Dedication of the Bangkok Thailand Temple
Before the dedication of the Bangkok Thailand Temple, Latter-day Saints in the country would travel to the Manila Philippines Temple, dedicated in 1984, or the Hong Kong Temple, dedicated in 1996. “We had been taught in lessons all the time about the temple,” said Thailand native Kesorn Choysrakoo, “but we thought we would never have the chance to go — it was too much money. But we had the determination.”
“What is important,” she continued, “is the commitment we make to keep the covenants and how we live our lives after we leave the temple.” This determination and sacrifice of Choysrakoo and other Thai Latter-day Saints to attend the temple over a thousand miles away would later bring temple blessings to be available locally.
While local member Tiparat Kitsawat was serving as Thailand’s first stake president, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley visited the country and promised that Thailand would sometime be home to a house of the Lord. “But I did not know how long it would take,” Kitsawat said.
The dedication of the Bangkok temple boldly fulfills this promise. “In Thailand,” Kitsawat continued, “it is sometimes hard to keep the faith. Now we have a special instrument — the temple will make the difference.”
The Bangkok Thailand Temple was dedicated in two sessions on Oct. 22, 2023, by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was joined by other Church leaders, including Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Asia Area; and Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department.
Elder Rasband prepared for the dedication by reviewing Thailand’s history and the Church’s history in the country and throughout Southeast Asia. He noted particularly the apostolic visits to Thailand over the years. He said, “What has settled on me is how the country and the temple have been cradled in the arms of prophets and apostles.”
For Elder Rasband, dedicating the Bangkok temple was a humbling and surreal assignment. “None of us who are ever assigned to dedicate a temple know why we were chosen,” he said. “It just happens by divine design. As I walked through the temple, I was just overwhelmed with emotion, having quite a personal love and affection for this people, the country and the leaders I’ve worked with here.”
The temple “seems more like a dream — but now you can touch it. You can go into it,” said Sasitorn Vantanachan, a pioneer member in the area, who was baptized in 1968. “The people in Thailand are blessed — we feel very humble, very fortunate that we have a way here to continue on the covenant path.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “May this temple fulfill its blessed purpose, 'holiness to the Lord,' and may it stand as a sentinel on earth of Thy eternal plan, separate and apart from the ways of the world. May all who come here, recommended to the Lord, be further enlightened with the doctrine of the gospel, the hope of life eternal and Thy promised peace.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Bangkok Thailand Temple here.
Timeline of the Bangkok Thailand Temple
President Thomas S. Monson announced plans to construct this house of the Lord on April 5, 2015, during the Sunday morning session of April 2015 general conference.
In April 2018, President Russell M. Nelson visited Bangkok during a global ministry tour and spoke to more than 3,000 members at the Queen Sirikit Conference Center about the future construction of the temple.
After a public open house from Sept. 1 to Sept. 16, 2023, the Bangkok Thailand Temple was dedicated on Oct. 22, 2023, by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The Architecture and Design of the Bangkok Thailand Temple
The Bangkok temple is a 48,525-square-foot building of six stories, with a central spire surrounded by eight smaller spires. Its exterior is made of precast concrete, with art-glass windows that have an amber, gold and teal border.
Inside the temple can be seen decorative light fixtures with a design inspired by royal sun umbrellas, although the fixtures radiate light instead of providing shade. Carved wood detailing includes that of ratchaphruek tree flowers, Thailand’s national flower.
The 1.77-acre temple site is home to a former Church office building, used for the Bangkok Thailand Mission, the Bangkok Service Center, the Bangkok Thailand PEF Self-Reliance Center and other Church entities. Accompanying the temple is a structure containing Church offices, a FamilySearch center, and two separate chapels and meeting rooms.
Interior Photos of the Bangkok Thailand Temple
