Bountiful Utah Mormon Temple

To members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormons, the temple is the “House of the Lord.” It is a sacred building, and after its dedication only faithful members of the Church may enter. Mormon Temples are places of worship where the Lord may visit; a place of refuge, of peace and the opportunity to partake of the blessings that only the Temple can offer.

The principle purpose of Temples is to provide ordinances necessary for exaltation into the celestial kingdom. For the most part, Temple work is concerned with the family. We are all members of God’s eternal family, and each of us are members of an earthly family. The sanctity and eternal nature of the marriage covenant and family relationships are necessary requirements to enter the kingdom of God. The ordinances and ceremonies of the temple are simple, beautiful and sacred. Preparation for the ordinances in the Mormon Temple include: faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, worthiness, maturity, and dignity of one who comes invited as a guest into the house of the Lord.1

The ordinances in the Mormon Temple are available to all, living and dead. There are uncounted millions who have walked the earth and who have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel. Through living proxies, the same ordinances are available to those who have passed from mortality. Those in the spirit world can accept or reject the earthly ordinances performed for them.2 All must have the opportunity!

The Bountiful Utah Mormon Temple is the eighth temple constructed in the state of Utah and the forty-seventh of the Mormon Church. The history of this Temple site began back in 1897, when John Haven Barlow Sr purchased forty acres of land from the United States government. Because of lack of water and the steep terrain, there was little that could be done with the land. In 1947 some of the land was cleared, and four hundred apricot trees were planted. In the spring of 1983, flash flooding caused a great deal of damage in Bountiful, resulting in the decision to build a dam across the canyon to limit the flow of water during heavy rainstorms. The city requested the use of the soil from the future temple site, so construction crews removed over two hundred thousand cubic yards of soil, leaving the area an ideal spot on which the Mormon temple would later be built.3

After considering numerous sites for the temple, the final decision was made on April 3, 1988, by the First Presidency of the Mormon Church. Four years later in May of 1992, the groundbreaking took place, and on January 8, 1992, President Howard W. Hunter dedicated the Bountiful Utah Mormon Temple. Two hundred thousand members of the Mormon Church attended the dedicatory sessions, more than had ever before attended the dedication of a Mormon Temple.4

“Today when the family unit is under attack and things long held sacred are often ridiculed by the world, we seek thy help to make us equal to our tasks, that our homes may be havens of peace and happiness. In our families, may we pause to pray and think to thank.”5

Mailing address:
640 South Bountiful Boulevard
Bountiful, Utah 84010-1394
United States
Phone:   801-296-2100

To learn more about Mormon Temples please visit the following websites:

Manhattan Mormon Temple New York City.com : Arts & Attractions …
Mormanity: Mormon Temples and “Secrecy”  
Mormon Temple Ordinances – ReligionFacts.com