Some Thoughts About Temple Progress (and the Most Likely Location for the Washington County Temple)

Hello again, everyone! Given the announcement around 2.5 hours ago of 12 new temples, I thought I would provide some updated thoughts about temple progress. Among other things, I will be discussing the timing within which some of the 30 announced temples might have a groundbreaking, and also share some thoughts about the most likely location for the temple announced in Washington County.

Let's jump right in. First, the Church could (and likely will soon) confirm the November 8, 2018 groundbreaking for the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple. If we do not soon hear an announcement on the groundbreaking fro the Urdaneta Philippines Temple, that temple could begin full-scale construction without a formal groundbreaking (although the last temple for which that happened was the Paris France Temple, the contractor and his equipment are already on site for the Urdaneta Philippines Temple, where a construction barrier has been erected. So either there is a lot of preliminary work to do before the temple has a formal groundbreaking, or there will be no groundbreaking, and construction will merely commence.

The Pocatello Idaho and Saratoga Springs Utah Temples both seem to be a lock to have groundbreakings occur within the first six months of next year, if not sooner. We may not hear anything about a groundbreaking for the Bangkok Thailand Temple for the next little while, unless and until the one building remaining on site is both vacated and razed.

I additionally am anticipating that, within the next 15 months, as we learn more, the Lima Peru Los Olivos, Nairobi Kenya, Brasilia Brazil, Greater Manila Philippines, Harare Zimbabwe, Layton Utah, and Richmond Virginia temples could each have a groundbreaking as well. If that occurs for each of these temples, that trims the list of those that have not had construction begin yet from 31 down to 19.

And if reports (which indicate that the Church has hired and will continue to hire additional personnel for the temple department), then the Church could very easily go from a current backlog of 31 down to 7 or less within the course of the next couple of years. Within that same time, I would also anticipate that other massive series of additional new temples could be announced as well.

As I observed in my previous post, there are now 201 temples of the Church in various stages of the construction process. If all but one of those were to be operating by that time  (which would enable the Church to reach the milestone of 200 operating temples), since 159 are currently in operation, only 41 others would need to be completed in the 11.5 years between today and the bicentennial anniversary of the Church's reestablishment (which is set to occur on Saturday April 6, 2030).

Of those 41, 11 are currently under construction, and 1 soon will be (if the Church confirms the information about the planned groundbreaking for the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple). So if we subtract that total of 12, only 19 more would need to begin and finish with the construction process during that 11.5 years.That means, as long as 2-3 temples begin construction each year, there is no scenario in which the Church would be unlikely to have 200 operating temples by that date. And I would personally anticipate that there will likely be far more than that around that time, if all continues to go well.

In the meantime, I also wanted to pass along some information I have drawn up about the most likely location for the Washington County Utah Temple, which is 1 of the 12 temples that were announced today. I am figuring that the Church would want to build it in a main city (rather than one of the more urban or rural locales). I first measured the distance from Cedar City to St. George, cut that distance roughly in half, and used the resulting mileage (26.1) to try and find the most likely prospect. Here's the information I compiled:

Potential locations for Washington County Temple (optimal goal is half-way between St. George and Cedar City, which would be a distance of 26.1 miles)

Hurricane (18.4 miles from St. George; 36.9 miles from Cedar City)

La Verkin (20.7 miles from St. George; 38.1 miles from Cedar City)

Toquerville (23.2 miles from St. George; 34.6 miles from Cedar City)

I can see each of these locations as a worthy prospect. The biggest merit of the first (Hurricane), in my mind, is that, if memory serves me correctly, some of my more-distant-but-still-extended family members live there. The Church has also periodically built a temple in places that are hard to pronounce (along the lines of Quetzeltenango Guatemala, a city of which President Monson, in talking of the planned dedication for that temple, quipped "Don't spell it!"

But of the three major cities, Toquerville comes in as nearest to the average mileage distance between the temples in Cedar City and St. George, which may make that city a shoo-in. Perhaps, however, the Church would look to a smaller or less prominent locality as the prospective place for this temple.

Either way, if the announcement of 19 temples during 2018 tells us anything, it is that President Nelson will get right down to business in terms of new temple announcements, and that if the currently-announced temples are, in a similar vein, able to have construction begin and progress swiftly, we are indeed in for a windfall or landslide of temple announcements, perhaps on more than one occasion, in the near future.

