Updated and Reworked Projection For the Timetable of Future Temple-related Announcements and Events

Hello. As promised below, here is the updated and reworked projection for the timetable which I feel is likely to prevail for future temple-related events. Hang on to your hats! This will be a wild ride!

Given the progress I reported in the blog post below, it has become necessary to revise my projections and predictions for when future temple-related events might be announced and scheduled. I am excited to be able to do this again, just three weeks after the last edition. In view of the fact that the newest temple construction progress report appears in the post below, this post will mainly serve as a summary of the changes I have felt are necessary.

The next temple-related event will be the announced groundbreaking in Rio de Janeiro Brazil on March 4. That groundbreaking will be done by Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, the most senior General Authority Seventy who has served for almost six years as president of the Church’s Brazil Area. So little is known as yet in terms of the design for the temple and how long construction might take. But I will venture a guess about that timetable below.

It is also more than likely that we will very shortly have an announcement of the groundbreaking for the Arequipa Peru temple. I could see that happening before the dedication of the Paris France Temple on May 20. Not sure what to make of the report that we might hear of a site announcement and groundbreaking for Harare Zimbabwe within the next short while. It may very well be that all that could also take place before the Paris France dedication. Stay tuned for more on that as I hear of it.

I have spoken before of how the construction commencement in Harare might prove to be historically significant for several reasons. I will not rehash that now, but I will post more information on this as I am able to.

In addition to the Paris France dedication on May 20, we also have the rededication on June 4 for the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. It will be amazing to see those events happen. I am especially excited for the Paris temple dedication for the reasons I have before explained.

Because of the progress made in Tucson Arizona, it seems on track to be the next one scheduled for dedication. I could see such an announcement being made in the early months of this year, perhaps before the Paris dedication happens, with the Tucson dedication itself happening in early August.

As for the dedication date for the Meridian Idaho Temple is likely to be announced within the next 3 or 4 months, and the dedication itself will likely happen in late August or early September.

With the Cedar City Utah Temple, there is still reason to believe that the dedication could be announced within the next six months, if not sooner, and might take place in late August or early September as well.

I could also see the renovation of the Jordan River Utah Temple being completed around August, with the rededication being announced about a month later and scheduled for either late November or early December 2017. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if things speed up somehow and that rededication takes place around the events of the Meridian and Cedar City temples. Stay tuned for more on that as I learn of it.

I am still of the belief that the dedication in Kinshasa will precede the dedication in Rome. I wouldn’t be surprised if a dedication for Kinshasa was announced during the spring of 2018, with the actual dedication to follow, perhaps sometime in May or June.

In terms of the Frankfurt Germany Temple, I feel sure that that renovation will be completed within the same timeframe as that of the Kinshasa dedication. Rome might be the next one completed, but a dedication might not take place until August or September, after the annual July recess for General Authorities. That estimation is me speaking optimistically based on my observation of the completion progress in Rome.

Concepcion is still likely, in my opinion, to have a dedication announcement within the first half of 2018, with the dedication itself to follow sometime in either August or September, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it was to even precede Rome in that milestone.

In spite of the delays I always believed would prevail in the construction of the Durban South Africa Temple (this belief was fueled by the report my mother, a South African native, gave me regarding the prevailing work ethic of South Africans, especially those in the construction business), that construction still seems to be on schedule. I feel confident that the temple will be completed within a similar time frame to that which is almost certain for Concepcion and Rome, with an announcement for the dedication made within the first half of 2018, and the dedication actually scheduled for August or September as well.

The temple in Winnipeg has yet to progress beyond the groundbreaking. However, given its size (very small), it seems that construction might be completed by around August 2018, with the dedication taking place in either late November or else early December 2018. It wouldn’t surprise me if a similar timeline held true for the temple in Barranquilla Colombia, which is further along in terms of construction, but will be a much larger edifice.

In the meantime, for the first time in doing such predictions, I feel bold enough to project completion dates for the two temples anticipated to be completed sometime around 2019. Despite the five-year span between the groundbreaking and the actual commencement of construction in Fortaleza Brazil, that construction is progressing rapidly. I reiterate my feelings that construction will be completed there within the early months of 2019, with the actual dedication taking place in either April or perhaps possibly May.

The Lisbon Portugal Temple is at a point that solidifies my belief that a similar time frame may be very likely to prevail as that which I have proposed above for the Fortaleza temple. It would not surprise me if these two traded spots a couple of times in terms of future completion. But right now, it seems safe to say that.

While so little is currently know regarding the design, size or estimated construction timeframe for the Rio de Janeiro Temple, I would love to see it completed around the same time as the Fortaleza temple. If that happens, it would be the first time since 2000 that two Brazilian temples will be dedicated in such close proximity. (The Recife and Porto Alegre Brazil Temples were both dedicated in December of that year, on the 15^th and 17^th respectively.)

It is not unreasonable to believe that the temples in Arequipa Peru and Harare Zimbabwe might also be completed before the end of 2019. And depending on how many temples might additionally have a groundbreaking this year, the number to be completed might increase further.

As I have stated before, the Church is well on track to add 4 new operating temples by the end of 2017, and six more in 2018. Two temples may be rededicated this year, with the only other one currently undergoing renovation on track to be completed next year. In the meantime, there are many others that could potentially have renovations starting either this year or next year. There is not any solid way to tell which temples might be so renovated. But there are a number of our earlier temples that have never before had anything like that done that may be good candidates within the next couple of years. If any of you have any theories regarding this subject, please let me know. And it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if some of the more recent temples were also scheduled for renovation.

One thing is certain: With these events likely to happen at or around the times indicated here, it would almost completely reduce and eliminate any semblance of a backlog in temple progress, and increases the likelihood that many more temples could be announced within the next two years. The exact number of those announcements remains to be seen, though I have given my thoughts regarding the most likely and most imminent picks.

Future groundbreakings may be more unpredictable to anticipate than I originally thought. I look at the groundbreaking in Winnipeg, and it happened much faster than usual. And with the way things unfolded in Rio, any delays that existed were cleared up very quickly.

That said, given what I have observed, in addition to the already-scheduled groundbreaking in Rio and the possibility that we might soon hear of a groundbreaking in Arequipa and also of a site announcement and groundbreaking in Harare, I will say that I could see the next groundbreaking taking place for the first Haitian temple in Port-au-Prince. I have no reason to back this up. It’s just how I feel, and we could have the site announcement and the groundbreaking by or before the end of this year.

A groundbreaking for Bangkok could happen by the beginning of 2018. The same timetable could prevail for the Abidjan temple. Who knows how long the currently reported delays in Urdaneta might last. I might venture to say that the remaining temples (the three others announced last year) might well have a groundbreaking by or before 2019.

I’m also very sure that many more temples could be announced within the next couple of years and have construction started as the Lord permits. I am very much looking forward to future events.

I continue to very much appreciate the feedback I get on things I post about here. Any and all comments on this new post are welcome. I look forward to the ongoing discussion of this important subject. Thanks!