At the October 2009 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes inadvertently called the “Mormon Church”) it was announced that a Mormon temple would be built in Fortaleza Brazil.  There are 13 stakes near Fortaleza and several more in outlying areas. Members currently travel nearly 500 miles to attend the Recife Brazil Temple.  The Fortaleza Temple will be the seventh Mormon temple in Brazil, where there are nearly 1.2 million Latter-day Saints.

The Fortaleza Brazil Temple will be built in the coastal neighborhood of Dunas on a site located across from the esteemed FANOR, an institute of higher education.  The exact location is   Avenida Santos Dumont esq Rua Mal. Mascarenhas Morais, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

The design for the Fortaleza is a classical colonial design with two spires.  An accommodation Building, a meetinghouse, and maintenance buildings will also be constructed on the site.

The groundbreaking for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple took place on November 15, 2011, with Mormon Apostle Elder David A. Bednar presiding.

That a new Mormon temple would be constructed in Sapporo Japan, was announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 3, 2009 at the 179th General Conference of the Church in the Saturday morning session.

The site for the Sapporo Japan Temple is at 1-620-5 Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan. The site is 9.8 acres. The parcel of land is on the Atsubetsu River, adjacent to the campus of Hokusei Gakuen University. The land was once occupied by the Shin Sapporo Golf Center and offers convenient access from the Hokkaido Expressway and the Ooyachi Subway Station.

The Sapporo Japan Temple was designed with inspiration from Asian architecture. The temple will anchor a complex of supporting buildings including an Arrival Center, a Patron Housing Facility, a Temple Missionary Housing Facility, a combined home and office for the Japan Sapporo Mission, and space for a future meetinghouse. The grounds will feature distinctive trees and plants, large landscaping stones, and a pond and waterfall spanned by a pedestrian bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Sapporo Japan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons“) was held Saturday, October 22, 2011, amidst wind and rain, marking the beginning of the Church’s third temple in Japan and sixth in Asia. Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy presided at the groundbreaking. He was joined by Elders Michael T. Ringwood and Koichi Aoyagi of the Seventy.

The goal to qualify for a temple on Hokkaidō was five stakes (groups of congregations).

This will be the third temple built in Japan, which has 29 stakes and 14 districts. Sapporo is Japan’s fifth largest city and is located on the northern island of Hokkaidō.

There are presently two Mormon Temples in Japan — the Tokyo Japan Temple (1980) and the Fukuoka Japan Temple (2000).

At the 181st semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new Mormon temple in Durban, South Africa.  This will be the second temple for South Africa.  The Johannesburg, South Africa temple was dedicated in 1985.

The first missionaries to South Africa arrived in April 1853, and in August, the first congregation was organized four miles from Cape Town. Two years later, there were three congregations totaling nearly 130 members. Missionaries were not sent to South Africa from 1865 to 1903 because of government restrictions and the inability to speak the Afrikaans language. A few years after missionaries returned to South Africa, the first Church building was built in Mowbray in 1916-17.

An area conference was held for the first time in October 1978, attended by 3,450 of the 7,200 members living in South Africa, Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and South West Africa (Namibia). In February 1992, another conference was held in Johannesburg with 4,200 in attendance. In February 1996, another regional conference had more than 5,000 in attendance. Today, members of all origins work together to overcome cultural barriers that have been prevalent in South African society.  There are around 55,000 Latter-day Saints in South Africa of all races.  The LDS Church does not segregate races in congregations or in the temples.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

At the 181st general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of two new temples in Africa, one in Durban, South Africa, and one in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  These will be the fourth and fifth temples to be constructed in Africa, with existing temples in Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; and Aba, Nigeria.  Members in Congo currently attend the temple in Johannesburg, over 2000 miles away.  The Kinshasa Temple will serve 23,000 Latter-day Saints.

The first missionaries arrived in Kinshasa in February 1986, when the Church received legal status. Meetings were first held in the homes of members. Then the Church purchased a villa and had it remodelled into a meetinghouse. In September 1986, at the first meeting in the 200-seat facility, 208 Church members attended.

