13 fun facts about the new temple locations announced at general conference

At the conclusion of the Sunday afternoon session of the April 2023 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson announced 15 brand new temple locations around the world. In his five years as the prophet, President Nelson has now announced 133 new temples and renovation projects, which means he has announced 44% of all temples in the history of the Restored Church.

Here are 13 fun facts about the 15 new temple locations announced in April 2023 general conference.

The Winchester Virginia Temple and Harrisburg Pennsylvania Temple are less than two hours away from one another. Harrisburg is also about two hours away from the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple.
The Jakarta Indonesia Temple will be the first temple built in Indonesia. Jakarta is located on the island of Java in Indonesia, and Java is the most populous island in the world. According to Britannica, the island averages more than 2,600 persons per square mile.
San Jose, California, one of the locations for a new temple announced, is the third largest city in the US state of California. The Oakland California Temple, the second temple built in California, is located across the San Francisco Bay and about a 45-mile drive from San Jose.
A doodle of a “Bakersfield Temple” on the back of a tithing envelope drawn by the late Bill O’Rullian, who was a member of the Bakersfield California Stake.

Photo permission from Mary O’Rullian.

In late 2021, Latter-day Saints living in Bakersfield, California, discovered that a large piece of land had been purchased by the Church on the west side of the city and speculated that a temple announcement might be coming soon. But long before the Church purchased the land, Saints in Bakersfield have been hoping for a temple. For example, the late Bill O’Rullian, who was a member of the Bakersfield California Stake, used to draw detailed temple mockups with a location prediction on the back of his tithing envelopes as early as 1997.
Four of Canada’s ten temples, including the newly announced Lethbridge Alberta Canada Temple, are in the province of Alberta. Alberta is also the only Canadian province with more than one temple.
With the announcement of the Retalhuleu Guatemala Temple, the Central American nation now has six temples—two in operation and four announced or under construction. The four temples in Guatemala that are not yet completed were all announced by President Nelson.
Iquitos, Peru, is one of the most populous cities in the country and is located along the Amazon River. According to Church News and Google Maps, Latter-day Saints in Iquitos are about 650 miles away as the crow flies from the nearest temple in Lima, Peru, and can only get to Lima by plane.
After the April 2023 temple announcement, the island nation of the Philippines and the US state of California will both have 12 temples. There are 833,045 Latter-day Saints in the Philippines and 734,989 Latter-day Saints living in California according to Church statistics as of April 2023.
The Hamburg Germany Temple will be the first new temple built in Germany since the 1980s. The last temple built there, the Frankfurt Germany Temple, was dedicated in August 1987.
With the announcement of the Winchester Virginia Temple, the US state of Virginia now has two temples announced but neither is in operation yet. The Richmond Virginia Temple was announced at President Nelson’s first general conference as prophet in April 2018, and its dedication is scheduled for May 2023.
The new temple location in Springfield, Missouri, will be about three hours away from the other two temples in operation in the same US state—St. Louis and Kansas City. But Springfield’s new temple will only be two hours away from the soon-to-be-dedicated Bentonville Arkansas Temple. Springfield is also less than three hours away from Independence, Missouri.
Similarly, the new temple in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the US state’s second temple after the Raleigh North Carolina Temple. But the new temple in Charlotte will actually be closer in distance to a temple in another US state: the Columbia South Carolina Temple.
With the announcement of new temples in Teresina and Natal, Brazil has the third-highest number of temples of any country (20), only behind Mexico and the United States. It does, however, have more Church units than Mexico, with 321 Latter-day Saint congregations in Brazil over Mexico’s 274 congregations.