Concepcion Chile Temple

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Concepción Chile Temple

On 3 October 2009, during the Saturday morning session of the 179th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas S. Monson, then President and Prophet of the Church, announced that a temple would be built in Concepción Chile.

On 16 December 2009, the Chilean news publication, Diario El Sur reported that a 2.5-acre site had been acquired by the Church for the construction of the Concepción Chile Temple in Quinta Junge—a modern residential development in a beautiful forested area on the Biobío River. A major apartment complex, called Edificios Parque Junge, was already under construction on site with 40 percent of the apartments sold, but the contracts were canceled and refunded as a result of the sale. On 24 September 2013, the same publication reported that property for the Concepción Chile Temple had indeed been purchased, as confirmed by the director of Public Affairs, Valentín Núñez Díaz.

The new temple is the second temple to be built in Chile. It is approximately 30,000 square feet, comprises two levels, and stands on some 3.7 acres. The Santiago Chile Temple, dedicated in 1983 and rededicated 12 March 2006, currently serves 105 stakes and districts from Chile and Argentina. During his announcement of a new temple being built, President Monson noted that 83 percent of Church members now live within 200 miles of a temple.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Concepción Chile Temple was held on Saturday, 17 October 2015, at 10:00 a.m. Attendance was by invitation only, but the general public was invited to view the proceedings live from local meeting houses. Elder Walter F. González, president of the South America South Area, presided.

The temple site is located at Avenida Quinta Junge in Concepción, near the Biobío River. The physical address is 1525 Pedro de Valdivia, Concepción, Bío-Bío, Chile. The Concepción Chile Temple is the 160th temple of the Church in the world. It will serve some 122,000 Latter-day Saints in southern Chile and some southwest reaches of Argentina.

Mormon Newsroom.org reports:

The 23,000-square-foot temple was designed to reflect the neoclassic building style typical of other historic Chilean church buildings. The interior :features original art glass, hand-tufted carpets, and stone from Portugal and Spain. Also featured is beautiful lapis lazuli, native to Chile. The temple :stands 124 feet tall and is crowned with a gilded statue of Moroni, a Book of Mormon prophet who is significant to Latter-day Saints for his role in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Look Inside the Concepción Chile Temple

The pictures in this gallery are taken from Mormon Newsroom.org ©2018 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

  • Concepción Chile Temple

  • Concepción Chile Temple

  • Concepción Chile Temple Entry

  • Concepción Chile Temple Baptistry

  • Concepción Chile Temple Instruction Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Sealing Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Celestial Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Celestial Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Brides Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Instruction Room

  • Concepción Chile Temple Sealing Room

  • Staircase Decor in Concepción Chile Temple

  • Grand Staircase in Concepción Chile Temple

  • Concepción Chile Temple Baptistry

  • Concepción Chile Temple Baptistry

  • Angel Moroni at the Top of Concepción Chile Temple

  • The Concepción Chile Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Open House and Youth Devotional

A free public open house for the Concepción Chile Temple was held from Saturday, 15 September 2018, and concluded on Saturday, 13 October 2018. No tours were given on 16, 23, and 30 September and 7 October. Complimentary tickets were made available for the temple open house. Tours consisted of a 10-minute video presentation followed by a 40-minute walking tour through the temple. More than 83,000 people attended the public open house held during September and October.

President Nelson sadressed 1,500 youth on Saturday evening, 27 October 2018, during the Concepción Chile Temple youth devotional, noting that temples stand as a "symbol of our faith." The devotional was broadcast to the 28,000 youth in the temple district. During his remarks, President Nelson told the youth, "At lunch [Saturday] I told one of our distinguished guests that the safest place to be in Chile in an earthquake is in the temple in Concepción. It's the safest place physically and spiritually. The temple is a holy place. It's like heaven on earth. We are very grateful for this magnificent house of the Lord. … The temple is the object of every activity, every lesson and every progressive step in the Church."

The Concepción Chile Temple is Dedicated

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated the Concepción Chile Temple on Sunday, 28 October 2018. Dedicatory services were broadcast to all congregations in Chile and were held in three sessions at 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 3:00 pm.

President Nelson, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé; Elder Larry Y. Wilson, executive director of the Temple Department; and other Church leaders participated in the morning exterior cornerstone ceremony and the dedicatory prayer inside the temple to complete the first of three dedicatory sessions of the temple.

During an interview on Sunday evening, President Nelson told Deseret News, "We feel very grateful. The people are so loving and so anxious to serve the Lord and to serve each other. … It really is a sacred feeling you have among them." He referred to the dedication as the "heavenly crescendo" of his five-country South America ministry tour, which began 19 October 2018 and included stops in Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay before ending in Chil. Also during the interview, Elder Gary E. Stevenson remrked, "Today just felt absolutely heavenly. It was punctuated by the spirit and the people and their preparation spiritually."

President Nelson, who has now visited Chile 11 times, first traveled to the country as a cardiac surgeon, then returning as an apostle. Sunday marked his first time in Chile as president of the Church. When he was born in 1924, there were no members of the church in South America. During his lifetime, however, church membership in South America has exploded, now surpassing 4 million. The Church now has 18 temples in South America.

There are now two temples in Chile where there are 584,654 members, 77 stakes, 10 missions. The [Santiago Chile Temple] was dedicated on 15 September 1983.

President Nelson's wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, noted that the dedication of a temple is an important conclusion to the tour. She said, "He has seen the faith of the people. He has seen the love of the people for the Lord. Now he has seen the love of the people for the temple. That means everything to my husband to see that."

External Links

Videos of the Concepción Chile Temple

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