Cebu Philippines Temple
The Cebu Philippines Temple is the 132nd announced temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On April 18, 2006 the First Presidency announced plans to build a second temple in the Philippines. The first temple built in the islands the Manila Philippines Temple, which was completed in 1984. The actual site for the new temple has not yet been announced, but the temple will be located in the city of Cebu. The Cebu temple is one of a eleven temples that are announced or under construction.
The announcement was made by letter to the priesthood leaders in the Philippines. The Philippines is home to more than half a million Mormon Church members organized into 80 stakes, and although the Church has not yet announced which stakes will be a part of the new temple district, the members in the area were overjoyed to learn of the plans to build the temple because it will cut long travel time and expenses and make it possible for more members to go to the temple. Many of the members in the area have gone to great lengths to make the trip to the Manila Temple, some have even sold possessions to have enough money to attend. One group even traveled twelve hours in a flatbed truck to be able to attend the temple. Another group of 60 youth attended the temple and performed more than 2,000 baptisms and confirmations. With such devotion to attending the temple, the Manila Temple has been constantly full and members have been praying that they would be blessed with another temple. In the letter, members were encouraged to contribute what they could financially to the construction of the new temple.
In November 2007, ground was broken for the Cebu Philipines Temple, Elder Dallin H. Oaks was one of those present.
Missionary work began in the Philippines in 1898. The first two missions were in Manila and Cebu City. The first two Mormon missionaries were in the U.S. military and had been set apart to do missionary work before leaving for the Philippines. The work was initially very slow, but increased dramatically after World War II. In 1961, the Church was officially recognized by the Philippines. When the Manila Temple was built, there were 76,000 members in the Philippines. This number has grown to more than 520,000 members in 1,000 congregations.
