Mexico City Mexico Temple

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Mexico City, Mexico Mormon Temple

The Mexico City Mexico Temple is the 26th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The announcement to build a Mormon temple in Mexico came in April 1976. Although it would take eight years to dedicate the first temple in Mexico, since then, eleven other temples have been built in the country. Plans to build the first temple in Mexico, however, were not easy.

In 1976 foreign missionaries were not officially recognized in Mexico, and mandatory laws required all buildings to be open to the public. This was especially problematic since Mormons believe that temples are literal houses of the Lord and only those who prove themselves worthy through their local Bishop and Stake President may enter the temple. But within a few years, laws changed in encouraging ways and the necessary building permits were approved in 1979.

Importing the necessary building materials and furnishings proved to be another obstacle. Out of respect and love for the Lord, only the finest of materials are used in building Mormon temples, thus the Church leaders requested an exemption from the importation law, as well as importing the materials without tax. Church leaders fasted and prayed and presented their request to the proper government authorities. Amazingly, the requests were approved and signed.

Emil Fetzer was the architect assigned to draw up plans for the Mexico City Mexico Temple. Of the four designs which were presented, one was of a Mayan type architecture. As the First Presidency studied each of the proposed designs, they felt that the one with the Mayan influence was the one most suited to the Mexican site and its surroundings.

The Mexico City Temple was dedicated December 2, 1983 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then an apostle. The building is faced with white cast stone and white marble chips. It is the fifth largest temple in the Church and the largest temple outside the United States. The Mexico City Mexico Temple has a total of 116,642 square feet, four ordinance rooms, and eleven sealing rooms.

An Inside Look of the Mexico City Temple

The gallery of pictures via Mormon Newsroom.org provides an inside look at the Mexico City Temple.

Open House, Cultural Celebration, and Re-dedication

The public is invited to take a guided tour of the Mexico City Temple, which was closed for the past 19 months for renovations, beginning on Friday, 14 August 2015, and going through Saturday, 5 September 2015. There will not be an open house on Sunday, 16, 23, or 30 August 2015. Tours will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

A cultural celebration will be held Saturday, 12 September 2015, and the temple will be rededicated on Sunday, 13 September 2015 in three sessions.

The re-dedication services will be broadcast at 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to meetinghouses in all stakes and districts in the Mexico City Mexico Temple district. The regular three-hour block of meetings scheduled on the 13th will be cancelled so that Latter-day Saints can participate in the sessions.

To date, there are over one million Latter-day Saints in Mexico. After its rededication, the temple will serve more than 384,000 members of the Church who live in Mexico City and the states of Mexico, Baja California South, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí.

Temples in Mexico

See also

External links