Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now to note that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple was held earlier today. Contrary to what I had supposed, it turns out that ceremony was held not at 10:00 AM, but rather at 3:00 PM Peruvian time, which was 2:00 PM here in Utah. The news release I cited above not only notes the remarks that were given by the members of the South America Northwest Area Presidency, but also gave a glimpse at some of the other Church, government, or civic leaders who were in attendance at the ceremony.
According to the article, construction on the temple is projected to take roughly 36 months (around 3 years) to complete. So unless delays occur to push that back, or if construction proceeds ahead of schedule, it seems safe to assume that the temple's dedication is likely to either be held in mid-June or in August or September 2022. I have no way to verify this will occur, but it is my hope that full-scale construction efforts can get underway for that temple within this next week.
Likewise, I am hoping that, since both the Quito Ecuador and Bangkok Thailand Temples finally got out of their "Construction pending" status this week, that this next week will also see the commencement of full-scale construction for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples at some point this upcoming week as well. It is also my fervet hope that we may hear an official announcement within the next 3 weeks or so of additional temple groundbreakings being set to occur in August or September, along with the announcement of the open house and dedication arrangements for the Durban South Africa Temple.
Based on my analysis of the latest information on that temple, the dedication could either be set to occur during the final Sunday of this year, or on the second Sunday in January of next year. In view of all the recently reported temple developments, I will likely probably have to revisit my estimates for known temple events at some point within the next couple of weeks. And in the interim, I will be publishing a new post within the next 12 hours or less to highlight President Ballard's next apostolic nonagenarian milestone, and will also have a report on the Nelsons and Uchtdorfs' visit to Florida within the next 36 hours or so, as that coverage becomes available.
Looking ahead to the next week or so, I will also be publishing a tribute to Elder Bednar one week from today (which willl mark his 67th birthday), and both my latest apostolic milestone updates and a report on the rededication for the Oakland California Temple next Sunday. I will also, of course, be publishing new content to cover any major Church news or temple developments, or will leave comments about more minor updates in the threads for exisiting posts as I receive word of such things.
It promises to be a very busy remainder of the month for me as far as publishing new content, but I will certainly try to keep abreast of it all, to the best of my ability. In the meantime, just a reminder that I will continue to accept feedback on my latest list of prospective locations for which a temple may be announced during the upcoming October 2019 General Conference, and that open commenting period remains in effect until Monday September 30, at which point I will need to make any final adjustments to the list prior to that General Conference, which will occur the following weekend.
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 inf 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 all in everything you do.
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Groundbreaking Held for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple Today
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.
9 comments:
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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Hello again, everyone! In the hours that have followed since I published the post above, the main Newsroom has shared a much better English version of the article about the temple groundbreaking. You can find that article at the following web address:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/ground-is-broken-for-peru-s-fourth-temple
I should also perhaps mention what I assume is an oversight. The article as written includes the following sentence, which I quote verbatim: "Countries in the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple District, include Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela." The five nations mentioned therein comprise the South America Northwest Area, and, barring anything totally unexpected, I do not see the Lima Peru los Olivos Temple serving parts of all 5 nations in that area.
With that being said, I am grateful to have been able to share this latest development here. My thanks once again to you all.
The temples are a blessing for those who participate, in Chile, more people from the north, south and center of the country attend, than from the city of Santiago itself, which is where the first temple was built.
ReplyDeleteI went to sessions in the 90s and early 2000s with very low attendance, today I am not a member.
Omar Valenzuela Escobar
Santiago de Chile
Omar, thank you for this additional comment, which served to provide some insight into temple attendance in Chile. The entire South American continent has been a place for the Church to prosper for around a half-century at least, if not longer than that. I know that during the early 2000s, there had been some issues in Chile relating to the growth of the Church in that nation, which I assume is one of the many considerations that led the First Presidency to send Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to live in and preside over what was then the Chile Area of the Church for a two-year period. If my memory serves me correctly, as Elder Holland filled that assignment between 2002 and 2004, his ministry focused on measures to address those issues. And since that time, Chile has seen impressive Church growth, as evidenced by the new missions, stakes, and districts which have been established in that nation between then and now, and also with the announcement of the Concepcion Chile Temple, which was just dedicated last October. And of course, as we saw two months ago in General Conference, Chile's third temple will be built in Antofagasta.
ReplyDeleteI fully anticipate that, within the next decade (but certainly sooner if all goes well), at least 2-4 additional new temples could potentially be annnounced in Chile as well. I will be particularly intrigued to learn the location, design, size, and construction time-frame for the Antofagasta Chile Temple.
With all of that said, I did want to mention one other thing: I have heard about far too many people who, for one reason or another, opt to leave the Church, but who cannot then leave it alone, doing anything they can to tear down the faith of others. Unfortunately, that is all too common. The fact that you, Omar, are no longer a member of the Church but are still speaking positively of it and its' impact on people, says volumes about the integrity of your character. Omar, while I don't exactly know what it was that led to you not being a member of the Church any more, I hope that someday you might be able to rejoin and again enjoy all the blessings the gospel has to offer. Again, thank you for taking time to comment, and please feel free to share any additional feedback you have for me, as often as you may want to do so. I hope that the content I publish here is having a positive influence on the lives of both members of the Curch and friends of other faiths or of no faith whatsoever. If that can be the case, then my efforts in that respect will be more than enough reward for me. Again, Omar, thank you for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you.
James:
DeleteI thank you for taking the time to answer my comments, not only with me you see your dedication and love for the gospel.
