MENDOZA, Argentina — While mindful of the geographic location of the newest temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its relevance in the Church’s century of growth in South America, Elder Ronald A. Rasband emphasized even more the spiritual significance of the new Mendoza Argentina Temple.
The member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Mendoza temple — the fourth house of the Lord in Argentina and the 197th worldwide — in two sessions on Sunday, Sept. 22. The sessions were broadcast across the temple district, which spans the Cuyo region of the west-central provinces of Mendoza, San Luis and San Juan and includes eight stakes and two districts.
Elder Rasband said he sees the Mendoza temple as “fitly framed here at the base of the Andes Mountains — beautiful and inspiring.”
And Mendoza, he continued, “once a small acorn, has become a mighty oak,” referencing an apostolic prophecy pronounced in the Argentine capital city of Buenos Aires nearly 100 years ago.
But Elder Rasband underscored the spiritual, saying Latter-day Saints can feel “the Lord’s hallowed presence and transcendent peace” in His house.
“In the temple, we receive sacred ordinances and make sacred covenants, first for ourselves and then for our ancestors. In the temple, we can receive revelation and gain greater understanding of the Lord’s plan of exaltation, and we can feel unified with our fellow Saints.”
President Russell M. Nelson taught in the April 2017 general conference: “We … increase the Savior’s power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power.”
Added Elder Rasband: “In the years ahead, we will need that power. We will need to be bold in our testimonies, not just in what we say but how we live.”
‘The highest assignment’
The Apostle was accompanied to Mendoza for the dedication by his wife, Sister Melanie Rasband; Elder Joaquin E. Costa, a General Authority Seventy and president of the South America South Area, and his wife, Sister Renee Costa; and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Temple Department.
Noting that he had been assigned by President Nelson to do the dedication a week before the actual event, Elder Rasband told the Church News: “For a member of the Twelve, I believe the highest assignment we can get, the most meaningful we can receive, is when the President of the Church invites us to exercise our priesthood keys to dedicate a temple.”
In that time, he prepared two dedicatory talks and the dedicatory prayer, he said, adding that Sister Rasband had prepared a short message to be given in Spanish as well.
A previous and memorable dedication in Argentina
While the Mendoza dedication was Elder Rasband’s first of an Argentina temple, it wasn’t his first dedication experience in the South American nation. Ten years ago, he accompanied the late Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the latter offered a special prayer of blessing and dedication on Argentina.
Elder Ballard’s grandfather, Elder Melvin J. Ballard, on Christmas Day in 1924 in Buenos Aires dedicated all of South America for the preaching of the gospel; he followed that blessing the next year with a prophecy on the slow but sustained and ultimately expansive growth of the Church across South America.
Ninety years after the initial prayer of blessing and dedication, Elder M. Russell Ballard was authorized to give Argentina its own dedicatory prayer and blessing. Recalled Elder Rasband: “And so with the prayer of his grandfather in mind and in heart — he had studied it, he knew it — Elder Ballard took that prayer, and he gave a new prayer — I call it an echo prayer, because it was an echo of what his grandfather did nearly 100 years ago, and he made it more specific to Argentina.”
Elder Rasband cited Elder Melvin J. Ballard’s 1926 prophecy, quoting that “the work of the Lord will grow slowly for a time here [in South America], just as an oak grows slowly from an acorn, it will not shoot up in a day,” but that thousands would join the Church and the nations of South America would become “a power in the Church.”
Added Elder Rasband: “And that has happened. Membership is now in the millions; stakes, wards, missions and temples grace the land. And close to home here, Mendoza — once a small acorn — has become a mighty oak.”
‘The big exclamation point’
Not only is the Mendoza Argentina Temple the country’s fourth house of the Lord, it is the second to be dedicated in the country in a span of just three months, following the June 16 dedication of the Salta Argentina Temple. The doubling of dedicated temples — from two to four — leads into the planned centennial commemorations next year in Argentina of Elder Melvin J. Ballard’s prayer and prophecy.
“The Lord is hastening His work, and the houses of the Lord endow us with power,” said Elder Costa. “We need that power to continue growing, to continue establishing the Lord’s kingdom in our country. … These are landmarks that are there to energize us, to give us even more power and enthusiasm, to share the good news, the glad tidings of great joy we have of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
However, Elder Rasband punctuated the importance of temples over celebrations. “The centennial is going to do what Elder Costa just said — to help the members and everyone be reminded and joyful. But the temple saves souls, and to have four of them dedicated and operating now in Argentina, with three more to come, is the big exclamation point! There is nothing like a house of the Lord being dedicated.”
Interest and impact even before the dedication
Even before its dedication, the Mendoza temple was drawing attention and having impact with members and nonmembers during its construction and subsequent open house.
President Thomas Ingersoll of the Argentina Mendoza Mission has seen the impact of the temple already “Many members are returning to take advantage of temple blessings,” he said. “References for those interested in learning more have increased. Those willing to make covenants with our Savior Jesus Christ have increased substantially since we have renewed our focus on the temple with our friends that we are teaching.”
