Some Additional Thoughts Regarding the Location of the Southwest Salt Lake Valley Temple Referenced by President Hinckley

Hello again, everyone! As I have waited for other comments to come in this weekend on my coverage of potential temple locations, I wound up doing some additional research about a few locations I have referenced in passing. One of the most intriguing ones that required a fair amount of research was the location of the temple for which President Hinckley had stated in 2005 that land was being held in reserve to serve the Saints of the Salt Lake Valley.

As some of you may know from following the thread of comments on the post I did about the Salt Lake Valley particularly, one comment pointed to the idea that this  land could be located in Bluffdale or Riverton. On the basis of that general location, I dug a little deeper and found this article, which stated that the location of the land was within the boundaries of Bluffdale city.


While the Church has yet to issue a statement on that identification, in digging a little more deeply into the history of the site referenced in that article, it appears that the land in question, which was part of Bluffdale, was the subject of an ownership dispute between Bluffdale and nearby Herriman (as the distance between the two is a mere 6.5 miles). Although the door remains open for Bluffdale to challenge that decision, the result has been that the land in question is now part of Herriman city.

So that means that, if my research is correct, the land referenced in 2005 is now part of Herriman. A temple there does make a lot of sense. Friends of my family relocated to Herriman when the land on which their home in Alpine sat was sold to make room for a housing development. And while I don't know whether or not this was the case in between the years when Herriman was incorporated and when these friends moved there, I do know that in the years since they made the move, Herriman has experienced a boom in its' growth.

With that said, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: In all the research I did to try and figure out the probable location for that temple site that was referenced by President Hinckley almost 13 years ago, even after I discovered the information pointing to Herriman as the likely location of that site, I never once found information from the Church that officially confirms that the site in question is in Herriman, or that such a site is the one President Hinckley referenced. In every article I have found on the subject, the Church has declined to comment on this issue.

So while the site may indeed be in Herriman, until the intent of the Brethren to build a temple in that city is officially announced, the confirmation of the site is only as good as can logically be concluded, and based on information on which the Church has declined to comment in the 11 or so years since the publication of the sources I have explored for this information. With all of that said, I will be watching the Herriman/Bluffdale/Riverton area with great interest, and I will try to pass along anything I discover further that may substantiate this.

In the meantime, this new information does raise some important questions: Is there enough to go on from sources not sanctioned or verified by the Church to put a potential temple for Herriman in the section I have for the Salt Lake Valley? And if the Church confirms at any point that the site in Herriman is the one referenced by President Hinckley 12 years ago and an announcement is made for a temple there, will that in turn impact the likelihood that Tooele will get a temple? It appears the two cities are roughly 38.7 miles apart, so I cannot rule out both getting a temple at some point. Of the two, which might be a more imminent possibility? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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.

Yet Another Update Reported on Construction of Arequipa Peru Temple

Hello again, everyone! While I last reported a status update for the Arequipa Peru Temple just last Friday, when I was double-checking for any additional progress on temples anywhere in the world, I found yet another update had been reported for that temple. So it would appear that things are moving along very well indeed for that temple's construction.

The update shows that temporary windows have been installed to enclose the structure, which will allow for interior work to make progress. Additionally, that temple's steeple framework is currently being assembled as well. With all of this progress that this temple has seen in such a short time, I feel more confident than ever that we will see a dedication for it take place before the end of 2019.

Since there are no other temple updates to report at this time, 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.

Happy New Year 2018

Hello again, everyone, and Happy New Year as we welcome the start of another year (though technically speaking, the time zone off of which my blog operates appears to be an hour behind Utah time). As a Latter-day Saint, one of the things I love about the gospel of Jesus Christ is the opportunity each of us has to repent of those things we have done which are wrong, and to make a resolution that we will do better in the future. All of us are given the regular opportunity to be made worthy again, and to declare anew our resolve to do and to become better to the best of our abilities. So we have as many opportunities as we might need to declare anew our commitment to the process of repenting an changing for the better.

For that reason, each of us who accept the validity of Christ's atonement can, in a very real sense, make goals and commitments which, by the world's definition of them, can be seen as "New Year's resolutions", or as we might more effectively term them, "Renewed Us Resolutions". And while it is up to each of us as individuals and in our families to determine what those changes we need to make should be, the gospel gives us a solid basis upon which each of us are able to effectively go through that process to become the best we can be.

In that regard, I hope that all of us will be able to determine what that process will involve for each of us and our families, and that whether on these New Year's Days or at any other time, we will always find ourselves willing to continue to do so.

That said, with 2017 having ended, I wanted to renew my commitment to all of you that one of my New Year's resolutions which I don't see myself failing to keep is that for my part, I will continue to do my level best to bring you the latest Church news and developments as they occur this year, just as I will be counting on all of you to keep your great comments coming with your responses to the information I share.

With 2017 having been my biggest year for blogging since I started to do so, and with no chance whatsoever that Church or temple news will be slowing down at all during this new year, I will do my level best to continue to stay on top of it all, and to bring you the latest ASAP after I hear about it.

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.