Area Message
Church Opens Third Temple in the Philippines
“I thought I already knew that the Church was true. But this was a remarkable reconfirmation for me that this is indeed the Lord’s church.”
Many Church members expressed similar feelings about how the tender spiritual moments, wonderful miracles, sweet reunions, and humbling service opportunities they have experienced during the Urdaneta Temple Open House and Dedication altogether reaffirmed to them that this is definitely the only true church and nothing else.
Over 66,000 people from different faiths, walks of life, and ages were a witness of how exquisite and holy the House of the Lord is. For many, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to behold the interiors of the sacred temple.
Urdaneta Temple Open House
Eight more years. . . .
Church members were excited about bringing their children to the Temple, especially the little ones.
Many couples reminisced about their temple marriage. The experience was extra special because they were with their children.
They had sweet moments standing in front of the mirrors, looking at their family’s reflection and imagining an eternal family.
The mirrors also made them remember their departed loved ones.
Zarah Angela Ramirez shared, “I only saw four faces but I felt an assurance that there are five people in my family, and because my husband and I were sealed in the temple, my daughter who left us at age 14 months will be with us forever.”
Four-year old Muirinne Siahna De Guzman was singing “I Love to See The Temple” as she walked towards the temple. After the tour she told her mother, “I’d like to marry here!”
A 14-year old young woman said that the Bride’s Room was her favorite.
She told her mother, “I looked into the mirror and imagined myself a bit taller and wearing white.”
Her mother replied, “Someday I will help you dress up, put some makeup on, and style your hair here.”
“My 13-year old daughter said that she was extraordinarily beautiful in the mirrors of the sealing room,” the mother added. “I told my daughters that someday with the right person, they will marry in this room.”
Ten-year old Maureen Maramba after touring the Temple twice with her family asked if she could visit again. Her father told her to give a chance to other visitors.
She replied, “I want to go back because I can’t go inside for a long time.” She was aware that she needed to wait eight more years before she could enter the temple again. So her family brought her to visit for the third time.
‘I Felt the Hands of the Lord’
Josephine Abrogar, a Catholic friend, visited the Manila Temple more than a decade ago and found it to be magnificent. “It was so peaceful even though I was only outside. I prayed that someday I’d have a chance to go inside. And finally, with my family I had the great blessing to enter the Urdaneta Temple.”
She was grateful for the warm welcome they received. “Thank you for sharing with us your sacred temple. Thank you for showing us that a family can be together forever,” she expressed.
Chona Benar who was being taught by the missionaries at the time of her visit described, “As I entered the celestial room, I felt the Hands of the Lord touch my head.”
A certain school teacher from a different faith was emotional inside the Celestial Room because while she was praying, she felt a warm embrace.
Strong, Humble Volunteers
One of the oldest volunteers was a short but surprisingly strong 72-year old man named Santiago Queñano who labored in the Physical Facilities Sub-Committee. He helped mop and sweep the floors; move around chairs, tables, and even a piano! He served almost every day from 7am to 8pm. When asked what kept him healthy, he replied, “I obey the Word of Wisdom.”
Vilma Cortez, an Elementary School Principal, another Physical Facilities volunteer, who filed a leave from work to serve, was assigned to maintain restrooms.
She said that the comfort room is her favorite place in her home.
“I love mopping and cleaning the floor,” she shared. “I really feel humbled. Wherever I’ll be assigned, I’m willing to perform my duties.”
Errol Gascon Villaflor, a volunteer assigned in the shoe cover station said, “It was the most humbling thing I’ve done. It reminded me of the time when Jesus Christ washed His apostles’ feet.”
The Perfect Place
“I know that the best place to propose is in the temple because it shows my real intent,” Jessie Afable Bituaran said.
Three years ago Shella Mae Asuncion had a dream about her getting married in the Urdaneta Temple, and on March 28, 2024, Aldrine Bunagan Cawile proposed to her in the Urdaneta Temple.
“I’m very excited to make that one big eternal covenant with her,” Aldrine said. “The temple was the perfect place for me to propose to her.”
“It’s every girl’s dream to get married in the temple for eternity,” Nica Joy Calma said. “Marck asked me if he could make my dream come true.”
And Nica Joy said “YES”!
