President Nelson Announces a Temple to be Built in Savai’i

October 4, 2023

233

GridArt_20231004_095422682 — President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson following a devotional in Apia, Samoa on Sat 18 May 2019. At right is His Highness Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aleto’a Eti Sualauvi II, Samoa Head of State. | Credit: Ravell Call, Deseret News, Deseret News.

Source: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom.

Samoa will have a second LDS temple with the recent announcement that a temple would be built in Savaii.

Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced a temple for Savai’i at the closing of the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2023 General Conference of the Church.

“Spending more time in the temple builds faith. And your service and worship in the temple will help you to think celestial,” said President Nelson.

He continued, “The temple is a place of revelation. There you are shown how to progress toward a celestial life… you are drawn closer to the Savior… you are guided in solving the problems in your life, even your most perplexing problems. The Lord is directing us to build these temples to help us think celestial.”

Savai’i was the first of 20 new temple locations named following the General Conference.

With a population of 45,175 – Savaii currently has 47 congregations and a LDS Church high school – Vaiola College.

Church Communication Director for Samoa, Aleni Fuatimau was watching the conference session online with his family, when President Nelson made the announcement.

Fuatimau said this will bless the lives of those who live in Savaii.

“I feel so happy for the people in Savai’i. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for answering the prayers of our people. I believed we could have a temple here, but I didn’t know it would happen so soon.”

According to the LDS Temple site, the Savai’i Samoa Temple is currently in the planning stages. No groundbreaking date has been announced and no site location has been officially announced.

“An official rendering of the Savai’i Samoa Temple has not yet been released to the public.”

Samoa’s Apia Temple in Pesega was dedicated August 5th 1983 by then Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who went on to serve as the 15th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 1995 until his death in January 2008.

The Apia Samoa Temple was rebuilt after a fire in 2003 and rededicated in 2005. Economic activity relating to the building of the LDS Temple in 2003-2004 accounted for an increase in Samoa’s GDP.

Temples were announced to be built in the following locations: Savai’i, Samoa; Kahului, Hawaii; Fairbanks, Alaska; Vancouver, Washington; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Roanoke, Virginia; Cancún, Mexico; Piura, Peru; Huancayo, Peru; Viña del Mar, Chile; Goiânia, Brazil; João Pessoa, Brazil; Cape Coast, Ghana; Calabar, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Laoag, Philippines; Osaka, Japan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

There are ten operating temples in the South Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand. A further five are under construction and three announced.