Update Provided on Renovation Process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple

Hello again, everyone! Continuing the reports on temple updates I have somehow missed (due to illness & not currently having access to my document on which I track such progress), I wanted to note a major update on the renovation process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. The last time I provided an update on that process was on February 22.

At that time, I noted that the new entrance lobby of the temple was being sheathed. The new information of which I have become aware is that the structural framing has been completed for the steeple and that the exterior is being waterproofed.

While this milestone is significant, to be sure, it does not appear that there is any justification to believe that the more general estimate provided by others or the more specific ones which I have felt safe in providing need to be altered at all.

With that said, it would not surprise me in any way if the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple was delayed until after both the Memphis Tennessee Temple and this one have their rededications.

As always, I am doing my level best to keep an eye on developments in this regard, and I will continue to the best of my ability to pass along any and all temple-related news and developments as I become aware of them, including and especially any alterations that may become necessary to any general or specific estimates provided by myself or others.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Update Noted on the Lisbon Portugal Temple

Hello again, everyone! I don't know if this was reported earlier and I didn't notice it, or if this is new information, but I have found out about a status update for the Lisbon Portugal Temple.

The last time I reported a change in this temple's status was February 28, at which time I noted that the walls for its' steeple had been poured and that the scaffolding had been removed.

The new information indicates that scaffolding & netting has gone up around the temple's exterior. While this update is a good indication of this temple's progress, it is not significant enough to warrant a change in its' general or more specific completion estimate.

As always, I am doing my level best to stay on top of all temple progress and will continue to post all such updates as I receive them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time.
Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Progress Noted on the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple

Hello again, everyone! The last time I posted an update on the status of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple was on February 1 of this year, at which point I had noted that the main floor concrete slab was being poured. New information received today indicates that that pouring process has been completed. So it would seem that the construction of that temple is moving along at a steady pace.

On February 28 of this year, I had offered my revised estimate that this temple's dedication could occur during mid-to-late May of next year. It will be interesting to see how that changes as this year progresses. It may be of interest to some of you to know that, as should be obvious, if the dedication for the Rome Italy Temple is not able to occur until early 2019, that would in turn push back the likely time-frames for the dedications of the temples in Kinshasa, Fortaleza, and Port-au-Prince.

That might also be the case for the rededications of the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples. And it will be interesting to see how soon the Frankfurt Germany Temple might be rededicated as well. At the moment, it would appear that the renovation of that temple has been delayed enough that venturing a general and therefore even a more specific time-frame for that temple's rededication may be more difficult than I have recently believed and asserted.

But I am keeping my eye on all temple-related developments and will be sure to post an update on all of that ASAP after I learn about it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Scaffolding Returns to Concepcion Chile Temple

Hello again, everyone! Having passed along earlier today those resources regarding the open house for the Jordan River Utah Temple, I also wanted to post and pass along some information that has been reported for the Concepcion Chile Temple. Up until now, there has been a lantern in the temple that was without a window, an uncovered cupola, and only a placeholder instead of the angel Moroni.

All of that will soon change. Scaffolding has gone up for the steeple and cupola, and if current plans hold, the remainder of this week will see progress made on all that has, up to now, been left undone. It is exciting to think of the developments that may soon occur as this temple gets ever closer to its dedication, which is, as previously noted, set for about 7.5 months from now.

You can rest assured I will be monitoring all temple-related developments and will be passing those along to you as I learn of them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

VIP/Media Tours Underway for Jordan River Utah Temple; Public Tours Begin Friday

Hello again, everyone! I had started this post yesterday but had not been able to finish it before now. I am pleased to be able to report that VIP/Media tours began yesterday for the Jordan River Utah Temple, and that public open house tours will follow starting Friday.

In relation to all of that, there have been several wonderful resources published, and the rest of this post will overview those resources. First, we have this Church News article, highlighting this temple's history and detailing what the renovation process involved, in addition to sharing some quotes from Church leaders involved with managing the temples of the Church.

Next, for those living in Utah or surrounding regions that are interested, the Church has provided a link to their online reservation system. For those interested in seeing the temple who may not be able to make it to the open house, a virtual tour is a great option.

And finally, from Mormon Newsroom, those interested in doing so can find additional information and images. It is wonderful to see so many great resources about this temple. As I may have mentioned previously, President Kimball attended the original dedication of this temple, but at his request, President Romney read the prayer, which is why this temple is the one temple in the Church that is listed as having been dedicated by President Romney.

And, as also previously noted, since this is the first major temple-related event of President Nelson's administration (aside from the private rededication for the Houston Texas Temple, which, as noted, will be done by President M. Russell Ballard), it seems logical to assume President Nelson himself will preside at this rededication.

It also seems safe and logical to assume that since this temple is in the Salt Lake Valley, several other Church leaders will also be in attendance. Whatever might occur in that regard, you can find a report of it here.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Jordan River Utah Temple Open House Begins In One Week

Hello again, everyone! I just wanted to post briefly to remind readers of this blog that the open house for the Jordan River Utah Temple begins exactly one week from today. When the First Presidency first announced the relevant dates for this temple's open house and dedication (the official announcement came 7 months and 1 week ago), the plan had been for open house tours to run every day for the six weeks between March 17 and April 28, except for the Saturdays of March 24 and 31 and the Sundays of March 18 and 25 and April 1, 8, 15, and 22.

Since that time, in view of the First Presidency's additional announcement about the consolidation of General Conference sessions, the Women's Session will not be held on Saturday March 24, which means that open house tours can and will run on that day. So open house tours will run for a grand total of 36 days.

