At the conclusion of the 189th Annual General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to build eight new temples. This brings the total number of operating temples (162) and temples announced or under construction (47) to 209 worldwide.
The new temples will be in the following locations:
Pago Pago, American Samoa
Okinawa City, Okinawa
Neiafu, Tonga
Tooele Valley, Utah
Moses Lake, Washington
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Antofagasta, Chile
Budapest, Hungary
| 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 |
Downloadable video for journalists
President Nelson also provided an updated on the renovation of pioneer-era temples. He said plans for the renovation of the Salt Lake Temple, Temple Square and the adjoining plaza near the Church Office Building will be announced on Friday, April 19, 2019. He also said the Manti and Logan Temples will be renovated in coming years. (Plans for a major renovation of the St. George Temple were announced in January.)
“This work will require that each temple be closed for a period of time,” President Nelson said. “Church members may continue to enjoy temple worship and service in other temples nearby. When each project is completed, each historic temple will be rededicated.”
Since becoming Church president in January 2018, President Nelson has announced 27 new temples. Last October he announced 12 (the largest number of temples announced on the same day) and last April he announced seven new temples.
This temple will be the first in American Samoa. This U.S. territory of seven islands and coral reefs has a population of 56,000 people, including 16,390 Latter-day Saints. With Church members making up nearly 30 percent of the populace, American Samoa has one of the densest concentrations of Latter-day Saints in the world.
Okinawa is comprised of more than 150 islands in the East China Sea between Taiwan and mainland Japan. The Okinawa Japan Temple will be the country’s fourth house of the Lord. Japan, a country of 127 million people, is home to nearly 130,000 Latter-day Saints spread throughout more than 260 congregations. The Church has been in Japan since 1901.
The temple in Neiafu will be the second house of the Lord in this Polynesian kingdom of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific. The first was the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple, completed in 1983. Tonga’s 65,500 Latter-day Saints make up 60 percent of the country’s 108,000 residents — making Tonga the most densely populated Latter-day Saint country in the world. The Church has had a presence in Tonga since 1891.
This will be Tooele’s first temple. As the Church’s world headquarters, Utah has 2.1 million Church members in a state of 3.2 million people (65.6 percent of the population). There are 17 operating temples in the state, including the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Logan, Jordan River, Manti, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Payson, Provo City Center, Provo, St. George, Salt Lake and Vernal Temples. The Saratoga Springs Temple was announced at the April 2017 general conference, the Layton Utah Temple was announced in April 2018, and a temple in Washington County was announced in October 2018. The new temple in Tooele, located near Salt Lake City, will be Utah’s 21st house of the Lord.
This will be the fourth temple in the state of Washington. The others are located in Richland, Bellevue and Spokane. Nearly 290,000 Latter-day Saints in 546 congregations live in the state. President Nelson spoke to some 49,000 Latter-day Saints at Safeco Field in Seattle in September 2018.
Church membership in Honduras has grown exponentially in the past 40 years. There were 6,300 Latter-day Saints in 1980; today there are more than 178,200. This temple will be the second in Honduras and the eighth in Central America. Other houses of the Lord in the region include the Tegucigalpa Honduras, San José Costa Rica, San Salvador El Salvador, Guatemala City Guatemala, Managua Nicaragua (announced), Panama City Panama and Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temples.
This will be the third temple in Chile, whose populace of 18 million includes 595,500 Latter-day Saints. The nation’s first temple was completed in Santiago in 1983 and rededicated in 2006. The second temple was completed in Concepción in October 2018. The Church of Jesus Christ has been in Chile since the 1950s and now has more than 600 congregations.
The temple in Budapest will be the country’s first house of the Lord and the 16th such structure in Europe. The Church’s other temples in the region are the Bern Switzerland, Copenhagen Denmark, Frankfurt Germany, Freiberg Germany, Helsinki Finland, Kyiv Ukraine, Lisbon Portugal (under construction), London England, Madrid Spain, Paris France, Preston England, Rome Italy, Russia (announced in April 2018), Stockholm Sweden and The Hague Netherlands Temples. Hungary is home to 5,250 Latter-day Saints spread throughout 22 congregations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a small presence in Hungary since the late 1800s, though legal recognition did not come until 1988.
Update on Other Temples Under Construction or Renovation
The Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo (April 14), Fortaleza Brazil (June 2) and Port-au-Prince Haiti (September 1) Temples are scheduled for dedication this year. The Memphis Tennessee (May 5), Oklahoma City Oklahoma (May 19) and Oakland California (June 16) Temples are scheduled for rededication. Eight temples are being renovated, including the Asunción Paraguay, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Frankfurt Germany, Hamilton New Zealand, Mesa Arizona, Raleigh North Carolina, Tokyo Japan and Washington D.C. Temples. Houses of the Lord under renovation are considered operating temples.
Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the “house of the Lord,” the most sacred places on the earth. Temples differ from the meetinghouses or chapels where all are welcome to attend Sunday worship services. In the temple, the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ceremonies that unite families