Fortaleza Brazil Temple
Plans to build a temple in Fortaleza, Brazil, were announced on 3 October 2009, by Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas S. Monson, at the Saturday morning session of the 179th semi-annual General Conference.
The Church has been in Brazil since 1929 and currently has more than 1,100,000 members spread throughout nearly 2,000 congregations. As of 1 January 2016, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 1,326,738 members in 256 stakes and 39 districts, 2,038 Congregations (1,593 wards and 445 branches), 34 missions, and eight temples in Brazil. There are 13 stakes in the immediate vicinity of Fortaleza. Members currently travel nearly 500 miles to attend the Recife Brazil Temple, which serves 70 stakes and districts in northern Brazil. President Monson said, "We desire that as many members as possible have the opportunity to attend the temple without having to travel inordinate distances."
The Fortaleza Brazil Temple will be the eighth temple built in Brazil. In addition to the Fortaleza and Recife temples, the other six temples either functioning or being built in Brazil are in Manaus, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and [Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple|Rio de Janeiro]].
The site is located at Avenida Santos Dumont in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, on a small rise, offering patrons and visitors a lovely view of the beautiful coastal city of Fortaleza below. In addition to the temple, the site will also include meticulously manicured temple grounds, where visitors are welcome to stroll and experience the peaceful atmosphere that permeates this place of worship.
According to LDSChurchTemples.com, the temple will be "an exquisitely detailed double-towered edifice surrounded by lush landscaping and built into a slope to permit a daylight basement. Plans for the site also call for an Accommodation Building, a meetinghouse, and maintenance buildings."
The original double-tower design of the temple was denied due to nonconformance to the city plan, leading to the decision to redesign.
History of the Church in Brazil
The first members of the church in Brazil were immigrants who had joined the church in their native Germany before moving to Brazil. Missionaries arrived in 1928 but due to the prohibition on ordaining men of African descent to the Priesthood, they were instructed to only work with German people living in the southern part of the country. When the Brazilian government outlawed the use of non-Portuguese languages in public meetings in 1938, the mission switched from the German language mission to a Portuguese speaking one. One of the early missionaries in Brazil, serving in 1939, was James E. Faust.
The first stake in Brazil was organized by Spencer W. Kimball in 1966 in Sao Paulo. This was the first stake in all of South America.
In 1967, the policy on race and the priesthood was changed such that dark skinned people were presumed eligible for the priesthood by default unless there was specific evidence of African descent.
In 1978, the Sao Paulo Temple was completed. The opening of the temple in Sao Paulo may have influenced the church's decision to reverse the ban on men of African descent from holding the priesthood due to difficulty in determining racial origins of many Brazilian church members.
Groundbraking Ceremony
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the temple site on Tuesday, 15 November 2011. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided over the ceremony and assured those gathered that "this temple will be a source of hope, light, and faith in God for all who come and walk here and in this field. This city will always be better and different because of the temple to be built here."
