This will be a quick update to report on some developments in temple construction progress. As always, after reading the report and noting the updates I have indicated in red print, I hope any one of you who wants to will feel free to share your thoughts on this post. I look forward to the ongoing discussion of these developments. Thanks!
Temple
Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/29/17)
Current
Temple Status: 155 operating; 4 scheduled for
dedication; 8 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled
for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 9 announced. NOTE: With one groundbreaking
announced already this year, two more have the potential to be announced and
scheduled very soon, and there may be several more groundbreakings than that in
the year ahead.
Dedication
scheduled:
156. Paris France Temple: Inscription gilded over baptistery; finish work underway on interior; dedication
scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.
157. Tucson
Arizona Temple: Exterior lighting tests underway; installation of interior art
glass and millwork nearing completion; president’s home undergoing renovation;
dedication scheduled for Sunday August
13, 2017.
158. Meridian
Idaho Temple: Interior painting and millwork underway; dedication
scheduled for Sunday November 19, 2017.
159. Cedar
City Utah Temple: Installing art glass windows; hanging drywall on interior;
dedication scheduled for Sunday December
10, 2017.
Under Construction:
160. Rome Italy Temple:
Interior work progressing; completion anticipated
sometime between early and mid-2018.
161. Kinshasa
Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building concrete block exterior
walls; roughing in plumbing; completion anticipated sometime between early
and mid-2018.
162. Concepcion Chile
Temple: Exterior cladding going up on north wall; framing the interior walls; completion
anticipated sometime during mid-2018.
163. Durban South
Africa Temple: Applying waterproof mastic to temple foundation; setting concrete
forms for missionary housing exterior walls; completion
anticipated sometime during mid-2018.
164. Barranquilla
Colombia Temple: Exterior concrete walls completed; completion anticipated
sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.
165. Winnipeg Manitoba
Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated
sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.
166. Fortaleza Brazil
Temple: Setting concrete forms for parapet walls; completion
anticipated sometime during 2019.
167. Lisbon Portugal
Temple: Excavation underway for temple; structural framing going up for
meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.
Groundbreaking Scheduled:
168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple:
Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016;
groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday
March 4, 2017.
Rededication Scheduled:
8. Idaho Falls Idaho
Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for
Sunday June 4, 2017.
Undergoing Renovation:
20. Jordan River Utah
Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between early-and-mid 2018.
41. Frankfurt Germany
Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed;
old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early-and mid-2018.
Announced:
169. Arequipa Peru
Temple: Erecting construction
barrier; clearing and leveling site; awaiting groundbreaking announcement;
groundbreaking anticipated in early 2017.
170. Harare Zimbabwe
Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement
anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly
following the site announcement.
171. Port-au-Prince
Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been identified,
though it has yet to be officially verified.
172. Bangkok Thailand
Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE:
As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official
temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office
building may be repurposed to function as a temple, meetinghouse, and office
building under one roof, in a similar fashion to those temples in Hong Kong
China and Manhattan New York. This is most likely to be confirmed sooner rather
than later.
173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning
and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting
official site announcement.
175. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting
official site announcement.
176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting
official site announcement.
177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting
official site announcement.
Key:
Bolded
numbers and text denote temples whose
numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled
dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or
groundbreaking dates.
Italicized
numbers and text denote
temples whose numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications
and groundbreakings are scheduled.
Underlined
numbers and text denote temples whose
numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and
groundbreaking.
Red
text denotes changes from the last posted
temple progress report.
My wife is from Mongolia. We hope for a temple there someday.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that your wife was from Mongolia, Chris. That's awesome! Thanks for sharing that with me. I too hope for a temple in Mongolia someday. I had a very good friend that was in my youth group in my parent's ward that served in the Church's Ulaanbaatar mission. Because of that indirect connection to Mongolia, I had a temple listed there among the many options back when my list of most likely temples was 60+ strong. I still hope that will happen sooner rather than later, but from what I know from my study of Church growth there, it may not be as imminent a possibility as those I have on my list for next general conference. But I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong on this point. I hope it will happen someday, and the Lord could surprise me on this. I will certainly hope for that. In the meantime, you learn something new every day. Thanks, Chris!
