Hello again, everyone! I have again become aware of some additional updates that have been provided within the last 12 hours or so on the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple and the renovation process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. For the former, a panoramic video posted to the Facebook page for the LDS Church Temples site. The work of clearing that site continues at a very steady pace.
Regarding the latter, that same Facebook page shares this article that was published in an Oklahoma City Newspaper. In that article, the Church's Public Affairs representative for that city noted the progress that has been made on that temple's renovation process, and she also said that renovation was anticipated to be completed by April of next year.
With that in mind, I feel fully confident that a rededication for this temple could (and likely will) take place in either June (prior to the annual July recess for the General Authorities) or else in early-to-mid August.
Whatever might occur in that regard, I am doing my level best to stay informed on all temple developments, and I will be sure to pass along any additional updates as I receive them. 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.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Additional Temple Updates
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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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
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Larry Y. Wilson reorganized my stake presidency about a month ago and while he was hear he made several comments about how unbelievably busy the temple department has been since President Nelson became prophet. He also had a quote from Elder Bednar in a meeting with the temple department. In the quote Elder Bednar said that we think of President Hinckley as the temple building prophet but you'd better strap yourself in because President Nelson will build more temples than any other prophet. Because of that I wonder if when the Urdaneta groundbreaking is announced it could actually be part of a big batch of temples to have a groundbreaking announced? Off the top of my head I can think of ten temples (Urdaneta, Second Manila, Bangkok, Bengaluru, Nairobi, Harare, Brasilia, Lima Los Olivos, Saratoga Springs and Pocatello) that have had signs of moving toward a groundbreaking and have not yet. I guess we will find out!
ReplyDeleteOn a different topic, I saw your post on the lds church growth blog saying that you live in the Orem Utah Geneva Heights Stake. I met someone last summer named Glory Thomas who I have lost contact with but think they might have said they were in your stake. Do you happen to know them?
Hello, Megan! Thanks for taking time to comment and share your thoughts. When President Nelson became Church president, he inherited a task of getting 30 temples in various phases closer to their dedications. And there were 12 that had not gone beyond an announcement. While three temples have been scheduled for their dedications, there are still 8 temples that are in various stages of construction which are anticipated to be completed within the next 18-21 months or so.
ReplyDeleteAs I also have noted a few times here on this blog, President Nelson has demonstrated repeatedly that temples will be a high priority of his administration. I cannot say for sure, but I would imagine that President Monson stepping back from an active role in discussions and determinations for the last 8 months of his life may have made it difficult, if not impossible, to get anything decided and approved for the last 10 months of his life.
By comparison, although President Nelson is the second-oldest man to have ever become Church president, he is the most healthy one we have had for a while. And I also mentioned above how a recent meeting of the Temple and Family History Executive Council lasted 3 hours.
In addition, you may or may not have seen Elder Wilson's interview with an Idaho news organization prior to last year's open house for the Idaho Falls Idaho temple, but during that interview (which was given in late April 2017), he noted there were 80 cities on a list of locations that could potentially get a temple within 15 years following that statement.
As I also noted in earlier posts on this blog, President Nelson had not planned on announcing a temple for India in April, but the night before General Conference began, he was impressed to add it to the list.
ReplyDeleteSo we know that President Nelson is very much about taking action in response to revelation from the Lord. With that in mind, I appreciate you sharing what Elder Bednar shared regarding President Nelson's unprecedented status as a tempble builder.
We also know that it is not uncommon at all for the Church to announce two or more groundbreaking ceremonies at the same time. And I looked back into the history of groundbreaking announcements, whereby I was reminded that we have had at least two temple groundbreakings announced during July, a month in which the General Authorities take their annual recess.
So while the two temples I mentioned above top my list of those that could have a groundbreaking by the end of this year, if Elder Bednar is correct that President Nelson is going to build temples en masse, then many of those that you mentioned above may be likely to have a groundbreaking within these last six months of 2018. I had been advised that 2018 and 2019 were going to be big years for temple groundbreakings, and that could still be the case.
In addition to the prospects you mentioned, I would add Nairobi Kenya and Harare Zimbabwe. For Kenya's first temple, a site has been selected, but has not been confirmed. The Kenyan Saints also report that that temple will be on the smaller side, and that it will likely be dedicated sometime in 2021.
