Hello again, everyone! Multiple breaking developments have been reported on temples within the last several hours. and I am pleased to bring those to you all in this, my 1700th post on this blog. Firstly, President Nelson's time in Auckland has come to a close, and, among other things, he confirmed that the land held in reserve in Auckland will be the spot for that temple. No artist's rendering or groundbreaking information has been released. But the site confirmation gives me hope that will soon be the case.
The Church News additionally reports additional information regarding President Nelson's time in Auckland, in addition to a report on how Australians are already responding to President Nelson's invitations he offered them a few days ago. If that were the only news to report today, that would be significant enough in nature to warrant rejoicing.
But the First Presidency also announced information on the open houses and respective rededication/dedication for the Asuncion Paraguay and Arequipa Peru Temples. In Paraguay, the open house will be held for one week between the Saturdays of October 12 and 19, with the exception of Sunday October 13.
The temple's single-session private rededication will follow on Sunday November 3 at 10:00 am. While there is no indication as to who will preside at that event, the temple will reopen to patrons on Tuesday November 12. For the Arequipa Peru Temple, its' open house will run for just over two weeks, occuring between Friday November 15 and Saturday November 30.
A youth devotional will be held on Saturday December 14, with the dedication of the temple being held the following day, Sunday December 15, in 3 sessions. Both the youth devotional and the dedicatory sessions for that temple will be broadcast by satellite to meetinghouses throughout the new temple district. The temple will open for ordinance work on Thursday December 19.
I have to say that I was anticipating President Nelson would visit the site for the Auckland Temple, but wasn't sure he would confirm its' location. Likewise, I was anticipating the dedication information being announced for the Arequipa Peru Temple, but was pleasantly surprised by the announcement of the rededication information for the Asuncion Paraugay Temple. I had heard that might be coming, but wasn't sure it would be announced so soon.
It appears that some of you may have already commented on some of these developments in the threads of another post. If that is the case, I thank you for those contributions and will address them later this afternoon. In the meantime, it is my hope that, with so many other dedications and rededications announced lately, the next several sets of temple-related announcements will be for groundbreakings.
It also appeears more likely than not that the Durban South Africa Temple's dedication will be one of the first temple events in 2020. While there is a part of me that hopes something might happen sooner than that for that temple, until further notice, that is my assumption. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive them.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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 alll in everything you do.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
1700th Blog Post: BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Confirms Auckland Temple Site; Announces Open Houses; Dedication for Arequipa Peru Temple; Rededication for the Asuncion Paraguay 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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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.
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Hello again, everyone! I should perhaps have also mentioned above that the rededication of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple in November will precede that of the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple by two weeks, which marks the second time this year a newly-announced temple event precedes one already scheduled. The first such case, as some of you may recall, was when the dedication of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple was set to occur two weeks prior to the previously-announced rededication for the Oakland California Temple. I should perhaps have also mentioned that it is possible that the Durban South Africa Temple dedication could be set to occur on the last Sunday of this year, but at the moment, it seems more likely that the open house will occur before the end of this year and that the dedication will be deferred until early-to-mid January. Stay tuned for more on that as I find out more.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, two other Church News articles have been published. In the first, Boyd Matheson looks at the most meaningful lessons from President Nelson's Pacific Ministry Tour thus far:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-05-21/pacific-tour-president-nelson-boyd-matheson-49921
And the Church News also described how Latter-day Saints in Washington State brough the gift of music back to their counterparts in Paradise California following the devastating fire that swept that region last year:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-05-21/how-a-donation-of-more-than-250-instruments-is-blessing-paradise-fire-victims-49918
My thanks once again to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Renovation plans for The St George temple were announced today. The new Annex portion looks more like the rest of the temple, among other updates and changes.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris, for commenting on that. For those curious about the details, you can find those at the following web addresses:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-05-22/st-george-utah-temple-renovations-plans-renderings-49934
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-shares-renovation-plans-st-george-utah-temple
These sources noted senior leaders were in attendance. While their identities were not specified, I gather that at least Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, our apostle born and raised in St. George, was there, along with Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, also born in St. George, and representatives from the temple department.
Meanwhile, both the Church News and the Newsroom also covered President Nelson's visit to Fiji:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-05-22/pacific-tour-president-nelson-fiji-49929
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-pacific-ministry-2019-fiji
Additionally, for the first time in his apostolic ministry, President Ballard (whom the news release incorrectly identified as President rather than Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve) recently visited India, during which time he and his companions ministered to Saints in 3 different cities.
Two interesting takeaways from that: President Ballard remarked on how his wife's recent passing had him more committed to minister as an apostle until they could be together again, and Bishop Dean M. Davies of the Presiding Bishopric mentioned that the Church hoped to release the site location and rendering for the Bengaluru Temple by the end of this year:
https://www.mormonnewsroom.in/article/apostle-m--russell-ballard-teaches-and-inspires-on-his-first-visit-to-india
So that is something to look forward to. My thanks again to you, Chris, and to all the rest of you as well, for your ongoing interest and support.
