Hello again, everyone! In dealing with my personal crises (as I mentioned in my last post), it slipped my mind that today was the last day for the Meridian Idaho Temple Open House. After tours conclude tonight, the temple will undergo an additional week of preparation prior to the cultural celebration one week from today, and the dedication the day after that. As previously mentioned, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf will be the one presiding at next week's events, and I imagine that Elder David A. Bednar, who is the apostle junior to President Uchtdorf and who, because of his ties to Idaho, presided at the groundbreaking, will be accompanying him. And I imagine that, at very least, Elder Ulisses Soares will be in attendance as well, as he presides over the business of the Church in the Idaho area, and that at least one representative from the Church's Temple Department will also be in attendance, along with perhaps a member of the Presiding Bishopric, as the Temple Department and the Presiding Bishopric both have different roles working with temples undergoing the construction process.
Additionally, I also wanted to note that the Cedar City Utah Temple is entering its final week of tours, which will end on the same day that the cultural celebration takes place in Meridian. A few weeks of preparation will follow, culminating in the cultural celebration (to be held on Saturday December 9) and the dedication the day after that. Utah temple dedications are always widely attended by Church leaders, and I anticipate that this dedication will be no different.
Next, I wanted to report that, if, as I suspect will be the case, the Church will have a minimum of 200 temples in operation by or before the 200th anniversary of the Church's reestablishment, 43 temples will additionally need to be dedicated within the next 12.40 years between today and Saturday April 6, 2030 (which would include 18 new temples that would need to be announced, in addition to being completed during that same amount of time). That works out to just under 3.5 temples per year between now and then.
So, how might that happen? As I have mentioned elsewhere, if the Church stays on track between now and then, there will be, of course, the 2 dedicated during the remainder of this year, 3 or 4 the next year, and 6 or 7 the year after that, And if, as I suspect, several other temples have a groundbreaking within the next two years, then the odds are very good that the Church will continue to complete an average of 3 or 4 temples per year.
Additionally, as I have also mentioned, Elder Larry Y. Wilson stated in late April of this year that the Church was actively considering the feasibility of 80 locations for a future announcement within the 15 years after that. If we assume that no other temples are announced before next General Conference, then the Church would only have 14 years to announce those 80, assuming Elder Wilson is taken at his word, and also understanding that while many (or even most) of these locations may indeed go on to an announcement, some will be replaced with more feasible locations (either one or many, as has been the case previously) and new locations will be added as well, some of which may go on to an announcement and be built while others are stalled in various stages.
So what does all of this mean? The Church will end this year having 159 temples in operation. By the end of 2018, that number will increase to either 162 (most likely) or possibly 163. In 2019, all going well, that number will jump to 169 by the of the year. By the time the Church marks its 190th birthday, there could be a minimum of 170 temples, leaving the Church to complete the remaining 30 in the next 10 years that follow, or just about 3 a year.
It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of that progress. And whatever might occur, you can depend on hearing the latest from me as soon as I can make that happen. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Open House for the Meridian Idaho Temple Concludes Today/Other Notable Developments
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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