The history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Honduras began in 1952, when Elder Spencer W. Kimball, who later became worldwide leader of the Church, traveled to Honduras to meet with then Honduran President Juan Manual Galvez. He received from President Galvez authorization to organize the Church in Honduras. During this trip, President Kimball gave to a waiter named Jose Santos Ortega Flores a copy of the Book of Mormon — a book Latter-day Saints consider, with the Bible, to be scripture.
On 21 March 1953, this same Jose Ortega became the first Honduran member of the Church when he and four others were baptized. The following day, the first congregation was officially organized in Tegucigalpa.
Two years later, in 1955, the second congregation was organized in San Pedro Sula. In 1963, construction was completed on the first Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in Honduras, located in Colonia Palmira in Tegucigalpa.
Early Honduran members of the Church desired for themselves and their families the blessings that come only by participating in the sacred ceremonies of Latter-day Saint temples. But initially, the nearest temple was in Arizona, in the United States.
In 1976, the first organized group of Honduran members of the Church traveled by bus to the Mesa Arizona Temple. It was an arduous, 10-day round trip, made at great personal sacrifice. These excursions to Arizona continued regularly until temples were built in Mexico City and Guatemala City in 1983 and 1984, respectively.
In 2006, construction of the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple was announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then worldwide leader of the Church. President Hinckley was beloved by Honduran members. He visited the Latter-day Saints in Honduras in 1997, becoming the first Church president to do so. In 1998, he returned to Honduras in the wake of Hurricane Mitch, comforting victims and setting in motion the shipment of emergency relief supplies.
The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple is the sixth Latter-day Saint temple in Central America. The other five temples are located in San Salvador, El Salvador; San José, Costa Rica; Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; Panama City; and Guatemala City.
Today there are approximately 153,000 Honduran members of the Church in 227 congregations.
The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple will open its doors for public tours from Saturday, 9 February, through Saturday, 2 March 2013.