Several Significant Temple Updates Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am posting in the early hours of this Monday morning to note some significant temple updates that have been reported from locations around the world. I would have gotten to this update sooner, but had some personal & health related issues that prevented me from doing so until now. So let's get right into those updates.

We start first with the Fortaleza Brazil Temple. My last update on that was received on February 1, which was that while exterior cladding continued, the interior was being painted, and ceilings and millwork were being installed. The new information of which I have become aware is that cladding is progressing around the exterior, interior finishes are also progressing, perimeter gardens are being planted, and sod is being laid around the meetinghouse parking area.

This brings me to an interesting thought: Some elements of the current status of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple are similar (if not exactly identical) to some elements an uof the statuses I reported for the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples on January 29 of this year, and a dedication for each of those temples was announced less than a month later (on the final day of February 28).

So it is my theory that the Church could take action to announce the dedication of that temple perhaps within the next few months. What will be interesting to see will be how and if the future dedication of this temple occurs before or after the dedications of both the Rome Italy and Barranquilla Colombia Temples. If any of you have any thoughts in this regard, let me know. I'd love to hear from you in the comments below..

We next turn our attention to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. Though I just barely reported on March 15 that scaffolding and netting had gone up around the temple's exterior, today I learned that while that is still the case, there has been a report that spire framework has been attached to the steeple walls. The last time I could find a report of that nature on any temple from my reports on this blog was when I reported that occurring for the Rome Italy Temple back in 2016.

And it turns out that many temples that were considered as being behind that temple in terms of their progress were dedicated firs, and we are still t. With that in mind, I can see why this temple's dedication is anticipated to be roughly 1.25-1.5 years away. Barring anything unexpected, I don't see that changing, although it is significant that its' estimated completion has moved up quite a bit from where it was.

Moving on now to Durban South Africa, I last reported an update on that temple exactly two weeks ago to the day, at which point I noted that precast concrete panels werere being attached to the exterior, while a ring beam had been poured for the front veranda of the missionary housing facility,  and that driveway curbing was being installed.

The new information I have on this temple shows that while the attachment of precast concrete panels is ongoing, first floor drywall is being hung, and at the missionary housing facility, roof trusses are being set. My mom, a native South African who came to the US on a "short vacation" that kept going until last year when she and my dad were able to visit there, has been kept in the loop about the progress (and at times the lack thereof, which doesn't surprise her) that has been reported on this temple. With that said, unless something unexpected occurs, I don't think the estimate for its' completion will be too far off, and this may be the last temple dedication held next year.

In connection with that, I may or may not have noted previously that the completion estimates for both the Arequipa Peru and Rio de Janeiro Templee have been pushed back to 2020. In the case of the Rio temple, that seems to be because it was determined that that temple would be bigger than originally thought. I still hope to see the Arequipa Peru Temple dedicated in late 2019, but we will have to see what happens.

Aside from these developments, there has been no other temple progress of which I have been able to learn. That does it for this post. Any and all 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 everything you do.