The first and only currently operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Samoa will close for renovations in December, the First Presidency of the church has announced.
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The Apia Samoa Temple was the 22nd temple dedicated in church history and will close for extensive renovations beginning Dec. 23.
During the closure, Latter-day Saints in the temple district will be encouraged to worship in and attend other temples as their circumstances permit. Individuals desiring to receive their own temple ordinances will need to contact a temple in the surrounding area to make the necessary arrangements, according to the First Presidency’s announcement.
Operating Latter-day Saint temples near the Samoan islands are located in Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.
The Apia Samoa Temple was first built and dedicated in 1983. Two decades later, the sacred structure was ravaged by a fire while it was undergoing renovations.
The temple’s remains were demolished, while its undamaged angel Moroni statue was removed and stored until a new structure was built.
The new structure was eventually finished and rededicated in September 2005 by then-church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
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Stay strong and labor “where the blessings of eternal life will be available to you and your forbearers whom you will serve there,” President Hinckley told members at the temple’s 2005 rededication.
President Hinckley prayed over the temple as he rededicated the building, saying, “Now Father, we pray that thou wilt watch over this sacred structure and preserve it from the kind of destructive force which destroyed its predecessor building. Wilt thou sanctify it and hallow it, that all who enter herein may do so with a knowledge that they are in thy holy habitation.”
The Apia Samoa Temple was also the first operating house of the Lord to be destroyed after the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple.
A second temple for Samoa — the Savai’i Samoa Temple — was announced in 2023 and is currently in planning and design stages.
Learn more about the Apia Samoa Temple and others worldwide on the Church News’ temple almanac.
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