Whatever happens in that regard, you can certainly count on my passing such news along as I become aware of it. Stay tuned for those developments, which I continue to monitor on an ongoing basis. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson Announces A Record 12 New Temples

Hello again, everyone! As was anticipated, President Russell M. Nelson closed the conference by announcing his plans to rapidly increase and expand the number of temples (which will be done by , and, that in order to do so, pioneer-generation temples would be renovated. 12 new temples were announced for Mendoza Argentina; Salvador Brazil; Yuba City, California; Phnom Pehn, Cambodia; Praia Cape Verde; Yigo Guam; Puebla Mexico; Auckland New Zealand; Lagos Nigeria; Davao Philippines; San Juan Puerto Rico; and Washington County Utah. This brings the total number of temples in any phase to a whopping 201.

Let me just interject a couple of personal observations here: I had Salvador Brazil, Phnom Pehn Cambodia, Praia Cape Verde, Puebla Mexico, Auckland New Zealand, Lagos Nigeria, Davao Philippines, and San Juan Puerto Rico as exact locations for temples on one of my three lists (Cambodia was my top pick for Asia before I replaced it with one for Mongolia, but I am glad the Lord confirmed my justification of the original choice). I had long felt that Lagos was the top pick for the second Nigerian temple, and I am grateful the Lord verified that. Similarly, Salvador Brazil, Praia Cape Verde, Puebla Mexico, Auckland New Zealand, and Davao Philippines have all been on my list for a while.

He also mentioned that many "Pioneer-generation temples", including the one in Salt Lake City, will be closing for significant upgrades, repairs, and renovations, with details to be announced soon. That means that the weekly Thursday meeting of the apostles will need to take place in another temple nearby. And we will hopefully learn more about which particular temples will be renovated soon, and about the specifics relating to But the announcement of the 12 temples was wonderful. It means that, unless something happens to stall any of these temples, each of them could be under construction within the next 4-5 years. And it also means that, unless there are massive delays in clearing the backlog of the now 31 announced temples, the Church will almost definitely have at least 200 temples in operation by April 6, 2030, as there are 201 in various phases as of today.

With all of that in mind, the next several years will surely be full of temple events. To the best of my ability, I will continue to monitor all such news and will pass word of it along to you all as I receive it. In the meantime, we are sure to hear more details about future temple renovations in the near future, including that for the Salt Lake Temple. I was likewise intrigued today by the fact that President Henry B. Eyring only addressed the general Church membership at the beginning of the Sunday Afternoon Session. This marked the first time (insofar as I am aware) in which a counselor in the First Presidency spoke during the Sunday Afternoon Session. Could that also be a new tradition? We will have to see.

I hope that these thoughts, such as they have been, are helpful to you. 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.

General Conference Update: President Nelson Reemphasizes Accurate Usage of Church's Name

Hello again, everyone! While no major new announcements have been made since yesterday morning, President Nelson focused his remarks in the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference on providing more information about the statement he released a couple of months ago, in which he reemphasized proper usage of the name of the Church.

The Newsroom section on the Church's official website shared this article which highlighted some of the things he said. The article speaks for itself, so I won't add anything personally. But I did want to note that President Henry B. Eyring has not yet given an address to the Church during the general sessions of this General Conference. He did speak during the Women's Session, and was asked to present changes in Church leadership during the session before that, but has not spoken otherwise. With one session left, I imagine he will speak at some point during the final session.

In the meantime, while it is still unknown whether or not we will learn more about President Nelson's temple-building plans, it appears that at least a few temples may be announced. And at least one will be, as I confirmed through the Church of Jesus Christ Temples Site. Another unknown is if anything else will be announced, which is possible. We earlier heard rumors of something changing in terms of the Church's missionary efforts. But if such a change were in the works, then I imagine at least one member of the Missionary Executive Council would have been held in reserve to detail those changes. And all four apostles serving on that council (Elders Uchtdorf, Christofferson, Andersen, and Soares) have already spoken to us.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what unfolds over the course of the last session. If any breaking news occurs, I will be sure to pass word of it along to you all as I hear of it. 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.