Elder Peter F. Meurs, heart left, and Sister Maxine Meurs be part of with His Excellency, Sir Bob Dadae, governor normal of Papua New Guinea, and Tauvasa Tanuvasa Chou-Lee, solicitor normal, to interrupt floor for the Port Moresby Temple on April 22, 2023. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
On April 22, the groundbreaking ceremony formally began the development of the Port Moresby Temple — the primary within the island nation of Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea is house to 35,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 87 congregations, per the church web site. It’s one of many largest island nations on the planet, situated simply west of Indonesia and north of Australia.
In response to a church press launch, native authorities leaders attended the ceremony, together with the governor-general of the nation, Sir Bab Dadae, the solicitor normal, Tauvasa Tanuvasa Chou-Lee, and Chargé d’Affaires on the U.S. embassy there, Joe Zadrozny.
“It’s an excellent pleasure to come back right here and see that the church continues to be going robust ... in addition to being a beacon of sunshine to the remainder of Papua New Guinea,” mentioned the solicitor normal, who broke the bottom with a shovel, alongside the governor-general.
Additionally current have been church leaders, together with Elder Robert Gordon, who's an Space Seventy, and Elder Peter F. Meurs, who's a Common Authority Seventy and first counselor within the Pacific Space Presidency, together with along with his spouse, Sister Maxine Meurs.
Elder Meurs gave the dedicatory prayer and presided on the occasion. He mentioned he felt “touched by the enjoyment within the faces of the saints” who attended the occasion and described them as “excited and delighted to have a home of the Lord.”
“I believe it’s such an excellent season of preparation, serving to everybody prepare for a home of the Lord and be worthy to enter it,” Elder Meurs mentioned. “What a blessing it’s going to be to the church and I believe to the entire nation of Papua New Guinea.”
Native church chief Sasa Zibe mentioned that he by no means thought he’d see a temple constructed within the nation in his lifetime.
Different native congregants mentioned they felt “blessed” and “grateful” to have a temple being constructed on their very own land.
“There’s an enormous measure of happiness that simply washed over myself in addition to everybody who attended,” mentioned Ouhdin Lagaia, an area churchgoer who attended the groundbreaking.