LDS leaders rededicate Tahiti Temple

PAPEETE, Tahiti — Tahitian members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints welcomed church leaders from Salt Lake City this weekend to their island paradise for the rededication of the Papeete Tahiti Temple.

"We love this great country," said Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve to local media representatives after rededicating the temple. "It is beautiful."

An estimated 10,000 Tahitians participated in the rededication, held Sunday during two sessions in the Papeete temple and broadcast to local stake centers. In addition, the meeting was broadcast via the LDS church satellite system to downtown Salt Lake City, New Caledonia and the BYU-Hawaii campus in Laie, Hawaii.

First dedicated on Oct. 27, 1983, the Tahiti temple has been closed during the past 15 months for renovations. The updated temple now includes a larger temple-style baptismal font, larger sealing rooms, and a youth center for children being sealed to their parents.

The day before the rededication, thousands of Tahitian youths performed traditional dances at a large cultural event, attended by church members, the community and government leaders, including Tahiti President Oscar Temaru. Elder Perry thanked the president for his attendance and addressed local church members, telling them to lay aside the things of the world and seek for something better. LDS church members account for 10 percent of Tahiti's population.

Many former LDS missionaries, including some from Utah, traveled to Tahiti for the events.

Dave Smith of Sandy was serving as a missionary in Tahiti when the temple was first announced in 1980. He returned home to Utah before the temple was completed.

"This is the first time I have been back," he said. "I have never seen the temple."

The experience, he said, brought back many memories of his mission to the Pacific island. "As beautiful as this land is," he said, "it will never be as beautiful as the people who live here."

Many Tahitian church members had hoped President Gordon B. Hinckley, who participated in the rededication from Salt Lake City, would rededicate the temple. However, nothing, they said, can take away from the great joy they feel to have the temple open again.

Kelly O'Connor grew up in Tahiti and attended BYU-Hawaii. She and her husband traveled to Utah to get married in the St. George Utah Temple last year because the Tahiti temple was closed.

Now, she plans to visit the rededicated temple weekly. "There is a thirst, a need, for the temple," she said.

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