The Zaire Kinshasa Mission was created in 1987, and nine years later the Church had grown sufficiently for a stake (diocese) to be organized.

In 1991 a religious education program for youth and young adults was introduced.

For Mormon news and information about the recently announced temples visit the official newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ.

At the 181st semi-annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in October 2011, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new Mormon temple in Star Valley, Wyoming.  The prophet joked that he would personally dedicate the new temple, because the fishing is good nearby.  This will be the first temple to be built in Wyoming.

Mormons in Wyoming had previously attended the temple in Rexburg, Idaho.  The journey was considerably more difficult during the winter.

Mormon pioneers in the first westward party in 1847 made their way through Wyoming, stopping at Fort Laramie to repair their wagons.   They followed the Oregon Trail along the Platte River to Fort Bridger

The pioneers used rafts and a boat to ferry themselves and their belongings across the Platte River. Nine men stayed behind to continue the profitable ferry, which found business from Oregon-bound travelers.

In Wyoming, the pioneers met Jim Bridger, who gave an optimistic opinion of the Great Basin area. Most pioneer companies traveled through Wyoming without incident; however, the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies of 1857 started later in the year and became trapped in the winter snows. Approximately 200 of the 1,075 in the companies died. Others were saved by Utah rescue parties.

In 1877, Church members settled the Star Valley area, and the following year, Church President Brigham Young dedicated the spot as a gathering place for members.  In 1992, Wyoming Latter-day Saints erected three monuments in memory of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies. Later, the Church purchased land at the mouth of Sweetwater Canyon where 21 pioneers died in one night. These sites were dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.

There are over 63,000 Latter-day Saints in the state of Wyoming in 154 congregations.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

In October 2011 at the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a second temple in Colombia.  The first is in Bogota.  The new temple will be in Barranquilla, Colombia, which is located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea.  Located on the delta of the Magdalena River, the city serves as a port for river and maritime transportation within Colombia.

The first LDS Missionaries arrived in Colombia in 1966.  Five years later, 27 congregations were established in 10 cities.  Today, Church membership is nearly nineteen times that of 20 years ago.  Colombia has 172,534 members of the Church in 272 congregations, and four missions.

LDS.org has a separate website for Colombia (in Spanish), which you can access by clicking here.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

The Provo Tabernacle  was originally built between 1883 and 1898 on University Avenue between Center Street and 100 South, and was a city landmark for over 100 years.  The tabernacle had been updated as the years went by, but its distinguished architecture was never changed.  The building was  gutted by fire in December 2010.  Apparently, no arson was involved.  The building was beloved and venerated by generations of residents and BYU students who worshiped and attended a variety of meetings, concerts and other events there.

During the months after the fire and the investigation that followed, residents wondered whether the historical facade of the building could be saved.  There was an audible gasp of joy at the announcement in General Conference by Prophet Thomas S. Monson that the historic tabernacle would be remade into a temple.  There is a precedent for this action, since the Vernal Utah Temple (dedicated in 1997) was created from the 1907 Uintah Stake Tabernacle.  The new temple will include “a complete restoration of the original historic exterior.

Speculation had intensified during recent months as the church had been working on acquiring additional properties on the Tabernacle block. In late August 2011, it announced the acquisition of land from two businesses on the block, the Travelodge Motel and Los 3 Amigos restaurant.  At the end of September 2011 the Provo Municipal Council voted to sell to the church the property upon which the old Hotel Roberts used to be located. The hotel was demolished in 2004.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

With those acquisitions — and impending acquisitions — the Church will own the entire Tabernacle block, with the exception of the Post Office property. The Church has not indicated any plans for acquiring that property.

The Provo Utah Temple is the most-used temple in the Church, with the Brigham Young University campus and Missionary Training Center nearby.  This, second, temple in Provo will help to ease the crowding and waiting times experienced by the Provo Temple.

