BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Ceremony for the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple; Preliminary Details for the Otavalo Ecuador Temple

Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom just shared this announcement from the First Presidency: a groundbreaking ceremony for the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple, and preliminary details for the Otavalo Ecuador Temple. Let's get right into those updates: The groundbreaking ceremony for the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2026, under the presiding direction of Elder Moises Villanueva.

The groundbreaking announcement for this temple follows its' October 2022 announcement, and its' location and rendering  in mid-December 2024. This latest announced groundbreaking will be the second one set to take place on November 14, the other being the Piura Peru Temple. Given the fact that Piura time is 1 hour ahead of Cuernavaca time year-round, the earlier announced groundbreaking will take place before this newest one in Mexico.

Today's announcement moves down the La Paz Bolivia Temple groundbreaking, and there are now a total of 22 scheduled to occur this year, vs. the 21 we had last year. And there are plenty of Saturdays left in November and December on which the Church could hold other groundbreakings, so we are likely to see more announced to take place before the end of this year.

Let's now move on to the details released about the Otovalo Ecuador Temple, which was just announced at the end of this year.. Before I get into the details, it's worth noting that the temples announced by President Oaks' First Presidency may be further along in the approvals process than their Nelsonian counterparts, which is why we may have this new on the Church's most recently announced temple before we hear about temples that were announced longer ago by President Nelson.

With that in mind, here are the details for the Otavalo Ecuador Temple, per the official news release previously cited: "The Otavalo Ecuador Temple will be built on a 6.05-acre site at the corner of Calle Bolívar and Calle Abya Yala in Otavalo, Imbabura Province, Ecuador. Plans call for a temple of approximately 18,850 square feet."

With the site location and parameters already announced, hopefully a rendering and groundbreaking will follow swiftly. I have updated my list of announced temples for which no official information has been released yet, and I hope that information proves to be helpful to all who view it.  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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Knoxville Tennessee and Smithfield Utah Temples; Groundbreaking Arrangements Set for the La Paz Bolivia and Cincinnatti Ohio Temples

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency just announced the next major temple construction milestones, and they are somewhat significant in that we got two dedications (Knoxville Tennessee and Smitithfield Utah) and two more temple groundbreakings (La Paz Bolivia and Cincinnati Ohio). There's a lot to get into, so let's get right into the details!

We start in Knoxville, where a media day will be held on Monday, January 25, 2027, with VIP/guestt tours the following day. The public open house will run from Wednesday, January 27-Saturday February 13 (excluding the Sundays of January 31 and February 7). The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, March 7, 2027, under the direction of Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This announcement follows the temple's April 2022 announcement,  its late October 2022 site announcement, the mid-December 2022 release of the exterior rendering, and its late January 2024 groundbreaking.

As for Smithfield, the media day will take place on Monday, February 22, 2027, with invited guests touring the temple the next couple of days. The public open house will run from Thursday, February 25, through Saturday, March 27, 2027. The temple dedication will take place on Sunday, April 18, 2027, under the presiding direction of Elder Quentin L. Cook, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This dedication announcement follows the temple's original announcement in April 2021, the site announcement 5 months later, and the rendering released two months after that.

Both of these temple dedications are occurring later than I thought they would, but I'm glad for these announcements in any case. It's also worth noting that, with the Smithfield Utah Temple dedication set, the Church may release the Logan Utah Temple renovation plans at some point following the April 2027 General Conference. And with the Fort Worth dedication in January, Knoxville in March, and Smithfield in April, hopefully, a couple of other dedications might fill in the gaps between the set dedications. It'll be interesting to see how all of that works out.

Let's move on to the groundbreakings: Elder Juan Pabo Villar, South America Northwest Area President, will preside at the groundbreaking for the La Paz Bolivia Temple on Saturday, November 21, 2026. That groundbreaking follows the temple's October 2021 announcement, the late August 2023 site announcement, and its mid-June 2022 groundbreaking. Meanwhile, ground will be broken for the Cincinnati Ohio Temple on Saturday, November 7, 2026, under the direction of Elder Alan T. Phillips of the United States Northeast Area Presidency.

In light of these updates, I have updated my documents showing current apostolic temple dedications/rededications and a side-by-side comparison of temple groundbreakings this year vs. last year. As the latter document shows, we have now officially surpassed the number of temple groundbreakings we saw last year, and, as the document shows, it is 21 (this year) vs. 20 (last year). I still think we might see additional temple groundbreakings this year. 

We've still got one Saturday in November and two or three Saturdays in December on which groundbreakings could be set to occur. As to which or how many other temples might still have ground broken this year, that's harder to say. I will have some ideas about that that I will share with my end-of-third-quarter 2026 report. 

The only other thing to note is that I don't know how soon we might get other temple dedications set. Not for at least a month, I'd wager. But I do think that we can continue to expect these 2:00 PM MDT announcements at least until the time change in November. I appreciate the chance to share these thoughts with you all.

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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data roughly every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, July 26, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 18 Church Presidents (including our current prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks), in addition to updated information on the tenure lengths for each of the 30 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (including current Quorum President, Henry B. Eyring). 

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (with the current First Presidency not even making that list for the next 6 years), the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). The tenure clock on the current groups (the Quorum of the Twelve and the 15 apostles overall) reset when Elder Gilbert was ordained.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the same data for the combined First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to the average ages of each group, plus apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 13 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list.

With these updates being published every 7 weeks, the next one will be provided here on Sunday, September 13. Hopefully, this post is of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask 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.