Elder Patrick Kearon dedicated Cambodia's first temple on Sunday. Not a groundbreaking — a house. Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple on Sunday, 30 August 2026. It is the first temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cambodia. It is the 222nd temple of the Church. Church News's Mary Richards filed from Phnom Penh at 2:27 a.m. MDT.

The house on Russian Federation Boulevard, no people
White spire, empty courtyard. Original still, not a photograph of the dedication. Download

Sunday, 30 August 2026, is the dedication. Elder Patrick Kearon offered it. Sister Jennifer Kearon took part. Elder I. Raymond Egbo and Sister Comfort Egbo took part. Elder David L. Buckner and Sister Jennifer Buckner took part. The house stands on Russian Federation Boulevard, Phnom Penh 12040.

Elder Kearon said: "As we let our gaze be drawn heavenward in this way, we find the inward peace which can be so elusive in our busy lives." Heavenward is the direction he named. Inward peace is what that gaze finds.

He named the land next. "We are in a land that has known extraordinary pain, hardship, loss and despair. It is so fitting that the Lord has seen to provide a house here which will draw our hands and hearts far beyond the trials of mortality and into eternity." Extraordinary pain. Hardship. Loss. Despair. Then a house. Fitting is the apostle's word for a temple in Cambodia.

Late President Russell M. Nelson announced the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple on 7 October 2018. He did not live to see Sunday's service. The announcement is his. The dedication on 30 August 2026 is Elder Kearon's. The 222nd temple in the Church's sequence is this house.

The groundbreaking was 18 September 2021. Then-Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission President Veasna Kuonno Neang presided. A mission president already serving in the country put the first work into the ground. 18 September 2021 is the earth date. 30 August 2026 is the house date.

The lot is 1.3 hectares. The floor is about 924 square metres. The height is about 35 metres to the spire. The district is Cambodia and parts of Vietnam. The architecture is inspired by traditional Cambodian religious structures — white walls, a courtyard, a spire on a boulevard the city already knows by name.

Sister Jennifer Kearon called the temple a gift. Everything in the temple, she said, draws people closer to the Savior and prepares families. A gift is her word. Closer to the Savior is the work. Families prepared is the other work.

Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cambodia has grown from a handful to more than 18,000 over three decades. Members used to travel to Hong Kong. Members used to travel to the Philippines. Those were the nearest temples. They're still temples. They're no longer the only temples for Cambodia. The first in the country is now dedicated in Phnom Penh. For more than 18,000 members, and for a district that includes parts of Vietnam, the work that required a flight now has a house at home.

The open house had two invitations. Dignitaries came on 12 August 2026. The public came from 15 August through 22 August, excluding Sunday. Dedication Sunday, 30 August, is a different Sunday. The city was invited to walk through the house before the apostle dedicated it.

Phnom Penh Cambodia North Stake President Samnang Sea spoke of the Light of Christ shining to the rest of the city. He didn't keep the light on the 1.3 hectares. He named the rest of Phnom Penh. The Light of Christ is his phrase. The rest of the city is his reach.

Nhem Sokunthea and Thlong Sokheoun were the open-house coordinators. Their names belong with 12 August and with 15 August to 22 August. The BYU Cambodian Oral History Project is on the same Church News file from Phnom Penh. Brigham Young University has been gathering Cambodian members' histories. Dedication week is a week those histories will mark.

Announcement, ground, house. 7 October 2018 under late President Russell M. Nelson. 18 September 2021 under Mission President Veasna Kuonno Neang. 30 August 2026 under Elder Patrick Kearon, with Sister Jennifer Kearon, Elder I. Raymond Egbo, Sister Comfort Egbo, Elder David L. Buckner, and Sister Jennifer Buckner. Coordinators Nhem Sokunthea and Thlong Sokheoun. Stake President Samnang Sea. Church News, Mary Richards, Phnom Penh, 2:27 a.m. MDT.

Elder Kearon's first quoted sentence is peace — gaze heavenward, find the inward peace busy lives mislay. His second is the land — pain, hardship, loss, despair, then a house that draws hands and hearts into eternity. Sister Kearon's line is gift, Savior, families. President Samnang Sea's line is the Light of Christ for the rest of the city. Four voices. One Sunday. One house.

This is Cambodia's first. This is the Church's 222nd. About 924 square metres on 1.3 hectares, about 35 metres to the spire, inspired by traditional Cambodian religious structures, serving Cambodia and parts of Vietnam from Phnom Penh 12040.

NKJV: "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'" (Psalm 122:1)