Elder Gilbert Dedicates the Cody Wyoming Temple
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In his first temple dedication as an Apostle, Elder Clark G. Gilbert dedicated the Church’s 227th temple in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin and invited members to seek their own spiritual frontiers.
Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Cody Wyoming Temple on Sunday, October 25, 2026. According to the Church Newsroom, it is the Church's 227th dedicated temple, the third in Wyoming, and the first temple Elder Gilbert has dedicated since he became an Apostle in February 2026.
A temple on the last frontier
The temple stands in the Big Horn Basin, a region many regard as the last Western frontier in the United States. Elder Gilbert described how early settlers there faced isolated land, cold winters and scarce water, and said building a community required vision, commitment and sacrifice.
Latter-day Saints today, he said, are not called to settle wilderness frontiers, but they do face personal, spiritual ones, such as becoming converted, returning to Church, fulfilling callings or giving up anything that dims the Spirit's voice.
Four marks of the Lord's frontiers
Elder Gilbert shared four characteristics of the Lord's frontiers:
- The Lord will show us our spiritual frontiers if we ask, as the rich young man asked Jesus, "What lack I yet?"
- Those frontiers take us to places we have never been, and like the pioneers who cleared sagebrush and brought in water, we must work to cultivate them.
- They take us where He wants us to go, which means offering the sacrifices He asks for rather than the easier ones we might prefer.
- The Lord does not leave His people alone there; His help may come in unexpected ways, like the ram in the thicket.
Closer to home
The single dedicatory session was broadcast to congregations in the temple district and rebroadcast that afternoon. Wyoming has nearly 67,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 170 wards and branches, and the new temple follows the Star Valley (2016) and Casper (2024) temples.
Glenn and Erica Nielson, who donated the land for the temple, said having it nearby will let local members spend less time on the road and more time serving and worshipping in the house of the Lord.
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