‘Smiling Over Us’
LeGrand Nonales Terceño, as he was playing “I Love to See The Temple” on the piano under the beautiful Acacia trees outside the temple, was amazed when one by one little children drew nearer to him and sang the words of the song. Some of them grabbed their parents’ hands and asked them to sing along.
Some visitors requested him to play their favorite hymns while waiting to enter the temple. One guest said, “You’re inviting the Spirit with your music.”
LeGrand shared, “That lifted me up. I felt that moment Heavenly Father was smiling over us.”
A Grand Reunion
For the first time after 17 years, Jerome Patrick Garcia and Roslyn Molina finally met the person who their parents named them after—Jerom Ruslan Laniohan, a returned missionary from Philippines Laoag Mission who taught and baptized their parents into the Church.
“I’m honored that their parents named them after me,” Jerom Ruslan said. “I was happy I finally met them.”
Jerome Patrick’s mother was grateful to have visited the Temple and to meet again the missionary who has greatly helped with his husband’s conversion. “He was God’s instrument. He helped us strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ,” she said.
A group of returned missionaries from the Philippines Baguio Mission (1985–1988) gathered and toured the temple.
Willie Almaras from Bacolod said that the group prepared for a year for the reunion. He was excited to meet the people he taught and baptized. Many of them have their own families already and their children have gone on missions.
He recalled the times he walked past the acacia trees along McArthur Hi-way in Urdaneta City, when he was serving a full-time mission 30 years ago. “I wondered what those trees were for,” he said.
Willie was amazed to see the same trees which now surround the magnificent Urdaneta Temple.
Gennevieve Acain De Jesus traveled from Palawan with her family, after saving up with her seven-year old daughter for more than a year, selling baked goods, arrozcaldo, and champorado.
Her mother was supposed to be with them but she unexpectedly passed away weeks before the trip. Gennevieve brought a photo of her parents and snapped a picture with the temple in the background, symbolizing that they were still with her in spirit.
“When we saw the Temple, the burden was lifted off my back,” Gennevieve said.
They met old friends and new acquaintances.
“They were hugging us and happy to meet us,” she described. “The whole experience was like a gathering of Israel, a glimpse of a great reunion on Christ’s second coming.”
A Place of Miracles
March 23, 2024 was one of the busiest days of the Open House with more than 11,000 visitors. The guests were waiting in line under the unforgiving sun.
“But their patience and understanding were commendable,” volunteer Dino Santos noted. “You could see their excitement.”
He continued, “Many prayed for the clouds to cover the sun, and voila! The sun was indeed covered! It was a miracle, a prayer instantly answered!”
“In the Celestial Room, I felt an assurance that I will be healed,” Domingo Servito who faced a fatal health condition testified.
He miraculously survived an eight-hour, high-risk major operation after the Open House, and a few weeks later he was able to attend the Dedication, and celebrated his 68th birthday the day after the Dedication. He bears witness that, “when you feel the assurance of the Spirit, it will truly happen.”
Throughout Arlene Quisias’ service during the Open House, she didn’t feel pain or swelling caused by an incurable illness affecting her veins.
She suffers from Chronic Venous Insufficiency, which causes unbearable pain in her hips down to her toes. It happens when she walks, sits, or stands for a long period. Despite her health condition, she volunteered, welcoming, and touring guests which required prolonged walking and standing. But she managed to do so for more than a week without pain.
“It was a miracle!” she said.
Before she got sick, she had promised the Lord that she’d help in His works. When the Urdaneta Temple was announced, her will to fulfill that promise greatly increased.
Sister Ana Marie Karganilla, Committee Coordinator, was worried because the shoe covers she ordered overseas well in advance were not delivered, a month into the open house.
Her anxiety increased when the items had not yet arrived a week before the event.
Then a day before the open house, the shoe covers miraculously came, all 200,000 of them!
Ana Marie learned to trust and rely on the Lord more and that He will not let anything hinder the progress of His Works.
Another hurdle the Committee Coordinators faced was regarding the chairs for the dedication.
“Where are we going to rent nice chairs?” Elder Gregorio Karganilla said. “But then in February, the Tabernacle Choir came to the country.”
The choir’s visit to the Philippines two months before the dedication was a miracle. The chairs they used were brought in for the dedication.
Truly, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Urdaneta Temple Dedication
President Dallin H. Oaks said, “We’re thrilled to realize that you’re growing more spiritually than when Sister Oaks and I left 20 years ago.”
