Hello again, everyone! Two big days of temple developments in a row have occurred. Just yesterday, the open house and dedication information were announced for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple. Then this morning, the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site reported the release of the artist's rendering for the Alabang Philippines Temple. I could not find that confirmed anywhere in new content posted on the Church's official Headquarters Newsroom or the Philippines edition thereof. But a little more digging on my part led me to realize that an earlier release from the Philippines Newsroom had been updated to show the rendering for that temple in question.
The really confusing thing is that, while the rendering was included in that article at some point earlier today, there was nothing on that Philippines Newsroom release to indicate that the rendering had been added thereunto today. Above and beyond that, however, after my analysis of the Alabang Philippines Temple rendering, I believe some elements thereof are reminiscent of the temples in Port-au-Prince Haiti and Kinshasa DR Congo, but I will defer to the analysis of others on the degree to which that is the case.
In the meantime, I have recently offered updates on my more specific estimates for known temple events in the near future, and I don't see this new information altering the estimate I have most-recently offered for the Alabang Philippines Temple. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive them. 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.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Artist's Rendering Released for the Alabang Philippines 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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The design of the Alabang Philippines Temple appears to be an adaptation of the Urdaneta Philippines Temple design. The Urdaneta temple has a rounded look to its corners while Alabang is more squared with a long pyramidal spire. I don't know if we will see a news release for this rendering on the Church's newsroom website. The Public Affairs office in the Philippines chose to release it on its Facebook page instead.
ReplyDeleteHello, Rick, and thank you for taking time to comment, and for what you said about the design. As someone who directly tracks such things, I'd certainly trust your assessment in that respect. I could see the Church using a similar floor plan for Alabang as they are doing for Urdaneta, and if that happens, then I'd anticipate that construction on the Alabang temple will probably wrap up sometime in 2022, as I had projected.
DeleteIt is interesting indeed also to see the way the Church releases information differently in different scenarios. I know that in some instances, area presidencies have a wide degree of discretion regarding information related to their areas. In other cases, a general note on the specific country Newsroom may do the trick, and in still other cases, reports are more widely available on the main Newsroom page or through the Church News website.
And it appears that no two scenarios in that respect are ever handled in the same manner. In this case, not only was the Philippines Newsroom release on the groundbreaking updated with the picture, but, for the benefit of my readers, I can now also confirm that the original release announcing the groundbreakings for that temple and the temples in Richmond and Layton has been updated with the rendering as well. As of the time at which this comment is published here, there has been no added note to any available release noting that the artist's rendering was released today.
In fact, although I assume it will be updated at some point in the next few days, the original release on the groundbreakings for those temples now includes the released rendering for that temple below the information about its' name and its' groundbreaking, and then, just before talking about the arrangements for Layton, it says, "An artistic rendering has not been released."
So I think that is an example of someone forgetting to update that sentence in the release, and to note that it has been updated, even though the updated information is clearly visible:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/groundbreaking-dates-richmond-alabang-layton
To make a lengthy reply short (too late!), I hope this additional information is helpful to all my readers, and, as always, Rick, I'd like to thank you for sharing those insights with us here. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Hello again, everyone! This just in from the Newsroom: Due to the continued deterioration of the economic situation in Liberia that led the Church to reduce its' missionary force in that nation earlier this month, a subsequent statement issued today by Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff notes that the Church is temporarily removing all remaining 99 missionaries from that nation. The updated statement can be found where the original one was published:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/missionaries-liberia-february-2020
Please note that, although the date at the top of that article is still the original date on which the first statement was issued, right below the article title is that newest statement, which does have today's date associated therewith.
Some additional thoughts: The Newsroom also published an article today that confirms beyond any doubt that Elder Ronald A. Rasband will indeed preside over the entire weekend of dedicatory events for the Durban South Africa Temple, so I am pleased to provide the web address for that confirmation:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-rasband-prepares-for-temple-dedication-in-south-africa
Also, what I mentioned in my previous comment above about how the article on the groundbreaking arrangements for the Richmond, Alabang, and Layton Temples now shows the rendering for Alabang, but still says that "an artist's rendering has not yet been released", remains unchanged, but hopefully that update will be made soon. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.
