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Religious and government leaders, along with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, convened for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Natal Brazil Temple on Saturday, May 17, 2025. This temple will be the 15th in Brazil.
The event was presided over by Elder Mark D. Eddy, Second Counselor in the Brazil Area Presidency, and conducted by Elder Sankari, an Area Seventy. Elder Eddy highlighted that the temple's construction was facilitated by “[Church] leadership, the faith of the leaders, and the work of members and missionaries to establish the Church in Natal.”
Remarks were given by various individuals including Larissa Silva de Oliveira (10), Maria Eduarda Gomes da Silva (17), and Antonio Carlos Bastos Ferreira, a Church pioneer in the region. Ferreira recounted how “In July 1978, at my father’s house...President Max L. Shirts dedicated the Natal area for the preaching of the gospel in Rio Grande do Norte,” emphasizing that “Here today begins the greatest spiritual transformation this city has ever seen.”
Elder Eddy delivered a closing address and offered a dedicatory prayer for the land before approximately 500 attendees and thousands watching online. He stated: “On this groundbreaking day, we recognize the need to prepare ourselves to enter the house of the Lord that will be dedicated here.” He prayed for increased personal preparedness and capacity to help others prepare as well.
President Russell M. Nelson announced plans for this temple during April 2023 general conference alongside another in Teresina, Piauí. The Natal Temple will occupy a 5.53-acre site on Av. Senador Salgado Filho in Nova Parnamirim neighborhood, featuring a single-story design covering about 19,800 square feet.
Brazil hosts about 1.5 million Latter-day Saints across more than 2,073 congregations since missionary work began there in 1928. South America saw its first stake established in São Paulo in 1966 and its first temple dedicated there in 1978.
Currently, Brazil has numerous temples either dedicated or underway; recent openings include Salvador on October 20, 2024. Besides Natal's temple under construction are those in Belo Horizonte, Ribeirão Preto, and Londrina with nine more temples planned or designed across other Brazilian cities.
