A Saturday, Nov. 14, groundbreaking date has been set for the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Moisés Villanueva — a General Authority Seventy and president of the Mexico Area — will preside over the ceremony.
On that same day, ground will also be broken for the Piura Peru Temple.
The Cuernavaca temple’s groundbreaking was first announced in a news release Monday, Sept. 28, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
About the Cuernavaca temple, Church in Mexico
On Oct. 2, 2022, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced 18 temples in general conference — four of which were for the Mexico City metropolitan area, including in Cuernavaca.
The Cuernavaca temple is planned as a single-story edifice of approximately 19,000 square feet, built on a 5.4-acre site at the corner of Calle Hernán Cortes and Calle Santa Prisca in Colonia Vista Hermosa.
Cuernavaca is a city in the state of Morelos, in the south-central area of the country. Although it’s only about 40 miles south of the Mexico City Mexico Temple, it’s around a two-hour drive.
Of Mexico’s 27 temples in various stages, 14 are dedicated: in Mexico City, Colonia Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Hermosillo, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Tampico, Villahermosa, Mérida, Veracruz, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana and Puebla.
Two are soon to be dedicated — the San Luis Potosí temple is planned for a Nov. 1 dedication, while the Torreón temple is scheduled for Nov. 22.
One other temple is currently under construction, in Querétaro, since its January 2023 groundbreaking.
That leaves 10 Mexico temples, including the Cuernavaca temple, in the planning and design stage: the Culiacán, Mexico City Benemérito, Pachuca, Toluca, Tula, Cancún, Chihuahua, Juchitán de Zaragoza and Reynosa temples.
Missionary work began in Mexico in 1875, when seven missionaries were sent to the country. The first five members in Mexico were baptized in Hermosillo, Sonora, in 1877. A branch was soon established in Mexico City in 1879. The country’s first stake, the Juárez Stake, was created in 1895.
Today, Mexico has almost 1.6 million Latter-day Saints in nearly 1,900 wards and branches.
