Download PhotoThe Port Vila Vanuatu Temple, which was announced on October 4, 2020, by Church President Russell M. Nelson, will be built on a 1.62-acre site located at Blacksands Crossroads, on the site of the Blacksands meetinghouse in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 10,000 square feet with an end-spire. An ancillary building will also be constructed and will include an arrival center, patron housing and a distribution center.
This will be this country’s first temple. There are more than 10,000 Latter-day Saints in Vanuatu who worship in around three dozen congregations.
Port Vila Vanuatu Temple Map 2
Map showing the location of the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple.© 2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
Download PhotoThe Tarawa Kiribati Temple, which was also announced on October 4, 2020, by Church President Russell M. Nelson, will be built on a 0.80-acre site located at Ambo, South Tarawa, Kiribati. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 10,000 square feet with an end-spire. Additional ancillary facilities will be located 450 meters west of the temple site. Plans for a meetinghouse and patron housing facility are in development.
This will be this country’s first temple. There are nearly 21,000 Latter-day Saints in Kiribati who worship in around three dozen congregations.
Tarawa Kiribati Temple Map 2
Map showing the location of the Tarawa Kiribati Temple.© 2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Detailed design plans for these temples are still being developed. Further information – including interior renderings – will be made public later. Groundbreaking dates have not been set yet. Project leaders will soon begin working with city officials on preliminary plans for the temples and begin filing public documents.
Latter-day Saints consider temples to be the “house of the Lord” and the most sacred places of worship on the earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples, however, is for faithful members of the Church to participate in sacred ceremonies, such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity while living.