Hello again, everyone! As indicated by the Church of Jesus Christ Temples webpage for the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple, the groundbreaking for that temple has been confirmed. This confirmation has not yet been posted on the main English edition of the Newsroom on the Church's website, but was posted 4 days ago on the edition of the Newsroom for Ghana. I imagine therefore that the confirmation from the main newsroom will occur within the next few days. The ceremony is set to occur on November 8, 2018, at 10:00 AM Ivory Coast time (which is 4:00 AM on the same day here in Utah)..
It is nice to have this confirmed. From the image of this temple, it appears to be a smaller one, which may take between 18-24 months to construct. For that reason, I will be adding a potential initial completion estimate for that temple to my report, and I will set it to mid-to-late 2020.
I also wanted to note as well that I do not yet have any additional word on anything else upcoming in terms of future temple groundbreakings, but if President Nelson felt impressed to announce 19 temples this year, then I am sure he will likewise be putting into place something to enable temples to move more swiftly from announcement to groundbreaking to dedication.
And it would not surprise me if all of the temples currently announced (with the definite exception of Bangkok Thailand and Pocatello Idaho, and the possible exception of 2-3 others), were to be on that smaller side. Some will certainly need to be larger, but if the Church can do so, I believe that the most feasible option would be to rapidly build a bunch of smaller temples.
From what we also know (in view of recent developments) at least the Nairobi Kenya Temple, for which land has been selected but not yet publicly identified, that temple is anticipated to be dedicated at some point in 2021. So that one is almost sure to have a groundbreaking within the next 6-8 months if not sooner. I continue to monitor all such developments and will post word of them here as they are disclosed.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post, at any time. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Monday, October 8, 2018
BREAKING NEWS: Groundbreaking Confirmed for Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple
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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Great news! I wonder if it may become more common to announce a groundbreaking on a different country's newsroom page before it is published on the main page. That would make sense if it was decided to do so.
ReplyDeleteI'm still amazed from all the temple announcements yesterday! That is a total of 19 announced this year and a total of 201 temples worldwide. That is incredible! I feel there are many more to come. It is exciting to see it unfold.
Hello, Eric! Thanks for taking time to comment. Many people had said before General Conference that since 7 temples were announced, none would likely be over this last weekend. But given the increased number of statements from Church leaders about the plans for temples, we have no idea of what's coming. It makes sense that the local Saints would be notified of a temple groundbreaking in their area before the Church at large is.
ReplyDeleteWith the temples announced this year, President Nelson's administration now holds the record for both the first- and third-highest number of temples announced on a single occasion. The now second-highest number occurred during President Hinckley's administration.
That is, of course, not counting the 30 or more announced by President Hinckley between the late 1990s and early 2000s. That instance is not part of the consideration because when President Hinckley announced the largest number of temples over the pulpit, he indicated that official location announcements would come later.
So 19 temples being announced in a single year, for which all but 2 have had an official city identified (those two being Russia and Washington County) is something that has not been seen before. I am convinced that this hasn't happened to this scale before primarily because President Nelson is healthier now than any Church President has ever been, for the last 20 years or longer. And his determination to get right to work is very admirable.
To go from 102 operating temples by the end of 2000 to 201 temples in various phases before the end of 2018 is tremendous. And, as noted previously, there are other temples for which I assume we will hear news about a groundbreaking in the not-too-distant future as well. Thanks again, Eric, for taking time to comment.
As per mormonnewsroom.org: "The previous largest number of temples announced on a single day was April 1, 1981, when nine temples were announced." That would be under President Spencer W. Kimball, not President Hinckley.
ReplyDeletecoachodeeps, thank you for your attention to my errors. You are correct. Those 9 were indeed under the administration of President Kimball, not President Hinckley, as I noted above, and it also happened to be before President Hinckley was first even in the First Presidency. President Hinckley's call to serve the highest Quorum in the Church would actually not come for over 3.5 months following that April 1981 announcement of the nine temples. I really didn't read that article very carefully. Just goes to prove I need to reread things I post for accuracy before I actually submit them. I greatly appreciate this correction as well and thank you for catching it. And I am one of the first to gladly own up to how imperfect my efforts for accuracy can be at times. I have been more unwell over the last couple of weeks than I was before, so that has also impacted my normal attention to those kind of mistakes. Thank you again, coach.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed some other similarities between yesterday's announcements and those back in April in addition to the one you mentioned, James.
