Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple
The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple is the 134th announced temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On June 9, 2006 the First Presidency of the Mormon Church announced plans to build a temple in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The Central American Area President Spencer V. Jones, a member of the Seventy, made the announcement to members of the area. In the letter, the First Presidency stated, "We are confident that this will be a blessing to the many faithful Saints in this and surrounding areas who have had to travel long distances to enjoy the blessings of the temple." With its completion, the Tegucigalpa Temple will be the first Mormon temple in Honduras and the fourth Mormon temple in Central America. Currently, members in the area must travel to Guatemala City, to attend the nearest temple.
The new temple will serve Mormon members in Honduras and Nicaragua. Currently, there are more than 168,000 members in 302 congregations in these two countries. This is a dramatic accomplishment and a testimony of the faith of the members in the area, because the Mormon Church is still very young in the area. The first Mormon missionaries arrived in Honduras in 1952, when Elder Spencer W. Kimball, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, and President Gordon M. Romney (president of the Central American mission) opened the area for missionary work. On December 10, 1952 the first two Mormon missionaries, James T. Romney and George W. Allen, arrived in Tegucigalpa. On March 21, 1953 the first five Mormon members from Honduras were baptized and a branch was organized the next day. By 1960 there were 411 members in Honduras, and in just ten years, by 1970 there were 3,000 members. In another ten years membership more than doubled to 6,300 and by 1990 there were 43,00 members in Honduras.
