SALT LAKE CITY — New LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a new temple will be built in Layton. 

The news came at the end of a General Conference filled with major announcements and changes for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Layton is one of seven new temple locations announced by Nelson. The others are Salta, Argentina; Bengaluru, India; Managua, Nicaragua; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; Richmond, Virginia; and a major city to be determined in Russia.

There was an audible reaction from the audience as Nelson named Layton — exceeding even the reaction to his mention of Russia. 

After the conference, church spokespeople said no information about the location of or timeline for the temple was available.

They will join 159 temples currently in operation and 30 that are under construction. 

“We want to bring temples closer to the expanding membership of the Church,” Nelson said.

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The Layton temple will be the 19th in the state, joining Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Logan, Jordan River, Manti, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Payson, Provo City Center, Provo, St. George, Salt Lake City and Vernal.

Members of the church consider temples to be the house of the Lord, where they perform ceremonies they believe are essential to their eternal salvation. 

Unlike regular church meetinghouses, they are closed on Sundays and are only available to active members of the church who get authorization from their church leaders saying they are worthy to enter.

The church also recently announced it is moving its Salt Lake City Mission to Layton. 

The new Layton mission will include areas surrounding and including Layton, Clearfield, Roy, Syracuse, South Weber, Morgan, Clearfield, Farmington, Centerville and North Salt Lake.

“The church is cognizant of the future growth in the Layton area,” Ogden Mission President Jeremy Jaggi said when that change was announced in February.

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The temple announcement was the last in a series of major announcements at the two-day conference in Salt Lake City. The conference opened with a solemn assembly to confirm the church’s new governing First Presidency and announce two new members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — Ulisses Soares, the first-ever Latin-American apostle, and Gerrit W. Gong, the first-ever apostle of Asian ancestry.

Later on Saturday, Nelson announced in the Priesthood Session that the faith’s two local-level priesthood organizations would be combined into one elders quorum for each congregation. 

Then Sunday afternoon, Nelson announced that the church’s old home and visiting teaching programs would end and be replaced with a new ministering program for members to help and support each other.

Reporter Mark Saal contributed to this report.

Contact news editor Kyle Hansen at khansen@standard.net or 801-625-4212. Follow him on Twitter @kylebhansen or like him at Facebook.com/journalistkylebhansen.