Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
History and Religion
Greeting a Prophet in México

Greeting a Prophet in México

Last updated on: November 3, 2024 at 7:52 pm by Dan Peterson

0 Comments

Greeting a Prophet in México 2024-11-03T19:52:26-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Mexico City Mexico Temple which was dedicated in December 1983, was followed by the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple a year later, in December 1984. (LDS.org)

Every morning during this tour, we’ve started off with a prayer from one of us and then, once the bus was underway, followed that prayer with a brief devotional thought from another member of the group. Yesterday, the devotional thought was offered by Miguel Vera, who actually grew up in Mexico City but now lives and works in Texas.

For his brief remarks, he drew upon a 22 June 2018 article in the Church News by Gerry Avant that was entitled “The most memorable part of the Mexico City temple dedication was these words from President Hinckley.” I was so impressed by the words that he cited that I’m electing to share them with you here:

I’m sure everyone has had an experience that becomes embedded in his or her memory. Maybe it came through some action or something that was said.

One of my memories comes from the dedication of the Mexico City Mexico Temple Dec. 2-3, 1983. President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency, conducted and addressed some of the sessions to dedicate the temple, which was the first in Mexico and the 26th worldwide.

As he began his address in one of the sessions, President Hinckley spoke with a quivering voice as he testified that souls “from the other side of the veil” were present. “All rooms (of the temple) are filled with faithful Latter-day Saints,” he said, “but I am convinced there is a larger, unseen congregation participating with us.”

President Hinckley then named specifically individuals who had key roles in establishing the Church in Mexico, beginning with Brigham Young, who sent missionaries to the country. He stated the names of several of the missionaries and the first mission president. He named the first Mexican who was baptized, and pronounced the names of several others who had occupied a place in the history of the Church in Mexico.

President Hinckley then proceeded to give the talk he had prepared.

I suppose most of us have been in congregations when the person conducting the meeting has acknowledged certain people, such as a member of the stake presidency or other visitor and, later, has said something to the effect, “There is another person I failed to introduce.” Something like that happened during the dedication of the temple in Mexico City.

President Hinckley had been speaking several minutes. He paused and explained that there was another person from the other side of the veil he had not mentioned. In a strong voice filled with emotion and joy, President Hinckley exclaimed, “Welcome, Father Lehi! Oh, how your heart must rejoice!”

I was seated on one of the front rows in the celestial room. I wanted to turn around and look in the direction where “a late comer” might have entered the room. The moment seemed so real that I felt, surely, I could see what Father Lehi looked like.

I didn’t see that great Book of Mormon prophet, and I can’t affirm that President Hinckley saw him with physical eyes, but I’ve no doubt that the Spirit let President Hinckley know that Father Lehi, indeed, was present that day in that temple.

President Hinckley spoke of other temples as a fulfillment of prophecy regarding Lehi’s descendants. “Six new temples have been dedicated this year,” he said. “These were unplanned in terms of particular prophecy but most of these temples have been built to serve descendants of Lehi. … I believe the Lord has touched His prophet (then President Spencer W. Kimball) to bring into play those processes by which He is remembering ancient covenants concerning descendants of Lehi.”

I hastily snapped this photograph today of a painting in the hallway of the Mexico City Visitors Center. There was no title that I could see, and nobody was around for me to ask, but I suspect that it’s an artist’s conception of a Nephite temple. I’ve never seen it before, but I like it quite a bit. I wish I had a copy of it.

We attended sacrament meeting today in a chapel on the grounds of the Mexico City Mexico Temple. The entire Mexico Area presidency were present on the stand — Elders Hugo Montoya, President; Sean Douglas, First Counselor; and Moisés Villanueva, Second Counselor — and I eventually learned the reason why: There was an area leadership training meeting underway over the weekend, and so the sacrament meeting was exceptionally well stocked with stake presidents and the like. Which probably explained why, when we entered the chapel a few minutes before the commencement of the service, it was so very, very quiet. I thought it by far the most reverent congregation I had ever encountered.

At the conclusion of sacrament meeting, we spent some time in the adjacent Centro para Visitantes del Templo de la Ciudad de México, which is very well designed and very attractive. It features a copy of Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Christus and has a particularly good section on the origins and history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in México — including the difficult issue of the Third Convention and the moving story of the Mexican martyrs Rafael Monroy and Vicente Morales, who were killed in Hidalgo in 1915.

Incidentally, you can read about the martyrdom of these two Mexican Latter-day Saints in Mark L. Grover, “Execution in Mexico: The Deaths of Rafael Monroy and Vicente Morales,” BYU Studies Quarterly (1995) 35/3. Moreover, their story is told in a 52.5-minute black-and-white BYU film, produced in 1966, that is entitled And Should We Die. It is available online, although the quality of the sound and the film’s visual sharpness aren’t quite ideal. I saw And Should We Die at some sort of ward activity shortly after it came out; I was very young and I’ve never seen the film since, but I’ve never forgotten it. I think that I’ll watch it again one of these next days.

After spending some time in the Visitors Center, we walked over to and around the Mexico City Temple itself. It was the first to be built in México or, for that matter, in Central America or in any Spanish-speaking country, and it remains the largest in the country. Its exterior features design elements drawn from Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican architecture, which makes it unique among Latter-day Saint temples.

Then we went to Mexico City’s great Museo Nacional de Antropología. But I’ll write about that tomorrow.

Posted from the Ciudad de México, México

History and Religion

Travel and Religion

Previous Post

November 2, 2024

Cerro La Vigia

Next Post

November 4, 2024 Enroute Home

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"DP: “But Mr. Sutherland worries about the fact that our time, when we can communicate ..."

Theodore Brandley

Learning more about a region of ..."

"Sutherland's lecture sounds interesting. He seems to restate the Washington consensus that trade brings peace ..."

B. Wilson

Learning more about a region of ..."

"In a meeting today, I learned another important reason why accurate (or at least as ..."

the PROBLEM

From Serbia’s “White City,” Belgrade

"I've been watching a lot of video interviews of NDErs and researchers. I think in ..."

brotheroflogan

Accounts of Premortality?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the prophet that confronted King David about his sin with Bathsheba?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Samuel Nathan Elijah Elisha