Tours of the Harare Zimbabwe Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened this week with a media day and tours for invited guests.
Among those guests were Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Southeast African country’s second vice president Kembo Mohadi.
They were led through the temple by General Authority Seventy Elder Erich W. Kopischke and Elder Vaiangina Sikahema, second counselor in the church’s Africa South Area presidency.
Following their tour of the single-story temple, Mnangagwa said he felt a “strong impression” to connect with God, according to a recent church release. He was given a Christus statue and a portrait of the Harare temple.
Similarly reflecting on his experience inside the temple, Mohadi stated: “I felt closer to the Almighty, closer to the Creator, and it is a wonderful place to be.”
Mohadi further spoke of the role that governments and religions have to work together for the common good and said churches are an essential part of society.
Other guests that toured the temple this week included ambassadors from China, Ghana, Indonesia, Portugal, Russia, Zambia and the United States, according to the church’s release. Thousands of Latter-day Saints and friends are also expected to tour the temple until the public open house period ends on Feb. 7. See details here.
“When you walk with us through this house today, I invite you to look beyond your curiosity,” Elder Kopischke told listeners at the temple’s media event.
“Look beyond the structure, beyond the brick and mortar. Take time to reflect, ponder and … feel,” he said. “In this house we come to know (Jesus Christ), who he really is, and we bind ourselves to him through sacred covenants. We promise that we will love God with all our hearts and that we will love our neighbor.”
Speaking at the same media event, Alison Moyo — a 15-year-old Latter-day Saint young woman from the area — spoke of the significance of the temple, a place where Latter-day Saints can form eternal families through covenants.
“The family is our greatest treasure,” she said. “My family shaped who I am today. Family memories remind me that our connections are truly sacred. Knowing that families can be together forever brings me immense peace.”
The Harare Zimbabwe Temple was first announced by the late President Thomas S. Monson in April 2016 general conference. Of all the temples he announced, this is the last to be dedicated, per a Church News report.
Once dedicated by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on March 1, the Harare temple will become the church’s first operating temple in Zimbabwe and will help serve the roughly 49,600 Latter-day Saints that currently travel to worship in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.
