The month of August was an exciting time for the building of temples. Temple groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Brazil and Pittsburgh and a groundbreaking date for the Phnom Penh Cambodia temple was announced. Additionally, the First Presidency announced that the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple will be dedicated in October, making it the first new temple to be dedicated in over a year and a half.
Learn about these temples and read more highlights from recent groundbreakings below.
Winnipeg Manitoba Temple
For the first time in 20 months, the Church will have a newly dedicated temple.
Newsroom reports that the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple will be dedicated on Sunday, October 31, 2021 with a preceding public open house that will run from October 9 through October 23. Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the temple in four sessions, and it will become the ninth in Canada and the 169th temple worldwide.
According to Church News, the Church initially announced open house and dedication dates for the Winnipeg temple on April 20, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the October 2020 open house and November 8, 2020 dedication were postponed indefinitely.
Salvador Brazil Temple
On Saturday, August 7, 2021, Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, President of the Brazil Area, and Elder Joni L. Koch, First Counselor in the Brazil Area Presidency, led the intimate groundbreaking ceremony for the Salvador Brazil Temple as reported by Newsroom.
“We recognize this city, whose name Salvador, refers to your Son,” Elder Koch said in his dedicatory prayer, as reported by Newsroom. “May the construction on this mountaintop be an expression of the privilege that it is to have a holy house in our lives … May the construction of this house symbolize, for everyone here and around the world, a testimony of thy greatness and the certainty of eternal life.”
Brazil is home to more than 1.4 million Latter-day Saints meeting in over 2,100 congregations. 7 temples in Brazil are currently dedicated and in use, 2 are under construction, 2 more have been announced with no groundbreaking details as of yet, and the temple in Rio de Janeiro is complete, but still awaiting dedication.
According to Newsroom, “Details for the open house and temple dedication upon its completion will be announced at a future date.”
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple
In a press release from Church Newsroom, the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple groundbreaking was held on Saturday, August 21, 2021. Elder Randall K. Bennett of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Seventy and President of the North America Northeast Area presided over the groundbreaking ceremony.
Elder Bennett told the members in attendance, “I pray that this will be the first temple district full of members, or among the first, where attendance will be virtually standing room only. So this temple is filled with faithful Latter-day Saints serving their ancestors, serving one another.”
Sister Brenda Miller of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania North Stake said, “Having this temple here in Pittsburgh reminds me of His love for all of us. I know this temple will be a great blessing to many people, and I am excited for the opportunity that it will give others to hopefully gain the same peace and reassurance that I’ve been able to have.”
The Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple was announced in April 2020 and there are more than 52,000 Latter-day Saints in over 105 congregations in the state of Pennsylvania. The state’s first temple in Philadelphia was dedicated in 2016.
Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple
According to Church Newsroom, the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple groundbreaking ceremony will be held on September 18, 2021. The temple was first announced in October 2018, and it will be the first temple in the country of Cambodia where more than 15,000 Latter-day Saints reside.
When President Russell M. Nelson visited Cambodia in late 2019, he debuted a rendering of the temple for the members in attendance and referred to the country of Cambodia as a “place of great tradition and great history, looking not to the past but to the future with optimism and faith.”
“When I heard the prophet announce the temple, I was overjoyed. I had tears in my eyes,” Seang Chen, a local member in Cambodia said, as reported by Church News. “I know Heavenly Father loves Cambodia and Cambodian people; that is why He gave us a temple.”
Images courtesy of Newsroom
