The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the groundbreaking date for the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple. The locations of the Maceió Brazil Temple, Vitória Brazil Temple and Cody Wyoming Temple were also announced.
Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple Groundbreaking
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Groundbreaking services will be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023. Elder Peter F. Meurs, General Authority Seventy and First Counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency, will preside at the event.
Attendance at the site will be by invitation only. Additional details will be released as the date of the groundbreaking approaches.
The Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple was first announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson in October 2019. This will be the first house of the Lord in the country. Currently, the closest temple to the more than 35,000 Latter-day Saints who call Papua New Guinea home is the Brisbane Australia Temple, located about 1,300 miles away.
Maceió Brazil Temple Site
Maceió Brazil Temple Site
Map showing the location of the Maceió Brazil Temple.© 2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.The Maceió Brazil Temple will be built at Avenida – Dr. Durval de Góis Monteiro, S/N, Quadra 0522, Lote 0228. Plans call for a one-story temple of approximately 19,000 square feet. President Nelson first announced this house of the Lord in April 2022.
This will be the city’s first temple. Currently, the closest temple to Latter-day Saints in Maceió is the Recife Brazil Temple, which is located in the neighboring state of Pernambuco.
Vitória Brazil Temple Site
Vitoria-Brazil-Temple-Map
A map showing the location of the Vitória Brazil Temple. © 2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.The Vitória Brazil Temple will be built at Avenida Leitão da Silva #2055, Iteraré, Vitória-ES. Plans call for a one-story temple of approximately 10,600 square feet. First announced by President Nelson in October 2021, this temple will be the city’s first.
There are nearly 1.5 million Latter-day Saints in Brazil in more than 2,100 congregations. Missionary work began in Brazil in 1928. Including the temples in Maceió and Vitória, there are 18 houses of the Lord in Brazil, with dedicated temples located in Belém, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; two under construction in Brasília and Salvador; and others announced in Belo Horizonte, Londrina, Ribeirão Prêto, Santos, and São Paulo East.
Cody Wyoming Temple Site
Cody-Wyoming-Temple-Map
Map showing the location of the Cody Wyoming Temple. 2022 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.The Cody Wyoming Temple will be built on the northwest side of Skyline Drive at Cody Canal in Cody, Wyoming. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 9,950 square feet.
This will be the third house of the Lord in Wyoming, a Western state that is home to more than 67,000 Latter-day Saints. The Star Valley Wyoming Temple was dedicated in 2016, and the Casper Wyoming Temple is currently under construction. The Cody Wyoming Temple was first announced in October 2021.
Latter-day Saints consider temples to be houses of the Lord and the most sacred places of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.