Tijuana México Temple

At the opening of the 180th General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson announced the construction of a new temple in Tijuana, Mexico. It will be the 13th temple in Mexico. The Church has experienced rapid growth in the area in recent years. Currently, Latter-day Saints from the area must cross the U.S. border to attend the San Diego California Temple.

There are six stakes in the city of Tijuana with nearby stakes located in the states of Baja California and Sonora.

The Latter-day Saints have had a long history in Mexico. When they migrated from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley, Utah was actually part of Mexico Territory. Some Latter-day Saints settled in Mexico when the U.S. Government imprisoned Mormon men for practicing polygamy in the later 1800's. The first Mormon baptisms were performed in the state of Sonora in 1876.

The groundbreaking for the future Tijuana Mormon Temple is scheduled for August 18, 2012.

The new temple will be located on Insurgentes Boulevard at the foot of the city’s Cerro Colorado, a landmark hill in eastern Tijuana. Its geographic service area will be Baja California and the Sonoran border community of San Luis Río Colorado.

The Tijuana temple would be the first built in Mexico since one was completed a decade ago in the northern industrial city of Monterrey.

Currently, there are 1.27 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico spread over about 2,000 congregations.