The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the dates for the dedication and open house of the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple, the Church’s first on the U.S. territory island and the third in the Caribbean.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the temple’s dedication on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, with sessions scheduled for 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.
A preceding public open house will run from Thursday, Dec. 1, to Saturday, Dec. 17, excluding Sundays. A media day will be Monday, Nov. 28, with invited guests touring the temple Nov. 29-30 before the start of the public tours.
The dedication and open house details were announced Monday, Sept. 12, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The temple — a single-story edifice with a single, front-end spire and architectural design common to the island — is located at 123 Calle Ronda of Urbanización Villa Andalucía in San Juan’s Trujillo Alto area.
Following the devastation across the island caused by Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20, 2017, the Church provided extensive relief to Puerto Rico. In addition to monetary assistance, the Church donated mobile medical outreach services, food and water supplies, hygiene and cleaning kits, batteries, bedding, mosquito nets and roofing materials to those in need.
On Sept. 2, 2018, President Russell M. Nelson stopped in San Juan during one of his world ministries in his first year as President of the Church.
“As you individually grow to become more of the person God wants you to be, you can know for yourself that better days are ahead for the people of Puerto Rico,” he said, speaking to the Puerto Rican Saints in their native Spanish language. “You can face your tomorrows with great optimism, knowing that the best days of your life are ahead for you and for your loved ones.”
A month later, during October 2018 general conference, President Nelson announced a temple for San Juan, with the first renderings of the planned temple released just a few weeks later.
Elder Walter F. González, a General Authority Seventy who was president of the Caribbean Area at the time, presided over the May 4, 2019, groundbreaking.
The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all congregations in the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple district; members living in Puerto Rico currently reside in the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple district, requiring a flight of some 250 miles across the Caribbean Sea between San Juan and Santo Domingo.
The Church’s presence on Puerto Rico dates to 1947, when Latter-day Saint military personnel began holding meeting in Guajataca, in the island’s northwest area. In January 1964, the first missionaries arrived in Puerto Rico, with the first convert baptism coming the following month. In 1980, the first meetinghouse opened and home seminary began.
Today, the Church counts nearly 23,500 members among 38 congregations and five stakes on Puerto Rico.
