BRASÍLIA, Brazil — Nearly three years to the day since ground was broken in what is known as Brasília’s North Wing, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the new Brasília Brazil Temple as the newest house of the Lord of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
With the temple’s dedication Sunday, Sept. 17, Elder Andersen invited worthy members of the Church to come to the temple in any of life’s circumstances because “the Lord’s Spirit will be here and the beauties of the eternities will be yours.”
He, and all who spoke in the dedicatory sessions, spoke in Portuguese without the aid of live interpretation.
Elder Andersen was joined by his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen; Elder Mark D. Eddy, a General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Annette Eddy; Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Nancy Duncan; and Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, a General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Elaine Parrella.
Dedicating the temple in Brasília is far from the first time Elder Andersen has been involved with temples in Brazil. Reflecting on previous assignments and opportunities in the country, he said he has been involved in different ways with the temples in Campinas, São Paulo and Curitiba.
The Andersens’ first Church assignment in Brazil came through the late President James E. Faust, a counselor in the First Presidency. Elder Andersen said President Faust “promised us that we would come to know a most extraordinary people, and that we would create friendships and associations that would be treasured both in this life and in the next.” Elder Andersen said he felt that promise had been fulfilled and that he loved everyone who was at the dedication on Sunday.
The Brasília temple is unique because of its location in Brazil’s capital city “shining its beacon of light and spiritual strength” on both members of the Church and those who serve as elected officials, Elder Andersen said. “The influence of the temple will touch the entire nation.”
In contrast to the small number of individuals who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 23, 2020, the recent open house drew thousands of individuals from around the country to its capital city to walk through the Church’s 10th temple.
While many times a temple may be the newest of the Church for months or perhaps a year, this temple was the newest for a couple of hours prior to the dedication of the Bentonville Arkansas Temple. And that one was also only the newest for two hours before the Moses Lake Washington Temple was also dedicated on Sept. 17. This marked the first time in the history of the restored Church that three temples were dedicated on the same day.
Recognizing the significance of the day in Church history, Elder Andersen smiled and said, “It is a glorious day.”
No matter where a temple is located, its purpose and the feeling inside are the same, Sister Andersen said.
“In the temple, we feel a peace not available anywhere else in the world,” she said.
Elder Andersen underscored the sacredness of each temple.
“This is the house of the Lord. It is a sacred place — unlike anywhere else. It is nestled between heaven and earth,” he said.
Dedication invitation to strengthen discipleship
As Elder Andersen spoke with members of the Church from the temple district and others who attended the dedication, he taught how the temple opens the door to increased blessings and learnings about the Savior Jesus Christ.
“As we bring our ancestors beyond the veil the holy ordinances they desire, and as the holy endowment is presented to us each time we are here, the eyes of our understanding are opened,” he said. “We better see the purposes of our being on earth.”
While personal covenants are made only once during each individual’s mortal life, Elder Andersen said, serving personal ancestors and others who have passed on from this life provides an opportunity to “better see the purposes of our being on earth.”
He also said worshipping in the temple helps increase understanding of covenants with Heavenly Father, the cleansing power of forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ’s Atonement, and the strength to overcome trials that is gained by having faith in the Savior.
“As we enter the temple, we enter a new world,” Elder Andersen said.
With that understanding, attending the temple with a desire to better understand God and His plan requires humility to learn in the temple, not just be present in the temple.
“In the temple, we are enrolled in an immersion tutorial of the language of the Spirit,” he said.
Like school or other learning environments, not everyone learns at the same pace, and not everyone learns the same thing while hearing the same words. Because of this, Elder Andersen encouraged patience when attending the temple and learning about God there.
“We should not be surprised that our experiences in the temple do not come exactly the same to each of us,” he said. But to understand what is taught in the temple requires patience and a continued desire to believe.
“Come when you have decisions to make. … Come with faith,” he said. And the Lord will give answers through the Holy Ghost.
“How great is the kindness of our God,” Elder Andersen concluded.
Hopes for continued growth and personal dedication
Elder Eddy began serving in his role as second counselor in the Brazil Area presidency in August. He participated in the open house in Brasília and was given the assignment to return for the dedication.
“Brazil will never be the same after the dedication of this temple,” he said on Sunday. “And we should not be the same, either.”
Elder Duncan said he was happy to see so many families on the temple grounds for the dedication and spoke about eternal families as a reason to rejoice in Jesus Christ’s Atonement that makes it possible for families to be together forever.
“It is impossible to adequately thank our Savior enough,” he said.
Suzana Ekert de Melo from the Jardim Satelite Ward in the São José dos Campos Brazil South Stake in São Paulo served her mission in Brasília in 1977. She was sealed in the temple, and her daughters were sealed in temples, as well.
“I believe that the most important thing we can know is the plan of salvation. The temple is directly linked to the plan of salvation,” she said. “… And to know that my family can be eternal and that all the people I love, who passed on from this life, and who I thought I had lost but are not? That is what the plan of salvation taught me.”
Francisco Márcio’s Planalto Ward in the Brasília Brazil Stake meets in the chapel across the sidewalk from the new temple.
“One of the biggest things to me that Elder Andersen said today is that God is interested in our dedication to Him. And everything else is small in comparison to what He wants from us and what He promises us,” Márcio said.
Speaking about both individual and collective efforts to follow Heavenly Father and give Him all the attention and love possible, Elder Andersen said, “Nothing is too good for the Lord.”
Márcio said that message from Elder Andersen left him with thoughts that he said will take time and effort to reconcile.
“Those thoughts, those feelings are too big to explain right now,” he said, pointing to his heart.
Brazil capital city history
The first capital city of Brazil was Salvador, where the government was housed for nearly 200 years between 1549 and 1763. Then the capital was moved south to Rio de Janeiro, where it stayed for nearly another 200 years. But in 1960, Brazil created a new city of Brasília, designed to look like an airplane when looked at from above — hence the temple’s North Wing location.
The Church dedicated a temple in Rio de Janeiro in 2022. The temple in Brasília has now been dedicated in 2023. And a temple in Salvador is under construction.
In addition to the dedicated temples in Rio and Brasília, the other eight dedicated temples in Brazil are in Belém, Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife and São Paulo. The 10 temples in Brazil serve the Church’s 1.5 million members in the country who worship in 285 stakes. Ten other temples are announced or under construction. Brazil has the third-most members and third-most temples of any country in the world, behind the United States and Mexico.
Nearly 5 million of Brazil’s 214 million inhabitants live in or around Brasília. While nearly 80% of the country’s population lives along the 4,500-mile-long eastern coastline, the capital city was intentionally built in the geographic center of South America’s largest country.
