Additional Thoughts and Observations on the Temple Construction Program of the Church: Part Two—Nelsonian Temple Announcements and Groundbreakings Thus Far

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the second post in this mini-series. This post will address President Nelson's triple focus on announcing new temples, clearing the queue of temples announced during the presidency of his prophetic predecessor, President Thomas S. Monson, and on getting quick approval for a few of the temples he (President Nelson) has announced within the last 19 months since he has become Church President.

First of all, I would be remiss if I failed to note that President Nelson has already set a record of sorts in that respect: he has announced a total of 27 temples in his first 3 General Conferences of the Church, which works out to an average of 9 temples each conference, an average that will go up if I am correct about the number of temples he may announce in October. For a prophet to announce almost 30 new temples before he has been President of the Church for 18 months is unheard of, as far as I know.

And, if he continues the trend of increasing the number of temples he announces each April and October in the same increments he has done so far, I could easily see him having announced a minimum total of 60 new temples before he has served for a total of 3 years (which will occcur in January 2021). With that said, let's take a look at what he has announced every six months in General Conferences thus far, which will be interspersed with thoughts on what he has done thus far to clear the queue.

In April 2018, he announced 7 temples in the following geographical areas (with more specific locations listed as well):

Asia—Bengaluru India
Central America—Managua Nicaragua
Europe East—Russia (exact location TBD)
North America Northeast—Richmond Virginia
Philippines—Cagayan de Oro Philippines
South America South—Salta Argentina
Utah—Layton Utah

As he would go on to explain when he visited Bengaluru India, “Our plans were to announce six new temples at conference time. The Lord told me on the eve of conference: 'Announce a temple in India.'"  He then re-emphasized: "That was the Lord's doing." Some additional observations about this first set of announcements: Prior to April 2018, Nicaragua and Russia had ranked as first and fourth respectively on the April 2017 list of the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence that did not have a temple in any phase. And although none of them have yet had a groundbreaking ceremony, I anticipate that, at minimum, the Bengaluru India, Richmond Virginia, and Layton Utah Temples could all have a groundbreaking within the next year, if not sooner than that.

With those important notes about the significance behind temples announced in April 2018, we can move on to those temple announced in October 2018. The breakdown for those by area is as follows:

Africa West—Lagos Nigeria
Asia—Phnom Penh Cambodia
Asia North—Yigo Guam
Brazil—Salvador Brazil
Caribbean—San Juan Puerto Rico
Europe—Praia Cape Verde
Mexico—Puebla Mexico
North America West—Yuba City California
Pacific—Auckland New Zealand
Philippines—Davao Philippines
North America West—Yuba City California
South America South—Mendoza Argentina
Utah—Washington County Utah

Some important notes on these temples: Per the April 2018 list of the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence that did not have a temple in any phase, Puerto Rico, Cambodia, and Cape Verde ranked as second, seventh, and eighth on that list. And also significant about this set of announced temples (as I will detail more fully later on in this post), 3 of them (Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico) had a groundbreaking occur within less than a year of the time in which they were announced.

Roughly one month after General Conference, the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Temple became both the only temple to have a groundbreaking in 2018, and the second of the 3 temples announced in April 2015 by President Monson to have a groundbreaking. Less than two weeks later, the First Presidency announced the scheduled groundbreaking for the Urdaneta Philippines Temple (that temple had originally been announced in October 2010 by President Monson). And just 8 days later, groundbreaking arrangements were also announced for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, making it the final temple originally announced in April 2015 to have a groundbreaking set.

The two temples would go on to have their groundbreakings 10 days apart, with the Urdaneta Philippines Temple having a groundbreaking on January 16 of this year, and the groundbreaking for the Bangkok Thailand Temple following 10 days later on January 26.  The day after the Urdaneta Philippines Temple groundbreaking, the Church announced the groundbreaking for the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple. Then, on February 1, the Church announced the groundbreakings for the Pocatello Idaho and Yigo Guam Temples. Exactly one week later, the Church also announced the groundbreaking for the Praia Cabo Verde Temple. Then, on March 7, groundbreakings were announced for both the Quito Ecuador and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples.

Of all these groundbreakings, only that for Pocatello Idaho Temple would take place before the April 2019 General Conference, and that temple had its' groundbreaking on March 16. When the April 2019 General Conference rolled around, many (myself included) were anticipating, due to all that had been said about President Nelson's plans to expand the number of temples tenfold, that he would both outline the details and timing of how such a massive increase would be achieved, explain the timing within which those plans would come to fruition, and announce a significant number of new temples to kick that process off.

As a result of only 8 temples being announced in April of 2019, there were many who were disappointed thereby. I also felt that way initially before realizing that the tenfold increase was an ultimate goal rather than an immediate destination towards which the Church was heading. And if, as his apostolic colleagues have repeatedly suggested, President Nelson is going to be leading the Church for the next decade or two, that will be plenty of time to achieve such an overall increase, so it will likely "be done in wisdom and order", since the Lord does not require a man to "run faster or labor harder than he has the strength" to do so.

That aside, the temples announced in April 2019 were for the following geographical areas (and more specific locations):
Asia North—Okinawa Japan
Central America—San Pedro Sula Honduras
Europe—Budapest Hungary
North America Northwest (Merged with the North America West Area on August 1)—Moses Lake Washington
Pacific—Pago Pago American Samoa; Neiafu Tonga
South America South—Antofagasta Chile
Utah—Tooele Valley Utah

Based on the October 2018 list of the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence that do not have a temple in any phase, only American Samoa was on the list, and it ranked fourth thereon. The other significant thing about the announcement of a temple for American Samoa is that such a temple had been originally announced in mid-October 1977. In April 1980, 7 new temples were announced, two of which wound up being built in Papeete Tahiti and Nuku'alofa Tonga. As a result of the announcement of these two temples, the intended American Samoa Temple was relocated to Apia Samoa.

The announcement of a temple to be built in American Samoa (which was made for the second time last April) also marked the second temple a previously-suspended temple announcement was subsequently renewed (the other is the Hartford Connecticut Temple). With that noted, following the April 2019 General Conference, the groundbreakings for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples all took place on Saturday May 4. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Quito Ecuador Temple followed exactly one week later (on May 11), and four weeks after that (on June 8), the groundbreaking for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple was also held.

Roughly 1.5 weeks later, on Monday June 17, we learned about a letter sent out to the Brazilian Saints, which set the groundbreaking for the Belém Brazil Temple, scheduled for exactly two months later (on August 17). It was not until two weeks ago today that an official confirmation of those arrangements, along with an artist's rendering, were provided. And that groundbreaking will have occurred by this time tomorrow. So what does that mean for temple announcements that may occur during the October 2019 General Conference? More on that will be provided in my next post.

That does it for now. 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 all in everything you do.