President Uchtdorf Dedicates the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple

“Jesus Christ is at the center of this house of the Lord, and so we’re grateful to be here, be part of this dedication,” said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who dedicated the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Springfield, Oregon, on Sunday, June 7, 2026.

“I think the symbolic power of the temple has a dimension which is way beyond the building and way beyond the lives of individuals; it’s a connection between earth and heaven,” President Uchtdorf said.

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More than 200 Latter-day Saints gathered inside Oregon’s newest temple for the dedication, while the sacred event was also broadcast to other faithful members at local meetinghouses in the temple district.

President Uchtdorf and other Church leaders arrived at the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple for a walk-through on Saturday afternoon.

He was joined by his wife, Harriet; Elder K. Brett Nattress, General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Shawna; and Elder Peter M. Johnson of the North America West Area Presidency, and his wife, Stephanie.

President Uchtdorf said the green landscapes in Oregon reminded him of his home in Germany.

“I think coming to this temple gives a feeling of coming home and giving hope for the future,” he said.

The temple’s features were inspired by local landscapes, including art glass that reflects the green vegetation and blue water of the nearby McKenzie and Willamette Rivers.

“When you see the wonderful Willamette River flowing quietly but strongly, just in the neighborhood of this temple, it is like the flow of spiritual power, which comes from this temple and goes into the community,” the senior leader shared.

The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple dedication follows a recent two-week public open house.

“Everyone who came here for the open house saw it is focusing on families; it’s uniting families,” President Uchtdorf explained. “It is serving others, and this is what we need today. We need to be united. We need to focus on each other [and] how we can help each other.”

Ground was broken for the temple in October 2022 in the fertile Willamette Valley, close to the campuses of the University of Oregon in Eugene and Oregon State University in Corvallis. The house of the Lord will also serve Latter-day Saints in communities such as Coos Bay and Newport, along the Oregon coast, Roseburg to the south, and Bend in Central Oregon.

The Willamette Valley Oregon Temple is the third temple in Oregon. The Portland Oregon Temple in Lake Oswego was dedicated in August 1989, and the Medford Oregon Temple was dedicated in April 2000.

There are nearly 150,000 Latter-day Saints in about 280 congregations in Oregon. The Church of Jesus Christ’s roots in the southern Willamette Valley date back to the early 1900s, when the first members arrived in the Eugene area. The first stake (like a diocese) was organized in 1951.