BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Fort Worth Texas Temple; Groundbreaking Scheduled for the Barcelona Spain Temple

Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, the First Presidency officially announced the next major temple construction updates. Today, it was opening arrangements for the Fort Worth Texas Temple and groundbreaking arrangements for the Barcelona Spain Temple. Let's get into all the relevant details:

We start in Fort Worth Texas. The media day for that temple will take place on Monday, November 2, 2026, followed by two days of tours for invited guests. The public is invited to tour that temple between Thursday, November 5, and Saturday, November 21, 2026. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, January 10, 2027, with the presiding apostle TBA. I had hoped that the Fort Worth Texas Temple might be dedicated before the end of this year, but I was clearly mistaken in that theory.

I don't know what that means for the Smithfield Utah Temple. Likely that dedication will occur in 2027, I assume, but we'll have to see. For whatever reason, it appears that the Church may be opting to not schedule any dedications for the month of December going forward, which would make sense so the focus can be on the Savior during the Christmas season. 

I will have to evaluate that and figure out how it may alter the estimates I have previously offered. This dedication has been added to my document showing apostolic temple dedications during President Oaks' prophetic tenure. I am grateful we got this announcement. and llook forward to seeing what the timing is on other upcoming dedications.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Barcelona Spain Temple is set to take place on Saturday, September 19, 2026, under the direction of Elder James W. McConkie III of the Europe Central Area Presidency. This is the second groundbreaking to be set between the August 29 groundbreaking for the Couer d'Alene Idaho Temple and the previously announced October 10 groundbreaking for the Maceio Brazil Temple.

This brings the number of scheduled 2026 temple groundbreakings to 16. Last year, the 16th temple groundbreaking took place on September 25, so I hope we see one or two more groundbreakings set to occur in September to even things out. Time will tell on that hope. I am grateful for this announcement as well. On my blog a little while ago, someone had mentioned that a groundbreaking committee had been formed for this temple, so I knew that the groundbreaking announcement was only a matter of time.

So the Barcelona groundbreaking was on my radar for the near term, as was the announcement of opening arrangements for the Fort Worth Texas Temple, even if said arrangements were on a different timeframe than I had projected. Hopefully we soon hear news of the opening arrangements for the Smithfield Utah Temple, other temple groundbreakings, and more exterior renderings and site location confirmations.

I invite you all to 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. 

Elder Neil L. Andersen Observes His 75th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! Let's get right into the latest apostolic birthday tribute I'm posting. Today's is in honor of Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is celebrating his 75th birthday today. Elder Neil Linden Andersen was born on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen in Logan Utah. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics.

During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children. He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president (assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission) from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

Through the next couple of decades as a Seventy, he served in a wide variety of Church assignments, including as executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West ,Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he also served as the area president).

In 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy (alongside Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who would eventually become Elder Andersen's apostolic seatmate). While serving in that Presidency, he was assigned to preside over the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007). By the time his stewardship switched to the North America Southwest Area (2007-2009), he had gone from being the second-least senior member of that Presidency to being the third-most-senior member. In 2008, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in April) and the release of Senior President Elder Earl C. Tingey (in August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference), Elder Andersen then became the Senior President of the Seventy, a role in which he would only serve for around 8 months.

With the December 2008 death of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference. An interesting bit of trivia is the fact that Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband were all seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy as of August 2007, and they would all go on to be apostolic seatmates, with their apostolic calls occurring in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015 respectively.

Since Elder Andersen's original call as a General Authority Seventy in April 1993, he has given a total of 40 addresses in General Conference (3 of which he gave as a General Authority Seventy, with 2 others given while he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 35 since his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).

Elder Andersen is now the fourth in both seniority and chronological birth order among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ranks seventh among the 15 total apostles in both seniority and birth chronology. I gladly sustain him and each of his 14 apostolic colleagues as prophets, seers, and revelators, and am grateful to have been able to publish this tribute in honor of Elder Andersen's 75th birthday today. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Elder Clark G. Gilbert Will Dedicate the Cody Wyoming Temple

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the Church announced that Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the dedication of the Cody Wyoming Temple. on October 25, 2026 This marks Elder Gilbert's first temple dedication assignment. Elder Gilbert, who was called to the apostleship in February of this year, currently serves on the Missionary Executive Council, and it appears that Elder David A. Bednar has served as Elder Gilbert's apostolic mentor.

This is an interesting development. Elder Gérald Caussé, called to the apostleship in November of last year (a few months before Elder Gilbert) has not yet been assigned to dedicate a temple. But since Elder Gilbert received this assignment, hopefully Elder Caussé's first apostolic temple dedication assignment isn't far behind. I have added this information to my document showing current apostolic temple dedication assignments under President Oaks' prophetic tenure.

Interestingly enough, we still have no word as of yet regarding which apostle will dedicate the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple next Sunday (August 16), or who will rededicate the San Diego California Temple the following Sunday. That kind of makes me wonder if President Oaks will be presiding over either or both of those events. I will keep my eyes open for more details on all of that and will share those details ASAP after I learn about them.

In any case, I am grateful we got this news today. I invite you all to 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.