During a recent visit to Eastern Europe, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encouraged members in Russia to prepare their hearts for a new temple. President Russell M. Nelson recently announced that a new temple will be built in a major Russian city yet to be determined.
Elder Uchtdorf and his wife, Harriet, participated in a special conference of the Moscow Russia Stake on April 22, 2018. The meeting was attended by about 700 Latter-day Saints, including Church leaders in the region.
First Temple in Russia
After the conference, Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Alexey V. Samaykin, an Area Seventy, were interviewed by historian, publicist, well-known journalist and editor in chief of the academic journal Science and Religion, Sergey Georgievich Antonenko.
“This announcement is a historic one and it’s a beautiful one,” said Elder Uchtdorf about the new temple to the journalist. “We have around the globe 159 temples, and the number is growing.”
This will be the first temple for Latter-day Saints in Russia. “Up until now if they wanted to go to the temple, they had to travel outside of Russia,” he explained.
Elder Uchtdorf said, “We’re very grateful for Russia to be a country where religious freedom is established. We may practice our faith here.”
The Latter-day Saint apostle said the members in Russia are “law-abiding, wonderful citizens” who love the tradition and history of their country.
“We have learned worldwide that it has always been a great blessing for a community to accept and invite a house of the Lord,” added Elder Uchtdorf. “And even though sometimes at the beginning there are critical voices, … these critical voices learn that the Mormons are good people. They are people to be trusted.”
The full content of the interview will be published in the June 2018 issue of the publication.
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