Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, in December of last year, the site location and preliminary details were released for the Lindon Utah Temple, with the note that a rendering would be released and a groundbreaking set when that was feasible, with project manageers working through the approvals with city leaders. In the interim, the Church has had a few examples in the recent past where initial site announcements were updated with renderings. I believe that happened most recently with other Utah or US temples, but I have not been able to confirm that.
Anyways, in the latest news update on that temple from the Church Temples site, it has been noted that a rendering has been added to the initial news release on the Newsroom. The rendering shows two steeples, no angel Moroni statue, and similar elements of design to the Layton Utah Temple, in addition to similarities to perhaps a few other temples. I will leave it to others (particularly longtime reader and commenter Jim Anderson, if he is willing to do so) to provide further insight on the temple's rendering. The timing of the release of this rendering comes as the Church is moving closer to being able to set a formal groundbreaking for that temple.
It seems likely that the grundbreaking for that temple could be set for July, August, or perhaps even September, and that the groundbreaking for the Lindon Utah Temple might be one of the next announced, if not the very next. Parenthetically, it is worth noting that I'm watching the following temples for potential groundbreaking announcements in the near future (listed in current order of likelihood, though that is subject to confirmation from the First Presidency through official announcements): Lindon Utah, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Helena Montana, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Neiafu Tonga.
It would also not surprise me if, in the next several months, announcements came down the pike for temple groundbreakings in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Port Vila Vanuatu, Tarawa Kiribati, and Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temples. In addition, as previously mentioned, it would not surprise me if further action and official announcements were made regarding locations, renderings, or groundbreakings for any of the 9 other US temples which were announced most recently, or for 4-6 other temple cities outside the United States.
I won't list those particulars here for the time being, but will be happy to give the details to any of you who request them in the comments. I am grateful to have been able to hear about and pass along this news to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will be sure to mention those as well as time and circumstances allow.
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! The Church News has shared the following additional report:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-05-28/memorial-day-ways-celebrate-family-history-214291
My thanks once again to you all.
In the threads of the previous post, I had mentioned a Newsroom article on a new First Vision statue in the Philippines:
Deletehttps://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2021/05/breaking-temple-news-76-of-churchwide.html?showComment=1622223056457&m=1#c2549362088357203526
The Church News has provided coverage on that development as well:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2021-05-28/statue-first-vision-unveiled-philippines-mtc-60th-anniversary-214841
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has shared the following update on Mason Porter, one of 4 Church missionaries who was serving in Belgium Brussels Mission at the time of the bombing of the Brussels airport:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-05-28/mason-wells-missionary-brussels-terrorist-bombing-naval-academy-214764
And the latest edition of "This Week on Social" has been published:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-05-28/leaders-post-social-media-flowers-lessons-214842
The most recent installment of that ongoing series featured posts from the following members of the First Presidency: in addition to the following members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen, and Ulisses Soares. The following female general officers were also featured: The entire Relief Society General Presidency (General President Sister Jean B. Bingham (from whom 2 posts were featured), and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Sharon Eubank (from whom 2 posts were also featured) and Reyna I. Aburto Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon and her First Counselor, Sister Michelle D. Craig (from the latter of whom two posts were shared); and Primary General President Sister Camille N. Johnson and her Second Counselor Sister Amy A. Wright; and one male general officer: Brother Brad R. Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency.
My thanks once again to you all.
I used to be able to look at a temple picture and tell you which temple it was. Then the big temple building of 1999 & 2000. Now, it is almost impossible with the newer temples. The church seems to be saving time and money in having reusable designs.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, they look great, I just enjoyed the unique designs. I am still hopefully to get a temple closer to me, though there are still plenty of members that still have farther distances and should get a temple sooner.
It is good to see how the church is able to build a temple on even the smallest of available plots of land.
Hello, Kenny. Thanks for stopping by to comment. Jim Anderson, who shared a comment just below yours, has been one I can always count on to provide helpful context and analysis on new temple designs. It seems to me that, overall, similar (but not necessarily identical) elements are used for temples in similar regions. For example, the Bangkok Thailand, Bengaluru India, and Phnom Penh Cambodia Temples are all different, but they utilize some elements that are similar, because they are temples in Asia that are being or will be built up rather than out. That applies to other temples being built in similar regions, like the Coban Guatemala and San Pedro Sula Honduras Temples in Central America.
