The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the open house and dedication dates for both the Brasília Brazil Temple and the Bentonville Arkansas Temple.
Brasília Brazil Temple Open House
The public open house for the Brasília Brazil Temple will begin on Saturday, August 5, and run until Saturday, August 26 (Sundays excluded).
| 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 |
The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, September 17 in two sessions, one at 10:30 a.m. and another at 1:00 p.m. Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the dedication. Elder Andersen presided over the Brazil South Area for several years in the early 2000s.
Before the public open house, a media day will be held Tuesday, August 1. Invited guests will tour the Brasília Brazil Temple from Wednesday, August 2, to Friday, August 4. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all units in the Brasília Brazil Temple district. Additional details regarding the temple dedication will be announced as the event approaches.
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 Brasília, 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; one under construction in Salvador; and others announced in Belo Horizonte, Londrina, Maceió, Ribeirão Prêto, Santos, São Paulo East and Vitória.
Bentonville Arkansas Temple Open House
The public open house for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple will begin on Saturday, June 17, and run until Saturday, July 1, except for Sundays.
| 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 |
The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, September 17 in two sessions, one at 10:00 a.m. and another at 1:30 p.m. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who lived in Arkansas for about 14 years in the 1980s and 1990s, will preside at the dedication.
Before the public open house, a media day will be held Monday, June 12. Invited guests will tour the Bentonville Arkansas Temple from Tuesday, June 13, to Friday, June 16. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all units in the Bentonville Arkansas Temple district. Additional details regarding the temple dedication will be announced as the event approaches.
This will be the first house of the Lord in Arkansas, a southeastern state home to more than 34,000 Latter-day Saints in over 70 congregations. Currently, the closest temples to these Church members are found in Memphis, Kansas City and Oklahoma City.
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.