“This Is Our Opportunity”
On January 12, 1976, Latter-day Saints from across Central America began an exhausting 8,000-mile (12,874-kilometer) bus ride to the Mesa Arizona Temple. Many families sold their television sets, automobiles, and bicycles in order to pay for the journey, believing that the spiritual treasures they gained from the temple outweighed the temporal sacrifices.
A young married couple, Silvia and Manuel were two of only three Panamanian Saints able to make the long and difficult journey. In addition to the sheer distance, the laws in the Central American nations they passed through forced them to change buses at each border. The borders were often closed at night, and members had to sleep at ward or branch meetinghouses along the way. On January 19, after seven days of travel, they finally arrived at the tri-stake center in Mesa, Arizona. Silvia and Manuel became the first Panamanian Saints to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity.
Over time, the journey to the temple became increasingly shorter, as temples were constructed in Mexico City, Mexico, and then in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and San Jose, Costa Rica.
More than 500 Latter-day Saints from Panama attended the dedication of the San Jose Temple on June 4, 2000. Norbei Vierti and his family traveled 11 hours to attend the dedicatory session and be sealed together once the temple opened. “The sacrifice of coming to the temple will result in many blessings,” Norbei said. “I’ve been looking to this day since the day I was married. Today I’m very happy.”
When the Panama City Panama Temple was announced two years later, on August 23, 2002, Panamanian Latter-day Saints rejoiced. As the construction of that sacred edifice neared completion, a work request was issued, asking for 10 women from each stake to help assemble the chandeliers that would hang in the temple. Several women gladly accepted the assignment. For each sister that was sent, four more volunteered.
Panama City Panama Temple
Many members contributed to the construction of the temple in other ways and also participated in the dedication ceremony.