Nearly 10 months after first being announced, the Gila Valley Arizona Temple will have its groundbreaking and site dedication ceremony Saturday, Feb. 14 at 9 a.m.

The ceremony will take place at the temple site located at 5291 W. Hwy. 70 in Central. It is currently a stake ballpark with four baseball fields. The temple and an adjoining chapel will be constructed on the northern side of the property while retaining two of the baseball fields on the southern side.

Temples are sacred buildings to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and differ greatly from the church’s chapels.

A temple is where members who carry a temple recommend learn more about the purpose of life and make covenants to serve Jesus Christ and their fellow man.

Members who are in good standing in the church are interviewed by their area’s church leaders before being granted a recommend. The recommend is a small card with member information that must be shown before being allowed inside a dedicated temple. This is due to the sacred nature of the temple.

Templegoers also participate in religious ceremonies that reach beyond mortality, including baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors and eternal marriage, according to the church’s official Web site lds.org.

Former President Gordon B. Hinckley previously described temples as a place where life’s mysteries are answered.

“Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sacred structures in which these and other eternal questions are answered,” he said. “Each is dedicated as a house of the Lord, a place of holiness and peace shut apart from the world.

“There truths are taught and ordinances are performed that bring knowledge of things eternal and motivate the participants to live with an understanding of our divine inheritance as children of God and an awareness of our potential as eternal beings.”

The Gila Valley Arizona Temple will be the third LDS temple in Arizona. It is the first of three proposed temples for the state.

The Mesa Arizona Temple and the Snow-flake Arizona Temple are in operation, and the Phoenix Arizona Temple is still in its design and construction approval phase.

The Gilbert Arizona Temple is in the design phase, with an anticipated groundbreaking in early 2010. When all of the various construction is completed, Arizona will have five LDS temples.

Details concerning speakers and participants in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Gila Valley temple have not been made official and have therefore not been released, according to Safford Stake President Mark Herrington.

Construction of the temple is expected to last 12 to 18 months. When finished, the temple will help alleviate congestion at the Mesa Arizona Temple, which is attended by more patrons than any other temple outside of Utah, according to a previous LDS news release.

The Phoenix and Gilbert temples will provide services for members who otherwise would have gone to the Mesa temple when they open as well.

The general public will be able to view the inside of the temple during an open house after construction is completed and before it is dedicated.