At the RootsTech 2025 Family Discovery Day, President Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles emphasized the unprecedented pace of temple construction and the profound impact of temple covenants on individuals and families.
“It is a most special time, when the prosperity has been given to us by God to build these houses of worship across all the world, in dozens of countries, so that we can, in this time, prepare ourselves for the Second Coming of the Savior,” Elder Andersen said from a stage inside the Salt Palace Convention Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
The Apostles were joined by Elder Andersen’s wife, Kathy.
President Russell M. Nelson has announced 185 temples — more than half of all temples in the Church — since he became president in 2018. During his tenure, 60 temples have been dedicated or rededicated and 47 are in construction and renovation. In November 2024, the 100-year-old prophet dedicated the faith’s 200th temple.
“We are moving. The work is hastening,” said President Holland, a native of St. George, Utah. “I grew up within a shadow of the first temple completed in the West as the Saints came to this extended valley in the Pioneer corridor. I thought everybody had a temple. [Learning] of these temples and this growth and these numbers [has been a] very personally moving thing for me.”
Elder Andersen noted that in only a few years, 80% of all temple recommend holders in the Church will be within an hour of a temple.
“The knowledge and love of our Savior Jesus Christ and the power, the protection, the peace, all of which comes from His holy house, will be so important as we prepare for our Savior’s Second Coming,” Elder Andersen said.
He added that each house of the Lord as a “testimony to the immortality of the soul,” a place where we learn “our world is much greater than this mortal world in which we live.”
Sister Andersen shared personal stories illustrating the transformative power of temple covenants and the priesthood. She recounted the faith journey of her great-grandfather, Daniel Henry Arline, who embraced the restored gospel and the priesthood in the late 1800s, profoundly affecting his family. She also shared a poignant story about her father’s unwavering dedication to his priesthood responsibilities and family—which included a 5,000-mile journey from Florida to Utah to be sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple.
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Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Jennifer, attend Family Discovery Day at RootsTech in the Salt Palace Convention Center on March 8, 2025.© 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.“We knelt at the altar and were sealed together as a family,” Sister Andersen recalled. “This changed our lives. With the love and promises of their sealing and eternal marriage, and better understanding of the purposes of life, my parents’ love for the Savior increased, their desire to be more holy increased, their complete devotion to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ increased, and my father’s soul was greatly enlarged as he honored the increased responsibility he had been given in the Melchizedek Priesthood, and now, in the covenants he had made in the temple.”
Elder Andersen shared his experiences growing up on a farm, which shaped his faith and understanding of God. He also emphasized the importance of teaching children about Jesus Christ and providing them with spiritual experiences.
“In today’s world, fewer of us live on farms, but our children need experiences that help them see the greatness of God, that they are sons and daughters of God, and that there is a plan for them on this earth,” Elder Andersen said. “In our last general conference, President Henry B. Eyring taught that ‘we should seize every opportunity to share the teachings of Jesus Christ with children.’ I pray that we will follow the counsel of President Eyring.”
In his concluding remarks, Elder Andersen urged Latter-day Sants to continue to go to the temple and learn more of Jesus Christ.
“We willingly covenant with Him to obey Him and keep His commandments, and we become someone we need to become in as we anticipate His return,” Elder Andersen said. “And when that unforgettable day comes, we will be gathered up to meet Him, whether we’re on this side of the veil or the other, and it will be a day of great rejoicing and happiness.”
President Holland left the audience with a blessing — especially for the women.
“May God bless all of you — but I especially bless the women,” President Holland said. “When God finished the work of creation and had gone through every step, from the darkness and the light and the water and the land and the beast and the fowl of the air, and he had Adam ready to serve, He still was not complete. The great, final, culminating, crowning work of God’s creation was a woman.”
Watch the full remarks from Elder and Sister Andersen and President Holland.
