In an area of the United States hallowed by the sacrifices of Latter-day Saints in the late 1830s, President Thomas S. Monson dedicated the Church’s 137th operating temple on May 6, 2012.

President Monson, who was accompanied by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, noted that 170 years have passed since those difficult days in Church history, and feelings have softened since then. He commented that a few weeks earlier Missouri’s governor, Jay Nixon, attended the open house for the temple and referred to that event and the dedication as “a time of healing.”

In addition to presiding over and addressing the dedicatory sessions and a ceremony to seal in place a symbolic cornerstone, President Monson attended a program staged by LDS youth in Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium on Saturday evening.

He was accompanied at that event by Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder William R. Walker, a member of the Seventy and the Executive Director of the Church’s Temple Department.

The open house, cultural celebration, and rededication dates for the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple, which closed in 2009 for expansion and remodeling, will be held in August 2012, the First Presidency announced.

The temple will be open to the public for tours from Saturday, August 4, 2012, through Saturday, August 25, 2012, excluding Sundays.

The temple will be formally rededicated on Sunday, September 9, 2012, in three sessions, which will be broadcast to all stakes and districts in Argentina.

A cultural celebration featuring music and dance will be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012.

The First Presidency has announced open house and dedication dates for the Brigham City Utah Temple, the Church’s 14th completed temple in Utah.

An open house (for which tickets will become available on July 30) will be held from Saturday, August 18, 2012, until Saturday, September 15, 2012, excluding Sundays and Saturday, September 8.

Following a cultural celebration on Saturday, September 22, 2012, the temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, September 23, 2012, in three sessions, which will be broadcast to congregations within the temple district.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided over the groundbreaking for the Provo City Center Temple on May 12, 2012.

“What an absolutely stunning sight,” he said. “These grounds are filled, as much as possible and practical, with faithful people making history. Sometimes we are so close to history we don’t realize we are making it.”

He said that for more than 100 years, the Provo Tabernacle hosted stake conferences and worship services of all kinds, firesides, funerals, lectures, concerts, and graduation services. “No other public space in Provo has ever had such valued and varied use, and no other structure in this county has been such an integral part of the religious and civic life here,” he said.

Elder Holland then dedicated “already sacred ground for an even more sacred purpose—the construction of the Provo City Center Temple.”

The converted Provo Tabernacle will become the second temple in Provo and the 16th in Utah. Construction of the original tabernacle took 15 years—from 1883 to 1898. The building is located on University Avenue between Center Street and 100 South.