Alejandra Mazariegos routinely drives with her family to Oklahoma City to visit the nearest temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sometimes they even drive across state lines to visit the temple in Bentonville, Arkansas. Either way, it’s about a four-hour round trip to visit what LDS members consider literal houses of the Lord.
Soon enough, the Mazariegos family will only have to travel roughly 15 minutes from north Tulsa to visit the new LDS temple being built near 51st Street and 136th East Avenue.
“It’s a big blessing to have it here and knowing we’ll be having it closer because generally being inside a temple is a beautiful feeling,” Mazariegos said in Spanish. “We know the temple is a piece of heaven and we can really feel (Jesus Christ) because his spirit feels really strong inside of it.”
In the Mormon faith, a temple is different from a church or meeting place. It is a sacred building used for eternal ordinances, or sacred acts. Temples are typically restricted to members of the church.
Tulsa’s new temple will be Oklahoma’s second when construction is complete. It will provide a new place to gather for about 26,807 members of the LDS church across 51 congregations in the metropolitan area. A timeline for completion is to be determined.
The temple was announced in October 2023. Elder Pedro X. Larreal, who presided over the groundbreaking in late August, said the Mormon church is focused on family, particularly youth.
“We’ve seen that the community of Tulsa is growing, there’s a lot of youth and a lot of families, and sadly, there’s an attack against them with pornography, drugs and some other things,” Larreal said in Spanish. “And truly, what the church wants is to bring that peace and so they can feel the love Jesus Christ has for each of his children.”
Larreal said the new temple will provide a space for youth to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ and feel his presence.
“This temple is for you,” Larreal told the young people at the groundbreaking in southeast Tulsa near Broken Arrow. “This temple is for your future family. My dear youth, this temple is to build the faith in Jesus Christ.”
Tulsa’s new temple will be Oklahoma’s second when construction is complete. It will provide a new place to gather for about 26,807 church members across 51 congregations in the metropolitan area. Credit: Courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
Attendees pray during the Aug. 22, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa’s first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer 
Attendees listen during the Aug. 22, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa’s first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer 
Attendees listen during the Aug. 22, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa’s first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer 
Mark Cluff speaks during the Aug. 22, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa’s first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer 
Sam Hood attends the Aug. 22, 2026, groundbreaking ceremony for Tulsa’s first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Hood has helped build almost all LDS buildings in the Tulsa and Bartlesville areas. When he and his wife first got married, the closest temple was in Utah. They could visit only once a year. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer
Mark J. Cluff is a regional church leader, known as an Area Seventy, based in Broken Arrow. Tulsa is the perfect place for a temple, Cluff said, because Oklahomans believe nothing is more important than faith and family.
“Our family moved here 14 years ago and we would be OK if we never leave, because we love faith and family,” Cluff said. “And the temple is about faith in Jesus Christ and it’s about families, building strong families.”
The new temple isn’t solely a building, he said. It’s a chance to change generations.
“This temple, we see this as not just ours, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Latter-day Saints, but the temple is the community,” he said. “The Lord has given it to the community, to bless the community, to strengthen faith and family.”
Mazariegos finds it important to teach her three children about their faith and grow them into future missionaries. Her eldest son is less than two years away from being able to serve.
As a mom, she feels emotional to have her children be part of the church, especially as she feels today’s youth are lost. She’d rather they serve their neighbors and siblings than be interested in materialistic things, such as expensive shoes.
“It’s a beautiful thing to be able to nurture their hearts with spiritual things,” she said.
This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma.
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
