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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced significant updates regarding temples in the Ivory Coast, California, and Michigan. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple on May 25, 2025. The dedication ceremony will be broadcast to all units within the temple district.
Before this dedication, a media day is scheduled for April 28, 2025. Tours for invited guests are set for April 29 and 30, followed by public tours from May 1 through May 17, excluding Sundays. This temple marks the first in Côte d’Ivoire and was initially announced by then-Church President Thomas S. Monson during the April 2015 general conference.
“As we enter through the doors of the temple, we leave behind us the distractions and confusion of the world. Inside this sacred sanctuary, we find beauty and order. There is rest for our souls and a respite from the cares of our lives,” said President Monson at that time.
The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire is home to over 63,000 Latter-day Saints across more than 260 congregations. The church members are noted for their commitment to family history and temple work.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a groundbreaking ceremony for a new temple will occur on December 7, 2024. Elder Mathias Held will preside over this event. The planned structure will occupy a site at Forest Hill Avenue SE with an approximate size of 20,000 square feet.
This Michigan temple was announced by President Russell M. Nelson in October 2022: “I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can.” It joins Detroit as one of two temples in Michigan serving more than 46,000 church members statewide.
Additionally, an artistic rendering has been released for San Jose California Temple's exterior design. Planned construction is set on West Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale on a plot measuring approximately five acres with a single-story building covering around 30,000 square feet.
President Nelson announced this California temple during April's general conference last year. Once completed, it will be California’s twelfth such facility amidst its large population exceeding half a million Latter-day Saints across numerous congregations statewide.
Latter-day Saint temples serve unique religious purposes distinct from local meetinghouses where weekly services occur; they host sacred ceremonies central to church beliefs like eternal marriage rites or proxy baptisms honoring ancestors lacking baptismal opportunities while alive.
