"After having the temple closed for 14 months, this is a historic and wonderful day for the members in Chile," said Elder Francisco J. Vinas of the Quorums of Seventy. "Now we will have the opportunity to come to the temple again. The opportunity to have the prophet of the Lord here is a wonderful blessing for all the Saints."

Rank-and-file members echoed Elder Vinas.

"I was very sad to have a year or two without a temple," said Fernando Alberto Lamartine of Santiago. Now having a temple in operation again "will force people to raise their personal bar and live a higher standard."

Sergio Boletti, a bishop from Concepcion who sang in the temple as part of the dedicatory choir, said he was humbled to share his talent with President Hinckley and the many others at the dedication.

Bishop Boletti had not visited a temple since the edifice was closed in Santiago. While waiting for Sunday to arrive, he tried to meet the nationwide challenge to refurbish one's own life during the temple's physical refurbishment period. Local church leaders asked their congregations to keep symbolic pace with the demanding standards of the temple building project.

Located amid the tree-lined, cobble-stoned residential suburb of Providencia, the refurbished temple includes familiar exterior features such as a golden Angel Moroni statue standing atop a high tower and plenty of green landscaping.

But much of the temple's interior is distinctly Chilean, including floor motifs of inlaid Chilean marble and lapislazuli, a native blue stone, in the temple's baptistry and entryway. Images of Chile's national flower, the copihue, adorn door handles and the building's art-glass windows.

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