The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.

After three and a half years of renovation work, the Mesa Arizona Temple is dedicated again as a House of the Lord.

“We were astonished, impressed, gratified with what has been done to hold with the pioneer ancestry of this traditional great temple and House of the Lord,” said President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Oaks presided at the three rededication sessions held Sunday, Dec. 12, offered the rededicatory prayer and was among the day’s many speakers.

An unexpected message at the dedication was provided via a prerecorded video from President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church. Though not attending in person, President Nelson was able to participate in the dedication in this unique way.

President Oaks said the changes made structurally and technologically in the temple are “essential for it to perform its service for decades to come.”

Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said temple dedications are indicative of both a beginning and an end. The construction part of the temple is complete, but the work of the temple is then set to start.

“It’s really a beginning to us having the opportunity to find our family, to find those who would wish to be represented in the temple,” he said. “And that means that we have wonderful opportunities in many of them, after the dedication, to focus on our Savior, to focus on the covenants, to focus on the ordinances.”

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.