Ground was broken for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple on Saturday, October 28, 2017, as Mormons and community leaders gathered to participate in the event. The temple was announced by President Thomas S. Monson April 5, 2015.
Elder Walter F. González of the Seventy and president of the Caribbean Area directed the groundbreaking ceremony. Elder Claudio D. Zivic and Elder Jose L. Alonso, of the Area Presidency, were also present during the ceremony. They hosted Dominique Saint-Roc, mayor in the community of Pétion-Ville, where the temple will be located.
A brief service was held prior to the groundbreaking. The program included music performed by a local choir and messages by the Area Presidency and local leaders. The program was conducted by Elder Hubermann Bien-Aimé of the Seventy.
“When I think about this day, I can only think about everlasting joy and gratitude for all what the temple means in our lives”, said Elder Gonzalez as he responded questions from the local media. “This is a day of joy and gratitude when we start to build a portal to heaven as we come to better understand the importance of the covenants made in the temple and how they impact our daily lives, both in this time and in eternity.”
- Church leaders supervise preparations for the groundbreaking
- The Area Presidency leads the supervision of the preparation of the site for the groundbreaking
- Wide smiles
- Elder Zivic greets members
- The rostrum
- The choir
- Elder Bien-Aimé addresses the audience
- Elder Alonso's talk
- Elder Zivic speaks
- Sister Sulma Gonzalez speaks
- Elder Gonzalez speaks to the members
- Members listen to their leaders speak
- The rising generation
- A brigther future
- Temple picture in display
- Elder and Sister Zivic
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- No sun bright enough
- Priesthood leaders break the ground
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Hundreds of Haitian members of the Church accompanied by family and friends gathered to experience what they called “a historic moment”, including missionaries from around the country, the United States and Canada who served in the country several decades ago.
“For us, personally, is a very emotional day. For us to dream that there would be a temple in Haiti was more than we could even hope for”, said Don Miller, who served as a mission president in Port-au-Prince in 1998 and traveled from Calgary with his wife Janet to attend to this ceremony. “When president Monson announced the temple in Haiti, we were in the conference center and my wife screamed…so we’re very happy, this is a marvelous day for us”.
Although the preparations of the ground started about a month ago, the construction will officially start right after the ceremony. Once the temple is completed, open house dates will be announced so the public can tour the temple before it is dedicated.
The temple district comprises more than 17,000 Latter-day Saints located in four Haiti stakes and districts (similar to a diocese).
There are currently 182 temples throughout the world, either in operation, under construction or annoucned. Six are being rennovated and seven more temples have been announced for renovation in 2017 and 2018.
For more information about temples, visit www.mormontemples.org. The site includes general information on temples, the history of the Church and the purpose of temples.