Two Temples in One Day: Latter-day Saint Leaders Dedicate Sacred Buildings in Brazil and Ohio

A pair of Latter-day Saint temple dedication ceremonies took place on the same Sunday, thousands of miles apart, pushing the church’s global count of operating temples to 221.

One ceremony unfolded in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. The other took place in northeastern Ohio, on ground with deep historical significance for the faith. Together they marked an unusually busy day for a church that has made temple construction a defining priority of the past decade.

A 94-Year-Old President Travels Abroad

President Dallin H. Oaks presided over the dedication of the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple, the 220th such building, just four days after marking his 94th birthday.

The occasion carried personal significance beyond the ceremony itself. It was only the second temple Oaks has dedicated since being set apart as president of the church on Oct. 14, 2025, following the Burley Idaho Temple in January. More notably, it represented his first international temple dedication and his first overseas ministry assignment as church president.

Belo Horizonte was not unfamiliar territory for him. During his decades of service in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he visited the city repeatedly for ministries, conferences and training assignments.

Accompanied by his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, he also sat for a Saturday interview with a reporter from Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão, the São Paulo-based network that ranks as Brazil’s second largest.

The Message Delivered in Brazil

Speaking before the dedication, Oaks framed the temple in terms of its purpose rather than its architecture. He described it as a house of the Lord constructed for sacred work meant to prepare individuals for exaltation in the celestial kingdom.

He observed that the church is passing through what he called a glorious season of temple building, then supplied numbers to illustrate the point. Beyond the 221 dedicated temples now in operation, another 164 are either under construction or moving through planning stages. That brings the worldwide total to 385 buildings that are finished, being built, or announced and in design.

Brazil occupies a substantial place in that expansion. Twelve additional temples are currently in progress across the country, which will eventually give the nation 24 in total. Brazil is home to more than 1.57 million church members and over 2,000 wards and branches.

Oaks said the church rejoices in the growth and maturity of the faith throughout the nation.

More Than Statistics

He was careful not to let the numbers overshadow the point. Temples, he said, are essential to the divine plan for God’s children, and within them people learn the most important things available to them in this life and the next.

He added that everything taught and performed inside a temple relates back to Jesus Christ, and that all who enter participate in his saving work while receiving his blessings.

Brazil’s history with the faith stretches back nearly a century. Missionaries began preaching in the southern part of the country in 1928. By 1978, when the São Paulo Brazil Temple was dedicated, membership had grown to 54,000.

Ohio: A Return to Where It Started

The second dedication carried a different kind of weight. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Cleveland Ohio Temple, the church’s 221st.

The location sits roughly 25 miles southwest of Kirtland, where early members of the church constructed the very first Latter-day Saint temple. That original building now operates as a historic site open to public tours.

Bednar drew a direct line between the two structures. In a scriptural account recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 110:10, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received a vision in the Kirtland Temple in which they were told the fame of that house would spread to foreign lands.

Reflecting on that prophecy before the ceremony, Bednar said that now it comes back home. He called it quite remarkable to see the connection between what was declared about Kirtland’s worldwide influence and the dedication of a new house of the Lord in Cleveland generations later.

A Single Session, Broadcast Widely

Bednar, joined by his wife, Sister Susan Bednar, conducted the Cleveland dedication in one morning session. The ceremony was broadcast to meetinghouses across the temple district, which encompasses four stakes in northeastern Ohio: Cleveland, Akron, Hiram and Kirtland. A rebroadcast followed in the afternoon.

Proximity as Blessing and Risk

Bednar’s remarks addressed a theme that arises as temples multiply. Citing Doctrine and Covenants 84:20, he explained that dedicated temples are where members receive priesthood ordinances and gain access to what he described as the power of godliness.

Living nearer to a temple, participating more often in its ordinances and being regularly reminded of covenants creates a channel for that power to enter a person’s life, he said, adding that he could imagine no more important blessing.

He then offered a caution. Throughout church history and in many regions today, members have sacrificed enormously to reach a temple, with some managing only a single visit in a lifetime. As construction spreads, that hardship diminishes.

His warning was that convenience can quietly become its own obstacle. Members must be intentional, he said, and not allow the ease of proximity to become a barrier to receiving needed blessings.

Belo Horizonte Temple Details

Address: Rua Professor José Vieira de Mendonça, 1485, Engenho Nogueira, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: June 17, 2023, presided over by Elder Juan A. Uceda
Public open house: June 13 to 27, 2026, excluding Sundays
Dedicated: Aug. 16, 2026
Property size: 6.03 acres
Building size: 28,685 square feet
Height: 62 feet to the top of the tower

Cleveland Temple Details

Address: 5997 Brecksville Road, Independence, Ohio
Announced: April 3, 2022, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: June 1, 2024, presided over by Elder Vaiangina Sikahema
Public open house: June 18 to July 3, 2026, excluding Sundays
Dedicated: Aug. 16, 2026
Property size: 11.04 acres
Building size: 9,950 square feet
Height: 100 feet including the spire
District: Four stakes in northeastern Ohio