I am excommunicated as I have pointed out since January 2001 for homosexuality, I served mission in Colombia Bogota Norte (1994-1996), I kept a testimony of the church despite it and I faithfully attended until 5 years ago, today I DO NOT have a testimony and I do not believe In the Church, however, I value and respect the good things in it and I criticize from my experience, since I met the Church in 1990 and investigated a year before I was baptized.
Thanks for keeping up with the news
A hug
Omar Valenzuela Escobar
Santiago, Chile
Omar, I thank you for taking time to comment, and for trusting me (and everyone else here) with those details. I know that there are a lot of people who have been negatively, and in some ways, irreversably impacted by some of the Church's prior policies relating to that subject. I know that my own brother is among those, having married someone whose brother is among that community.
DeleteI know that some have seen those policies as unfairly harsh, which is one of many reasons I was pleased to see the Church take action in that respect right before General Conference last April. For anyone wishing to review my coverage on that topic, you can find it at the following web address on this blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2019/04/some-thoughts-about-general-conference.html
In the meantime, I am grateful to you, Omar, for your kind words about the content I have published here. I have had a lifelong love of the Church, and have had numerous experiences which have both challenged and strenghthened my faith. This blog is one of the best ways I know how to share my testimony on a regular basis, and if the things I publish here have positively impoacted just one person, I will count my efforts as a resounding success.
And I'd like to assure all who are interested that I have some major content coming on this blog over the next few days, so be on the lookout for that as I am able to make it happen. My thanks again to you, Omar, and to all the rest of you for your ongoing interest and support.
James:
ReplyDeleteI ran across this quote that is found in Sister Sheri Dew's biography of President Nelson, and wanted to share it with you.
“The only buildings that are absolutely essential are temples. Stake centers and chapels are a luxury”—President Nelson
As President of the Quorum of the Twelve, President Nelson encouraged frequent conversation with his Brethren about the “imbalance between what we are doing as a church and what we must do” as he described it.
Those who drive by or enter Latter-day Saints chapels see beautiful landscaping, nice parking lots, and handsome buildings with basketball courts inside. And yet most of the pole of the earth live in China, India, and the Middle East- areas where billions live stacked on top of each other, wall to wall.
“One question we’ve wrestled with,” President Nelson said, “is how to take the gospel in its simple purity and the ordinances with their eternal efficacy to all of God’s children without having basketball hoops get in the way. We are accustomed to a church that is supported at home but accomplished in the chapels. We need a complete turnaround, where we have a home-centered church supported by what takes place inside our buildings. The only buildings that are absolutely essential are temples. Stake centers and chapels are a luxury.”
“This imbalance is on our worry list—high on the list. One Muslim man said it this way, ‘When your Christianity is simple enough that I can take it on the back of a camel, I will be interested.’ Faith, repentance, baptism, the endowment, and the sealing ordinance are essential. Everything you’ll see happening in the Church from this point forward will be in that direction.” —President Nelson
Taken from Sheri Dew’s bio of President Nelson
https://deseretbook.com/p/insights-from-a-prophets-life-russell-m-nelson-by-sheri-dew?ref=Top%2015%20Bestsellers-1&variant_id=172666-hardcover
Michael
Hello again, Michael. Thanks for stopping by to comment, and for sharing the quote. It has been widely circulated on this blog and elsewhere, and I appreciate you reiterating it here. President Nelson has made it clear from the get-go that he will highly prioritize temple construction during his prophetic administration. And he has already done so beautifully by speaking frequently on the topic of temple worship, and by announcing 27 new temples within his first 3 General Conferences as Church President.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I know that some (including myself) have been anticipating a dramatic and significantly substantial increase in the overall number of temples within a short amount of time. But I also know that the Lord has always counseled His people not to run faster or labor harder than we have strength to do so. And for that reason, subsequent research on my part has verified that the ten-fold increase in the overall number of temples as desired by President Nelson will be done in an intentional, rasonable, and rational way. In other words, perhaps a dramatic increase is the endgame goal, rather than the next stop on the road to something even more significant.
With everything I have seen verifying that President Nelson will be aroound for at least the next decade or two, but perhaps longer than that, if his intention is to accomplish that goal within the remainder of his life, than that will be done in a logical, reasonable, and judicious way. For that reason, at least for the next couple of years as other necessary pieces fall into place, I believe new temples will continue to be announced every six months at an increased number (in other words, with the 8 temples announced last go-round as a reasonable increase to the 7 announced in April 2018, and with the number of temples announced next October building on the dozen new temples which were announced last October). That is why I have projected that 12-16 new temples will be announced during the next General Conference, as that seems to be a logical incremental increase.
And that would, in turn, enable to gaol of an ultimate ten-fold increase in the total number of temples by the time President Nelson's prophetic administration concludes. Of course, I can only speak in terms of the results of my own research and study on this matter, so anyone who reads these thoughts is free to draw their own conclusion. In the meantime, thank you again, Michael, for taking time to comment and for again sharing that quote here. Lots to think about in the days ahead.
Has anyone else received an invitation from the church (or heard of others who have) asking them to participate in a survey? [through Qualtrics of course] The survey questions asked things like what is your calling, how often do you attend church, how often does your family pray together, how often does your family read scriptures together, etc.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of surveys like that being done, so I was curious if anyone had any intel about what that was being used for :)
Very curious...
Hello, and thanks for the question. It is not all that uncommon for religious organizations (including and especially the Church) to periodically check in on the manner in and level to which recommended practices are working. Often, that is done with the intention of being able to more completely and fully address any issues that the members are facing on a larger scale.
DeleteAs President Nelson noted in April 2018: "Good inspiration is based on good information". Plus those kinds of surveys can often identify challenges the members are having in their lives. That said, I do know that generally when such surveys are sent out, the responses usually remain anonymous. Just a few observations from me about this, for what they may be worth to you. Thanks for the question.