DeleteAside from similarities (or identical elements for temples in the same world region), we also see similar elements in temples of similar sizes. Particularly, in looking at the Saratoga Springs, Layton, Orem, Taylorsville, Red Cliffs, and Deseret Peak Temples here in Utah, while each has unique design elements, some portions of their exteriors do seem to be remarkably similar.
I am wondering if the Church might be in the process of trying similar designs with unique elements for the time being while they find designs that will generally work as new standard templates for temples in similar areas in the future. Right now, it might be more difficult to differentiate between temples of a similar size or in a similar region. That being said, I think we'll see the Church branching out to new designs as they figure out what works and what doesn't.
In the meantime, Kenny, curiosity question for you, if you don't mind my asking: Where are you currently located? I might be interested in doing the research on the feasibility of a temple in your area. If you'd rather not share that information, it's not a problem, just thought I'd ask.
In any case, based on the fact that the confirmation of temple sites, the releases of exterior renderings, and the scheduling of temple groundbreakings seem to be happening regularly (at least one major temple-related announcement per week), I have a feeling that by the October General Conference, enough temples will have cleared the queue to warrant another set of temples announced in the double-digits. Maybe there won't be as many as 20 next time, but it seems likely that anywhere from 10-20 new temples could be announced at that time. And that will be especially true if a majority of the 20 or so temples I'm keeping an eye on for developments have those official announcements made to further them along in the process.
Anyways, sorry for the long-winded response. I appreciate the observations you shared. Always a pleasure to hear from you, Kenny.
The El Paso / Las Cruces area. There are 4 stakes in the area, and although there is a temple across the boarder, it is not very safe. There are military bases near by and they are not allowed to go across.
DeleteToday our stake president came and said that he is going to each ward, along with the other stakes, and asking the members to pray for a temple. Also to do our family history, ensuring we have active recommends, and talking about the gospel (doing missionary work). So that means the members in the 4 stakes are all being asked to do this.
DeleteHe stated the same reasons I did; issues crossing the boarder, especially for military or police, distance (3-4 hrs freeway driving), and Farmington announcement. Farmington also has 4 stakes and is about the same distance from the Albuquerque temple.
That means the stake presidents are probably talking to the area 70 about this and hopefully it is communicated up the line.
Hey, Kenny, thanks for your recent comments, and sorry about my delayed response. I appreciate your confirmation of where you are currently living, and that your stake president (and others in the region) are asking members to pray for a temple. With the border issues you've described, I can see a day where both El Paso and Las Cruces both have their own temples. The big question might be which will be announced first. But I have both cities on my list for the time being. Thanks again for those additional details, Kenny. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteThe two cities are only about an hour away and many travel between the two daily. I don't see both cities having their own temples, but I see more of a temple on the West side of El Paso or in Las Cruces to cover both cities.
DeleteThe church still owns a good size plot of land near Las Cruces that was going to have a chapel built in, but never happened. It is leased out to a farmer.
Kenny,thanks for that additional context. I hadn't realized that Las Cruces was that close to El Paso. That being the case, since the Church has previously used farm or orchard plots of land for temples, between the two cities, it seems more likely that Las Cruces could be the spot to eliminate the border issues. Thanks for the additional context, Kenny. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteCatch this yet?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/5/27/22455009/churchbeat-newsletter-lds-mormon-church-how-president-nelson-selected-deseret-peak-utah-temple-site
That story has many more details on that temple and has an interesting tidbit at the end which I somehow missed in the broadcast.
During the broadcast of the groundbreaking ceremony, Elder Hales said, “I heard someone say in a meeting I attended — I’ll let you guess which meeting it was — ‘Well, if we need to we’ll build another temple in Tooele.’
“Now that should be our goal. That’s not an announcement; that should be our goal,” he added. “So let’s fill the temple, brothers and sisters, so that the workers and the presidency are overwhelmed with work, and that will be a great thing.”
That will not be right away though, there are 12 stakes in that valley with the last one being created this year, would take a lot more growth for them to consider the second one, and that would be north closer to SR-138 which runs from Stansbury Park to Grantsville.
You called the design elements right. They also added finials at the top of the spires, something not seen in previous renderings for most of the others.
