First Latter-day Saint temple in Belgium begins construction inside an existing building

To be Belgium’s first Latter-day Saint temple, the Brussels Belgium Temple officially entered the construction phase this weekend with a groundbreaking ceremony held Saturday.

This ceremony was presided over by Elder Jack N. Gerard, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Europe Central Area presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But unlike most groundbreaking ceremonies organized by the church, the Brussels temple groundbreaking ceremony did not include a traditional turning of the soil, seeing as the temple will be built within an existing multistory building.

Still, church members and leaders, along with dignitaries and media representatives, gathered Saturday to honor the start of the temple’s construction inside the existing building. Other