HARARE, Zimbabwe — As Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles prepared to dedicate the Harare Zimbabwe Temple on Sunday, March 1, he was mindful of his late father-in-law’s service three decades earlier across Africa, including in Zimbabwe.
Elder Richard P. Lindsay — father of Sister Susan Gong, wife of Elder Gong — served as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ first area president in Africa, accompanied by his wife, Sister Marian B. Lindsay, who served faithfully with her husband.
Prior to the temple dedication in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare, Elder Gong shared with the Church News an excerpt from Elder Lindsay’s journal of his service in what was then the Africa Area.
The Sunday, June 21, 1992, entry reads: “We attended first the sacrament meeting in the Highland Branch in Harare. … A number of new branches have been organized, and we are beginning to see a potential stake in embryo.”
Sister Gong also shared an entry from her mother’s journal attesting to the faith of the Zimbabwean Saints. “Met with missionaries all from Zimbabwe. Each bore articulate, beautiful testimony. … Held a fireside with 60 people. Relief Society sisters, babies on their backs, sang so beautifully. People came long distances walking and taking buses.”
Zimbabwe’s first dedicated house of the Lord is the Church’s 214th worldwide. The southeastern African nation is part of the significant growth and strength of the Church in Africa.
Now blessed by the availability and proximity of the new house of the Lord, the temple district includes 13 stakes and two districts in Zimbabwe, six stakes and one district in Mozambique, two stakes and one district in Malawi, and one stake and one district in Zambia.
“And we are only beginning,” Elder Gong said. “The Lord and the faithful members are hastening His work in this beautiful part of His vineyard.”
‘Pioneers, old and young’
Drawn to the Harare temple dedication were myriads of Latter-day Saints — from pioneer members and returned missionaries with more than a half-century of experiences and stories to the first-generation “pioneering” members of their families.
“We honor pioneers, old and young,” said Elder Gong. “We honor faithful brothers and sisters and those whose tithes and offerings open the windows of heaven. We honor all who have prayed, worked and sacrificed for this day.”
Joining the Gongs for the dedication weekend in Harare were two General Authority Seventies and their wives — Elder Steven R. Bangerter, executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Susan Bangerter; and Elder Denelson Silva, first counselor in the Church’s Africa South Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Regina Silva.
The three couples greeted dedication attendees — those on the grounds and in the chapel of the adjacent new stake center, where members were waiting to view the broadcast prior to the dedication, and those inside and waiting outside the temple after the dedication.
A new gospel temple culture
With the coming of the house of the Lord in Harare and other new temples around the globe, the Lord is inviting Latter-day Saints to create “a new gospel temple culture,” said Elder Gong, mindful especially of those who previously had to travel long distances to worship in the temple.
“Instead of going to the temple once in our life, or once a year on a temple trip, we can plan and come ourselves to the Lord in the house of the Lord more often,” he said.
“The Lord has brought His temples closer to us so His ordinances and covenants can bless us more often. The Lord wants us to receive His peace, inspiration, protection more often. The Lord wants us to bless our dear family members — living and deceased — more often.”
The Apostle said the Lord provides holy temples so Latter-day Saints and those they love can return to the holy presence of God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, spotless and clean, as well as justified, sanctified and exalted.
“The Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us repent and change,” Elder Gong said. “The Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us forgive and be forgiven. The Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us mend and heal our relationships.
“Jesus Christ’s gospel and Atonement make bad men and bad women good and good men and good women better. Temple ordinances and covenants connect us by our own name with the name and infinite and eternal Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
‘Today has been very special’
Sixteen-year-old Lizzie Nyasha Akili was beaming outside the Harare temple after Sunday’s service, the first time she had been inside a dedicated temple since being sealed to her parents and family at age 8 in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple. “Today has been very special,” she said.
What does having a house of the Lord in Harare mean for her? “It means to be able to be baptized for my ancestors,” she said, adding, “It also gives me joy because I will be able to complete other ordinances, such as sealings to parents and baptisms for other people as well.”
Lizzie was the youth speaker for the dedication service and just one part of a contingent of Zimbabwean Latter-day Saints taking key roles in the meeting. President Dunstan G.B.T. Chadambuka and Sister Pertunia Chadambuka, temple president and matron, also spoke, as did Peter Chaya, a longtime member and the first Black missionary to serve in Zimbabwe, 40-plus years ago. Other members of the temple presidency and assistant matrons offered prayers, while local members comprised the choir that sang during the dedication.
Elder Bangerter and Sister Gong also spoke during the dedicatory service, which concluded with Elder Gong offering the dedicatory prayer.
Preceding presidential visit
The Harare temple dedication was the concluding event of a 10-day ministry in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa; Botswana; Eswatini; Zambia; and Zimbabwe, where Elder and Sister Gong met members and missionaries in each country. They were accompanied in the different countries by members of the Africa South Area presidency — Elder Carlos A. Godoy, Elder Silva, Elder Vaiangina Sikahema — and their wives.
