Hamilton Temple and Pacific Church Museum

The first Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in New Zealand in 1854. Missionaries were seen as the fulfillment of Māori prophecies, which led to many Māori joining the Church. New Zealand ranks #16 in countries with the highest concentration of its population identifying as members at 1.2% of the population. Hamilton is the epicenter of the church in New Zealand. The Hamilton Temple was dedicated in 1955 and is the 11th temple (3rd outside US behind Cardston and Bern Switzerland). From 1958 to 2009 there was the Church College of New Zealand that provided secular and religious education to secondary students (13-18 year olds). Many of the buildings here were built by Labor missionaries. Today we toured the Pacific Church History Museum that was in the old Church College Library. It was a really well done museum. Some of the original buildings remained. However, a new chapel was constructed (very beautiful!!), the pews were built out of parts of the original college building. The church owns a lot of property in this area, Temple View. I liked how the roundabout had the inscription, “Kia Ngawari” which in Maori “be loving, be gentle, be kind.”