Under blue skies and surrounded by blue waters, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Tarawa Kiribati Temple took place Saturday, Nov. 2, signaling the start of the construction phase for a new house of the Lord on a remote Pacific island.
The temple will serve the more than 28,000 Latter-day Saints in the two island nations — the Republic of Kiribati and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, both comprised of coral atolls, island chains and islets. Church members there currently have to travel to the closest house of the Lords in Fiji and Hawaii to participate in temple worship and ordinances.
Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, a General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Pacific Area presidency, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony in Kiribati’s capital of Tarawa, offering a prayer dedicating the site and the construction process.
To read the full story, visit TheChurchNews.com.