The locations for five of the 30 small temples mentioned in April general conference have been made known by the First Presidency.
Small temples will be built in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Fukuoka, Japan; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Kona, Hawaii; and Suva, Fiji.In addition, a temple previously announced for Venezuela will be a small temple, built in Caracas, according to the announcement.
The location of the new temples were announced by the First Presidency in letters to local leaders.
The total of temples operating, under construction or announced is now 78.
Concerning the 30 smaller temples, President Gordon B. Hinckley, in his conference address April 5, said: "This will be a tremendous undertaking. Nothing even approaching it has ever been tried before." And he added, "there will be more to come."
He noted that the temples will serve members in outlying areas who "make tremendous sacrifices to visit the temples. They travel for days at a time in cheap buses and on old boats. They save their money and do without to make it all possible.
"They need nearby temples - small, beautiful, serviceable temples."
The new temples will bring the number in Mexico to four, Canada to three, Hawaii and Japan to two, and Fiji and Venezuela will each have their first temple.
A temple for Venezuela was announced Sept. 30, 1995, by President Hinckley. The new temple will serve some 80,000 members in 16 stakes and 11 districts. Members in Venezuela currently travel to Lima, Peru, about 2,000 miles, to attend the temple. Missionary work in Venezuela began in 1966, and proceeded slowly. The Venezuela Mission was created in 1971 when membership was 1,200. Since that time, membership has increased at a faster pace. Venezuela has four missions.
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, a border city where industry and factories proliferate, is an area where membership continually increases. Within the area are 12,000 members in five stakes. Ciudad Juarez is about 1,100 miles from the Mexico City Temple, and about 120 miles from Colonia Juarez, where another small temple is under construction. Missionary work in the area began in the 1920s.
Fukuoka, Japan, is located on the southern island of Kyushu. About 2,500 people attended a meeting there when President Hinckley visited in May of 1996.
The region has a membership of about 7,700, in four stakes. The island is part of the Toyko Temple district, about 600 miles distant.
A temple in Halifax, in the Canadian maritime province of Nova Scotia, will serve 4,200 members in one stake and one district. The members there are currently part of the Toronto Temple district, more than 800 miles away. The adjacent maritime provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, have a combined membership of about another 3,500 people, in one stake.
Some 6,400 members in the Kona Hawaii Stake will be in the new Kona Hawaii Temple district. The temple will be built in the city of Kailua-Kona, on the large island of Hawaii. These members are now part of the Hawaiian Temple district, and to reach the temple must travel by air or boat to the island of Oahu, more than 125 miles away.
Members in Suva, Fiji, travel about 600 miles by air to Tonga to attend the temple. Fiji has 12,000 members in four stakes and two districts.
The first missionaries came to Fiji in the 1950s, but work proceeded slowly for many years. However, since recent times, membership is growing more rapidly. In 1983, Fiji had nearly 3,000 members, increasing to 11,000 in 1995.
The Church currently has 51 operating temples with dedication dates announced for the 52nd, which will be the Preston England Temple, and the 53rd, - to be the first operating small temple - now nearly complete in Monticello, Utah.
Twelve other temples under construction are in Anchorage, Alaska; Billings, Mont.; Bogota, Colombia; Boston, Mass.; Campinas, Brazil; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Colonia Juarez, Mexico; Madrid, Spain; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Recife, Brazil; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
In addition to the six temples just made known by the First Presidency, seven other temples are awaiting groundbreaking: Accra, Ghana; Albuquerque, N.M.; Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Monterrey, Mexico; Nashville, Tenn.; and White Plains, N.Y.
