By Sarah Jane Weaver

In a new Church News video, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks about temple construction amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, as temples worldwide were closed or ordinances were limited, the Church broke ground for 21 temples. 

“Obviously, there were construction disruptions because of the pandemic, but relatively few of those temples are behind schedule,” said Elder Bednar, who chairs the Church’s Temple and Family History Executive Council. “I find that to be just absolutely miraculous.” 

Elder Bednar spoke about the early Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois, who flocked to the still-under-construction temple there to receive temple endowments and ordinances before the forced exodus in February 1846. They had to wait decades before being able to return to a temple.