Hello again, everyone! Today, the First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple, released a site location and exterior rendering for the Tuguegarao Philippines Temple, and released preliminary information for the Culiacan Mexico Temple. There's a lot to get into, so let's start right in:
Though the Newsroom release shares these updates in a different order, I am starting with the groundbreaking for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple, which has been scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Elder Randall K. Bennett, a General Authority Seventy currently serving as President of the Church's North America Central Area, will preside at that groundbreaking. Obviously, though, future oversight of that temple will be under the purview of the new Canada Area presidency beginning in August 2025.
Given that the groundbreaking is set for late April, other groundbreakings announced after today could potentially be held before this one. As reflected in this document, which shows a side-by-side comparison of the groundbreakings in 2024 and 2025, the current fifth temple groundbreaking for 2025 will be held roughly 1.5 months before the first anniversary of the fifth temple groundbreaking in 2024. So, temple groundbreakings in 2025 will continue to outpace what we saw in 2024. I'm sure we will see other temple groundbreakings this year that will continue to outpace 2024.
Since the rendering of the Tuguegarao Philippines Temple speaks for itself, we now turn to its announced parameters. The single-story temple, which will be approximately 18,850 square feet, will rise on a 5.3-acre site just south of Enrile Avenue, Cariq Regional Centre, Tuguegarao, Philippines. Patron housing units and a distribution center are also planned for the project. The temple was initially announced at the April 2023 General Conference. If any of you have any comments about the rendering in question, I warmly welcome them.
We now wrap up today's news with some preliminary information about the Culiacan Mexico Temple. The planned single-story edifice, which will be approximately 10,000 square feet, will rise on a 5-acre site off of Avenida Milenium in the Colonia Country Tres Rios, between the cross streets of Miguel Tamayo Espinoza de los Monteros and Boulevard José María Figueroa Díaz. The temple project will include adjacent patron housing.
Given the announced size, I will not be shocked if it is another modular temple. The Church seems to have recently increased the number of modular temples, so it seems safe to make that assumption. I am grateful to have learned of these updates and for the chance to share them with you all. Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I'll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now.
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Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.