Panamá City Panamá Temple

© 2005, Intellectual Reserve. All rights reserved.

The Panamá City Panamá Temple will open to the public Friday, July 11–Saturday, July 26, 2008 (excluding Sundays). The general public is welcome to attend, though tickets will also be distributed to members through priesthood leaders as a way to invite family and friends.

On Saturday evening, August 9, 2008, a Cultural Celebration will be held in the Figali Convention Center in Amador. Space is available for all who wish to attend. Member tickets will be distributed through bishops. It is anticipated that approximately 1,000 youth will participate in presenting the event.

Four dedicatory sessions are scheduled for Sunday, August 10, 2008. A limited number of in-temple dedication tickets will be distributed through stake and district leaders of the temple district. The dedication will also be broadcast to area stakes centers and the adjacent Cardenas Chapel to accommodate others who wish to attend. Those tickets are available through local bishops.

The temple will open for ordinance work beginning Monday, August 11, 2008—the day after dedication. Please note that clothing rental is not available.

A planning committee has been formed to prepare for the upcoming open house and dedication. Committee assignments encompass every aspect of the events including audio visual, security, accommodations, activities, member missionary, public affairs, transportation, physical facilities, music, translation, and history.

On Friday, May 4, 2007, a figure of the angel Moroni was installed atop the single central spire of the Panamá City Panamá Temple. Members report that the Moroni setting was a glorious moment for all the saints of Panamá.¹

On Sunday, October 30, 2005, ground was broken for the temple, formalizing the beginning of construction. Elder Spencer V. Jones of the Seventy presided, promising blessings to families who study the scriptures, hold family home evening, and pray together consistently. Although Hurricane Beta threatened the Panamanian shores the day before, it headed north the day of the groundbreaking, leaving blue skies for the ceremony.²

The hillside location selected for the temple is land adjacent to the Cárdenas chapel, highly visible to travelers heading to the Canal. At the rear of the property is an office and housing facility for the temple presidency, temple missionaries, and patrons. A local construction company will build most of the temple, aided by foreign teams trained in the latest techniques of interior finishing.³

The temple district will cover the entire country—seven stakes and three districts. President Gordon B. Hinckley alluded to this announcement during a visit in December 2000. At a meeting attended by 5,000, he told the members that the Church would find a way build a temple there if they faithfully paid their tithing and kept the other commandments. He recognized that the cost of the temple would far exceed their tithing contributions but promised that the Lord would bless them through the exercise of their faith to obey that law.⁴