Mormons joyful over news of temple in Sapporo, Japan

Members on Kyushu were blessed when the Fukuoka Japan Temple was

dedicated in June 2000. It is about 650 miles south of Tokyo.

And now, members on the third major Japanese island — Hokkaido, to

the north, are thrilled that President Thomas S. Monson announced in

October general conference that a temple will be built in Sapporo, about

500 miles north of Tokyo.

There are three Mormon Church stakes on Hokkaido, two in Sapporo, a city

raised to prominence when it hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics. There is also

one district under the Japan Sapporo Mission."Gratitude" was the word Sapporo West Stake President Hiroyuki Domon used

to describe his feelings when he heard about a new temple in his city. He

said in an e-mail to the Church News, "When I received an e-mail from my

friend in the United States at night informing that the temple was to be

built in Sapporo, my heart was filled with gratitude to the Lord. As soon

as I heard this announcement, I knelt down and offered my prayer of

thanksgiving. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I felt the Lord so closely.

My heart was literally burning like a fire. There are no words to express

my joyous feelings."See the full story on ldschurchnews.com.

This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.