The First Presidency has announced a Nov. 14 groundbreaking date for the Piura Peru Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Steven C. Barlow — a General Authority Seventy and member of the South America Northwest Area presidency — will preside over the ceremony.
Ground will be broken for the Piura temple one month after the Oct. 10 groundbreaking of another northern Peru temple, in Iquitos.
The Piura temple’s groundbreaking date was published Tuesday, Sept. 8, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
As previously announced, the Piura temple will be a single-story building of approximately 18,850 square feet, built at Urb. Lote Unico, Prolongacion Ave. Los Tallanes. It will be built next to Antenor Orrego Private University in Piura, Peru.
An accompanying ancillary building is also planned for the 2.6-acre site. Piura lies in northwestern Peru, about 50 miles south of Ecuador and 35 miles east of the Pacific Ocean.
About the Piura temple and Church in Peru
On Oct. 1, 2023, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced a house of the Lord for Piura, Peru. It was one of 20 temples announced in October 2023 general conference, including a temple for Huancayo, Peru.
The Piura temple is one of 10 Peru temples in various stages of operation and planning.
Four of those have been dedicated: the Lima Peru Temple (in 1986), Trujillo Peru Temple (2015), Arequipa Peru Temple (2019) and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple (2024).
In addition to the Piura temple, one other Peru temple has a groundbreaking planned, as mentioned earlier — the Iquitos temple is scheduled for Oct. 10.
One additional temple planned for the country has a site location: the Cusco temple, announced in 2022.
That leaves three more planned for Peru that don’t yet have site locations: for Chiclayo (announced 2022), Huancayo (2023) and Chorrillos (2025).
On Jan. 1, 1956, Frederick S. Williams — a former mission president in Argentina and Uruguay — moved to Peru with his family. He contacted Church headquarters for permission to organize a branch and begin missionary work.
A branch in Lima was subsequently organized on July 8, 1956, and four missionaries arrived on Aug. 7, 1956.
The Andes Mission, headquartered in Lima, was established on Nov. 1, 1959. There were 300 Church members and five branches at the time.
Today, nearly 668,000 Latter-day Saints reside in just over 800 wards and branches in Peru.
