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Ephraim temple site dedication was punctuated by appearance of President Nelson

ByGreg Knight
President Russell M. Nelson, whose family helped settle the Sanpete Valley in 1849, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ephraim Utah Temple on Aug. 27, 2022. From left are Fernando Montano, a deacon in the local Catholic Church; Nancy Duncan with Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the Temple and Family History Council for the church; Alene Scott and Ephraim Mayor John Scott; Gov. Spencer Cox and Abby Cox; Sister Wendy Nelson and President Nelson; Elder Walter Gonzales and his wife, Zuma; and Cindalyn and Jason Maylett of the local groundbreaking committee.
(Messenger File Photo)

EPHRAIM—The ground­breaking for the new Ephraim Utah Temple on Aug. 27, 2022 was punctuated by surprises.

The biggest was the ar­rival of President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ and his wife, Wendy.  His participation had not been announced in advance. President Nelson gave the main address and the dedicatory prayer.

President Nelson died in September, 2025, about two years after the groundbreaking and a year before the opening of the temple.

The other surprise at the groundbreaking was the weather. Before the ceremony started, bright sun was beating down on the open-air seating area, and it appeared many of the 500 attendees, drawn from various wards in the future temple service area, would leave with sunburns. But just as President Nelson started delivering the main address, clouds rolled over and shaded the site.

At the end of the ceremony, as President Nelson, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Ephraim Mayor John Scott, their wives and other leaders joined in symbol­ically turning of the soil for the temple, light rain started falling.

Then, minutes after Presi­dent and Sister Nelson left the grounds, the heavens opened, and a torrent of rain and hail drenched the crowd. Anyone who could crowded under the tent that had covered the podi­um or under a canopy where KMTI had been broadcasting the event.

In his talk at the groundbreaking, President Nelson recounted some of the “rich his­tory” of the Sanpete Valley. The first Latter-day Saints arrived in fall, 1849. A year later, their set set­tlement was named “Manti,” the name coming from the Book of Mormon.

“You drive through these towns (in the Sanpete Valley) and you think you’re going through the Book of Mormon again,” he joked.

“The history of this val­ley includes my own family,” the church president noted. “My dear mother was born in Ephraim a short way away from where we stand today. My father was born in Manti.”

President Nelson alluded to divine revelation playing a role in the decision to build a temple in Ephraim. “Shortly after the April 2021 conference,” he said, “I received very clear instruction that the Manti Utah Temple should be preserved and that a temple should be built in Ephraim, Utah.”

As President Nelson and Sister Nelson were escorted to a waiting golf cart to leave the site, the crowd broke out in sponta­neous chorus of the Latter-day Saint hymn, “We thank thee oh God for a prophet.”