Peru’s Lima to be 1st city outside of Utah to have 2 temples

LIMA, Peru — With the Lima Peru Temple having celebrated its 38th anniversary earlier this week and the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple to be dedicated Sunday, Jan. 14, Lima becomes the first city outside of Utah to have two houses of the Lord.

The first city to have two dedicated temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was South Jordan, Utah — although neither temple’s name contains the city’s full name. The Jordan River Utah Temple was dedicated in 1981 and the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple in 2009, with a little more than 3 miles separating those two houses of the Lord in the Salt Lake Valley.

The next city with two temples is Provo, Utah — and there is no doubt of either’s location, given their names. The Provo Utah Temple was dedicated in 1972 and the Provo City Center Temple in 2016. And the 2.4 miles between the two is the Church’s shortest distance between temples.

The Provo Utah Temple will close next month, with a redesigned and reconstructed house of the Lord to be built on the site.

And now, add Lima at No. 3 on the list of cities with two dedicated temples, after Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicates the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple in two sessions Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024.

The Los Olivos temple joins the first Lima temple, which was dedicated Jan. 10, 1986, by President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency. It was the Church’s third temple in South America, following the São Paulo Brazil Temple (dedicated in 1978) and the Santiago Chile Temple (1983).

Each of those older houses of the Lord in South America will have a companion temple in its city within coming years.