Recent events and announcements have led me to revise what I feel
will be the most likely timeline prevailing in regards to when future
temple-related events will be announced and scheduled. Based on information found
on Rick Satterfield’s excellent LDS Church Temples website, I have taken yet
another look at the progress that has been made and have felt to revisit my
projections as follows”
(Edits to the rest of this post became necessary on 1/5/17 in
light of new information I received)
Late breaking news posted on the LDS Church Temples website just
today (the 5th) indicates that the Arequipa Peru temple has jumped to the top
spot in terms of near future imminent groundbreakings and an announcement of
such an event is anticipated to happen very shortly. Whether or not that will
coincide in any way with the site announcement and announced groundbreaking
ceremony for the temple in Harare Zimbabwe is anyone's guess. I welcome
thoughts about that very subject.
In light of the new information, I feel safe in predicting that we will very shortly have an announcement of the groundbreaking for the Arequipa Peru temple,whether that is before or coinciding with the Harare site announcement and groundbreaking. Both could be announced before January 15th. The actual groundbreakings for both temples may take place within the same period of time, which has historically been 4-6 weeks following the announcements of such events.
At this point, the two seem to be interchangeable in terms of when things might get started. I could definitely see both taking place before General Conference. I will try to be conservative in this estimate and say we may see these events happen by late February or early March. Given the mere 2 1/2 weeks we saw between the announcement of the groundbreaking for the temple in Winnipeg, which is, to the best of my knowledge, the shortest such period in Church history in which such events have occurred, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of either groundbreaking ceremony happening much sooner than that.
But the general rule I have observed regarding the prevailing timetables in such events seems to be roughly between 4-6 weeks. I welcome feedback on this timetable from those who may feel inclined to give it.
Speaking of Harare, if current plans hold, the temple there may become the first such edifice outside the United States which will have a groundbreaking within less than a year after the temple announcement. If its construction commences at that time, for the very first time in Church history, three temples will simultaneously be undergoing construction on the African continent.
Stay tuned for news of that site announcement and groundbreaking information whenever it happens. In the coming days, we will hear more about such events for Harare and for Arequipa, I am reasonably sure. One thing of which I am 100% certain: You can depend upon hearing from me on what happens there as soon as I can let you know after I hear about it.
And of course, in terms of imminent temple events, we cannot
forget the already-scheduled dedication in Paris France on May 20 and the
rededication on June 4 for the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. That rededication is
anticipated to precede the dedication of Idaho’s next temple in Meridian within
a very short time later.
Speaking of the Meridian Idaho temple, no notable progress has
been made on the construction there since my last post about the imminent
scheduling of future events. However, I still feel strongly
regarding my prediction that a dedication date for the Meridian Idaho Temple is
likely to be announced within the next 3 or 4 months, and the dedication itself
will likely happen in early August.
In Cedar City, no major progress has been reported since I last
ventured my predictions about a completion date there. However, there is still
reason to believe that the dedication could be announced within the next six
months, if not sooner, and might take place in late August or early September.
As I stated last time, Tucson is so close to Cedar City’s level of
completion that they are neck-and-neck in terms of a future completion date.
With no notable progress made since I last posted something like this, it
wouldn’t be surprising to me to see the Tucson and Cedar City dedications
scheduled for around the same time, with an announcement of these events within
6 months and the actual events in late August or early September.
The Jordan River temple has not had any reported progress lately
either. However, with that being said. I am still holding out hope that the
renovation could be completed around August, with the rededication being
announced about a month later and scheduled for either late November or early
December 2017. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if things speed up somehow and
that rededication takes place around the events of the Tucson and Cedar City
temples. Stay tuned for more on that as I learn of it.
In spite of any reassurance to the contrary, I am of the opinion that the delays we have seen in Rome will prevent it from being completed before the Kinshasa temple. Right now the temple interior work is still in progress in Rome. I wouldn’t be surprised if a dedication for Kinshasa was announced during the spring of 2018, with the actual dedication to follow, perhaps sometime in May or June. In Kinshasa right now, the exterior walls are being built.
Meanwhile, mammoth progress has been reported in the renovation of
the Frankfurt Germany Temple of late, but nothing new since my last update.
However, I feel sure that the renovation of Germany’s other temple will be
completed within the same timeframe as that of the Kinshasa dedication. Rome
might be the next one completed, but a dedication might not take place until
August or September, after the annual July recess for General Authorities. That
estimation is me speaking optimistically based on my observation of the
completion progress in Rome.
Concepcion, where building wrap has been attached to the exterior
walls, and where landscaping structures are being added, will likely have a
dedication announcement within the first half of 2018, with the dedication
itself to follow sometime in either August or September, but it wouldn’t
surprise me at all if it was to even precede Rome in that milestone.
