In 1982, Spencer W. Kimball, then president of the LDS Church, announced a temple would be built in Ecuador. It took fourteen years to secure the necessary government authorizations and the temple was not completed and dedicated until 1999. The temple was built with Brazilian granite at a cost of US$14,456,000. It is topped by a statue of Moroni.[1]
Before the temple in Ecuador was finished, church members in Ecuador would travel three days by bus to attend the Lima Peru Temple. Before the temple was dedicated, a public open house was held, which included attendance by government officials. Over one hundred thousand people participated in the open house.[citation needed]
The Guayaquil Ecuador Temple was dedicated on August 1, 1999, by LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley.[2]
The temple is on a hill in Urdesa, a suburb of northern Guayaquil, Ecuador's main port and most populous city. The Guayaquil Ecuador Temple has a total of 70,884 square feet (6,585.3 m2), four ordinance rooms, and three sealing rooms.
Lynn Shawcroft was the first president to oversee the operations of the temple, serving from July 1999 to November 2002.
In 2020, like all others in the church, the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple was closed temporarily in response to the coronavirus pandemic.[3]
