Four years after closing for a major renovation, open house and rededication dates are scheduled for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple.
The announcement was made by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Monday in a news release.
When is the Hamilton New Zealand Temple rededication?
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the rededication on Sunday, Oct. 16, with three sessions scheduled for 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m.
When is the Hamilton New Zealand Temple open house?
- The open house will begin with media tours on Monday, Aug. 22, followed by private tours for invited guests Aug. 23-25.
- Public tours begin Friday, Aug. 26, and run through Saturday, Sept. 17, excluding Sundays Aug. 28, Sept. 4 and Sept. 11.
Will there be a youth devotional for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple?
- A youth devotional will be held the day before the rededication on Saturday, Oct. 15.
When was the Hamilton New Zealand Temple built?
- The Hamilton New Zealand Temple was announced in 1955 and originally dedicated by President David O. McKay on April 20, 1958.
- The temple was constructed by volunteers who gave their time as “labor missionaries” in order to complete church buildings in the Pacific. It was the church’s 11th operating temple.
- The Hamilton temple was the first Latter-day Saint temple to be built in the southern hemisphere and the second outside of the United States and Canada, following the Bern Switzerland Temple.
- The Hamilton temple served Latter-day Saints throughout the Pacific for six decades before it closed in July 2018 for extensive renovations.
How many Latter-day Saint temples are in New Zealand?
New Zealand will have three temples in the coming years.
- The Auckland New Zealand Temple, announced at October 2018 general conference, is under construction. The groundbreaking was on June 13, 2020.
- President Russell M. Nelson announced plans for a temple in Wellington, New Zealand, at the April 2022 general conference.
- There are close to 117,000 Latter-day Saints attending almost 230 congregations in New Zealand, according to the church’s newsroom.