The San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple has become The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ latest house of the Lord to open its doors to the media, invited guests and general public.
Monday, Sept. 9, marked that opening for the country’s second temple, located in San Pedro Sula in the northwestern corner of the Central American country of Honduras. A news conference with media representatives kicked off the day’s events, followed by a media tour inside the house of the Lord and then interviews with Church leaders.
Welcoming the media guests and participating in Monday’s news conference and interviews were the members of the Church’s Central America Area presidency — Elder Taylor G. Godoy, president, and his counselors, Elder Patricio M. Giuffra and Elder Ryan K. Olsen — and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the Temple Department. All four are General Authority Seventies.
Included in the media-day events was the release of interior and exterior images of the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple.
Following the media events, invited guests will tour the temple. The public open house begins Thursday, Sept. 12, and runs through Saturday, Sept. 28, excluding Sundays.
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple in two sessions on Sunday, Oct. 13, at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time. The sessions will be broadcast to meetinghouses in the temple district.
Monday’s opening in San Pedro Sula and the accompanying interior and exterior photographs were first published Monday on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The temple in San Pedro Sula, the Church in Honduras
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on April 5, 2019, one of eight locations for new temples the Prophet identified at the close of the April 2019 general conference.
An exterior rendering of the temple was released in August 2020, when the First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the next month.
The groundbreaking for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple was held Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendance was limited to the simple yet sacred ceremony, which was livestreamed to members throughout the area. Elder José Bernardo Hernández, an Area Seventy and San Pedro Sula native, was assigned to give brief remarks and offer a prayer dedicating the site and construction process for the house of the Lord.
The temple in San Pedro Sula — located in northwest Honduras, less than 30 miles from the coastline to the Gulf of Honduras and Caribbean Sea — will be the second house of the Lord in the country. The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple — in the capital city in the south-central region of the nation — was dedicated in 2013.
For several decades, Latter-day Saints in Tegucigalpa traveled roughly 400 miles to the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple. The completion of the Tegucigalpa temple cut the travel time in half for many members outside of Tegucigalpa, so ward or stake temple trips could be planned for just one day. Because of savings in time and bus fare, the cost was cut by 90%. With the temple in San Pedro Sula, it will be reduced even more.
The San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple will serve Latter-day Saints in the Atlántida, Bay Islands, Colón, Copán, Cortés, Lempira, Ocotepeque and Santa Bárbara departments of Honduras.
Missionaries first arrived in Honduras in December 1952, with the first converts baptized and the first congregation organized in March 1953. Church membership in Honduras has grown rapidly in the past 45 years, from 6,300 Latter-day Saints in 1980 to more than 187,000 in nearly 240 congregations today.
Architecture, design and features
The temple’s architecture is inspired by the religious and historical styles of the region, with the single-floor structure with the central tower clad with Moleanos limestone from Portugal. An ancillary building on the grounds serves as an arrival center for guests and apartment space for temple leaders.
The design motifs were influenced by geometric interpretations of the country’s flowers and vegetation as well as local pottery and textile patterns. Colors include turquoise and greens — suggesting hues of waters, nature and bird plumage — as well as orange, yellow and brick red, representing the subtropical zone.
The art-glass windows, railings and carpeting include these colors and patterns. Doors and millwork feature mahogany hardwood from the region, with the temple grounds containing trees, shrubs and perennial plants native to Honduras and a multitiered water fountain at the entryway.
San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple
Location: Blvr. Mario Catarino Rivas, 21102 San Pedro Sula, Cortés, Honduras
Announced: April 7, 2019, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church
Groundbreaking: Sept. 5, 2020, presided over by Elder José Bernardo Hernández, an Area Seventy
Public open house: Sept. 12-28, 2024, excluding Sundays
To be dedicated: Oct. 13, 2024, by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 9 acres
Building size: 35,818 square feet
Building height: 98.3 feet (30 meters), including the spire
