President Nelson announces 20 new temples at October 2023 general conference

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will build 20 new houses of the Lord in the coming years. President Russell M. Nelson made this announcement in prerecorded remarks shown Sunday, October 1, 2023, in the final session of the semiannual general conference.

The temples will be built in the following locations:

Savai’i, Samoa
Kahului, Hawaii
Fairbanks, Alaska
Vancouver, Washington
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Roanoke, Virginia
Cancún, Mexico
Piura, Peru
Huancayo, Peru
Viña del Mar, Chile
Goiânia, Brazil
João Pessoa, Brazil
Cape Coast, Ghana
Calabar, Nigeria
Luanda, Angola
Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Laoag, Philippines
Osaka, Japan
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

“Spending more time in the temple builds faith. And your service and worship in the temple will help you to think celestial,” said the prophet, who has announced 153 new temples since 2018. “The temple is a place of revelation. There you are shown how to progress toward a celestial life. There you are drawn closer to the Savior and given greater access to His power. There you are guided in solving the problems in your life, even your most perplexing problems. The ordinances and covenants of the temple are of eternal significance. … The Lord is directing us to build these temples to help us think celestial.”

This is the second-highest number of temples announced at one time in the history of the Church. At the April 1998 general conference, former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) announced plans to construct as many as 32 new temples, though he did not list specific locations. And in April 2021, President Nelson announced 20 new temples.

The Church of Jesus Christ currently has 177 temples in operation, 59 under construction or renovation and 99 in planning and design — a total of 335 houses of the Lord. See the official temple list.