Dedication of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple
In November 2007, after local Church leaders in El Salvador read a letter from the First Presidency in sacrament meeting, members were in tears at the news of a temple in San Salvador. For Latter-day Saints in the country — some of whom would travel up to eight hours by vehicle to attend the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple — the news of a local temple was a miracle. "My dream has come true,” said one member.
President Manuel Ernesto Lopez, a stake president in the capital city, said many of the sisters and older pioneers of the Church in El Salvador shed tears of joy. “I believe this is a unanimous feeling. We are all thinking, ‘This is a dream,’” he said.
President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the San Salvador El Salvador Temple on Aug. 21, 2011. “It is a remarkable building,” he said after the last of three dedicatory sessions. “And the Spirit was so evident that it’s hard to adequately describe.”
Also at the event was Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He said, “I feel the temple will have a positive impact in every sense — economic, spiritual and social — for El Salvador.” He then added that the temple will open “new horizons” for developing the area.
Local members talked about how the dedication of the San Salvador temple was one of the most important dates in their history. “We all started to cry,” said one member.
“The temple is the only place in the country where we can find exaltation,” were another member’s sentiments. “The temple is the door to exaltation for my country.”
Another member also expressed her feelings of gratitude for El Salvador’s first house of the Lord: “I don’t have a fancy car, and I don’t own a big house on the beach, but the Lord has helped me prosper. I have children, grandchildren and even a great-grandchild that love God. And now there is a temple in El Salvador.”
Attending the dedication with President Eyring and Elder Christofferson were Sister Silvia H. Allred, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency and a native Salvadoran; Elder William R. Walker, executive director of the Church’s Temple Department; and members of the Central America Area Presidency — Elder Enrique R. Falabella, Elder James B. Martino and Elder Carlos H. Amado.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Now, with grateful hearts, we dedicate and consecrate this hallowed structure and its surroundings to the accomplishment of Thy will and the fulfillment of Thine eternal work. We pray that its influence may be felt throughout the land as a light upon a hill. We ask it all in the name of Him whose redemption has blessed the human family and opened the way for Thy sons and daughters to go forward in eternity.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple here.
Timeline of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple
The San Salvador El Salvador Temple was announced in a First Presidency letter on Nov. 18, 2007. Elder Don R. Clarke presided over the groundbreaking ceremony held Sept. 20, 2008 — nearly a year later.
After an open house from July 1 to July 23, 2011, and cultural celebrations mid-August, President Henry B. Eyring dedicated the new house of the Lord in three sessions on Aug. 21, 2011.
Architecture and Design of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple
The San Salvador temple sits on an open lot filled with palm trees, tropical bushes and walkways leading to the temple. The structure stands on a base of 27,986 square feet and encompasses arches and conches inside and out, giving it a Spanish colonial touch found in the San Salvador region.
The exterior finish was made with Bianco Sienna granite from Brazil. Inside, decorations throughout the temple in the art-glass windows, wood and granite feature the flor de izote — El Salvador’s national flower. The wood found in the temple is genuine mahogany from Honduras and other nearby countries. The floors are made from limestone quarried out of Israel.
The San Salvador temple has two ordinance rooms, two sealing rooms, a baptistry and a bride’s room.
Interior Photos of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple
