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SALT LAKE CITY -- While one temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is getting ready to open, another is preparing to close for renovation.
The Boise, Idaho temple will close for extensive renovation July 11, the Church's First Presidency announced in a news release Friday.
Following the renovation, the temple will be rededicated.
Groundbreaking: Dec. 18, 1982
Original Dedication: May 25, 1984
This will be the second time the temple has been closed for renovation after it was built in 1982. It was closed for renovation and expansion then reopened in 1987.
Three other temples are located in Idaho (Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Rexburg), with another planned for Meridian, Idaho, 11 miles west of Boise. The exact location of the Meridian temple has not been announced.
The Church also announced Friday dates for open house and dedication of its Quetzaltenango Guatemala Temple.
The open house will run November 11 - 26, excluding Sundays. The temple will be formally dedicated in three sessions on Sunday, December 11. The dedicatory sessions will be broadcast to congregations of the Church within the temple district.
Quetzaltenango will be the Church's second in Guatemala. The site was dedicated and groundbreaking took place March 14, 2009.
According to the Church's website, "LDS missionaries arrived in Guatemala in 1947. Assisted by John F. O'Donnal, a Church member living in the country as an agricultural adviser to the U.S. government, they met with Guatemalan officials and began to organize the Church.
"The first official meeting was held in a rented building on August 22, 1948, with 66 people in attendance. Later that year, John F. O'Donnal baptized the first convert in Guatemala, his wife, Carmen. By 1956, three small congregations with a membership of about 250 had been established.
"Membership grew to 10,000 by 1966, and 18 years later, when the Guatemala City Temple was dedicated in 1984, membership had risen to 40,000. By 1998 membership had quadrupled again to 164,000."
(Top photo: Linda Tucker)
