The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has set November 14, 2026, for the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple groundbreaking and selected a site for the Otavalo Ecuador Temple, according to a Church Newsroom release. For Church members in Otavalo, the site decision follows decades of faithful members contributing to and traveling to temples far from home.
Cuernavaca Mexico Temple Groundbreaking
The site map of the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple. | Church NewsroomElder Moisés Villanueva, a General Authority Seventy, will preside at the Cuernavaca groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, November 14. The Church of Jesus Christ announced the temple in 2022 and has released an artistic rendering of its exterior.
Mexico has nearly 1.6 million Church members in approximately 1,900 congregations. The Church counts 27 temples in the country that are operating, under construction or announced.
An artistic rendering of the exterior of the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple. | Church NewsroomDedicated temples in Mexico are in Ciudad Juárez, Colonia Juárez, Guadalajara, Hermosillo, Mérida, Mexico City, Monterrey, Oaxaca, Puebla, Tampico, Tijuana, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Veracruz and Villahermosa. The Church has also announced temples or begun construction in Cancún, Chihuahua, Culiacán, Juchitán de Zaragoza, Mexico City Benemérito, Pachuca, Querétaro, Reynosa, Toluca, Torreón and Tula, while the San Luis Potosí Temple recently opened for public tours.
Otavalo Ecuador Temple Site Announced
A map showing the location of the Otavalo Ecuador Temple. | Church NewsroomThe First Presidency selected a 6.05-acre property at the corner of Calle Bolívar and Calle Abya Yala in Otavalo, Imbabura Province, for a temple of approximately 18,850 square feet. The Church announced the Otavalo temple during a devotional earlier in 2026.
It will be Ecuador’s third temple, joining those in Guayaquil and Quito. More than 330 congregations serve Ecuador’s 280,000 Church members.
Otavalo Members’ Journey to the Temple
On October 9, 1965, Elder Kimball dedicated Ecuador for the preaching of the gospel on the Panecillo hilltop in Quito. | ChurchofJesusChrist.orgMissionaries arrived in Otavalo on March 1, 1966, according to a Church history chronology of Ecuador. Five days later, missionaries and Manuel Macías Caseras attended the city’s first branch meeting; within a year, the branch had grown to more than 18 members.
The José and Rosa Bautista family became the first Church members in Otavalo that June. Members dedicated the city’s first meetinghouse in January 1980, and the Church organized the Otavalo Ecuador Stake on December 6, 1981—the first stake in South America with an almost entirely indigenous American membership.
Otavalo members also took part in temple worship elsewhere. In 1978, the Rafael and Teresa Tabango family traveled from Otavalo to São Paulo, Brazil, to attend the dedication of South America’s first temple, according to a Church history essay on temple worship in Ecuador.
After the Church announced plans for a temple in Guayaquil in 1982, Otavalo members contributed goods toward its construction. The essay recounts that they donated enough in one day to meet their district’s expected share of offerings for the temple fund.
When the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple opened in 1999, dozens of Otavalo members traveled more than 10 hours and waited to enter it at the earliest opportunity. They had helped fund that temple 17 before, making the plans for one in Otavalo especially meaningful: the members who gave and traveled so far to worship will finally have a temple in their own city.
What Church Members Do in Temples
The Guayaquil Ecuador Temple was dedicated August 1-2, 1999. | ChurchofJesusChrist.orgLatter-day Saints regard temples as houses of the Lord and their most sacred places of worship. Church members and visitors can attend Sunday services and weekday activities at local meetinghouses, while temples serve as places for sacred ceremonies.
In temples, faithful Church members participate in ceremonies including marriages that, according to their beliefs, allow families to remain united forever. They also perform proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized during their lives.
Do you have a connection to Cuernavaca or Otavalo? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.
