The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released exterior renderings for two houses of the Lord in Brazil — the Natal Brazil Temple and the Teresina Brazil Temple.
For the two new temples located in northeastern Brazil, the renderings release marked the third shared milestone for the pair in less than a year.
The Natal and Teresina renderings were first published on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
It was one of the day’s several temple announcements, along with the dedication and open house dates for the new Casper Wyoming Temple, the time for the sole rededication session for the renovated Manti Utah Temple, and the planned closure of the Orlando Florida Temple for extensive renovations.
Shared milestone dates for Natal, Teresina temples
The houses of the Lord for Natal and Teresina were announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson on April 2 last year, two of the 15 new temple locations announced at the April 2023 general conference.
Their respective site locations released less than five months later, on Aug. 28, along with the sites for the San Jose California and La Paz Bolivia temples. Plans for groundbreakings and subsequent open house and dedication dates for each will be released at a later date.
Some 845 kilometers (or about 525 miles) separate the two state capital cities. Natal of the state of Rio Grande do Norte is located on both Brazil’s and South America’s far-eastern tip that juts into the Atlantic Ocean, while Teresina of the state of Piauí is located directly west in the country’s interior.
The house of the Lord in Natal — projected as a single-story building of approximately 19,800 square feet — is planned for a 5.53-acre site at Av. Senador Salgado Filho (BR-101) in the Nova Parnamirim neighborhood in the Natal suburb of Parnamirim.
The Teresina temple — planned for a size of approximately 25,400 square feet — will be built on a 3.60-acre site at Avenida Cajuína and Rua Pedro Conde, in the Noivos sector of Teresina.
The Church and its temples in Brazil
Nearly 1.5 million Latter-day Saints in nearly 2,200 congregations reside in Brazil, with missionary work and Church operations dating back to 1928.
Brazil is home to 22 total temples dedicated, under construction or announced, including the São Paulo Brazil Temple, the first not only in Brazil but across all of South America when it was dedicated in 1978.
Other dedicated and operating temples are located in Belém, Brasília, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife and Rio de Janeiro, with temples under construction in Belo Horizonte and Salvador.
Besides Natal and Teresina, eight either temples are in planning and design in Brazil — in Goiânia, João Pessoa, Londrina, Maceió, Ribeirão Preto, Santos, São Paulo East and Vitória.