FINALLY, THERE IS A TEMPLE IN HONDURAS

After the faithful Latter-day Saints had waited and prayed for many years, the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a temple for Honduras on June 9, 2006. The Honduran members received the news at the hand of Central America Area President Spencer V. Jones of the Seventy, who was visiting the country on June 18. The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple is Honduras' first. Area members, who have had to travel 12 hours to the Guatemala temple were delighted with the news, as temple trips cost so much for so many. The First Presidency added in the letter that "this will be a blessing to the many faithful saints in this and surrounding areas who have had to travel long distances to enjoy the blessings of the temple."  Finally that long awaited day has come!

     On Wednesday, January 28, 2009, Church officials announced that construction would no longer be pursued at the originally selected site which was across the street from the Catholic Basilica in Tegucigalpa. Construction of the temple was halted shortly after excavation for the foundation in September 2007 when opposition was met from Tegucigalpa City officials and citizens, who felt the temple would overshadow and block the view of the iconic basilica. Despite months of negotiations, the Church did not succeed in obtaining a response of approval from the government. Out of respect for the City officials' feelings and to avoid the perception of any rivalry with the Catholic Church, Church officials made the decision to relocate the temple to its present location on a hill that overlooks the city.  On Saturday, September 12, 2009, ground was broken for a second time for the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple in a small private ceremony of invited priesthood leaders and Area Authorities.

   We, sadly, were not allowed to leave our mission area and so we were not privileged to see the cultural night or the temple dedication live, but both were broadcast to most of the chapels throughout Honduras. We were able to attend in the San Pedro Sula stake center in El Benque.  

     The cultural night was so fun!  Youth from all around Honduras were notified in October of last year that they were invited to dance and sing.  Popular folk dances such as "Sopa de Caracol" (Snail soup), "Baile de los Pajaros" (Dance of the Birds) and "Mi Tierra Bella" (My Beautiful Land) were performed on a stage that was large enough to support all 8000 or so youth that were in attendance.  President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland presided.  President Uchtdorf made a few comments explaining that President Monson would have loved to have been with them tonight, and that President Lobos, the President of Honduras, and his wife had planned on being here but were invited to go meet with the new pope and had chosen that over this night with the saints. 

     The dances and the costumes were fun, but the joy that beamed from the faces of the youth was incredible.  Tears streamed down their faces at the end of the program as all 8000 of the youth gathered on the stage to sing "Families can be Together Forever." Maybe the highlight of the night was when Elder Jotham Ordonez, who was released from his mission here in San Pedro Sula just last month, rode a beautiful stallion out onto the stage representing the prophet Helaman.  Onto the stage marched an army of young men and women in white shirts and ties, and appropriate dresses - each of them was wearing the black name tag of a missionary.  They sang "The Army of Helaman" and then one of the young men was escorted to the stand where he presented a large book with a silver cover full of names and signatures to President Uchtdorf.  Each name represented a personal commitment of a young person here in Honduras that they were going to one day serve as a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ.  

      We are so happy for these wonderful people.  It still is no easy trip for the people in our mission of San Pedro Sula, but it is far easier than before.  Those from our mission will still have, at least, a four hour trip - most several hours more. But they are thrilled.  They will no longer have to obtain a passport to go to the temple. Literally thousands of members have been preparing themselves to go to the House of the Lord.  Beginning this very Tuesday the temple will be open and those long awaited blessings will begin to be poured out upon this nation.  Honduras will never be the same again!

     The El Carmen branch will be affected immediately.  Brian Aguirre and Manuel Salgado both received their mission calls this past week.  Brian will be going to Ecuador and Manuel will be going to the Domican Republic. They will be two of the first to receive their endowments in the Tegucigalpa, Honduras temple. We are so proud of them.  There will be others that follow.  

     After the dedication of the temple Wayne asked many of those in attendance how they felt now that they had a temple in their land.  "Asombroso!"  "Maravilloso!" "Excellente!" One sweet sister with tears in her eyes said, "Estoy muy feliz. Increíblemente feliz. Maravillosamente feliz. Nunca creí que tendríamos un templo en nuestro país." (I am so happy.  Incredibly happy.  Marvelously happy.  I never thought we would have a temple in our country.)  At the very conclusion of his talk President Uchtdorf stopped, collected his composure and said, "You are a chosen people."  We feel exactly the same.

     These youth were all a part of the cultural night last night.  When we asked them what it was like they said in unison, "Que hermosa!" (How beautiful.) The light that glowed from their faces was testimony enough for us that they recognized that something incredibly important had just happened in their land.  
     We close today with a statement made by Brother Cazier, the First Counselor in the new temple presidency.  He said, "If we only dedicate the temple today, as important as that is, the building of this temple will have been in vain.  Today we need to dedicate ourselves to be the kind of people that are worthy to enter this temple."  We couldn't agree more. Very humbly we would like to say how much we appreciated the privilege of being with these humble, righteous, special people on this very momentous occasion.  Twice President Uchtdorf told them to remember to write in their journals about this experience.  They will never forget today, and neither will we.  For those who read this and do not yet understand the purpose of our temples, we invite you to discover more at lds.org.