Hello again, everyone! Less than 24 hours after the release of the rendering and site information for the Mendoza Argentina Temple, more breaking temple news has been shared. In n totally unexpected development as far as the timing of both the announcement and the event itself are concerned, an exterior rendering has been released and a groundbreaking date announced for the temple in my current city of residence, Orem Utah. The rendering shows the 70,000-foot 3-story temple with a tall single-spire design.
Although many of the community leaders here told the Church they'd prefer an angel Moroni on the temple, with the Church acknowledging that not all temples being built have that statue, it appears that this temple will not have one either. The groundbreaking has been set to occur on Saturday September 5, 3 weeks after the groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple. Elder Craig C. Chirstensen, who will continue as Utah Area President following the other changes in area leadership becoming effective on August 1. Attendance at the temple site will be by invitation only. It appears that, given current COVID-19 restrictions here in northern Utah County, the groundbreaking will be a private event, not broadcast by the internet to Church buildings or being featured on social media or anywhere else, though I imagine that a video of the proceedings in their entirety will be available in due course.
Having noted all of that, a couple of additional comments from me here: I said earlier that the timing of the Orem Utah Temple groundbreaking announcement and scheduling was unexpected. I said that because for a while now, it appeared that the next Utah temples to have a groundbreaking would be the Tooele Valley, Washington County, and Taylorsville Utah Temples.
Clearly I was mistaken in that respect, but I'm not necessarily surprised about that, as I have been mistaken about plenty of things in the recent past. That will continue to be the case. But I am hopeful that the Church might soon announce groundbreakings for at least two of those 3 other temples in the next short while.
There is also one other thing that surprises me with respect to the timing of this announcement and the scheduling of this event itself. That surprise comes by way of the text under the headline of the Newsroom announcement. The text in question reads as follows: "Orem Utah Temple designated as the Church's 190th temple worldwide." So, first of all, the announced timing of the groundbreaking for this temple would make it currently and tentatively numbered the 186th temple of the Church.
The size of the temple, which is comparable to that of the Layton, Tooele Valley, and Washington County Temples, suggests that construction could take between 2-3 years, which means it would wrap up at some point in late 2023-early 2024 or so. Above and beyond those observastions, however, insofar as I am aware, the Church is not in the habit of giving a temple a designated number before construction begins, or even generally until construction wraps up. That suggests to me that the Orem Utah Temple will be built on a very definitive schedule, one that may see other temples with groundbreakings yet-to-be-announced have a construction process that will be swifter than what is going to be done for the Orem Utah Temple.
That idea is not necessarily a shocker, since we know that plans currently call for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple to be built on an accelerated schedule to help with temple activity while the iconic Salt Lake Temple remains closed until 2024 for renovation. As I said, the shocking part to me is that the Church has given this temple a designated number which does not, at the present time, appear to be accurate. I am hopeful that that means that the Church is working on the factors that have delayed the construction for the Puebla Mexico and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples, in addition to factors that will allow other temples that may have a groundbreaking either just before or just after that of this temple to move ahead of it in the construction queue. I will also note here that I had been hoping that a groundbreaking announcement for one or more of the Utah temples would be coming down the pike, but again, the fact that it is Orem first and in early September is surprising to me.
One thing is very clear to me: there are going to be unprecedented developments in terms of temple construction in the days ahead. That has been true thus far this year, and it will be even more true going forward. For my part, I continue to monitor any and all such developments and will bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such things.
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.
Hello again, everyone! In previous posts, I have mused about what the Church will need to do in order to break ground for all 18 temples mentioned by Elder Bednar in General Conference nearly 3 months ago. With the announcement of the groundbreaking for the Orem Utah Temple, the total number of temples that will have had a groundbreaking in 2020 by the end of the day on Saturday September 5 is 7 out of those 18.
ReplyDeleteAs I also previously mentioned, barring anything unexpected, I do not anticipate the Church holding any temple groundbreakings on the Saturday of the October 2020 General Conference. It is also possible that no groundbreakings will be conducted during the last two weeks of the year (which surround Christmas and New Year's celebrations worldwide). What is less clear is whether or not the Church might conduct any groundbreakings on either of the two Saturdays in November that are before and after Thanksgiving Day (which most of the world will observe this year on Thursday November 26).
If we take those 4 or 5 Saturdays out of the calculations, and assuming no other temples have groundbreakings scheduled on any of the Saturdays between the July 18 for Feather River, the August 15 for Salta Argentina, and the September 5 date for Orem Utah, then that leaves 12 remaining Saturdays in 2020 (give or take one or two) in which the Church could break ground on the reamining 11 temples before the end of this year.
That said, I cannot completely rule out the possibility that for days on which groundbreakings have been scheduled to occur, the Church could break ground for more than one temple. It is also possible that, given the amount of available area presidency members, along with members of the Presidency of the Seventy and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to other GA Seventies (including those serving in the Temple Department), the Church does not have a shortage of options of those that could be sent out to break ground for temples.
There are also several smaller temples for which approvals may be more swiftly granted that could be plugged into the schedule unexpectedly as well. Hope these additional thoughts are helpful. My thanks once again to you all for your continuned interest and ongoing support.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has shared a report indicating that missionaries serving in Mexico's Pacific coastal cities (which, by definition, includes the following: Acapulco, Ensenada, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Salina Cruz, and Tijuana) are safe following a massive earthquke measuring a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-06-24/mexico-earthquake-oaxaca-missionaries-safe-187566
And just over 2 months before Elder and Sister Rasband address the young adults of the Church in a worldwide devotional (which is set to originate from the Sacred Grove on Sunday September 13, and which will focus on discussing the principles and doctrines taught by the First Vision itself, and within the text of the Church's newest official proclamation: "The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World"), Elder and Sister Rasband have issued two invitations to young adults:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-06-24/elder-rasband-face-to-face-september-invitation-bicentennial-proclamation-187526
The two invitations are specifically as follows: First, please submit any questions you may have on the First Vision itself or about the Proclamation honoring that sacred advent. Second, ponder the First Vision and the words of the proclmation with a specific question in mind: How does the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ help me in the midst of current world circumstances? Follow-up on those thoughts by sharing your answers on social media.
Although this was not specifically stated, I imgaine that Elder and Sister Rasband could have also said that those who prepare for the Face-to-Face event by following through on the two invitations in question, in similarity to what happened with the April 2020 General Conference, the Face-to-Face event will not just be memorable, but unforgetable for all who participate therein.
My thanks once again to you all.