The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released the dedication and open house dates for the McAllen Texas Temple.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the house of the Lord on Sunday, Oct. 8, in two sessions, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to all units in the McAllen temple district.
The temple’s open house phase begins Monday, Aug. 21, with a media day with invited guests — including community, business, education and faith leaders — touring the temple Tuesday, Aug. 22, through Thursday, Aug. 24.
The public open house begins Friday, Aug. 25, and runs through Saturday, Sept. 9, excluding Sundays.
The dates were announced Monday, May 15, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. The Church’s announcement noted that scheduling appointments for living ordinances in the McAllen temple will be available in July, with online scheduling of proxy ordinances to become available around September.
Temple background
The McAllen Texas Temple was announced by President Russell M. Nelson on Oct. 5, 2019, one of eight new temple locations he listed during the women’s session of October 2019 general conference.
The temple site — on the northwest corner of Second Street and Trenton Road in the state’s southernmost tip and a dozen miles from the Texas-Mexico border — was announced two months later on Dec. 11, 2019, with the rendering released on Aug. 28, 2020.
Construction of the temple followed the Nov. 21, 2020, groundbreaking, with Elder Art Rascon, an Area Seventy, presiding and offering a prayer dedicating the site and the construction process.
COVID-19 restrictions — impacting most of the Church’s 21 groundbreakings that year — kept attendance at the McAllen ceremony to a minimum. However, the proceedings were made available remotely to Church members throughout the temple district, which includes stakes throughout McAllen, Corpus Christi and Laredo, Texas, as well as the northeastern Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.
The Church and its temples in Texas
Missionaries first arrived in Texas in 1843, and in 1898, about 300 Church members settled on land purchased by the Church in northeast Texas. The settlement became the colony of Kelsey.
Church membership has grown from more than 132,000 in 1985 and just over 210,000 in 2000. Today, Texas is home to more than 378,000 Latter-day Saints comprising 78 stakes and nearly 750 congregations.
Once dedicated, the McAllen temple will join four other dedicated houses of the Lord in the state of Texas, with operating temples in Dallas (dedicated in 1984), Houston (2000), Lubbock (2002) and San Antonio (2005).
Temples have been announced for three other Texas cities — Austin, Fort Worth and Prosper.
Upcoming dedications, same-day dedications
The Church has 315 total temples — dedicated, under construction or in planning and design.
The Richmond Virginia Temple is the Church’s most recently dedicated house of the Lord, with its May 7 dedication by President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency bringing the total of dedicated temples to 177.
The Church has nine completed new temples scheduled for dedication over the next six months. Listed chronologically and including the announced presiding member of the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
- Helena Montana Temple, June 18, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Twelve.
- Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, Aug. 13, President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency.
- Brasília Brazil Temple, Sept. 17, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Twelve.
- Bentonville Arkansas Temple, Sept. 17, Elder David A. Bednar of the Twelve.
- Moses Lake Washington Temple, Sept. 17, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Twelve.
- McAllen Texas Temple, Oct. 8, Elder Uchtdorf.
- Feather River California Temple, Oct. 8, Elder Ulisses Soares of the Twelve.
- Bangkok Thailand Temple, Oct. 22, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Twelve.
- Okinawa Japan Temple, Nov. 12, Elder Stevenson.
The McAllen Texas Temple will be dedicated on Oct. 8 — the same day of dedication for the Feather River California Temple. And that comes just three weeks after three temples will be dedicated on Sept. 17 — the Brasília Brazil, Bentonville Arkansas and Moses Lake Washington temples.
Other same-day multiple dedications have been:
- Nov. 14, 1999 — the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley and the Regina Saskatchewan Temple by President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
- April 23, 2000 — the Memphis Tennessee Temple by President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, and the Reno Nevada Temple, by President Thomas S. Monson.
- Mary 21, 2000 — the Montreal Quebec Temple, by President Hinckley, and the San José Costa Rica Temple by President Faust.
- Nov. 20, 2022 — the Belém Brazil Temple by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Quito Ecuador Temple by Elder Cook.
