Salt Lake City | Monday, 06 March 2023 |
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the groundbreaking date for the Montpelier Idaho Temple. Additionally, the location of the Maceió Brazil Temple has been released.
Montpelier Idaho Temple Groundbreaking
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Montpelier Idaho Temple takes place on June 17, 2023. Elder Ryan K. Olsen, General Authority Seventy, will preside. Further details will be announced as the date of the groundbreaking approaches. Attendance at this groundbreaking is by invitation only. A live broadcast of the event will be available for the more than 15,000 Latter-day Saints in the proposed temple district.
The Montpelier Idaho Temple was announced in April 2022 by Church President Russell M. Nelson. This house of the Lord will be built on a 2.6-acre site located on the northeast corner of Washington and Sixth Street in Montpelier. The two-story structure will be about 27,000 square feet. A rendering of the temple will be made available at a later date.
Idaho, a state located along the spine of the Northern Rockies of the United States, is home to more than 470,000 Latter-day Saints in over 1,200 congregations. In addition to the Montpelier Idaho Temple, Idaho has eight other temples in operation, under construction or announced in Boise, Burley, Idaho Falls, Meridian, Pocatello, Rexburg (the Rexburg Idaho Temple and Teton River Idaho Temple), and Twin Falls. Aside from Utah and California, there are more temples in Idaho than in any other state.
Maceió Brazil Temple Site
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. Church President Russell M. Nelson first announced this house of the Lord in April 2022. A rendering of the temple will be made available at a later date.
Map showing the location of the Maceió Brazil Temple. 2023 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved
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.
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 temple in Maceió, 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, Maceió, Ribeirão Prêto, Santos, São Paulo East and Vitória.
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.