“Thousands more of you are full-tithe payers which made it possible to qualify for additional temples to be built in this blessed land,” he continued.
He also expressed his astonishment at how Church membership in the Philippines has grown to 870,000, where 200,000 of them belong to the Urdaneta Temple district.
“A temple dedication also reminds us to rededicate ourselves in faithfulness to the Lord and in His works,” he said.
‘No Room For Worry’
When Elder Carlos Revillo, Jr., 2nd Counselor in the Area Presidency commenced the dedication with a warm “Magandang umaga,” many if not all were surprised, realizing that the event would be carried out using the Filipino language, more so when President Rusell M. Nelson’s message was translated in Filipino, and President Dallin H. Oaks utilized side-by-side translation.
It was the first time in Philippine history that a temple dedication was fully conducted using the country’s native language. It was also the first time that the choir sang the Hosanna Anthem in Filipino.
Elder Gregorio Karganilla, said that he too was surprised, as he was used to delivering and listening to talks within the Church in English.
“I realized it wasn’t for me,” he said after seeing someone in the Temple who kept nodding her head, communicating that she clearly understood every word.
When he came home from the event, he asked his househelp if she enjoyed the Dedication and she said, “Yes. Because I understood everything well.”
“The Lord knows and understands our needs,” Elder Karganilla said.
Sixteen-year-old Dwan Chevelle Bondad, one of the speakers, shared that she was not confident enough in delivering her talk in Filipino, as English was her first language.
“I’m afraid I might not articulate my talk well,” she said.
Her parents Marisol and Oliver Bondad shared the same concern. “She’s not very good at Tagalog. Her nerves might get into her and she might stutter,” her mother revealed. “So we included her in our daily family prayer.”
She added, “We prayed hard. We were confident that the Lord would bless her.”
While reviewing her talk, Dwan had a hard time understanding her own message.
Then a beautiful turn around happened. She recalled, “The moment I gave my talk in the Celestial Room, my own message resonated with me more.”
She felt comforted. “I received the aide I needed and my anxieties disappeared,” she said. “I realized that there’s no room for worry in the Celestial Room.”
Singing with Angels
Many were grateful for the choir for glorifying the Lord through their music.
“The choir’s heavenly voices helped me feel the Spirit as they sang beautiful hymns,” Blesilda Macaraeg said. “I felt how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us.”
“Small group but powerful!” one commented.
Mark Bernard Daroy, Music Sub-Committee Chair said, “It was a team effort. We also thank the angels who sang with us.”
Shining Countenance
Agustin Veras, Jr. seated on the first row inside the Temple, was surprised to see President Dallin H. Oaks standing near him.
“I was struck with great delight. It was my first time encountering an apostle of the Lord! His countenance shone,” he said. “I could not hold back my tears because I felt his love. My testimony of the Lord’s apostles was strengthened.”
A brother on a wheelchair was also stunned to unexpectedly see President Oaks in front of him in the Waiting Room of the Temple. “He had a sweet smile, a good-looking man,” he described. “He didn’t say anything but his Spirit was so strong. I felt it.”
A Pleasant Surprise
The volunteers gathered in the Waiting Room of the Temple after the Dedication. Little did they know that they were in for a pleasant surprise!
When the door opened, they quickly stood up astonished seeing President Dallin H. Oaks in front of them!
Pres. Oaks commended and thanked all who helped make the Open House and Dedication a success.
He added, probably referring to the 15-minute power outage during the afternoon session, “Anything can go wrong but there’s nothing we can’t do something about.”
He continued, “I’ve been to many temple dedications and I can say that this team was excellent, if not the best.”
Elder Gregorio Karganilla shared:
“When Pres. Oaks came to the Waiting Room before heading home to Utah, it dawned on me that it was as if Jesus Christ visited us in the room to express His gratitude for all that we’ve done to make the Temple Dedication edifying and successful.”
President Oaks then expressed his love to the volunteers and left them with tears and joyful spirits.
A Filipino Temple
Many marveled that the Church’s third temple in the country is truly Filipino. The stained glass windows contain design elements like sampaguita flowers and mango leaves. There were also original paintings depicting Philippine sceneries, reminding Filipino Saints that the Lord is truly mindful of His people in this part of the vineyard.