The temple in Durban South Africa has not progressed much lately
either. Even though I always anticipated delays in that construction in view of
my mother’s report of the work ethic that prevails in South Africa (she happens
to be a South African native with no small familiarity on this point), I feel
confident that the temple will be completed within a similar time frame to that
which is almost certain for Concepcion. I am therefore predicting that the
announcement for the dedication will be made around the same time as that for
Concepcion and Rome, within the first half of 2018, with the dedication
actually scheduled for August or September as well.
In Winnipeg, where the temple is being built, as I have before
mentioned, to initially serve just the one stake there, no progress has been
reported as of yet above and beyond the groundbreaking. But given the projected
construction window of 20 months, the completion month will likely be somewhere
around August 2018. It appears that temple dedication announcements precede
actual events by a few months. I would therefore expect and am predicting that
the Winnipeg dedication will take place in either late November or else early
December 2018. It wouldn’t surprise me if a similar timeline held true for the
temple in Barranquilla Colombia, which is further along in terms of construction
(walls are currently being poured for the steeple base), but will be a much
larger edifice.
In the meantime, for the first time in doing such predictions, I
feel bold enough to project completion dates for the two temples anticipated to
be completed sometime around 2019. The temple in Fortaleza Brazil had a five
year span between the groundbreaking and the actual commencement of
construction. However, it is progressing rapidly. Recent reports indicate that
the second floor exterior walls have now been poured. This makes it
increasingly more likely that construction will be completed there within the
early months of 2019, with the actual dedication taking place in either April
or perhaps possibly May. This is great to think about. Construction took forever
to get started, and now it is speedily progressing at an astonishing rate.
The Lisbon Portugal temple was the last temple to have a
groundbreaking in 2015. Right now, excavation is well underway for the temple
itself and the adjacent utility building. In the meantime, structural framing
has begun on the on-site meetinghouse. It is amazing to see how all that has
happened in such a short time. Based on that, a similar time frame may be very
likely to prevail as that which I have proposed above for the Fortaleza temple.
It would not surprise me if these two traded spots a couple of times in terms
of future completion. But right now, it seems safe to say that.
Any other temples that may be completed in 2019 have not yet had a
groundbreaking. Based on my observations here, the Church is well on track to
add 4 new operating temples by the end of 2017, and six more in 2018. Two
temples may be rededicated this year, with the only other one currently
undergoing renovation on track to be completed next year. If this happens, it
would almost completely reduce and eliminate any semblance of a backlog in
temple progress, and makes it extraordinarily more likely that many more
temples could be announced within the next two years. The exact number of those
announcements remains to be seen, though I have given my feelings on what I
feel are the most likely and most imminent picks.
Future groundbreakings may be more unpredictable to anticipate
than I originally thought. I look at the groundbreaking in Winnipeg, and it
happened much faster than usual. Zimbabwe, for the reasons outlined above, will
be very historic in terms of what it means for the future of the Church in
Africa.
After the groundbreakings in Peru and Zimbabwe, since I have
followed temple developments very closely lately, I see the next groundbreaking
taking place for the first Haitian temple in Port-au-Prince. I have no reason
to back this up. It’s just how I feel, and we could have the site announcement
and the groundbreaking by spring of next year. This seems especially likely
given the delays I have noted in the construction beginning in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil.
A groundbreaking for Bangkok could happen by the end of 2017 or
the beginning of 2018. For the temple in Rio, I could see any
remaining delays being cleared up and a groundbreaking being announced and
taking place within the first six months of next year. I wouldn't rule out
having that happen sooner, but that's what I feel may happen based on my
observations. The same timetable may prevail for the Abidjan temple. Who knows
how long the currently reported delays in Urdaneta might last. I might venture
to say that the remaining temples (the three others announced last year) might
well have a groundbreaking by or before 2019. Since things are so very
unpredictable and up in the air on this point, anyone’s thoughts on this are
probably more informed than mine may be.
And I’m sure that, given the nature and unpredictability of temple
announcements in terms of potential locations and actual construction
commencement may be such that, by the time any or all of these events happen,
more temples may be announced and have construction started. At this point, I
cannot rule anything out in these terms.
Thanks, as always, for taking time to read and (if you feel so
inclined) respond to this post. It is only thanks to your continued thoughtful
feedback that I am able to fine-tune my predictions. And I will always try to
keep an eye on temple-related progress and will do my best to report that news
and any updates just as soon as I become aware of them, though obviously my
ability to do so will depend entirely on how soon I can hear of such
developments. Thanks again.
