The Temple Coming to McAllen, Texas, Will Help People ‘Look to the Heavens for Wisdom’

Construction on temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can seem commonplace. By the end of the year, some 20 new temples will have started rising in 2020. And the Church has 231 of these sacred structures in various stages of operation or development around the world.

Because temples are the Church’s most sacred of spaces, the global faith seeks to position them closer and closer to its 16.6 million members around the world.

A regional Church leader Saturday in McAllen, Texas — a city less than 10 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and the location of the latest temple to begin construction — told a gathering of fewer than 30 Latter-day Saints and invited guests on a 70-degree morning that the temple coming to their city is eternally significant. This temple, he said, is an important indicator of their collective faith and a valuable reminder of the most important things in life.

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“This day is the result of tremendous faith and many prayers by so many who have waited so long — perhaps even all their lives,” said Elder Art Rascon, an Area Seventy, during the temple groundbreaking ceremony held November 21, 2020. “God bless you. Your faith and prayers have been recognized by the Lord.”

Elder Rascon presided at the event and offered the dedicatory prayer.

In his prayer, Elder Rascon expressed gratitude for the many thousands of Latter-day Saints “in this lovely valley in southern Texas and across the border into Mexico who have worked faithfully to establish Thy kingdom and prepared their hearts and minds awaiting this day. Their faith, patience, and perseverance in the midst of many afflictions have made the miracle of this day possible. We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, for their longsuffering, fervent prayers and continued diligence to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The ceremonies within each temple teach the purpose of life and unite families, past and present. The mere presence of temples in communities around the globe reminds Latter-day Saints of the importance of faith in the common Father of all humanity, the need for constant improvement of the soul, the possibility of family relationships that reach beyond the grave, and the salvation that comes only through the grace of Jesus Christ.

“As the central spire rises heavenward to this beautiful house of the Lord, might we as God’s children ever increase our faith and look to the heavens for wisdom and not to the ever-shifting values of the world,” Elder Rascon said. “This temple will bring us closer to God.”

The McAllen Texas Temple will serve Latter-day Saints in McAllen, Corpus Christi and Laredo, as well as thousands of Church members in the northeastern Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. The temple is being built on a 10.6-acre site on the northwest corner of Second Street and Trenton Road. This house of the Lord will be one story and approximately 25,000 square feet. A meetinghouse is also being built on the site.

The temple, announced by Church Prophet and President Russell M. Nelson during the October 2019 general conference, will be Texas’s fifth. The others are in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock and San Antonio. Texas is home to over 360,000 members of the Church.