Dedication of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple
In 1997, Latter-day Saints in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, were expecting a visit from Church President Gordon B. Hinckley. However, after a hurricane threatened to come ashore, his airplane was diverted to another city.
“We had choirs in Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutiérrez that had prepared separately. They came together to practice just one day,” later said Lelia Esten Magro de Cruz, director of the combined choir at that time. “It was a very good choir filled with enthusiasm, faith and happiness.” Yet choir members lamented when they heard they couldn’t sing for a member of the First Presidency.
A year later, Cruz was appointed the chairperson of music for the dedication of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple. She gathered choir members from Tapachula and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, and many who sang at the cornerstone ceremony and dedication had been part of the prepared choir in 1997. The opportunity to sing for a senior Church leader was again extended.
“They sang with all their hearts, with all their love, and with all their feeling, and in their best manner,” Sister Cruz said. Tears filled the eyes of choralists and congregation members alike.
President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple in four sessions on March 12, 2000. He was joined by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Carl B. Pratt, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Mexico South Area.
“This is the first time I have seen a temple,” said Jorge Antonio Feliciano of the Cordoba Ward, Tapachula Mexico Izapa Stake, after the first dedicatory session. “I have never seen anything like it.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “It stands as a place of great beauty in this city. Wilt Thou accept of it and bestow the presence of Thy Holy Spirit for the blessing of all who shall enter this holy structure. ... We pray that the faithful Saints of this temple district may look to this hallowed structure, may come here frequently and may taste of the sweet things which are here offered.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple here.
Timeline of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple was announced Feb. 25, 1999, by the First Presidency. A groundbreaking ceremony was held less than a month later, on March 20, 1999, with Elder Richard E. Turley Sr. presiding.
After an open house from Feb. 29 to March 4, 2000, the temple was dedicated March 12, 2000, by President James E. Faust.
Architecture and Design of the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple
The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple is a 10,700-square-foot building with a white marble exterior. Atop the single-story building is a center spire with a statue of the angel Moroni. Inside the temple are the baptistry, the celestial room, two instruction rooms and two sealing rooms. Adjacent to the house of the Lord stands a temple arrival center.