ANTOFAGASTA, Chile — On the day when many countries celebrate Father’s Day, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the Antofagasta Chile Temple — a place he said where all can learn of their Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness and make covenants with Him and with the Savior, Jesus Christ.
“We are children of a loving Heavenly Father who desires that we return and live in His presence as an eternal family,” Elder Stevenson said.
The Sunday, June 15, dedication of this house of the Lord in northern Chile makes a total of 207 dedicated temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world.
“This temple dedication serves as a testament of the patience, strength and devotion of the Saints who reside in this beautiful region of Chile,” Elder Stevenson said.
Elder Stevenson said the Lord is inspiring His servants to build temples because first, the house of the Lord helps Heavenly Father’s children fulfill their divine potential. And second, temples are all about families.
“Understanding the eternal nature of the temple will draw you closer to your family; understanding the eternal nature of the family will draw you closer to the temple,” he said. “It is in the temple that sacred ordinances take place, which bind or seal families together eternally.”
The Antofagasta temple dedication took place in one session. Elder Stevenson was accompanied at the dedicatory service by his wife, Sister Lesa Stevenson. They were joined by Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Nancy Duncan; as well as Elder Eduardo Gavarret, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the South America South Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Norma Gavarret.
Elder Stevenson noted that Elder Jorge F. Zeballos and Elder Ricardo P. Giménez, both General Authority Seventies, are from Chile and raised their families in Antofagasta. Both leaders are currently assigned to other parts of the world: Elder Zeballos is serving as the president of the Church’s Caribbean Area, while Elder Giménez is the second counselor in the North America Central Area presidency.
Elder Zeballos said when his family joined the Church in 1968, Chile was part of the Mesa Arizona Temple district — 6,000 miles away in the U.S. When the São Paulo Brazil Temple was dedicated in 1978, “It felt like a dream come true for the Saints in Chile to have a temple on this continent,” he said. Then, when the Santiago Chile Temple was dedicated in 1983, it felt like a temple was next door, even though Antofagasta members had to travel some 20 hours each way by bus.
Each announcement moved temples closer. And then came the joy of the announcement of a temple for Antofagasta in the April 2019 general conference by President Russell M. Nelson.
Elder Stevenson said Elder Zeballos and Elder Giménez both noted with pride that as the Church has been established here in Chile through the building and strengthening of stakes, a house of the Lord has come to their hometown.
This temple — just a few short city blocks from the Pacific Ocean — is the third dedicated house of the Lord in Chile, with three more announced or under construction.
Said Elder Stevenson, “For me, this shows the love of the Lord for His Latter-day Saints in Chile and allows us to rejoice in being together at this temple dedication today.”
President Nelson has counseled and invited all to be in the temple on a regular basis. Elder Stevenson promised that as the people of Antofagasta strive to do as the Prophet has asked, they will have opportunities to be edified as individuals and families.
“This is, as words carved over its doors proclaim, ‘The house of the Lord,’” Elder Stevenson said.
‘A demonstration of God’s great love’
Missionaries arrived in Antofagasta in 1966, and the first stake was organized here in 1980. Today, eight stakes and one district comprise the Antofagasta temple district.
President David A. Reyes Torres, the president of the Antofagasta Chile La Portada Stake, said having a house of the Lord closer to home is “a testament to His mercy and a demonstration of the love of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and that He hears prayers.”
President Reyes said the house of the Lord allows people to find joy and hope in the Savior and His Atonement and blesses families by uniting them for eternity.
For the members of his stake and especially the youth, the temple is a constant reminder to look to the Savior. “This will provide young people with a beacon, a guide for the future, to be able to make right decisions based on the covenant path.”
As youth and young single adults serve in the temple, they will find spiritual strength, he said.
María Elizabeth Zepeda Pérez of the Antofagasta Centro Ward said the temple reminds her of her divine identity and eternal destiny. And it brings her peace and joy despite the challenges of this life.
She will be able to serve more frequently in Antofagasta, and youth will also have spiritual experiences there that will strengthen their testimonies, she said.
“We are blessed to know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that He is with us,” she said. This is “a great blessing and a demonstration of God’s great love.”
Daniela González Olivares of the Parque Japonés Ward also spoke of feeling “Heavenly Father’s great love for us” through the new temple.
“The temple stands as a beacon for all to see, pointing the way home. It is a source of spiritual power that will strengthen the Saints in all stages of life,” she said.
Marco A. Vacaflores Suarez said the Lord has blessed his life through the temple.
“To visit His house, to know that He is there, and to feel the peace and tranquility that only that place gives you, is incredible — I call it my spiritual battery recharge. And above all knowing that if we keep the covenants we make with Him, we will have the opportunity to return to His presence as eternal families. And that is the greatest gift He has given to all mankind," Vacaflores said.
Maria Magdalena Valdivia Bravo had looked forward to the dedication ever since the temple was announced. Seeing the building “standing tall, imposing, majestic,” she said, reminded her of the hundreds of hours she spent over many years reviewing microfilm in the family history center and then taking names to the Santiago temple to perform ordinances.
She also served a mission at the Santiago temple from 2010 to 2011. “And now we have it here, a reality, a wonderful reality,” she said, adding that she plans to be a temple worker here.
Whether the future brings big storms or strong earthquakes, “we will not fall,” she said.
Because of what Valdivia saw during the open house, she said she knows the temple will bless the entire community. “God testified to them that this is their home,” she said.
Antofagasta temple open house
The open house for the Antofagasta temple began on Monday, May 12, and ran until Saturday, May 24, excluding Sundays. An estimated 20,100 people attended the open house.
Claudio and Johana Acuña, who served as the open house committee co-chairs, said they saw miracles from the Lord from the very first day.
Said Johana Acuña, “The days were tiring, but it was a beautiful kind of tired — one that filled us, and the whole committee, with peace.”
She said families were reunited at the open house, Church members reconnected after many years, and missionaries came to find and bring members they had baptized to visit the temple.
Johana Acuña’s family members — the Thomas family — were some of the pioneers in the area, joining the Church in 1968 and being baptized in the Pacific Ocean. When Claudio Acuña was young and living in another part of Chile, his father was searching for God and found the Church. The Acuñas met in Antofagasta and raised their family here.
“We’ve seen truly significant growth. And that’s because of the good servants He’s had here over the past decades,” Claudio Acuña said.
The Lord has called good leaders — over the last 20 years in particular — that have helped focus the work, the Acuñas said. They pointed to the time that President Jeffrey R. Holland, now acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, served as president of the Chile Area in 2002 to 2004.
“Elder Holland was one of the key pillars in Chile — I tell you this as someone who lived through the time when he was here. He created a turning point in everything related to growth in Chile, especially in the north,” Claudio Acuña said.
Among then-Elder Holland’s teachings was for the people to love God above all else and to love their neighbor as themselves, Claudio Acuña said.
“And I think that’s the key reason why we’ve been blessed: because we’ve put Him first.”
The northern part of Chile is brown and desertlike, he said, but an economically strong region because of the mining industry. Antofagasta has been economically prosperous for years but didn’t have the blessing of a temple. That’s why the Acuñas feel so blessed now to have a temple in the region.
Said Claudio Acuña, “This didn’t come because of the city or because of the north; it came at the time when the Saints understood or recognized that this is God’s work and that the temple is here to magnify, with greater power, blessings on both sides of the veil.”
Antofagasta Chile Temple facts
Address: Avenida Las Palmeras y Calle Jaime Padrely, Lote N° T, Manzana H, Localidad Aromos de la Florida, N° 42, Antofagasta, Chile
Announced: April 7, 2019, by President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church
Groundbreaking: Nov. 27, 2020, presided over by Elder Juan Pablo Villar, General Authority Seventy
Dedicated: June 15, 2025, by Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 2 acres (0.81 hectares)
Building size: 26,163 square feet (2,430.62 square meters)
Building height: 116 feet (35.35 meters)
