Guatemala City Temple
There has never been a man or
woman who has not asked, "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where
am I going? What is my relationship to God? Will death rob me of the
treasured associations of life? What of my family? Will there be
another existence after this, and, if so, will we know one another
there?"
These answers are found only in the Mormon
Temples
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormons). These
Temples are sacred in which these and other eternal questions are
answered. Each Mormon Temple is dedicated as a house of God, a place of peace, a place of holiness to shut apart from the world.
Temples are different than
regular places of worship, in that they are designated for special
ordinances. The work that goes on in the Temple sets forth God's
eternal purposes with reference to man.
Much of this work is concerned
with the family; we are each a member of God's eternal family and we
are each members of an earthly family. Emphasis is placed on the
sanctity and eternal nature of the marriage covenant and family
relationships. Marriage partners who come to the Temple and who partake
of its blessings are joined not only for their earthly life, but also
for eternity if they live worthy of the blessings.
There are millions who have
walked the earth and have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Through living proxies, the same ordinances are available to those who
have passed from mortality. In the spirit world these same individuals
are free to accept or reject the earthly ordinances that have been
performed for them, including baptism, marriage, and the sealing of
family relationships. Everyone must have the opportunity!
In 1947 Mormon missionaries
were sent to Guatemala to begin preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Seventy-five percent of the population is Catholic with Evangelical and
other Protestant denominations present. The Mormon missionaries have
been quite successful in Guatemala; so much that in 1984 the membership
of the Church had reached 40,000 and by 1998 it had quadrupled to
164,000. Just in the last twenty years the membership of the Church in
Latin America has exploded to 700,000 members strong.1
Because of this growth in the
Mormon Church, the leaders announced the building of the new Guatemala
City Guatemala Temple to be built in Guatemala City. This announcement
was made on April 1, 1981, with the groundbreaking taking place on
September 12, 1982 by Elder Richard G. Scott, an apostle for the Mormon
Church.
The site for the Guatemala Mormon
Temple
is on a little more than one acre and set in a location referred to as
'Vista Hermosa', which means 'beautiful view.' Faced with white
Guatemalan marble and flanked by six elegant spires, the temple stands
at the foot of rolling hills in southeastern Guatemala City. The
interior of the temple has 11,500 square feet and is adorned with
authentic Mayan articles. The Temple is officially the 32nd temple of the Mormon Church and serves over 190,000 members from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
President Gordon B. Hinckley
dedicated this beautiful edifice on December 14, 1984 and stated that
the temple was a blessing "for which many generations have prayed
behind the veil [many] who have been taught the gospel [of Jesus
Christ]…so they may continue with their journey to eternal life."2
For more information about Mormon temples, please see the following websites:
LDS Temples
– Mormon Temples – Salt Lake Temple
BBC - Religion & Ethics - Mormon Temples
Manhattan Mormon Temple New York City.com : Arts & Attractions ...
Mormon Temple: Information From Answers.com
Mormanity: Mormon Temples and "Secrecy"
Mormon Temple Ordinances
– ReligionFacts.com
Temple (Mormonism) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LDS (Mormon) Temple resources
1 "Mormon Conversions surge in Latin America", by NBC News, July 13, 2004, Leonor Ayala
2 "The First 100 Temples", by Chad Hawkins, 2002, p 91
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