Construction of Farmington temple is expected to impact more than church members
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FARMINGTON, N.M. — Last year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revealed plans to build 20 temples in various locations around the world, such as Singapore, South Africa, and Norway, but also a familiar place – Farmington, New Mexico.
On Saturday, hundreds gathered to break ground on the 280th Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints temple in Farmington.
Church Elder, Anthony Perkins, made the trip down from Salt Lake City, he says the Four Corners is home to 15,000 to 20,000 church members.
“There are members of our church that have prayed for this for decades and for them to see this is, it’s a dream come true, someone said to me the other day that on their street there are several church members and when it was announced they were out banging pots and pans and it was like Mardi Gras,” Perkins said.
This location comes full circle for Perkins.
“When I was a teenager in Farmington we would have to drive to Mesa Arizona, and for the last 15 or 25 years members here would drive either to Monticello Utah or Albuquerque and so this is a central place in the Four Corners and a great blessing to our members who live here,” Perkins added.
As for the unique design, Perkins said it symbolizes the story of the Southwest.
“We design them to look very much like the place where they are and so the church architects made this one to look in a very much, Native American, Indigenous people motif to say that this is the Four Corners and it has that feeling to it,” said Perkins.
And building a 25,000-square-foot temple benefits the whole community.
“We don’t bring in subcontractors from Salt Lake City, the church headquarters, we will use local subs, local landscapers, almost everything will be local,” Perkins said.
The temple will take two to three years to build. After that, there will be an open house where the public is invited to tour the building, but then it will be dedicated and only faithful members of the church can enter.