For information and Mormon news about the other temples that have just been announced visit the newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”)

That a new temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be built in Paris, France, was formally announced at the Mormon General Conference of October, 2011. However, since the French press got hold of the plan many months before, an informal announcement was made in July of 2011, while government approvals were still in progress. The temple is planned for the area of Le Chesnay. Le Chesnay is located in the western suburbs of Paris 16.7 km (10.4 mi) from the center (Wikipedia).

There are more than 36,000 Latter-day Saints in France, and they have attended the temple in other European countries, especially Germany and Switzerland.

The first LDS missionary to France was the apostle John Taylor, who later became prophet and president of the Church. He departed for Europe in 1849. The first congregation in France, consisting of six members, was organized in April 1850 in Boulogne-sur-Mer. By July 24, 1853, nine branches (small congregations) had been formed with 337 members. Two hundred eighty-nine of those members were from the Channel Islands.

The Church grew slowly in France until after World War II, when the LDS Church contributed to the reconstruction of Europe. At that time missionaries were once more sent into France, and membership began to increase. In 1955, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir made its historic tour of Europe, performing in the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. (Later, the choir performed in Strasbourg in 1991 and in Marseille in 1998.) At the time of the Choir’s first performance, Church membership in the nation was only about 1,500. France’s first meetinghouse was completed in Nantes in 1962. By 1974, 29 French members were serving as missionaries for the Church.

In 1998 LDS prophet and president Gordon B. Hinckley visited France and predicted that a temple would someday be built there. He visited France again in 2004 and asked the Saints to be patient. Church members in France are organized into seven stakes (dioceses) that meet in 115 meetinghouses. Members come from every walk of life.

Updates

In France,  Le Parisien reported that the final hurdles were cleared for the construction of the Paris France Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“It’s now a done deal,” Le Parisien reported on November 9, 2011. “The city council has just given its green light by validating the building permit filed by La Foncie des Régions on behalf of the Mormon Church.” [1]

In February 2012 Voice of America reported controversy regarding the building of the Paris France Mormon Temple.  France is traditionally a Catholic country, but as in many countries in Western Europe, few attend church.  As a secularized country, France is wary of any religion, especially a religion as demanding of its followers as Mormonism.  The fact that only worthy Mormons can attend the temple also concerns some French people.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assures the French people that it is not extremist in any way, and that the gardens (open to the public) will be a blessing to local residents.  There is always an open house staged before a Mormon temple is dedicated for worship, and many LDS temples offer holiday programs for the public.

By Terrie.

While visiting friends in Ohio, my husband and I suddenly realized we were only a few hours from Kirtland, Ohio, an important location in early Mormon history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes called Mormons, settled in that town for a time and built their first temple there. Today, some of the important historic sites have been restored and are open to the public.

The first place we visited was Historic Kirtland. This site, owned by the Mormons, focuses on Newel K. Whitney and his wife, Ann. They had been searching for a church to join when they had a shared vision in which they were promised the word of the Lord would soon come to their town.  A few weeks later, four Mormon missionaries arrived in town. Ann joined the church first, and her husband followed a few days later, after receiving his own witness.

The Whitneys were an important part of Mormon history in Kirtland. Newel was a successful shop owner whose store was a gathering place for the community. Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, and his wife Emma, stayed with them for several weeks and then again the next year before moving into their own home in Kirtland.

Newel K. Whitney’s store was attacked by a mob, which did not dim his faith in any way, even though a great deal of merchandise was destroyed. He donated land to build the sawmill that was used to build the temple. He even helped the Mormon Church learn how to open and operate a store that would help to pay off the debts incurred in building the temple, despite the fact that this store competed with his own. He was a man who put God before himself.

The home, store, ashery, and sawmill have been restored, along with some other buildings. Our tour began with a video that helped us understand what events from Mormon history happened during that time period. Having recently written about church history, I had read about many of these events, but seeing them in the video helped me to understand the impact they must have had on the participants. Terrible persecutions occurred  in Kirtland. One day Joseph Smith was awake late at night helping his wife care for their adopted twins, who were ill. Eventually he sent his wife to bed with the girl, and he stayed up with his son, who was more seriously ill. After a time, the baby slept and Joseph placed it in its bed and lay down nearby to try to sleep a little. However, a mob broke into the home and dragged Joseph outside, where they threatened to kill him. Instead, he was tarred and feathered, along with another church leader. Perhaps the most horrendous part of this night though is that the mob left the door to the house open and the little boy died as a result of the cold air hitting him for a brief time while he was so sick. Although they decided not to kill Joseph, the mob did indirectly kill his child through their choices.