A cultural celebration is set to be held on Saturday May 19, with the rededication set to occur the following day, which will be broadcast by satellite to stake centers within the Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrh Mountain Temple districts.

I also wanted to note three other things: First, this temple's rededication will be the first major temple-related event held during President Nelson's prophetic administration, aside from the already-announced private rededication for the Houston Texas Temple (over which President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, has been asked to preside). For that reason, I would anticipate that President Nelson will preside at this event.

Second, since this temple is in Salt Lake County, I would anticipate this dedication will be widely attended by other general Church leaders. Third and finally, with the fact that the dedications announced for the temples in Conepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia will feature a special devotional for youth the night before, it could very well be true that such devotionals will now be held the night before temple dedications or rededications in lieu of a cultural celebration.

Nothing has been officially announced to that effect, but I am keeping my eyes open for any such annoucement and will be sure to pass word along if and when that occurs. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated.

Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until mypray next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will be with and bless you all in everything you do.

Construction Status Updated for the Barranquilla Colombia Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am posting in the early morning hours of March 9th to pass along an exciting update that has come to my attention regarding the Barranquilla Colombia Temple. The new information indicates that exterior lighting tests are underway, and that landscaping and interior work on that temple continues to make significant progress as well.

To put this update into perspective, this temple, along with the Concepcion Chile and Rome Italy Temples, are almost identical in terms of their construction statuses. So it is easy to see why the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temple dedications have been set to occur 6 weeks apart.

What will be interesting to see is how (and if) the Rome Italy Temple will be able to have its' dedication prior to the end of this year. If that does occur, and if, as indicated in that Italian newspaper article, the construction crew does turn the Rome temple back over to the Church by May of this year, I could see a dedication being scheduled to occur on November 11 or 18. But it would also make sense in another way if the Church held off on a dedication there until January or February 2019. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds.

As with everything else, I am keeping my eyes open for more information on all of these developments, and I will pass any further information and updates along as I receive them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Church Clarifies How Technology Usage Is Anticipated to Change the Mission Program

Hello again, everyone! After a few days within which not a lot of Church or temple developments have been reported (which in turn gave me the chance to take care of some health-related issues my wife and I continue to deal with), I am pleased to be able to pass along this article, which provides information from those general Church leaders that have a role with the missionary department regarding how the Church is gradually shifting to embrace technology more fully.

The way in which that will occur will in turn enable missionaries assigned to such contact centers to focus less on finding interested people and more on teaching individuals who find information on the Church online and would like to know more. I could go on about this for a long time if I allowed myself to, but will defer to others who are far better than I at putting these developments into their historical context. What a wonderful time to be alive!

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Construction Update for the Durban South Africa Temple

Hello again, everyone! After taking most of the day to deal with some personal issues, I am pleased to post tonight to share an updated progress report for the Durban South Africa Temple. Temple reports do mean a lot to me generally, as long-time followers of this blog are no doubt aware, but that is particularly true for the Durban temple, as my mom was born in South Africa and is very familiar with the cities in that nation.

The update of which I have become aware is that precast concrete panels are being attached to the exterior, while the missionary housing has had a ring beam poured for its front veranda, and while driveway curbing is being installed.

Aside from this update, there have not been any changes reported in either the status of the other temples or in the general estimated time-frames for future temple events. Therefore, I wanted to again note that I am keeping my eyes open for developments as they occur and that I will do my best to pass those along as soon as I can after learning of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! While doing the earlier Church news update earlier today, I had focused that post on articles from Mormon Newsroom. I thought I would pass along some additional articles that may be of interest to some of you and have been reported in the Church News. They are well worthy of mention, and I commend them to you. Let's talk a bit about each.

I spoke in that earlier Church news update about relief efforts occurring in Puerto Rico. The Church News published this account of the devastation done by the hurricane, shared highlights including accounts of members impacted, counsel for the storm-weary members from the general Church leaders sent to evaluate the conditions there, and so much more. It was great to hear of all the Church continues to do in responding to such disasters.

In an article sharing comments from Church leaders who oversee the Church's Family History Department, those Brethren shared a three-point credo that should govern how Family History is approached: Discover, gather, and connect.

To add a personal note, as one who has previously been involved in extraction (which was a precursor to the indexing program), I can testify firsthand of the blessings that come from being involved in that work, and the three points sum that program up nicely.

Next, I have previously shared articles highlighting changes the Church has been implementing into the youth program, which are intended to give the quorum and class presidencies more leeway to run the show and get things done. In continuation of those efforts, a new guidebook has been published by the Church to update the Church's guidelines for Girl's Camp. That was good to hear about, and yet another sign that we live in a time where there is modern revelaation in abundance.

In the meantime, the Church News also published this article, which talks about the annual "Luz de las Naciones", which is Spanish for "Light of the Nations", an annual gathering for the Latino Latter-day Saints in this area that is held each year in conjunction with the Church's annual RootsTech conference.

On March 1, the Church News reported that four missionaries serving in Spain were injured after colliding with a truck. You can read more about that in this article. On that same day, an article written by the Young Men's General Presidency and Board shared these insights on how the young men should approach the performance of their duties, particularly in the weekly administration of the Sacrament.

And finally, the Church continues to publish biographies of newly called mission presidents, which can be found as they are published on the Church News website. Mission presidents, as noted, generally serve for around three years.

When the Church originally announced the mission adjustments (both the 19 being consolidated and the 5 new ones), the Church noted that 111 new mission presidents have been called to serve this year.

What this means is that just over a quarter of all missions in the Church are getting a new president this year. It is wonderful to see the process of mission creations and consolidations as the needs of world regions and the safety and number of missionaries is evaluated.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.