For Zimbabwe's first temple, the area president Elder Kevin S. Hamilton, who will be reassigned in August, noted after its' announcement in 2016 that a site announcement and groundbreaking was anticipated in the early months of 2017. We know now that 2017 came and went with nothing happening there. So it seems entirely possible that a groundbreaking could be held for that temple at some point in the near future as well.
And if we are in for a windfall amount of new temple announcements, President Nelson will probably want to do everything he can to decrease and eliminate the backlog and make room for other announcements.
As for the Bengaluru Temple, President Nelson said that he wanted to come back to India to dedicate it, and urged the Saints to hurry and be ready for it so he could do so. That said, there have been other apostles who commented recently that the temples in India and Russia might take a while to build. We will see what happens.
Last year, I did a series of posts on the most likely future prospects, which I plan to do again prior to the October General Conference. Stay tuned for that.
As to your other question, I checked the membership of my stake for a Glory Thomas, and no results were found. But even if she were in the stake, I might not know her. My wife and I moved here almost 3 years ago, and for most of that time, we have been unable to attend Church with any regularity due to extended health issues. So we haven't really had much of a chance to be out and about and getting to know members of our stake. That said, thanks for taking time to comment. I hope the information I have shared is helpful to you.
I owe you an apology, Megan. When I made my comments above, I somehow didn't register that both Zimbabwe and Kenya were among the 10 you mentioned. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteIt is also worth mentioning that a media event was held for Kenya's temple two months after its' announcement. Elder Joseph W. Sitati, our first general authority seventy from Kenya who was serving in the Temple Department, noted that, although there are exceptions, it generally takes the Church 2-3 years from a temple's announcement before a groundbreaking is held. So we will likely not see any temple's that were announced last April having their groundbreakings sooner than next year or the year after. The two possible exceptions to that are Richmond Virginia and Layton Utah. I say that for two reasons: temples in the US generally, and particularly those in Utah, typically get an earlier start than those outside the US. The other reason is that both already have a potential (and perhaps most likely) site identified by the Saints in those cities, although the Church has not yet confirmed that those are the sites in question. Again, I hope this information is helpful to you, and thanks again for commenting.
I always look forward to any temple news. It is always exciting.
ReplyDeleteHello, Chris! It is always great to hear from you. Thanks for commenting. If the statement from Elder Bednar that Megan referenced is any indication, we are likely to see a windfall of announcements relating to temples in the next several years, both in terms of dedications, renovations and rededications, and new temple announcements and groundbreakings.
ReplyDeleteIf President Nelson does wind up having more impact on the number of temples worldwide than President Hinckley did, we may be entering a new phase of Church history when there are those kind of temple announcements on an ongoing and regular basis.
A couple of things will, of course, factor into President Nelson's ability to accomplish that, namely his age and his health. I have previously mentioned that President Nelson is both the second-oldest man to ever take the mantle of Church leadership, and also would, as a former heart surgeon, know how to take care of himself. With that in mind, it does not seem far-fetched or unreasonable to believe that President Nelson will at least be around longe enough to become the first centenarian apostle and Church president, which will occur just over 6 years from now. And if what we have heard from many sources about President Nelson's love for temples and plans to again expand the number of them worldwide are any indication, we are certainly in for a season we have not experienced up to now, and may or may not experience again for a while.
President Hinckley took the Church from 47 operating temples to 128 in various phases by the time of his death in 2008. As I have also mentioned, there has been every reason recently to believe that the Church can and likely will have a minimum of 200 operating temples by the 200th anniversary of the Church's reestablishment. And if Elder Wilson's statement is any indication, then the Church could have around 260 temples in various phases of construction by late April 2032. Depending on what happens between now and then, that number could even be bigger than that by that time, and that is amazing to think about. Thanks again for commenting, Chris!
I heard today how busy the Provo City Center Temple baptistry is some nights. They are open until 9pm but generally make sure everyone there by 815pm goes and does some. There are often more people than the small room you wait in facing the font that they have to set up seating outside of that room behind the back glass, and often won't finish until 11pm.
