SALT LAKE CITY —; The public is invited to tour the newly completed Snowflake Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The First Presidency of the Church has announced that an open house will begin on Saturday, 2 February 2002, and will continue through Saturday, 16 February 2002. No tours will be offered on Sunday, 3 February, and Sunday, 10 February.
The public is encouraged to obtain open house tickets online or make reservations by phone at 800-380-5924. However, tickets are not mandatory.
Following the public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated on Sunday, 3 March 2002. Four dedicatory sessions are scheduled to accommodate the Latter-day Saints in the area who will be served by the temple.
The Church dedicated a temple in Mesa in 1927. On 2 April 2000, the Church announced plans to build a second temple in Arizona. The Snowflake Arizona Temple will serve nearly 35,000 Latter-day Saints in northeast Arizona and a small portion of western New Mexico in stakes (similar to dioceses) in Pinetop, Lakeside, Eagar, Show Low, Taylor, St. Johns, Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Tuba City, Chinle and Snowflake. These include Church members who reside on the Navajo, Hopi, White Mountain Apache and Pueblo reservations.
Latter-day Saint temples differ from the hundreds of meetinghouses or churches where members typically meet for Sunday worship services and midweek social activities. Temples are considered "houses of the Lord" where Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other sacred ordinances that unite families for eternity.
More than 11 million people belong to the worldwide Church in 162 countries and territories. There are more than 313,000 members in Arizona who worship in 643 congregations. Currently, the Church has 107 operating temples, with 18 more announced or under construction.
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