Notice also the 'twins' effect of Lindon and layton, same wastrue of Ogden and Provo originally, Bountiful and Mount Timpanogos are twins, so is Orem and Deseret Peak to an extent. You may find others in the urbanized metro, I include Payson and Saratoga Springs in that pattern.
Hello, Jim Anderson, and thanks for stopping by to comment. The Deseret News puts out a regular ChurchBeat newsletter, while the Church News has daily and weekly subscriptions available through email to all who want to sign up for that. Each subscription had fantastic content. For all my readers, I recommend and endorse that content for anyone who may want to be better informed regarding the latest developments.
DeleteI read the article in question when it was first published. Great contexr into the details of the selection of the site, design, and name for the temple.
As far as the meeting to which Elder Hales alluded, I'm reasonably certain that it was the Temple and Family History Executive Council. The only question is, was he in attendance at that meeting due to his continued role as First Presidency Secretary, or in addition, if he is also an Assistant Executive Director for the Temple Department. Either way, it would shock me to see the First Presidency announce more temples in the coming years for the Cache, Salt Lake, Tooele, Utah, and Diamond Valleys.
I also appreciate your observations about "twin temples" which noted many "twins" that I hadn't considered as such until you pointed that out. Thanks for that as well.
As I've observed in the recent past, I think the goal is to try a bunch of different designs and sizes, based on assessed needs. And although, as Kenny observed above, it's difficult to tell the difference between two almost identical temples for the time being, I believe the Church is piloting efforts to plan for temples at a specific similar size and design now, so that in the future, where promoted to do so, slight alterations can be made to make each temple unique.
Either way, I think the Church will perhaps be able to conduct more temple groundbreakings this year than they did last year, and that the Church could easily come close to (or break) the record 32 temple groundbreakings which took place in 1999. If that proves correct, it could be a busy year for temple construction, which would increase the odds of a double-digit number of temples being announced in October (I'm thinking that number may be between the 12 announced in October 2018 and the 20 announced in the recent April General Conference. It will be interesting to see what happens there. Thanks again, Jim Anderson, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you.
@Jim Anderson: I had never noticed the sets of twin temples mirroring North and South like that before. I would say though that Payson and Saratoga are different floor-plans from each other. Payson has the celestial room against the east exterior wall, on the second floor, with the vaulted ceiling projecting up through the third floor. there are three endowment rooms next to it on the second floor, and sealing rooms are on the third floor. Saratoga has endowment, sealing, and celestial rooms all on the third floor. The celestial room is centrally located under the spire (with 2 endowment rooms to either side of it.)
DeletePayson's floor-plan is derived from Gilbert Arizona's plan, with only minor changes on the upper three floors, and major changes to the basement, which is walk out on Payson. Saratoga Springs shares a floor-plan with Red Cliffs Utah. At Saratoga springs, the east doors appear to be a wedding exit only, as there is no recommend desk on that side of the temple. The south doors at Red Cliffs will be the same.
Orem and Deseret peak share a floor-plan with Taylorsville Utah, and all three plans are derived from the Pocatello plan, with the major change being the location of the wedding exit doors. On Pocatello it appears to be on the south west corner of the temple (if there are wedding doors.) For Taylorsville, Deseret Peak, and Orem, the east center doors of the temple will apparently be the wedding exits, leading out of the temple from underneath and behind the grand staircase. Like at Saratoga/Red Cliffs, the east doors do not appear to have a recommend desk.
I do believe Layton and Lindon Share the same floorplan, and not just because of the shape. On the Lindon Render you can see there are exit doors in the middle of the long side of the temple (which at this time I am presuming faces north.) Construction photos of the Layton Temple indicate that it also has doors at that location, and once again, as with the Saratoga/Red Cliffs and Orem/Taylorsville/Deseret Peak plans, it appears these are once again wedding exits that lead out from under the grand staircase.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has shared the following additional reports:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2021-05-29/who-do-i-call-if-i-didnt-receive-my-church-news-answers-to-some-customer-service-questions-213669
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-05-29/elder-meredith-new-general-authority-utah-mission-president-214639
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-05-29/music-and-the-spoken-word-courage-devotion-to-duty-wwii-214628
My thanks once again to you all.