ReplyDeleteThere is somewhere an old prophecy that temples will be operating 24/7, cannot remember the citation of the source, but Elder Cook said minutes before President Nelson announced what he did that the underlying family history work is growing 'and will only accelerate', and the FamilySearch partnerships with Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc., has already thrown gas on what was an already growing fire when it comes to records you can find online now, that could well be a driving force for the new temples.
One downside, Provo City Center's district includes ten YSA stakes, that means high turnover of workers so at times workers in one area have to go up to work in another briefly, we constantly in my ward only blocks away from it have to ask in priesthood meeting for more to see the bishop about serving there.
James Anderson, thank you for taking time to comment. I can indirectly relate to what you said about the baptistery at the Provo City Center Temple.
ReplyDeleteIn the six years within which I worked at the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, I was consistently amazed at the monumental level of activity we saw every week on Friday night. Patrons waiting to get into the endowment sessions would sometimes fill the chapel, the marriage waiting room, and any available hall space between the temple's entrance and the endowment rooms.
I have also previously referenced the fact that we had one particular week where some 115 or 120 patrons were waiting for the endowment session to begin near the end of our day. Some conversation took place between the temple leadership and the city fire marshal, who happened to be among those waiting. Although the group could have been divided into two final sessions, since seating that many in a single room would generally be a fire hazard, it was determined that, in this one case, it would not be harmful or dangerous to get them all into a single session. So that's what occurred in one case that I can personally attest to. On that day, I did not return home until 11:00 PM or midnight.
I recall the prophecy about temples someday operating round the clock. On some occasions, I have heard of times when the Mount Timpanogos Temple baptistry was as busy as you have described with Provo City Center. The peak of activity occurred from Friday when the temple opened to Saturday when it closed, and during the summer, the baptistery workers were all short-handed. Scenarios like that may be what has led the First Presidency to allow priests to baptize and young women to assist in the dressing rooms (as a former temple worker, I remember my supervisors and the temple presidency impressing on us to not think of those as "locker rooms", which they said has a more worldly connotation.
If family history work is increasing as you have described, then it is no surprise that more temples have been announced, or that more are coming. I know when I worked with the Church's extraction program (which has since been switched over to indexing) that most people went into the program not feeling confident about their participation, but all came out of it talking about the blessings they had received through that participation.
I would imagine that with the two Provo temples being as busy as they are, and with the knowledge that the Mount Timpanogos Temple also remaining busy, that is part of what motivated the announcement of the one in Saratoga Springs. I cannot be too sure of this, but with the stakes in Lehi, Eagle Mountain, and Saratoga Springs being served by the temple in SS, once that one is dedicated, there may be a slight redistricting of the other three temples. Once that happens, I could specifically see some (if not all) of the stakes in Orem being placed back within the Mount Timpanogos Temple district. But even then, if the two Provo temples are really that busy, the answer may be for the Church to build a temple in Orem, which would further split districts and enable the activity to be more evenly dispersed. It will be interesting to see what happens there.
I also understand the problem of having a shortage of temple workers. We were always consistently understaffed during my six years of service.
With everything I knew before participating in the discussion on this thread, and in combining that with what has been shared here, I really do believe that several dozen more temples will be needed in the near future.
With that in mind, I may need to expand my list of prospects for the near future. I am still very committed to publishing the next iteration of my series discussing those prospects, and I am sure that there will be several more prospects added to the list in the course of those discussions. Thanks again, James Anderson, for taking time to comment, and hope these additional thoughts are helpful to you.
I truly want to believe and see come true the statement given above to strap in and be ready for more temples. I hope that is a true statement. I can see Pres Nelson being that energetic and having a new massive building time.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my wife and the thought came that I wonder if part of the plan in renovating so many of the small temples right now, if some of it isn't to figure out some of the issues with the current small temple designs and make those changes necessary before the next massive building term comes.
At least this is partly my hope that they are gearing up for something big and exciting.
Thanks for commenting, Kenny! You make excellent points. Sister Wendy Nelson has previously commented on the fact that her husband comes home every day looking younger and more vigorous than when he left that same morning, and we also saw her state that when President Nelson was on his world tour in April, she looked at him, and he appeared 20-30 years younger than his biological 93 years of age, which is a direct fulfillment of the Lord's promise that He will sanctify the spirits of those who serve Him to the renewal of their bodies.
