, the community will be blessed by having a temple directly in its midst.

The new temple “makes a difference because it’s more visible, and it just adds to the beauty of this place. ... The light of Jesus Christ comes from it,” she said.

Sister Aburto, an Orem resident, noted the temple’s particular significance to UVU students, who will have easier access to the temple’s peace, knowledge and power. She encouraged young single adults to not delay making covenants simply because they haven’t reached a certain age or milestone.

“[Covenant-making] doesn’t have to be because of a mission or marriage. We can be endowed as soon as we become adults and as soon as we’re ready to make those covenants,” Sister Aburto said.

She added that the Lord is always preparing people for service opportunities. “So for young adults to be able to come to the temple and serve there, [to] go out and serve Him, I think is a wonderful thing.”

Orem Utah Hillcrest Stake President Chad Wayne Lewis — a former BYU football player and NFL tight end— said that, in the language of football, the Orem temple is a “Super Bowl” for the city. But the temple isn’t for just one day a year. “It’s going to be here forever,” he said. “And it’s here to help usher in the second coming of the Savior Jesus Christ.”

President Lewis continued that the temple is an invitation to feel the peace, love and light offered by Jesus Christ. Everyone who visits the Orem temple, especially during its open house, will feel that love and peace, he promised.

UVU student Grace Miller, a young single adult and vice-president of the Utah Valley Institute of Religion Student Council, said she loves seeing the temple from campus. Its light is a beacon of hope, stability and comfort, she said, and now she has a constant visual reminder of those feelings as she studies.

“The temple is a place for me,” Miller said. “Please come and feel close to heaven during this Orem temple open house. There is so much joy, comfort and peace to be found there. It truly is a place for you.”

Young Single Adults Share Their Feelings

Following Monday’s tour, several young single adults shared their feelings about the Orem temple.

Angel Tapé, a student from the Ivory Coast living in Orem, helped distribute shoe coverings to tour members. Tapé said she volunteered for the job because she loves serving people, and added that she loves having a temple close to home.

“If we have a temple, it’s because God loves us and He wants us to be closer to Him,” she said. “That’s why ... everyone can make a covenant with Him so that they can have better lives and they can know how to be prepared to return to Him.”

UVU Student Body President Zac Whitlock also volunteered during Monday’s temple tour. He said the Orem temple is a “pillar” in the community, and something that UVU students see all day.

The temple is beautiful on the outside, but that’s not as important as what happens inside it, Whitlock said.

“Go to the temple. Let the temple change you,” he advised his fellow students. “Especially with finals and tests and all the stress of college life, go to the temple. It puts everything into perspective, because in reality, the temple is real life. ... It’ll change us. It’s changed me.”

Miller added that greater temple access is especially important to local young adults because of the many decisions they’re navigating, from their studies and careers to their friendships and dating relationships.

But young single adults definitely aren’t the only ones who will be blessed by the Orem temple, she continued. People of all backgrounds will benefit from it.

“I feel like there [are] so many people that have accumulated in Orem that are [from] all different walks of life,” Miller said. “To have this constant reminder that you can see from the freeway and from down on University Parkway ... shows that God is here.

“He hasn’t forgotten our little Orem, Utah.”

More Information About the Orem Temple

A temple for Orem was one of eight locations announced on October 5, 2019, by President Russell M. Nelson during the Saturday evening women’s session of general conference.

The three-story edifice with a single attached central spire is located on a 15.39-acre tract at 1471 S. Geneva Road in Orem, just west of Interstate 15 and Utah Valley University. The First Presidency announced the temple site on December 11, 2019, and released the exterior rendering on June 24, 2020.

It was the first of the eight to begin construction when Elder Craig C. Christensen, a General Authority Seventy and then president of the Utah Area, presided at the September 5, 2020, groundbreaking ceremony.

Announced by the First Presidency four months ago, the temple’s dedication date had drawn increased interest since President Nelson had announced plans to reconstruct the Provo Utah Temple, located less than five miles away. That closure is scheduled for February 24, 2024.

The Orem temple is one of the Church’s 28 total temples — dedicated, under construction or renovation — in Utah.

The state’s currently operating temples are the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River, Logan, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Payson, Provo, Provo City Center, Saratoga Springs and Vernal temples.

Besides the Orem temple’s pending dedication, the Red Cliffs Utah Temple’s dedication is scheduled for spring 2024.

Three pioneer-era temples have undergone renovations in the past several years, with the St. George Utah Temple to be rededicated in December. Work continues on the Salt Lake and Manti temples.

Eight other Utah temples are under construction: Deseret Peak, Ephraim, Heber Valley, Layton, Lindon, Smithfield, Syracuse and Taylorsville.