A Temple in Greece

Tim Frodsham 1 January 2025

When I was a young man, the money for ward operation and activities in our church came from the members, faithful Saints who contributed to ward budgets and held fundraisers. The percentage of full tithe papers in the church was small and tithing contributions were insufficient to cover all local costs. When building a new church building, stalwart ward members again set to work raising money for the local building fund and much of the labor to build a chapel was also donated by members. In one of the wards of my youth, we were building a stake center and I was tasked to sit atop a tall cinder block wall while other members handed up buckets of cement to pour into the blocks for reinforcing. As a child, I was the only one small enough to fit in that tiny space. It is for me a cherished memory.

Temples were also built with funds raised by local members. When a Sophomore in High School, I lived in a remote town in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. The nearest temples were the the Cardston, Alberta Temple or the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple. I never went to do proxy baptisms as a youth, these temples were simply too far away.

One evening, I was pondering Joseph Smith and the revelations incorporated into the Doctrine and Covenants. Each revelation he received was an answer to a question he placed before the Lord. Even the First Vision was in response to his question on which church he should join. These thoughts meandered from revelations received by Joseph Smith to a temple in the North West, and I decided that I needed to do more than hope, I needed to act.

The next Sunday, when paying tithing from my job at a local chicken ranch, I also included a donation to the Seattle Temple Fund. The next week, the branch counselor in charge of finances approached me in consternation.

“What is this donation?”

The Seattle Temple Fund”, I replied

“There is no Seattle Temple Fund”

“There is now”. I answered

I contributed a few dollars to this fund each month, and even continued to donate while I was serving a mission in Quebec, Canada. Six months after I returned from my mission, the Seattle Temple was announced and five years later, the temple was dedicated. When I later saw that counselor he asked me how I knew. I replied that I did not know, but such things happen only with faith backed up by action. The prayers and actions of thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the North West were answered.

My next experience with a temple was in Quebec, Canada. I served under John K. M. Olsen, the first mission president of the then Quebec Mission. The number of saints in the province was tiny. There was a small English branch and dependent French branch in Montreal, and a French branch in Quebec City. Missionary work was slow as the French Canadian people were first: suspicious of everything English or American, and second, they had just “thrown off the yoke” of the Catholic church and as I heard a thousand times “we’re not interested in subjecting ourselves to a new religion”. 23 years later, to my utter surprise, a temple was announced in Montreal.

While serving a mission in Quebec, I rarely thought about a temple there, even though I was praying and working for a temple at home. Little did I know that the small successes we were having in that mission were not “small” in the eyes of the Lord. I could not have imagined that in little more than two decades, a temple would be announced for this beloved province.

We are now serving a senior mission in Athens, Greece. There are two small branches in this country, one branch in the city of Athens and another in Thessaloniki. reminiscent of my service in Quebec. The apostle Paul preached in both of these cities, the gospel has been here a long time.

How do we prepare for a temple in Greece? We need to find the bishops, stake presidents, relief society presidents and members to form faithful wards and stakes. We need to find the temple president and temple workers who will staff a House of the Lord in this historic country.

I challenge the Greek missionaries and members, young and old, to pray and work for a Latter-day Saint temple in Greece. The bishops and presidents, temple workers and patrons are out there. They need to be found. They are honest and searching individuals and families who seek the truth.

“For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.” D&C 123:12

It is up to us as members and missionaries in Greece to pray, develop faith, and then act. As we seek guidance from the spirit, we will be led to those who are prepared, who have been seeking temple blessings, even if they know not at this time what they are or where to find them.

What a time we live in. The adversary has never been as active in thwarting the Plan of Salvation as today, and the spirit of the Lord, the power of the priesthood has never been as extensive as today. Russell M. Nelson stated:

“So many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and he time He returns ‘with power and great glory’, He will bestow countless privileges, blessings and miracles upon the faithful”

The future of this country is bright. Faithful members of wards and stakes dotting Greece will attend a temple. Genealogy work in Greece will explode as the saints work to accomplish His plan on both sides of the veil. All of this starts with us.