A groundbreaking ceremony for the Cali Colombia Temple was held on Saturday, March 1, 2025. The event brought together leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, local authorities and community members, including Alejandro Eder, the mayor of Cali.
Elder Jorge T. Becerra, South America Northwest Area President, presided over the event and offered a dedicatory prayer on the site.
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
“On this day of dedication,” Elder Becerra prayed, “we ask Thee to help each of us to become renewed in our efforts to become true followers of Jesus Christ. Help us to live the gospel and more fully become converted to Thy Son.”
Mayor Alejandro Eder affirmed the city administration’s commitment to religious freedom and thanked the Church for blessing their city with a house of the Lord. “It will strengthen freedom of worship and religion in our city,” he said.
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Before the groundbreaking ceremony for the Cali Colombia Temple on March 1, 2025, Elder Jorge T. Becerra, South America Northwest Area President, gifts the mayor of Cali, Alejandro Eder, a copy of the Book of Mormon. 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Elder Harold Truque, the Area Seventy who conducted the ceremony, reminded the attendees why sacred temples are built: “It is so that we can make agreements with our Heavenly Father.”
In his remarks, Elder Becerra also reflected on the symbolic meaning of “breaking ground.” This act both marks the beginning of construction and signifies a change in people’s hearts.
“In a way, we also ‘break’ our hearts,” he said. “The terrain of our hearts is changing.”
He pointed to Christ’s parable of the sower, inviting those in attendance to reflect on the importance of cultivating good ground in their hearts for the gospel seed to flourish.
“Each of us needs to change something in his life so that the Lord can sow in our hearts and thus [help us] achieve greater peace and happiness,” he concluded.
The Cali Colombia Temple will be the fourth temple in the country. The other three temples in operation or announced in Colombia are found in Bogotá, Barranquilla and Medellín.
The first mission in Colombia was organized in 1971. Today, Colombia is home to more than 215,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 260 congregations.
Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ are different from meetinghouses or chapels where members gather for Sunday worship services. A temple is considered a house of the Lord, where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ceremonies that unite families for eternity.