BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Announced for the Tampa Florida Temple

 Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, the First Presidency announced the next major temple construction update today: another temple groundbreaking: this one for the Tampa Florida Temple.Let's get to the details: The groundbreaking in question will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2025. Presiding at the temple's groundbreaking will be Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with him set to fill that assignment just two weeks to the day after his birthday. 

If memory serves me correctly, Elder Andersen was either the first president of the Tampa Florida Stake folllowing its' creation, or he served as the president of the existing stake in Tampa during his tenure as stake president, so it's altogether fitting and proper that he has been asked to fill this assignment, since he and his wife still have ties to the area the temple will serve.

The announced arrangements for the Tampa Florida Temple follow that temple's announcement in April 2022, an original site announcement roughly six months later, the release of an exterior rendering in March 2023, and the announcement of a new location for that temple in April of last year. The law school building that formerly occupied the second location announced for that temple was demolished a short time ago, so the announcement of this groundbreaking was not totally unexpected.

This will mark the second groundbreaking set to occur on August 23: the Church previously announced the groundbreaking for the Vancouver Washington Temple on that date, and that information remains unchanged, marking the first time in a few years that two temple groundbreakings have been set to occur on the same day. Since Florida is in the Eastern time zone, the groundbreaking for Tampa will take place before that of Vancouver.

As a result of today's announcement, the groundbreakings for the Vancouver Washington and Fairbanks Alaska Temples are moved down on the list to now being the 14th and 15th such ceremonies planned to be held this year, which means that 2025 outpaces 2024 by one so far, and the Church is not done with temple groundbreakings for this year yet, so I think we may come closer to 20 or 30 by the end of the year, if not more.I am grateful for this update and for the chance to share it with you all. 

Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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. 

UPDATED: October 2025 General Conference Predictions (Second Edition)

Hello again, everyone! Something wasn't quite sitting right with me about my predictions for the October 2025 General Conference. So I took another look at them, doing some further research to refine them. I have now completed my second edition of these predictions. We have the revised projected speaker lineup, an expanded list of projected changes in general Church leadership, and an expanded list of prospective new temple locations.

The commenting period on these predictions remains open until Thursday, October 2, at 10:00 PM MDT. So if any of you have any feedback on anything, including questions, suggestions, enhancements, and improvements, please feel free to share them here. Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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. 

All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 

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.

Review of Temple Construction Progress During the First Half of 2025

Hello again, everyone! Now that June 30 has become July 1, the first half of 2025 is officially over, which means it's time to provide an overview of temple construction progress during the first half of this year. I will let the following documents speak for themselves, and just add that this one shows where things stood at the beginning of 2025, with this one reflecting where things stood a few days before the April 2025 General Conference, and this one highlighting where temple construction progress stands at the conclusion of the first half of this year.

I hope you all will find these updates enlightening. It is wonderful to have tracked and chronicled that progression thus far, and I look forward to further progress being made during the back half of 2025. Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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. 

All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 

If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are always welcome and appreciated, but never required. 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.