Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, announced a temple for Savai’i, an island of Samoa, at the closing of the Sunday afternoon session of the October 2023 General Conference of the Church.
“Spending more time in the temple builds faith. And your service and worship in the temple will help you to think celestial,” said President Nelson.
DOWNLOADHe continued, “The temple is a place of revelation. There you are shown how to progress toward a celestial life… you are drawn closer to the Savior… you are guided in solving the problems in your life, even your most perplexing problems. The Lord is directing us to build these temples to help us think celestial.”
Savai’i was the first of 20 new temple locations named. There are 47 congregations and a Church high school on the island.
Samoa currently has an operating temple in Apia on the island of Upolu.
Church communication director for Samoa, Aleni Fuatimau, was watching the conference session online with his family, when President Nelson made the announcement.
Fuatimau said, "I feel so happy for the people in Savai’i. This will bless the lives of those who live in Savaii. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for answering the prayers of our people. I believed we could have a temple here, but I didn’t know it would happen so soon."
Temples will be built in the following locations: Savai’i, Samoa; Kahului, Hawaii; Fairbanks, Alaska; Vancouver, Washington; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Roanoke, Virginia; Cancún, Mexico; Piura, Peru; Huancayo, Peru; Viña del Mar, Chile; Goiânia, Brazil; João Pessoa, Brazil; Cape Coast, Ghana; Calabar, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Laoag, Philippines; Osaka, Japan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The South Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand, has ten operating temples, five under construction, and three announced.