On Monday morning, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced an official date for the groundbreaking of the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple.
March 4 will be a big day for the island nation of Vanuatu as the first temple groundbreaking occurs with Elder K. Brett Nattress, a General Authority Seventy and President of the Pacific Area, presiding.
Vanuatu is an island nation where more than 11,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live, according to the church’s membership statistics. It’s part of the Melanesia subregion, located west of Fiji — where the closest operating temple is over 700 miles away, per the release — and the eastern coast of Australia.
The temple was first announced in October 2020 by President Russell M. Nelson and its location was announced in May 2021.
The official 1.62-acre plot of land — located on an island near the middle of the nation, close to Port Vila International Airport — was announced and released with the first rendering of the 10,000-square-foot, single spire temple, per The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.