The next day, Joseph preached, despite his injuries. Some of the men in the mob showed up to the meeting, but Joseph did not call attention to them or even mention what happened. He simply delivered his sermon. Later in the day I was able to see the house where he delivered that sermon.

I am a history buff, and I have always loved visiting the places where notable events happened. I don’t get much from random statues placed in parks, but when I visit a place where special people were and where important things happened, I always feel a connection to those people and events. I stood in the Whitney store and, as another family searched the handwritten shop records for their ancestors’ names, I simply stood quietly and pictured Joseph Smith and other important church leaders entering the room where I now stood. I tried to picture them interacting with each other. Having a good imagination, I quickly found myself not in a modern store with missionaries and tourists, but a bustling community center filled with people I’ve read about during my time as a church member. I could see Joseph coming into the room, smiling and greeting people, perhaps answering a gospel question from a member trying to understand her new religion, kneeling to play with a small child (knowing he loved children), and turning back to help an elderly woman up the stairs. I pictured him paying special attention to Whitney’s brother and aunt, who were not members of the Church, demonstrating through his actions what a Mormon really was.

The School of the Prophets was especially meaningful to me. It is a place I had always wanted to see. It was located upstairs, over the store, and was a small room set aside for learning about the gospel. In this room, men were trained to better understand their religion and prepare to lead the Church. Since everyone was new to the gospel in those days, it was important for each new or prospective leader to get a solid foundation in his new Mormon religion. The three sister missionaries who showed us around the village shared an event that happened in that room. Joseph Smith told the men gathered that if they humbled themselves and had enough faith, they would see Jesus. As they prayed, a personage walked through the room from east to west. Joseph asked the men if they could see the personage and then he identified Him as Jesus Christ. This event was recorded by at least two other men, John Murdock and Zebedee Coltrin.

A few years ago I went to Palmyra, New York, where Joseph Smith, as a teenager, saw God and Jesus Christ. I walked through the woods where this happened. We don’t know the exact spot, but it really didn’t make a difference. I understood that I stood in a woods that Jesus and God had once visited. This room had that same sacred feeling to it. Because it is again being used for sacred purposes—that of helping people come to a testimony that Jesus Christ lives—I believe the Spirit of that day lingers in the room to help testify of the Savior to anyone who enters it with a sincere desire to have a testimony of Jesus Christ.

That a new temple would be built in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was announced by Mormon Prophet Thomas S. Monson during the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October, 2009.  The temple site is located on the northeast corner of Interstate 75 and Griffin Road on SW 154th Avenue in Davie, Florida.

The temple will be the second in Florida — the first was the Orlando Florida Temple, dedicated in 1994.  The temple will serve approximately 25,000 Church members from congregations in Stuart to the Florida Keys as well as members living in Ft. Myers, Naples and in the Bahamas.   The gorgeous 28,000-square-foot building was described in permit application materials as “an interpretation of Neoclassicism with arches, columns and a steeple.”

The groundbreaking ceremony to initiate construction was announced for Saturday, June 18, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.  Due to parking constraints, attendance at the groundbreaking was by invitation only.  However, the groundbreaking was scheduled to be aired on closed-circuit television at Mormon meetinghouses in Florida.

When construction is complete, an open house will be scheduled so that the general public can tour the temple before its dedication as a House of the Lord.  After dedication as a holy house, only worthy members of the Mormon Church who hold temple recommends may enter.  Mormons worship on Sundays in chapels, also called “meetinghouses.”  Temples are open most hours of the day, five days a week, and those wishing to attend may do so during those hours.  The temple is a place of meditation and prayer, where higher covenants are made between the Lord and His children.  Temples are also places of education, wherein one may learn the purpose of life.  Work in holy temples is for the living and the dead.