Hello again, everyone! The following additional Church News stories have been published, and all of them speak for themselves:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-02-13/elder-rasband-unique-preparation-dedicate-durban-south-africa-temple-174089
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-02-13/gospel-living-app-children-and-youth-173892
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-02-13/lds-woman-idaho-philippines-love-service-volcano-evacuees-174348
My thanks once again to you all.
Also, in the link to my updated temple construction progress report (which I had shared in my post above), I have since also added a couple more temple updates, most notably on the Washington D.C. and Salt Lake Temples, and those updates are now reflected in the above link. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of them. Thanks again, everyone!
ReplyDeleteHello again, everyone! The latest edition of “This Week on Social” has been published:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-02-14/this-week-on-social-apostles-church-loneliness-south-africa-174476
This week, all posts featured were from currently-serving apostles, including the following Brethren: Church President Russell M. Nelson, Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Quentin L. Cook, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald A. Rasband and Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (from the latter two of whom two posts each were shared).
And the Presiding Bishopric (Bishops Gerald Causee, Dean M. Davies, W. Christopher Waddell) sat down for an unprecedented interview with the Church News and Deseret News, wherein they more fully detailed how the tithes and offerings are distributed and used:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-02-14/lds-mormon-church-finances-tithing-investments-presiding-bishopric-174443
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/use-of-the-lords-sacred-funds
My thanks once again to you all.
And the Newsroom has continued to cover Elder Soares' ministry visit to the Central American Area:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-soares-costa-rica
I also have some temple tidbits to share, but will be determining in the next short while here whether to do so in a new comment on this thread or to publish them in a new post later tonight. I will come to a decision on that ASAP and will act accordingly. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! I posted the temple tidbits to which I referred in my above comment in the comments section of my newest post, which discusses the latest apostolic statistics. Hope that information is helpful to you all.
DeleteOne thing I find every interesting is that so.many of the newer temples are not having Moroni statues on them. Alabang, India, Thailand, and many others. I understand the cultural designs but am still surprised.
ReplyDeleteHey, Kenny! Thanks for taking time to comment. I have a few thoughts about the lack of an angel Moroni on some temples. First, in cases like what we saw in Port-au-Prince Haiti and Kinshasa DR Congo, the reasoning behind no angel had more to do with the socioeconomic situation of the nations of Haiti and the DR Congo, and with the fact that it would send the wrong message in such locales to have a statue of a high market value in those places, where some conditions of poverty exist.
DeleteAnd for Yigo, Praia, and San Juan, it may have more to do with styllistic simplicity, and the idea that those designs could be approved by those govrnemnts a lot easier. And given the fact that we have since learned that all of those temples will have multipurpose spaces, it makes sense that a simplified interior and exterior look would be utilized.
And I have previously voiced my opinion that what we have seen with Yigo, Praia, and San Juan are test cases for what most temples built during the Nelsonian era will look like. There will, of course, be exceptions to that, with Richmond, Layton, Alabang, and Auckland among those that will be coming down the pike, and also temples that arje even smaller in size than Yigo, Praia, and San Juan. But the three "test cases", if that's what they turn out to be, may be the new face of temples of that size that are announced by President Nelson for the time being. As I noted in my reply to one of my own earlier comments aboe yours, Kenny, I had mentioned that I had published some additional analysis on the latest temple updates in another post on this blog, so I'd invite you, Kenny, and anyone else here who may be interested in doing so, to read that additional analysis in that other post. In the meantime, as always, thanks for taking tiem to comment here. I too look forward to seeing what happens with temple building over the next little while, and particularly to whatever might be coming down the pike for temple construction during the April 2020 General Conference. Thanks again, Kenny!