After arriving in Harare the day before Sunday’s dedication, the Gongs and Silvas were invited by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, to call on him at his residence.
The Saturday afternoon visit served as a third key moment involving the president and Harare’s house of the Lord. Mnangagwa had attended the temple groundbreaking service in December 2020 and toured the new temple during its open house.
In their meeting, Elder Gong described the dedication process and service for a new temple, noting that it reflects the biblical pattern seen in Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Elder Gong and the president shared John 12:13 — a verse the president was familiar with — and read of Christ’s arrival. Elder Gong explained that in temple dedications today, Latter-day Saints joyously wave white handkerchiefs instead of palm fronds.
Two white handkerchiefs embroidered with the words “Harare Zimbabwe” and an image of the new temple were given to Mnangagwa, who received the gift with appreciation for its significance.
‘A huge blessing’
Paul and Pamela Guveya served as co-chairs of the open house and dedication committee, an assignment that lasted for a year — from early planning and preparations to the realization of Sunday’s dedication.
More than 30,000 passed through the Harare temple during its 15-day open house in late January and early February. “It was special for me because I just loved the expressions, the gratitude, the feeling that the children of Heavenly Father had after touring the house of the Lord,” Pamela Guveya said. “That is how special it was to me.”
She said she treasures remembering the facial expressions of the open house guests — similar to attendees on the Harare temple grounds after Sunday’s dedication. “You see someone coming out from the temple — this person is filled with the Spirit of the Lord. Talking to them, asking them how they feel, with them expressing their feelings and gratitude is something very dear and special to me.”
Paul Guveya agreed: “Having a temple in Zimbabwe is a huge blessing that our Heavenly Father has opened up for us. We’re going to see so many of the young people getting married in the temple, we’re going to see many ordinances — for the baptisms for those who have passed on, our ancestors, our fathers, our children. It’s going to bring joy, and it’s going to unite so many families.”
He said he also thought of others who had helped prepare the way for the Lord’s house in Zimbabwe. “There are so many of our friends, the Saints who have gone on before us,” he said. “I’m sure they had wished they would have been here to see the temple being dedicated because of their sacrifices they put in. To us, they were pioneers who put in good sacrifices.
“We are here. We are enjoying it. And we are blessed.”
One thing Guveya said the members will appreciate is the proximity of a temple in Zimbabwe, rather than the 16- to 20-hour drives to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple and the prolonged waits at border crossings. The Guveyas’ most recent time in the temple was in July 2025.
How long will it take them now to get to the temple in Harare? “Oh, 40 minutes or 20 minutes; it depends on the traffic,” Pamela Guveya said.
Added Paul Guveya: “Or we can walk. We don’t mind to walk — maybe for an hour or two hours.”
About the Harare temple
The Harare Zimbabwe Temple was dedicated in a single 9 a.m. session, which was broadcast to meetinghouses throughout the temple district.
The new house of the Lord is the Church’s last temple announced by President Thomas S. Monson, who was President of the Church from 2008 to 2018, to be dedicated. He announced a house of the Lord for Harare on April 3, 2016, nearly 10 years before Sunday’s dedication.
Ground was broken for the temple on Dec. 12, 2020, presided over by Elder Edward Dube, a General Authority Seventy and native Zimbabwean.
While the first in Zimbabwe, the Harare temple joins eight other dedicated houses of the Lord across the continent of Africa: the Johannesburg South Africa (dedicated in 1985), Accra Ghana (2004), Aba Nigeria (2005), Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo (2019), Durban South Africa (2020), Praia Cape Verde (2022), Nairobi Kenya (2025) and Abidjan Ivory Coast (2025) temples. Eight additional temples are under construction and 12 more announced and in planning, for a total of 29 temples in 15 nations in Africa.
The Church in Zimbabwe
Latter-day Saints lived in Southern Rhodesia — the name of Zimbabwe prior to 1980 — as early as 1925.
The country’s first mission — the Zimbabwe Harare Mission — covered Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. It was organized in 1987 by dividing the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.
The Harare Zimbabwe Stake — the country’s first — was created Dec. 12, 1999. The number of Latter-day Saints in the country exceeded 8,500 at the time. Church membership in Zimbabwe would then triple from 2000 to 2016, reaching more than 27,000.
As of September 2025, Zimbabwe is home to around 49,600 Latter-day Saints across 116 wards and branches.
Harare Zimbabwe Temple
Address: 65 Enterprise Road, Harare, Zimbabwe
Announced: April 3, 2016, by President Thomas S. Monson
Groundbreaking: Dec. 12, 2020, presided over by Elder Edward Dube, a General Authority Seventy
Public open house: Jan. 22 through Feb. 7, 2026, excluding Sundays
Dedicated: March 1, 2026, by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 6.7 acres
Building size: 17,250 square feet
Building height: 104 feet (including the spire)
An earlier version of this article listed an incorrect number of 28 temples in Africa instead of the correct number of 29.
