Farmington New Mexico Temple
On 4 April 2021, at the 191st Annual general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to construct the Farmington New Mexico Temple.
New Mexico, a state in the southwestern United States, is home to approximately 70,000 members of the Church in some 137 congregations. The Farmington New Mexico Temple will be the state’s second temple. The first temple, the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple, was dedicated 5 March 2000.
The first roots of the Church were established in New Mexico in the 1860s. Many Church settlements in New Mexico absorbed refugees from the Latter-day Saint colonies in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution in 1912.
On 23 June 2021, the location of the Farmington New Mexico Temple was announced as a 6.62-acre parcel where the stake center for the Farmington New Mexico Stake stands. The property is situated across the street from San Juan College at the intersection of College Boulevard and Windsor Drive. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 25,000 square feet and for a new meetinghouse to replace the existing stake center. On 19 October 2021, the official exterior rendering was released for the temple was released. The temple will have two instruction rooms, two sealing rooms, and one baptistry.
Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Farmington New Mexico Temple
A groundbreaking ceremony was held at the temple site for the Farmington New Mexico Temple on Saturday, 30 April 2022. The common themes at the ceremony were "house" and "home." The temple will be built in Farmington, the commercial hub of the Four Corners area and where the Animas, San Juan, and La Plata rivers converge.
Elder Anthony D. Perkins of the Quorum of the Seventy presided at the event and offered a dedicatory prayer on the temple site and construction process. In his prayer, he prayed, "We are grateful Thy temple will be built in this city where three rivers come together and leave as one."
He added, "We pray that women, men, and youth of every race and ethnicity, every language, every political persuasion and every walk of life will feel welcome to come up and worship in this holy place and depart in unity as covenant-keeping disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, that this temple will be a blessing to this community, a beacon of hope shining in the dark days that Thou art mindful of Thy children and that peace can be found in Christ."
Elder Perkins was joined by his wife, Sister Christine Perkins; Elder Larry J. Echo Hawk, an emeritus General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Teresa Echo Hawk; Elder Tommy D. Haws, an Area Seventy, and his wife, Sister Eileen Haws; as well as temple and mission leaders. Other invited guests from the area and state included members of stakes in Bloomfield, Farmington, Gallup and Kirtland, New Mexico; Chinle and Tuba City, Arizona; and Durango, Colorado. The groundbreaking ceremony was streamed live to Latter-day Saints living in the temple district.
Signaling the start of the temple's construction, the groundbreaking event served as a homecoming for Elder and Sister Perkins, who grew up in the region, met in Farmington, dated in high school and held their wedding reception in the city. Elder Perkins said, "To us, this region is home. We love the Ute Mountain, the La Plata Mountains, the Lukachukai Mountains, the Shiprock monolith, and the San Juan River."
Construction is estimated to be completed in mid- to late 2024.
