Buenos Aires Argentina Temple
The Buenos Aires Argentina Temple is the 39th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormon missionaries, Melvin J. Ballard, Rey L. Pratt and Rulon S. Wells, arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1925 after thirty-four days of traveling by land and sea. When they arrived there were only four members of the Mormon Church present. On Christmas Day, Elder Ballard dedicated South America for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The missionaries tried to advertise in the newspaper, public missionary meetings, but the newspaper refused to print the ad. So, each day, the Mormon missionaries would prepare two to five hundred handbills to be distributed to those on the street. For eight months the Mormon missionaries walked the streets of Buenos Aires handing out handbills anxious to teach the people the Gospel of Jesus Christ.1
Since that time the membership of the Mormon Church in Argentina has grown rapidly, insomuch that the high point coming was with the construction of the Buenos Aires Argentina Mormon Temple.
As visitors to Argentina travel from the airport to downtown Buenos Aires, many are awestruck as they drive by the beautiful Buenos Aires Mormon Temple. Since its dedication on January 17, 1986, this Temple has stood as a sentinel to the Mormon people of Argentina. It is symbol of all that is beautiful and sacred to members of the Church.
Although Argentine Saints were generally unable to contribute much in the way of finances toward the building of the temple, they contributed in other ways. A group of sister's crocheted sixty-four cloths, when all that was asked was seven.
"May all who enter this, thy house, be privileged to say, as did the psalmist of old, 'We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company'…We pray thou wilt accept of our offering and hallow this house which we have built." 2
The Buenos Aires Argentina Temple has a total of 11,980 square feet, four ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.
Notes
1 ""The Kingdom Rolls Forth in South America", Ensign Magazine, May 1986, p12 2 "The First 100 Temples", by Chad Hawkins, 2001, p106
See also
External links
- Official LDS Buenos Aires Argentina Temple page
- Buenos Aires Argentina Temple page
- Buenos Aires Argentina Temple page
- Mormon Temple Ordinances - ReligionFacts
- Mormon Temples - Wikipedia
- Mormon Temples and Secrecy
- Mormon Missionaries - BBC Religion & Ethics
- Prophet Joseph Smith - Lightplanet
