SALT LAKE CITY-The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the dates of groundbreaking for new temples at Coban, Guatemala and Okinawa, Japan.
The Coban Guatemala Temple groundbreaking ceremony will occur November 2020. This event will be presided over by Central America area president Elder Brian K. Taylor.
This temple is to be constructed on a 5.4-acre site adjacent to 4a. Avenida 4-48 Zona 8, Barrio Bella Vista in Coban.
The temple will be a single-story building of approximately 8,800 square feet. A meetinghouse and housing for patrons will also be built on-site.
Upon completion, this will be Guatemala’s third temple. Other Guatemalan temples are located at Guatemala City (1984) and Quetzaltenango (2011).
There are presently 281,465 Latter-day Saints in Guatemala in 51 stakes. 1 in 62 Guatemalans belong to the Church.
The groundbreaking for the Okinawa Japan Temple is slated for December 2020. Presiding at this event will be Asia North Area President Elder Takashi Wada.
This will be a two-story building consisting of approximately 10,00o square feet and will be located on a half-acre site at 7-11 Matsumoto, Okinawa Shi in Okinawa-ken, Japan.
A temple patron waiting area will also be added to an adjacent existing meetinghouse.
Upon its dedication, the Okinawa Japan Temple will be the fourth temple on Japanese soil.
Other temples in Japan include the Tokyo (1980), Fukuoka (2000) and Sapporo (2016) temples.
There are presently 130,340 Japanese members of the Church (1 in 971) in 28 stakes.
