Ciudad Juárez, México - Mormon Temple
The Ciudad Juárez temple spans borders and unites members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “This is an historic day for our community,” said El Paso Texas Stake president William Scott Johns. “But when I speak of community, I am not speaking of the cities that have borders and restrictions; I am speaking of the community of the Latter-day Saints.” 1 The Mormon temple will serve about 12,000 members in Texas and Mexico and will unite the members in the area together in a common purpose.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, which 1,700 members attended, Elder Eran A. Call of the Seventy reminded members that the location for the temple was inspired and selected by the prophet of the church. Whenever the fullness of the gospel has been on the earth temples have existed. "They are sacred buildings dedicated to a sacred work." He testified that temples "are evidence of Church members’ belief in life beyond the grave." 2
Because of that belief members do temple work for those who are deceased. The Mormon Church teaches that certain ordinances are necessary to receive eternal life. Many of those ordinances can only be performed in Mormon temples. People who have died need to have baptisms, sealings, and endowment ordinances performed by proxy in their behalf.
Elder Call reminded members that the temple would be complete in about a year and said, "We want to be prepared and attend the temple, not just to have the temple as a monument." 3 Members are required to fulfill certain moral and religious requirements to enter the temple and Elder Call challenged them all to be ready. Promising that as members prepared to go to the temple it would "bring [them] more faith, purity, cleanliness, integrity, love, and dedication to the callings they hold." 4
President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Ciudad Juárez temple on 26-27 February 2000. During the dedicatory prayer he asked God to bless the temple saying, "May it be a house of peace where those who serve may lay aside the cares of the world. May it be a house of love where those who labor may realize that the ordinances here administered, for both the living and the dead, assist in bringing to pass the great provisions of the Atonement of Thy Son. May it be a house of worship where Thy sons and daughters can commune with Thee." 5
Many members find a LDS (Mormon) temple a good place to receive answers and to commune with God. Even though members can receive answers at anytime the peaceful and reverent atmosphere of the temple makes it conducive to the Holy Ghost. Many members feel like President Benson, "When I have been weighed down by a problem or a difficulty, I have gone to the House of the Lord with a prayer in my heart for answers. These answers have come in clear and unmistakable ways." 6
Octavio Seanez Flores, president of the Ciudad Juárez La Cuesta Stake, sums it up best, “This land has a destiny, and that destiny is to have a house of the Lord where we can do His work and our work to gain salvation.” 7
(1) News of the Church, Ensign, Apr. 1999, 74
(2) Church News, 23 January 1999
(3) Church News, 23 January 1999
(4) Church News, 23 January 1999
(5) "Dedicatory prayer: ‘A house of peace,’" Church News 4 Mar. 2000, 25 Jun. 2005
(6) Ensign, August 1985, page 8
(7) News of the Church, Ensign, Apr. 1999, 74