LDS temples grow ever closer to members across the world

South Florida Latter-day Saints wait in line to enter the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple for the May 4, 2014, morning dedicatory session.

Jason Swensen, Deseret News

HOMESTEAD, Florida When her father, a lifelong Mormon, returned to active participation in the church in south Florida in 1981, the closest LDS temple to little Eliza Gomez was in Washington, D.C., more than 1,000 miles away.

Since then, Gomez, like millions of other Mormons, has seen new temples dot up closer and closer to her home, cutting down the time and sacrifice necessary to access the temple blessings, which are revered above all others by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Gomez joined the church in 1984 when she was 11. A year earlier, the church had completed a temple in Atlanta, about 650 miles away. Gomez fondly remembers annual 12-hour bus rides to Atlanta for weekend temple trips with other LDS teenagers from her congregation and others in south Florida.

"We would save up our money, do service projects and fundraisers to raise money," she said. "It was a lot of fun, and for me and the other youth it was a great adventure, but I'm sure for the adults the bus trips were long."

The Atlanta Georgia Temple was the church's 21st.

Then, in 1994, the church opened the Orlando Florida Temple, its 46th, about 215 miles from Gomez.

"We went to the Orlando open house," she said. "It was pouring rain. I said, 'This is where I want to get married.'"

And she did, in 2000.

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LDS temples grow ever closer to members across the world