ReplyDelete-Both April (Salta) and October (Mendoza) had a temple announced for Argentina. Both of these temples were actually the first ones announced in each group. In addition, both of the future temple districts of the two are currently part of the Cordoba Temple district.
- A temple in the Philippines was announced in Cagayan de Oro (April) and Davao (October). Both of these cities are on the same island, too. Going back to one set of announcements earlier in April of 2017 by President Monson, a temple was announced for the Greater Manila area. So that is three in a row for the Philippines.
- Two temples announced in the contiguous United States. Richmond and Layton in April and Yuba City and somewhere in Washington County in October. Like with the Philippines, extending back to April 2017 gives us another two: Pocatello and Saratoga Springs.
- Two in Utah: Layton (April) and Washington County (October). Likewise a third in a row going back to April 2017 with Saratoga Springs.
- The one you mentioned of the two that have no specific city announced yet: Russia (April) and Washington County (October).
Thank you, Eric, for this additional comment. All of those points are correct. But if you look at this further, there is something else intriguing. In April 2015, the temples announced (Abidjan Ivory Coast, Bangkok Thailand, and Port-au-Prince Haiti) were listed in alphabetical order by the name of the city in which they were announced, as was the case for those announced in April 2017. The April 2016 announcements didn't conform to any pattern I can see. But all of the 19 temples announced this year (in each of the two General Conferences), were listed in alphabetical order according to the nation in which they were announced (with the exception of Russia, for which a city is not currently known).
ReplyDeleteBut no matter the patterns, the important thing is that President Nelson is demonstrating an overwhelming understanding of how much members have to sacrifice to reach temples, and a desire to get right into working on whatever remains on the list of 80 locations referenced late in April 2017 by Elder Wilson.
And that will no doubt include looking at how to move the remaining 31 locations more quickly to groundbreaking, which would also apply equally to locations which will have a temple announced in future General Conferences. Thanks, Eric, for taking time to comment.
James, I know you served in the Mount Time temple. A bit of history is that it was originally announced Utah County trmple. Much like the new one in Washington county. I am excited to learn where it will be.
ReplyDeleteI meant Mount Timp. Autocorrect.
DeleteHello again, Chris! Thank you for taking time to comment. No worries about the typo. I hate all automatic features on both computers and phones. That's why I have disabled that capability on my personal devices.
ReplyDeleteGiven that I was not yet 6 when the temple was announced, and that I was not yet 10 when it was dedicated (though I remember attending the dedication in my chapel), I was not aware of that history. And given the fact that I began serving in that temple roughly 9.5 years after it was dedicated, I would not have recalled that fact, even if I had known about it. In response to the post I did on this blog on Sunday about the most likely location in which the Washington County Temple could be built, a couple of recent comments point to the notion that Washington City may be the best location for it. You can read more about that in that thread. But suffice it to say, the argument put forth by two other readers is compelling in favor of Washington City.
Either way, I am grateful that President Nelson is demonstrating an understanding of the hardships people worldwide experience to get to their assigned temple, and that, to alleviate those issues, 19 temples have been announced this year alone.
I am also grateful that the groundbreaking for the Abidjan temple has been confirmed through the Ghana edition of the Newsroom on the Church's website. That unexpected development gives me hope that we could perhaps see one or two other groundbreakings or otherwise have construction begin on other temples before the end of this year.
Whenever I have a chance to catch my breath from the influx and breadth of Church and temple news coming as a result of the General Conference weekend we just experienced, I hope (among other things) to be able to reevaluate my thoughts about the more specific timing for future temple events. Stay tuned for that, and thanks, as always, for taking time to comment, Chris!