President Russell M. Nelson, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, rededicated the renovated Manti Temple on Sunday evening as the twin-spired monument to Utah’s pioneer past rejoined the faith’s practicing present.
“We build temples to honor the Lord,” Nelson said in a news release. “They are built for worship and not for show. We make sacred covenants of eternal significance inside these sacred walls.”
Nelson’s ancestral ties to the central Utah area run deep. His father, Marion, was born in Manti, and his mother, Edna, came from nearby Ephraim, where another Latter-day Saint temple is under construction.
In his prayer Sunday to God, Nelson said, “we rededicate this magnificent temple to thee from its foundation to its towers. We rededicate each room for its intended and sacred purpose” — which includes binding families together in the hereafter.
“We are grateful that, because of [Christ’s] Atonement,” he added, “we have the possibility of eternal life with thee and with our families.”
The 99-year-old church leader’s presence and participation in the ceremony was a surprise. The Utah-based faith had announced recently that apostle Ronald A. Rasband would preside at the rededication.
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