Hundreds lined up for hours for a weekend tour of the sacred structure. “Our missionaries related countless stories about how those leaving the temple after their tour said they had never felt such peace anywhere else as they had in the celestial room,” President Ingersoll said. “It has been a powerful spiritual experience not just for the people of Mendoza but also for our missionaries, many of whom have not had many experiences with a temple.”
His wife and companion, Sister Pamela Ingersoll, added: “The sister missionaries who helped with the tours told us of many who walked out of the temple saying they had never seen anything as beautiful and never felt anything like it before. They wanted to know more. Families returned again with more family members to participate and have the same experience they had inside the temple. The sisters saw many who had been so moved by what they had felt inside, they had tears streaming down their faces.”
A symbol of enduring faith
Carlos Agüero — who with his wife, Nilda Agüero, served as co-chairs of the temple’s open house and dedication committee — recalled witnessing the awe-filled expressions from invited guest and nonmembers, especially in the celestial room of the house of the Lord. “They were talking about the profound peace felt in that special place, even talking about revelations for them, feeling and even seeing the presence of deceased loved ones departed from this life.”
Added Nilda Agüero: “Many hearts were touched as thousands visited during the open house — 40,495 people in a little more than two weeks, testifying that they felt an indescribable peace, that they felt the Lord’s presence in the celestial room and had seen ancestors who had passed on. All these testimonies were given by people who are not members of the Church that visited the temple. They wanted to stay longer, more than anything in the celestial room.”
Elder Alan R. Walker, a General Authority Seventy, counselor in the area presidency — and who, like Elder Costa, is a native of Argentina — said the new temple “will become a blessing for the Latter-day Saints in Mendoza and surrounding areas, serving not just as a place of sacred worship but as a symbol of the enduring faith of the members, and of the strength of the Church in Mendoza. It will be a source of spiritual and cultural identity for the members in western Argentina, helping to deepen their connection to Jesus Christ and to His gospel.”
Feeling the Spirit
Immediately after Sunday’s first dedicatory session, a pair of 12-year-old friends from Mendoza — Ana Garcia and Paulina Silva — were among the first to exit the temple. They walked to a nearby bench, where they sat and spoke of what they felt in the house of the Lord as other Latter-day Saints also exited — many with tears streaming down their cheeks — to circle together in conversations and take photos on the temple grounds.
“I felt the Spirit during the Hosanna Shout, and I now understand it better,” Ana said. “And as we sang ‘The Spirit of God,’ I had chills for the feeling of the Spirit that I felt. I’m very emotional having a dedicated house of the Lord here.”
Added Paulina: “In truth, I felt a lot of the Spirit. I didn’t think I would very much, but I felt it very strong, and it was beautiful.”
Bishop Ariel A. Duran of the Trapiche Ward in Mendoza’s Godoy Cruz Argentina Stake and his wife, Victoria, arrived very early to the temple Sunday to help with the catering of meals for the leaders. It was so early that when their three children woke up at home and couldn’t find them at home, they thought their parents spent the night at the temple.
For Bishop Duran, the day was “great, something very special” and something that Latter-day Saints in the Cuyo region have waited for many years. As a young couple, the Durans had the goal to be married in the temple — which happened in 2018 in the Córdoba temple.
“And we achieved it,” he said of the start of an eternal family through the sealing ordinance. “And as bishop, it’s special to live in this time and to accompany members to the temple in their progress along the covenant path.”
Victoria Duran said having a temple 15 minutes from their home will help set a tone and example for the young family. “One fundamental thing for me as a mother is to have my children feel the importance of the temple in our lives and see through the efforts of our marriage the love we have and know that the temple is the only place where they can have true knowledge and correct teaching to build upon throughout their lives.”
The Church and its temples in Argentina
The Mendoza temple is one of seven total houses of the Lord in Argentina, where two German immigrants began preaching the gospel in 1923 and where more than 480,000 Church members now reside and comprise about 730 congregations.
Until now, Latter-day Saints in Mendoza have been part of the Córdoba Argentina Temple district, with that temple more than 400 miles to the northeast. The Santiago Chile Temple is only some 120 miles to the west, but the route by car or bus is double the distance and time-consuming over the rugged Andes Mountains.
The South American country’s first temple — the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple — was dedicated in 1986, followed by the temples in Córdoba (in 2015) and Salta (2024).
The Bahía Blanca Argentina Temple has been under construction since April 2022. Two more temples have been announced: one each for the city center area of Buenos Aires and Rosario.
Mendoza Argentina Temple
Location: Avenida Champagnat, Las Heras, Mendoza, Argentina.
Announced: Oct. 7, 2018, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church.
Groundbreaking: Dec. 17, 2020, presided over by Elder Allen D. Haynie, a General Authority Seventy and then a member of the South America South Area presidency.
Public open house: Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, through Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024 (excluding Sundays).
Dedicated: Sept. 22, 2024, by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Property size: 15 acres.
Building size: 21,999 square feet.
Building height: 110.23 feet (33.6 meters) to the top of the spire.
