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“We prepared ourselves and got ready to go to the temple to receive the blessings and to be sealed for eternity so that one day we can see the face of God and live with Him,” related Caroline Odhiambo after her family made the journey to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple in 2011. Such tender accounts are among myriad stories of Latter-day Saints in southern Africa in the decades after the temple in the suburb of Parktown Ridge was dedicated on Aug. 24, 1985.
In one of four dedicatory sessions, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency, said the temple was a testimony of the faith of Latter-day Saints in the temple district and would “mean something for the nation, ... that [because of its presence] God will watch over this land” — that “‘he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,’” quoting Psalm 121:4.
The four dedicatory sessions, spread over two days, Aug. 24-25, were attended by some 3,480 Saints — representing a little more than a fourth of what was then South Africa’s 12,000 Church members. Attendees came from not only South Africa but also Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland, the last of which was later renamed Eswatini. After its dedication, the temple in Johannesburg also served members in the Ghana Accra and Nigeria Lagos missions.
At the time of dedicatory events, the southern Africa nation was embroiled in civil strife; but in the Johannesburg temple, there was peace and unity. The first on the continent of Africa, it came just seven years after the 1978 revelation allowing all worthy male Latter-day Saints to exercise the priesthood. For many South Africans, the revelation opened doors to long-awaited temple covenants and sealings. Moses Mahlangu, for instance, recalled in 1999 that “going to the temple with my wife was a high step.”
Mahlangu had been a preacher in Soweto, South Africa, when he found in his small church library a copy of the Book of Mormon with the lower half of the title page missing. He read the book, declaring to his fellow preachers, “It is very good.”
Fluent in nine languages, the preacher-turned-elders-quorum-president taught many in his home about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He was baptized in 1980 and later served as a groundskeeper for the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Wilt Thou whisper peace to Thy people by the power of Thy Spirit when they come here with burdened hearts to seek direction in their perplexities. Wilt Thou comfort and sustain them when they come in times of sorrow. Wilt Thou give them courage, direction and faith when they gather, as to a refuge, from the turmoil of the world.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple here.
At a press conference on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on April 1, 1981, Church President Spencer W. Kimball announced nine new temples, including the first in Africa — the Johannesburg South Africa Temple. This was, at the time, the largest number of temples announced at once.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided over the groundbreaking and site dedication of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple on Nov. 27, 1982. In his remarks, the Apostle declared that the coming temple would fulfill prophecy by President Kimball, a forecast that a temple would be built in South Africa, given during a 1973 rededicatory prayer on the country.
The public was invited to tour the Johannesburg house of the Lord from July 30 to Aug. 10, 1985.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Johannesburg South Africa Temple from Aug. 24 to Aug. 25, 1985. According to a Sept. 1, 1985, Church News article, some 3,480 members from throughout the temple district attended at least one of four dedicatory sessions in the two days.
The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was announced at a press conference in Salt Lake City on April 1, 1981, by Church President Spencer W. Kimball. On Nov. 27, 1982, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles broke ground for the temple and offered the site dedicatory prayer.
In a much-anticipated event, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Johannesburg South Africa Temple from Aug. 24 to Aug. 25, 1985. Some 3,480 members attended at least one of four dedicatory sessions.
Located just two miles from the center of Johannesburg, South Africa, this house of the Lord with six spires pointed heavenward easily stands out. Considered a “modern adaptation of [an] earlier six-spire design,” the Johannesburg temple was constructed on a 1-acre parcel in the north of this relatively young city — founded in 1886 and around 800 miles from the Cape of Good Hope. The sacred edifice has an area of 19,184 square feet, and a statue of the angel Moroni stands atop a spire 112 feet above lush green landscaping.
The sacred edifice, in a suburb called Parktown Ridge, offers views of some 30 to 40 miles to the neighboring city of Pretoria — one of three capital cities in South Africa. The structure includes a face-brick exterior, slated roof, wrought-iron railings and underground parking. Jacaranda and apricot trees, along with native plants, beautify the grounds.
Church News staff writer Gerry Avant, later editor of the Church News, was present at the Johannesburg temple’s 1985 dedication. In 2018, near the 40th anniversary of the 1978 revelation allowing all worthy male Latter-day Saints to exercise the priesthood, she wrote: “The gathering on the 1.5-acre temple site bore no evidence of the turmoil and strife occurring in other areas of the country. ...
“After one of the sessions, I snapped photos of Lydia and Issac Mbele ... and then noticed a white woman, Jennifer Tonkin, approaching them. When they met, the two women joyfully embraced. Sister Tonkin had been instrumental in the conversion of Brother and Sister Mbele four years earlier. The picture I captured that day is, to me, a visual testimony of the blessings that came with that revelation in 1978.”
After a dedicatory session of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple in August of 1985, Jennifer Tonkin, center left, joyfully greets Lydia and Isaac Mbele. Sister Tonkin was instrumental in Brother and Sister Mbele’s conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Gerry Avant, Church News
1 April 1981
24 August 1985
7 Jubilee Road
Parktown
Johannesburg 2193
South Africa
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(27) 11-645-1540
This was the first Latter-day Saint temple in South Africa and the first on the continent of Africa.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple to front the Indian Ocean.
At the time of its dedication on Aug. 24, 1985, the Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the farthest house of the Lord from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
The Johannesburg temple was also — at the time of its dedication — the farthest away geographically from any other operating temple.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple to have brick as the outside layer.
The early 1980s passed with a substantial increase in temple dedications — 17 of them from 1983 to 1985. The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the 16th.
The temple was dedicated in the same month as the Chicago Illinois Temple, which was dedicated Aug. 9, 1985.
It was the lone such temple in southern Africa from 1985 until the dedication of the Durban South Africa Temple on Feb. 16, 2020, some 35 years later.
Thanks to the General Temple Patron Assistance Fund, many of the 130,000 members living in more than a dozen nations in 1985 then served by the house of the Lord in South Africa would make the journey to make sacred covenants and be sealed as families.
The third temple in South Africa, the Cape Town South Africa Temple, was announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson on April 4, 2021.
With the dedication of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, there was a temple on every continent except Antarctica.
One of the original stones from the Nauvoo Temple was placed in the temple gate at the Johannesburg temple.
This was the first Latter-day Saint temple in South Africa and the first on the continent of Africa.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple to front the Indian Ocean.
At the time of its dedication on Aug. 24, 1985, the Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the farthest house of the Lord from Church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
The Johannesburg temple was also — at the time of its dedication — the farthest away geographically from any other operating temple.
It was the first Latter-day Saint temple to have brick as the outside layer.
The early 1980s passed with a substantial increase in temple dedications — 17 of them from 1983 to 1985. The Johannesburg South Africa Temple was the 16th.
The temple was dedicated in the same month as the Chicago Illinois Temple, which was dedicated Aug. 9, 1985.
It was the lone such temple in southern Africa from 1985 until the dedication of the Durban South Africa Temple on Feb. 16, 2020, some 35 years later.
Thanks to the General Temple Patron Assistance Fund, many of the 130,000 members living in more than a dozen nations in 1985 then served by the house of the Lord in South Africa would make the journey to make sacred covenants and be sealed as families.
The third temple in South Africa, the Cape Town South Africa Temple, was announced by Church President Russell M. Nelson on April 4, 2021.
With the dedication of the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, there was a temple on every continent except Antarctica.
One of the original stones from the Nauvoo Temple was placed in the temple gate at the Johannesburg temple.