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On August 21 , 1955 , Joseph Fielding Smith , an apostle for the Mormon Church , dedicated The Philippines for the preaching of the gospel. The first four missionaries arrived in June 1961 and by 1973 over 13,000 Filipinos had been baptized into the church. On April 1 , 1981 , it was announced that a Mormon Temple would be built in the Philippines. The groundbreaking and site dedication for the temple were on August 25 , 1982 . Back in January of 1981, the Mormon Church had purchased land in Quezon City , in the metro Manila area. The site was partly chosen because of its accessibility to members throughout the temple district. When the temple was announced, a fund-raising campaign was quickly set up in the Philippines. The Mormon Saints sacrificed greatly, but nine months later, they had only reached 65 percent of their goal. Church leaders again encouraged the members to give all they could to the fund, and the Filipino Saints responded once again, reaching and exceeding the goal in three months time. During the construction of the temple, several events hindered its progress. In 1983 the assassination of a Filipino senator led to rioting and demonstrations. Because of a weak economy, unemployment, and the increasing presence of crime, most of the people were struggling just to get by. During these trying times, the Church established ways to help members become more self-reliant and encouraged them to stay close the God. On September 25 , 1984 , President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Manila Philippines Temple. The temple serves half a million members of the Mormon Church in The Philippines , Micronesia , Indonesia , Singapore , Thailand , India , and part of Burma . The temple has four ordinance rooms and three sealing rooms and has a total floor area of 26,683 square feet. In 1987 selections from the Book Of Mormon were published in the Filipino language Tagalog and a Missionary Training Center was established in Manila in 1986 . When the Manila Temple was dedicated in 1984 Church membership was 76,000. There are now more than 450,000 Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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