Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple
During the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on 4 October 2020, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to construct a second temple in greater Guatemala City, Guatemala. The new temple will join the heavily utilized Guatemala City Guatemala Temple dedicated in 1984. It will be the fourth temple in the country. The other temples in Guatemala are the Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temple (2011), and the Cobán Guatemala Temple (under construction).
On July 1, 2022, the First Presidency announced that the temple will be called the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple.
The Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple will be the third temple built outside of the United States in the same metropolitan area as another operating temple, making the Guatemala City metropolitan area the third metropolitan area outside of the United States with more than one temple, following the Lima metropolitan area in Peru and the Greater Manila Area in the Philippines.
Guatemala is home to nearly 300,000 Latter-day Saints organized into 51 stakes and 12 districts. The first missionaries were sent to preach the gospel in Guatemala in 1947 with the first official church meeting of 66 congregants occurring the next year in a rented hall.
The temple announced for Greater Guatemala City, Guatemala, will be located at 13 Calle 5-56 in Guatemala City. Plans call for a two-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet.
On 23 September 2021, an official exterior rendering of the temple announced for Greater Guatemala City, Guatemala, was released.
Groundbreaking
Groundbreaking services for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple were held on Saturday, December 3, 2022. Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, Second Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency, presided at the event.
“We are grateful for the faithfulness in Jesus Christ that many of Thy children have had in preaching the gospel in this part of Thy vineyard ...,” Elder Giuffra said in his prayer. “[We are] grateful there is a safe environment so that the gospel of Thy Son Jesus Christ can be preached and the work grown in the City of Eternal Spring.”
As he concluded the prayer, he added: “We know that this holy house will allow many of Thy faithful children to perform covenants and ordinances to return to Thy presence. May the neighbors and all who pass by this sacred ground feel the influence of Thy Spirit flowing from this place so that they have the desire to know about this sacred edifice.”
Prior to Elder Giuffra’s remarks and prayer, several local Latter-day Saints offered remarks during the services.[1]