ReplyDeleteAnd in addition, his Brethren in the Twelve are consistently commenting that they have tried and are failing to keep up with him. So because he is so vigorous, and may continue to be so for a long time, and since the main comment I hear from the apostles and other general Church leaders about President Nelson is that he has unprecedented plans for the temple program of the Church, it is entirely more likely than not that we may be seeing a new era of temple building that even goes beyond Elder Wilson's April 2017 statement. What would be really amazing to me is if, by the end of President Nelson's prophetic tenure, the number of temples in any phase is 300 strong or more than that. Based on the course of this conversation, I might need to expand my list of prospective locations for the near future.
And I also am more convinced than ever that we may be entering an era where new temples are announced every six months in General Conference, with perhaps several in between those events.
Since President Nelson's first batch of those announcements included 7 locations, which is the second-highest number of new temples ever to be announced at once, I would not be shocked if 5-7 new ones are announced in each General Conference and if at times 2-4 are announced in between. Think about how quickly the number of temples would swell. It's a staggering, wonderful thought. Thanks again for taking time to comment, Kenny. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Orem may be a candidate. Probably Heber city, Toole, and s few more in the Salt Lake Valley, including the Southwest proposed temple. I feel s second temple in Cache Valley will come in the next few years as well. More temples around the world may include Paupa New Guinea, Mongolia(I hope because my wife is from there), Puerto Rico, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and many other places.
ReplyDeleteHello again, Chris! Thanks for taking time to comment. I don't know if you saw this, but in a post I published earlier this month, I kicked off my next iteration of the series regarding immediate future prospective temple locations that could (and possibly will) be announced in the near future. I have both Heber City and Tooele on my list.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you saw this or not, but I did a post a while ago in which I shared information I had found, which indicated that the Southwest Salt Lake Valley Temple site had been within the boundaries of Bluffdale, but was subsequently transferred to Herriman, and the two cities have since disputed ownership of that parcel for the last several years. But my research indicates that the plot in question is currently in Herriman. Of course, it will be up to President Nelson or one of his successors to positively indicate that a temple built in Herriman is the one referenced by President Hinckley, but for the moment, it appears to be within the city boundaries of Herriman. I have a few Cache Valley candidates on one of the two lists for the future, but I'd have to look back and see which ones they are. In the meantime, with the Church planning to build a temple in Layton, the Church may or may not opt to wait to announce another one for Cache Valley until that one is further along. But if we are entering an unprecedented period of new temples being announced, that prospect may be more imminent than my research currently leads me to believe.
Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico and Sierra Leone were all on my list for a potential announcement in October, with all but Puerto Rico having been on my list for a while now.
In that earlier discussion on this blog, someone had mentioned Mongolia, a possibility I will certainly be looking into further when I get to the Asia Area in this next round of posts about such prospects. But I cannot deny there are merits to the idea of a temple there, so I will likely be adding that one to my list (barring anything unexpected).
I am not sure what to think in terms of Liberia's prospects. As of about two weeks ago, Liberia had 4 stakes and 1 district. But I have found other locations within the Africa West Area that might potentially be in greater need of a temple, which I will go into more in the still unknown number of posts which I will do on that area when I get to it. Perhaps there is a stronger case in favor of a Liberian Temple than my recent research shows. I will take a look at it for sure. Thanks, as always, Chris, for taking time to comment.
Chris, one other thing I forgot to mention to you and any others reading this comment who are interested in doing so: The link to the post I did to kick off the newest iteration of the temples which I feel are most likely to be announced in the near future. That link follows below. For any that want to make comments on that post or any others in that series that I will be publishing before the end of September, I have an open commenting period until then. The link follows below:
ReplyDeletehttp://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2018/07/october-2018-temple-site-possibilities.html
It is also worth mentioning that in view of what has been discussed on this thread and elsewhere, I will likely be making a lot of additions and revisions to the list as it is while the feedback on such prospects continue.
If we are really in for a windfall of temple announcements and construction, then of course there will be candidates on my other two lists that I will likely move to the list for October. Stay tuned for that, and thanks again.