LAYTON — One of the newest temples in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing to open its doors to the public this week.

The Layton Utah Temple — set to be the 195th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the 22nd to open in Utah — is set to begin its open house period on Friday.

But Monday, church officials gave regional media a glimpse into the temple with a press briefing and tour.

Lynette Checketts, co-coordinator for the Layton Utah Temple open house and dedication, said the announcement of the new temple came at a special time.

“On April 1, 2018, President (Russell M.) Nelson announced that Layton would have a temple, and there was so much rejoicing in our home,” she said. “It also happened to be my husband’s birthday, so it was an especially special day for us.”

Ground ultimately was broken on the nearly 94,000-square-foot temple on May 23, 2020, with construction beginning soon after.

Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier of the General Authority Seventy took time Monday to explain the importance of temples like the one in Layton.

“For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, temples are the great symbol of our memberships,” he said. “In the temples, we learn about our divine identity and destiny better than any other place. In the temples, we make promises to our Father in heaven about how we will act and how we will treat one another. And most importantly, in the temple, the things that start in this life can go beyond the grave as husbands and wives, parents and children are united together, not only til death do us part, but for time and all eternity.”

Sister Amy Wright, first counselor in the Primary General Presidency, spoke about how children from the community were invited to paint rocks with something “near and dear to their hearts” and return them to the future home of the Layton Utah Temple.

“I had the privilege of seeing many of these rocks, and the illustrations were illustrations of God’s beautiful creations,” she said. “There were illustrations of our savior, Jesus Christ, of other temples. There were also illustrations of children and youth with their families. They had also taken the time to paint names of those that they loved as well as shared a scripture or two that was dear to their hearts. Then those rocks were mixed into the foundation of this beautiful house. The symbolism is not lost on me. When you think about the fact that our children and youth in this community literally are part of the foundation of the house of the lord, and that foundation is built upon their faith in Jesus Christ — to me, this speaks volumes of our faith in the future and, most specifically, our faith in the rising generation and the significant role they play in helping to gather and build the Kingdom of God.”

Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director in the church’s Temple Department, said there’s a reason The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to build temples all over the world, in Layton and beyond.

“The answer is the ability for more members of our faith to have access to the wonderful things that we feel that we learn inside the temple,” he said. “My friends, I hope that as you’re inside this temple, you’ll really feel that it is a place of refuge from the storms of life for all of us.”

Following the tour, Duncan told the Standard-Examiner that the temple will give members from the area a new place to go.

“All of these members were going to Bountiful, which was very crowded all the time,” he said. “This temple will relieve a lot of that crowdedness, and also puts a temple closer to the youth who will serve in the temple as well.”

He said this will be the second temple in Davis County and that a third is under construction in Syracuse.

Duncan said it’s exciting to see the Layton Utah Temple coming to fruition after its 2018 announcement.

“Just as we were getting started, COVID came, so it caused a little bit of a slowdown in construction because of supply chain issues. But we continued to work all the way through that and we’re so pleased that it’s finally ready to go,” he said.

The temple will be open from morning until night beginning Friday through June 1, with the exception of Sundays. Dedication of the temple is set for June 16.

For more information on the Layton Utah Temple, visit https://tinyurl.com/5zmxs4nx.

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