BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Exterior Rendering Released and Groundbreaking Announced for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple; Claiification Provided on Tooele Valley Utah Temple Referendum

Hello again, everyone! I had recently noted that the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple was anticipated to be the next temple outside the United States to have a groundbreaking. Today, the First Presidency confirmed that theory with the release of the exterior rendering for that temple, and the news of the groundbreaking arrangements for it. That temple (another that will not feature the angel Moroni statue atop it) will have its' groundbreaking on Saturday September 5, the same day on which the groundbreaking for the Orem Utah Temple will occur Since Honduras is on Central Standard Time, there is no difference between what time it is here in Utah and what time it is in Honduras. Depending on the specific times at which the groundbreakings for the Orem Utah and San Pedro Sula Honduras Temples occur, one might occur ahead of the other, or they might occur at roughly the same time. No size has been specified for this temple, but based on the rendering thereof, I wouldn't be surprised if construction takes 2-3 years.

One other important note as well: Until the groundbreaking last month for the Feather River California Temple, the Church had had a somewhat long-standing precedent of a general authority presiding at temple groundbreakings. With the Feather River California Temple ground being broken by Area Seventy Elder Paul H. Watkins last month, that opened the prospect that other area seventies could be called upon for future groundbreakings. As of today, it appears that plans for the August 15 groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple will still be done by the President of the South America South Area, Elder Benjamin De Hoyso, and that the Orem Utah Temple groundbreaking is still on track to be done by Utah Area President Elder Craig C. Christensen, but either could be subject to change. No matter what happens with these two temples, it has been announced by the First Presidency that Elder José Bernardo Hernandez Orellano, an area seventy called in April 2015 who is currently living and serving in San Pedro Sula Honduras, will preside at the groundbreaking for the temple in his city. This announcement opens the prospect that other temples could have a groundbreaking unexpectedly set.

In other temple news, a  new report on the signature-gathering efforts for the referendum on the Tooele Valley Utah Temple notes that, if the referendum is successful, due to city and state regulations, the earliest the question of the temple and the surrounding development could appear on a ballot in the Tooele Valley area is June of next year, so there would be a substantial and significant delay to that temple's construction time-frame if the referendum is successful. Hopefully it won't be in this case, because the Church hoped to build that temple relatively quickly to help with temple activity issues in the area during the period of time between now and 2024 (at which time the Salt Lake Temple is anticipated to be rededicated). If there is a delay for a year in the commencement of that process, that hope on the part of the Church might not be realized in this case.

Stay tuned for more updates on all such developments as I learn of them. In the meantime, due to the new developments for both of these temples, it looks as though I will definitely need to rework most of my files as a result of these developments, so also stay tuned for those updates as I am able to make 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.