ReplyDeleteMy Mission prisdent was a mission prisdent in Mongolia befor he was mission prisdent in Montana, but he talked about Mongolia a handfulof times, one time he talked about how hard it was for the members to make it to the temple, but with the small number of stoung priesthood leadership, it maybe some time before we see one, but there is a need for one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that additional insight, Bryce! I wasn't aware that your missionary service in Montana had been under a man who had served previously as the president of the Mongolian mission. As I have previously mentioned in comments elsewhere on this blog and the LDS Church Growth Blog, a lot of factors are taken into account when determining the feasibility and likelihood of temples worldwide. The number of active Melchizedek Priesthood holders is one such factor. That said, a limited number of such men is by no means a deal breaker. We do have the precedent of the temple that is being built in Winnipeg, which I have been told is being built to initially serve just the one stake, the first time this has happened in Church history in a while, if it indeed has ever happened previously. I know, for instance, that in the early days of the Church, the initial temples that were built that are now either nonexistent or the property of other faiths that trace their origins back to Joseph Smith were built to only serve the one or two stakes that were then in existence. So I could see a similar situation prevailing in Mongolia. Given that there are more Church units in Mongolia than there currently are in Winnipeg (in Mongolia there are 2 stakes and 1 district, which breaks down in individual units as 12 wards and 13 branches; while there is just the one stake in Winnipeg which breaks down into 7 wards and 6 branches), then I could see the Brethren making a decision to build a smaller temple in Mongolia (which would thus obviate the difficulty Mongolian Saints now face in getting to the nearest temple; as they fall under the Hong Kong China Temple district, they have to travel around 759 miles by air to reach it.
ReplyDeleteSome additional thoughts that would not fit in the comment above due to its length: If a small temple is determined to be right for Mongolia, it would be much more easily staffed than the temple in Winnipeg, as there are a fair few more Church units from which workers could be drawn in Mongolia. The priesthood leadership, if it was a problem when your mission president presided over the Mongolian mission, no longer appears to be a problem now. That makes it a better candidate in my mind for a temple than the one being built in Winnipeg. And since Winnipeg has had such a temple announced, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see one in Mongolia very soon. I still don't believe such a temple is more imminently likely than the other sites I have on my more immediate possibilities list, but the Lord moves in mysterious ways and His plan for Mongolia may involve having a temple announced sooner than any of us could ever expect. I have before shared how I always felt there would be temples in Paris France and Payson Utah, but I never believed it would happen in my lifetime, and now the one in Payson has been in operation for almost a year, and the Paris dedication is coming up in less than four months. This is clear evidence from my own experience that temples can and will be announced in places where they are needed when the time is right, regardless of the fact that I might personally feel some places are more likely than others. The three temples announced in April 2015 came as a huge surprise to me, but they are needed where they will be built. We can thus see that just because a Mongolian Temple does not now appear imminent or likely, if the Lord wants one there, it will happen at the time it is needed. That said, I fully respect anyone's right to disagree with me on this point. I guess the shorter response to your comment would have been that I do see your point, but we have seen the Lord inspire the announcement of temples where they are needed and when, and there is a plan and a process He has in mind in allowing those temples to be built and utilized. Mongolia will get a temple at the right time. While I feel it is not as likely as other possibilities, I fully appreciate that others may disagree on this point. At the end of the day, though, that will be up to the Lord. Thanks for the comment. I hope that this reply, such as it is, has been helpful and informative to all who may read it. Those are just some additional thoughts about a Mongolian temple. Thanks for indulging me, and thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the small temples anounced by President Hinkley initially served only one stake or a stake and some districts. But most of them were on areas where the church was established for a long time. Another temple in Kiev Ukraine was announced before the stake was created. But I think the stake was created by the time of the ground breaking.
ReplyDeleteHey, Chris! Hope you don't mind, but the comment system here on my blog keeps duplicating comments I and others made. You had a comment below that was identical to this one to which I am responding. I went ahead and deleted the duplicate. If that's a problem for you, please do let me know. That said, you make a very valid point. I couldn't agree more. That's why I said that the temple in Winnipeg is being built to initially serve just the one stake in that province. There is always a potential for more stakes to be established within that temple district. But the precedent that the Winnipeg temple is establishing is that smaller temples may be initially built to serve a few stakes or less. And so, it is not hard to believe that Mongolia could get a temple soon in view of that precedent. I still feel as though it may be more of a far-distant possibility than one of near future likelihood. But I would love to be proven wrong on this point, and we have the precedent of that happening all too frequently as well. Thanks, Chris!
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