Hello again, everyone! I wanted to mention here that I was watching the 5:00 PM newscast on KSL when they covered the St. George Temple renovation plans. The on-location reporter mentioned that the leaders had also talked about the Washington County Utah Temple, for which more details would be coming in the following newscast. Though nothing has been reported of that nature during the first half-hour at 6:00, it is anticipated to be a top story for the 6:30 newscast. I will post more as that report is shared. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOkay. KSL just ran the report in question, which included a note on the Washington County Utah Temple. Church leaders have reported that the Washington County temple is not anticipated to be completed before the St. George Temple reopens in mid-to-late 2022. But the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and Presiding Bishopric are looking over several temple items and will be acting on them by making formal announcements once some more details are ironed out. Hope this information is helpful to all who read it.
ReplyDeleteHello again, everyone! In just a few minutes, I will be publishing the reworked "Groundbreaking anticipated" and "Annouonced" sections of my temple construction progress report. But before I do so, there are a few other temple updates on which I wanted to focus a comment here. At the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, lettering for the "Holiness to the Lord" inscription stone has been guilded. the monument sign has been installed, and the meetinghouse extension is progressing. Although I have mentioned this before, it bears repeating: After the First Presidency announcement pushing the dedication for this temple back by roughly 3.5 months, it has made very consistent and steady progress, which is encouraging.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, at the Arequipa Peru Temple (which had its' dedication arrangements announced just yesterday), art glass windows are being installed, and interior finish work is progressing. Just another reminder here that there may be a chance, however slight, that the Durban South Africa could be dedicated on the last Sunday of this year. It will be interesting to see whether or not that occurs.
And while steel roof decking is still being installed for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, the roof for the adjacent meetinghouse is now fully in place. Yet another update has been reported for the Pocatello Idaho Temple, where concrete forms are being poured for the foundation footings. with work to connect the sewer system lines is also underway.
I am grateful to see the day-to-day (and sometimes hour-by-hour) updates which are provided so easily relating to temples. I continue to monitor all such dvelopments as well as important Church news items, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it. My thanks again to you all.
Tough job you're good at it congrats on the 1700th post!! Good work
ReplyDeleteThank you, William. I am fortunate enough to be able to type 60-80 words per minute on average (unless taking a typying spped test), so if I have all of my research and sources in an easily accesible place, I can usually churn out each new post in a matter of a few minutes. But the acceleration of things for the Church (to which President Nelson has made reference) in terms of general Church news and temple developments will certainly make this a real challenge going forward. But it is one I will gladly embrance. Thanks also for your interest and feedback. It is greatly appreciated.
DeleteAlso just a note on the 2 NZ temples, I wonder why the Holiness to the Lord, House of the Lord inscription on the Hamilton temple is only in English. Native Maori church members have been the strength of the church in Nz since founding in that country and have a very very rich history with the church. Why isn't the inscription in both the Maori language and also English? It would be awesome and pay homage to the people who built up the church in NZs history. Maori is also 1 of 2 official languages in NZ, I wish the Auckland NZ temple will have this too. I see this on the Tahiti temple both French and the native language are present there and I'm sure many more temple over the world follow this trend.
ReplyDeleteThank you also for this additional comment, William. It appears that an internet search for the predominant language of New Zealand yields a return result of English, then New Zealand Sign Language, then Maori. I know that in some recent cases where the Church has renovated any of the older temples, the goal is to pay homage to the roots of the Church and its' history in such places. I have not verified this, but since Elder Renlund gave the dedicatory prayer for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple in French, I wouldn't be shocked to find out that the "Holiness to the Lord" inscription stone features both English and french. And I gather that the Fortaleza Brazil Temple will have that inscription in English and either or both Spanish and Portuguese.
DeleteWith that in mind, it appears that one purpose of the renovations for the older temples of the Church is to restore or establish things that the original designs, for whatever reason, overlooked. I therefore believe that, as part of the renovation process, the Hamilton Temple may include that inscription in the Maori language.
By extension, I assume the same would be true for the Auckland Temple, whenever that one is built. I have one other thought on this as well: At the time the Hamilton New Zealand Temple was dedicated, it could have been designed without taking into account the legacy of Elder Matthew Cowley, who is now recognized in Church history as "the apostle to the Maoris." But so much more has been done within the last 2-3 decades in terms of finding and collecting Church history accounts and historical artifacts and documents. So perhaps part of the renovation process will be a redoing of the inscription stone. I can't say for sure it will happen that way, but the Church seems to recognize the significance of such things now on a higher and more complete level than ever before. That is primarily because more material putting context into such developments is now available. These are just some thoughts from me, for what they might be worth in this case. Either way, I will be interesetd to see whether the dedication of the Auckland Temple following its' construction and the rededication of the Hamilton Temple will happen within the same year.
Either way, I would anticipate we may be entering unprecedented territory in terms of future temple events. I look forward to seeing what's next. Thank you so much, William, for taking time to comment..