Temples in Asia Articles
That a new Mormon temple would be constructed in Sapporo Japan, was announced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 3, 2009 at the 179th General Conference of the Church in the Saturday morning session.
The site for the Sapporo Japan Temple is at 1-620-5 Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Japan. The site is 9.8 acres. The parcel of land is on the Atsubetsu River, adjacent to the campus of Hokusei Gakuen University. The land was once occupied by the Shin Sapporo Golf Center and offers convenient access from the Hokkaido Expressway and the Ooyachi Subway Station.
The Sapporo Japan Temple was designed with inspiration from Asian architecture. The temple will anchor a complex of supporting buildings including an Arrival Center, a Patron Housing Facility, a Temple Missionary Housing Facility, a combined home and office for the Japan Sapporo Mission, and space for a future meetinghouse. The grounds will feature distinctive... Read the rest of this article »
On October 2, 2010, at the commencement of the 180th general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Thomas S. Monson announced the building of a new temple in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, Philippines.
Urdaneta is located about 100 miles north of Manila on the island of Luzon. Latter-day Saints in the area currently attend the Manila Philippines Temple. There are ninety-nine stakes and districts in the area.
Recently, the Mormon Church re-aligned missions around the world to better facilitate missionary work. In June 2011, the Philippines Baguio Mission will be relocated to Urdaneta City, which offers a more central and accessible location for the members and missionaries of the mission. A new mission home and office will be located next to the recently refurbished Urdaneta Philippines Stake Center.
With the addition of the Urdaneta temple, there will be three temples in the Philippines. The third is the Cebu Philippines... Read the rest of this article »
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the future construction of a temple in Lahug, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines, on 18 April 2006. Groundbreaking for the future temple took place on 14 November 2007.
The temple sits on 11.6 acres and will be over 29,000 square feet in size. The temple will support a single central spire and share its 11-acre site with a building for patron housing, a meetinghouse, residences for both the temple and mission presidents, and a mission office.
This will be the second temple to be located in the Philippines. The Manilla Temple has consistently been filled to capacity, as dedicated members in the Philippines have been willing to make huge sacrifices in order to travel and attend the temple.
Missionary work began in the Philippines in 1898. The first two missions were in Manila and Cebu City. The first two Mormon missionaries were in the U.S. military and had been set apart to do missionary work before... Read the rest of this article »
On August 9, 1975, the First Presidency of the Mormon Church announced that a temple would be built in Tokyo, Japan. Spencer W. Kimball said at a conference in Tokyo, “And now we bring to you a matter of grave importance to all of the people of the Asian countries and the world. Yesterday, we held a meeting of the stake presidents and other leaders to consider this very serious matter. Brother Matthew Cowley, one of the Twelve Apostles, made a prediction that there would be temples in Asia and in Japan. And many of us have been almost holding our breath until the time could come when we could build a temple in this land. We, therefore, propose to you assembled here that we establish a temple in Tokyo, Japan, for all of Asia.” With this announcement the audience broke out clapping and crying. With its completion the Tokyo temple became the first temple built in Asia, and the 18th Mormon temple worldwide.
Mormon history is strong in Japan. The first... Read the rest of this article »
The Taipei Taiwan Temple is the 31st operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The country of Taiwan was first introduced to the Mormon Church in the mid 1950s. At first, United States servicemen would hold church meetings there. Then in 1956 missionaries from the Southern Far East Mission arrived. The printing of the Book of Mormon in Chinese in 1965 was a great blessing to local church members, who had waited for years to have the book available in their own language. It was the announcement and building of the Taipei Taiwan Temple, however, that the Taiwanese Saints had waited for, and it proved to be the greatest development in the history of the Church in that land.
After the announcement of the temple in 1981, Church leaders decided to build on the site of the mission home in the center of Taipei. Church leaders hoped that the beauty of the temple would attract the attention of those who passed by and that they would... Read the rest of this article »
Plans to build a Mormon temple in Freiberg, Germany, were announced on October 9, 1982. With the temple’s completion in 1985, it became the 33rd operating Mormon temple worldwide. The Freiberg temple was the only Mormon temple to be built in a Communist country. The German Democratic Republic government actually suggested the building of the temple for the Mormon members in the country, because the government wanted to reduce the amount of travel outside of its own country.
Mormon history in Germany goes back to 1840 when members of the Mormon Church began moving there. A small branch was set up in Darmstadt, but it was not until 1852 when the first Mormon missionaries arrived in Germany. They brought with them the Book of Mormon in German. In 1939 with the onset of World War II, missionaries were evacuated from Germany, and missionary work slowed. After the war, missionaries were only allowed to re-enter the Western part of Germany. It was not until... Read the rest of this article »
The Mormon Temple is a holy place set apart from the outside world, whereas the Mormon meeting houses are utilized for weekday activities and Sunday worship services. In the Temple, sacred ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are performed.
Because the Mormon Temple is a unique place, only the finest materials and craftsmanship are used in its construction. After the temple is dedicated, Church members wear white clothing while inside to symbolize purity, cleanliness, and the setting aside of the things of the world.
In the Mormon Temple, families can be united in the most sacred of all human relationships; as husband and wife and as children and parents. Through priesthood authority from God, marriages are performed that can endure throughout this life and for all eternity. To share these blessings with our ancestors, Mormons perform temple ordinances in their behalf. This is why members of the Mormon Church are so interested in genealogical research.... Read the rest of this article »
Plans to build a Mormon temple in Fukuoka, Japan, were announced on May 7, 1998. The Fukuoka Japan temple was the 88th temple built by the Mormon Church.Missionary work began in Japan in 1901, when Mormon missionaries Heber J. Grant, Horace S. Ensigh, Louis A. Kelsch and Alma O. Taylor traveled to Tokyo. Missionaries worked in the area for more than twenty years, but when the mission had to be closed because of World War I, there were still only 200 members. At the end of World War II, when missionaries entered Japan again, they found that these members had remained strong and were able to find others who wanted to join the gospel. In 1995 the Church published a new Japanese translation of the triple combination (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants), which has been extremely beneficial in missionary work. Missionary work in Japan is hard because many of the people are connected to different forms of religion all at once—the... Read the rest of this article »
The Mormon Temple is a house of God; we are God’s family and we are His children. The temple is a constant reminder that God intends the family to be eternal. The temple is a place of learning. Here the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are reviewed and truths of the kingdom of God are taught. If those who enter the temple are in the right spirit and are attentive, the mind and spirit are enriched in gospel knowledge and wisdom.
The Mormon Temple is a place of peace wherein the cares and worries of the outside can be put aside for a time. Promises are made by temple patrons to obey the laws of God, and promises are made by the Lord to those who attend, conditioned upon faithfulness.
The gifts and blessings of the Mormon temple are offered to all who conform to the requirements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All who accept and live the gospel and keep themselves worthy may partake of them.
Temple work must be done first by each person for himself;... Read the rest of this article »
All Mormon Temples are designed with the same purpose – to help faithful Mormons worship the Lord in a way that brings them closer to Him.
To Mormons, a temple is a building dedicated to be a house of God. The Mormon temples differ from a church meetinghouse, in that the meetinghouse is used for weekly worship services, and the temples are used for special forms of worship. The importance of temples is emphasized in the Mormon Church, and the Church strongly encourages its members to become worthy to attend the temple often.
Worthy members participate in sacred ordinances and make covenants with God. Like baptism, these ordinances and covenants are necessary for the salvation of man, and they must be performed in the temple. The temple is a learning center where those who enter gain a better understanding of our purpose in life and our relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Only in the Mormon Temple can a family be sealed together forever.... Read the rest of this article »
