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Groundbreakings scheduled for Latter-day Saint temples in Tonga and American Samoa

By Trent Toone Trent Toonettoone@deseretnews.com
SHARE Groundbreakings scheduled for Latter-day Saint temples in Tonga and American Samoa
An exterior rendering of the Neiafu Tonga Temple in the South Pacific.

A rendering of the Neiafu Tonga Temple. A temple groundbreaking is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2021.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Groundbreaking dates are scheduled in September and October for a pair of temples in the South Pacific, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in a news release Tuesday.

The Neiafu Tonga Temple groundbreaking will be held on Saturday, Sept. 11. Elder ‘Inoke F. Kupu, an Area Seventy, will preside at the ceremony.

The Pago Pago American Samoa Temple groundbreaking will take place on Saturday, Oct. 9. A presiding church leader will be named later based on travel requirements related to COVID-19, the news release said.

Attendance at both groundbreaking ceremonies will be by invitation only.

What do we know about the Neiafu Tonga Temple?

Related

  • An exterior rending of the temple was released in August 2020.
  • The temple will be a single-story structure of approximately 17,000 square feet.
  • The temple will be built on Tu’l Road at the site of the church-owned Saineha High School, Neiafu, Vava’u, Tonga. Housing for the temple president and missionaries, as well as a distribution center, will be constructed on the site.
A map shows the location of the Neiafu Tonga Temple.

A map shows the location of the Neiafu Tonga Temple.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

  • The Neiafu Tonga Temple will join the Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple as the island nation’s second temple.
  • There are more than 66,000 Latter-day Saints attending 173 congregations in Tonga, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org. President Nelson visited Tonga as part of his global ministry tour in the South Pacific in May of 2019.
An artists’s exterior rendering of the Neiafu Tonga Temple.

A rendering of the Neiafu Tonga Temple. A groundbreaking date for the temple is scheduled for September.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

What do we know about the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple?

  • President Nelson announced the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple during the April 2019 general conference.
  • An exterior rending of the temple was released in August 2020.
  • The temple will be a single-story structure of approximately 17,000 square feet.
  • The temple will be located on Ottoville Road and constructed on the site of the Pago Pago Samoa Central Stake Center in Tafuna, American Samoa. Housing for the temple president and missionaries, as well as a distribution center, will be built on the site.
A map shows the location of the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple.

A map shows the location of the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

  • The temple will be the first in American Samoa, a U.S. territory with more than 16,000 Latter-day Saints attending 43 congregations, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
  • President Spencer W. Kimball announced plans to build a temple in Pago Pago, America Samoa in 1977, but later changed the location to Apia, Samoa, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
  • President Nelson visited Samoa as part of his global ministry tour in the South Pacific in May 2019.
An artist’s exterior rendering of the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple.

An artist’s rendering of the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple. The temple groundbreaking is scheduled for October.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints