Public to Tour New Temple in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Open House Scheduled July 15-22; Dedicatory Services, July 30 Public tours of the newly completed Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been announced. The First Presidency of the Church has said that public tours will begin Saturday, July 15, 2000, and run through Saturday, July 22, 2000 (9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.). No tours will be held Sunday, July16. On Monday, July 17, tours will conclude at 5:00 P.M. so Church members can participate in family home evening, a Church program encouraging family togetherness. To schedule tour times or to receive more information, call (405) 378-0815 or (877) 438-7405. Latter-day Saint temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism, and other sacred ordinances focusing on the eternal potential of family relationships. Following the public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated Sunday, July 30, 2000, making it the 95th Church temple worldwide. Four separate dedicatory sessions will be held to accommodate as many as possible of the Latter-day Saints in the temple district. A cornerstone ceremony, open to the public, will be at 9:00 A.M. on Sunday, July 30, 2000, prior to the first dedicatory session. The temple district includes the Missouri Independence, Oklahoma Tulsa, and Oklahoma Oklahoma City Missions, as well as the Fort Smith Arkansas, Rogers Arkansas, Derby Kansas, Wichita Kansas, Joplin Missouri, Lawton Oklahoma, Norman Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Oklahoma South , Stillwater Oklahoma, Tulsa Oklahoma, Tulsa Oklahoma East , and Amarillo Texas stakes of the Church. Previously, Church members from this area traveled to the Dallas Texas Temple. The temple will serve approximately 44,000 Latter-day Saints. President Gordon B. Hinckley, world leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has shared with the Church membership his desire to make the blessings of the temple more accessible to Latter-day Saints, many of whom must now travel long distances. By year’s end, 100 temples will be operating. Nearly 11 million people belong to the worldwide Church in 162 countries and territories. Church members first arrived in Oklahoma in the 1840s.