Hello again, everyone! Within the last couple of weeks, six new temples announced during General Conference last April have had sites confirmed and preliminariy details announced. That trend continues today, with three more temples in the western United States having sites confirmed and preliminary information announced. Let's break down the details: The three today are the ones in Farmington New Mexico, Grand Junction Colorado, and Burley Idaho. The Farmington New Mexico Temple will rise at the intersecction of Windsor Drive and College Boulevard, on a site that is 6.62 acres. Plans call for a single-story temple of roughly 25,000 square feet (most likely comparable to the Bentonville Arkansas Temple), with the project to include a new meetinghouse adjacent to the temple.
The Grand Junction Colorado Temple is planned to have an identical square footage as the tmple in Farmington New Mexico. That project only includes the temple, which will be built at the intersections of North 12th Street and Horizon Drive. Meanwhile, the plans for the Burley Idaho Temple call for a two-story edifice of approximately 38,600 square feet. That temple will be built at the intersection of 150 East and 40 South, which is home to a 10.1 acre site.
Given the larger size of these temples, and the nuances that may factor in to their approval and construction processes, each of these temples could have a groundbreakng in the final quarter of this year, with varying time-frames for their completion. But this also further demontrates that not all of the temples announced most recently by President Nelson will be the smaller size that will use prefabricated modular components.I suppose there is a chance that the Church could potentially expand the use of modular compoenents to slightly larger temples, so we'll have to see what happens there. By way of information, this leaves only 2 of the temples announced in the Western United States with no official information confirmed yet: Eugene Oregon and Yorba Linda California. But it wouldn't shock me if preliminary details were to come down the pike for both of those next week, along with one or two of their international counterparts. It will be interesting to see what happens there.
On my end, I continue to monitor all such updates, including new Church Newws reports and any other temple updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware thereof.
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! When I published my post above, I had forgotten or overlooked somehow the fact that the Ephraim Utah Tmple was another recently-announced temple in the United States. Given the fact that it was announced less than a month after the other temles in the United States, there would clearly be a slight lag in the release of the official details for Ephraim. with that in mind, I anticipate that next wek sometime, to close out June and the first half of this year, announcements may be next for Eugene Orgeon, Yorba Linda California and Ephraim Utah. In the interim, the Church News also provided some coverage on that development today:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2021-06-23/sites-burley-idaho-farmington-new-mexico-and-grand-junction-colorado-temples-217262
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has provided the following additional reports, which speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-06-23/nadia-cates-ella-rises-empowering-latina-youth-utah-216571
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-06-23/anna-camp-bennett-byu-national-champion-runner-217229
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2021-06-23/carthage-jail-elder-cook-video-joseph-smith-martyrdom-217130
My thanks once again to you all.
As some of you might recall, on a few occasions recently, I mentioned that I was anticipating that the Salvador Brazil and Bahia Blanca Argentina Temples would be the next major ones about which official informaton was released. In early May, the Church officially released the rendering of and announced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Salvador Brazil Temple:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/groundbreaking-date-announced-for-salvador-brazil-temple
Oddly enough, there was no official confirmation provided for the location of that temple. I am reasonably certain that the groundbreaking for the Salvador Brazil Temple will occur on a Saturday, and that it is more likely to be sooner rather than later. I'm projecting that might occur on either Saturday August 7 or Saturday August 14.
I will get back to addressing thoughts about the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple shortly. In the meantime, I will be very interested to see what happens with the queue of temples which have had sites confirmed (and in some cases, exterior renderings released).
DeleteBoth the Lindon Utah and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temples have seen sites confimed and renderings released, so they will probably be among the next US temples to begin construction. But in addition to those two temples, I'm also watching with great interest for further information on the Casper Wyoming and Elko Nevada Temples. Both are anticipated to be in the 10,000 square foot size, so both could be similar or identical in their exterior look to the Helena Montana Temple. If that is the plan for them, I could see the Church announcing exterior renderings for both within the next 2 weeks or less, and setting groundbreakings for those two in conjunction with the released renderings. And those groundbreakings could be set to occur less than 3 weeks from whenenver the arrangements are announced.
All temples which have been announced for the Pacific are of a similar size and design, with some including identical elements related thereunto. So it wouldn't shock me if the next few months leads to announcements of groundbreakings for the Neiafu Tonga, Pago Pago American Samoa, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Tarawa Kiribati Temples. I don't consider it to be unreasonable to project that most (if not all) of those temples could have groundbreakings occur before the October General Conference, with any that do not occurring before the end of this year, if all goes well. The only other big question marks for those that have had any official information released will be how long approval takes, what those processes involve, and whether the Church is able to quickly resolve any issues that might occur.
Aside from the 4 other US temples for which preliminary information has been announced, the other big question mark is the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple. It appears that the Church is having problems obtaining the necessary approvals there, which could potentially delay that temple from having construction commence until sometime next year.
With all of that noted, there was a major update reported today on the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/bahia-blanca-argentina-temple/
It appears that the Church hopes to break ground on that temple before the end of this year, though that will depend on whether the approvals process is not interrupted. As a result, I have moved Argentina's newest temple to the top of my list of the 5 temples outside the United States which appear most likely to have official information and/or a groundbreaking scheduled sooner rather than later.
One of the perks of getting swift approval that enables the release of information about so many US temples in such a short period of time is that it does free up more Church resources which can then be devoted to working through approvals outside the US. In any case, I'm relatively certain that we will see the number of temples which will have a groundbreaking this year easily exceeding the 21 we saw occur last year. And it will likely be a big year particularly for the Pacific Islands, but also potentially for Latin America and Africa as well in terms of temple events. It will be interesting to see it all unfold. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Also, I just began looking into COVID-19 conditions in Brazil. Though this source may not have any bearing on what the Church winds up doing, it does note that Brazil may only reach herd immunity by April of next year, which could subsequently impact the future timing of the openings of the Rio de Janeiro and Belem Brazil Temples:
Deletehttps://olhardigital.com.br/en/2021/03/10/medicina-e-saude/covid-19-brasil-vai-atingir-imunidade-de-rebanho-so-em-2022/
Meanwhile, another article elsewhere notes that, in Winnipeg Manitoba, vaccinations of the general population is anticipated to hit 60% by July 9. Getting from there to 70%, or to any rate high enough to achieve herd immunity, could take somewhat longer. I'm going to project, therefore, that it might be the early months of next year before the Winnipeg Temple can have its' opening. The article from which I pulled the information on Manitoba can be found below:
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/herd-immunity-not-guaranteed-at-70-per-cent-population-vaccination-1.5444244
Meanwhile, on June 1, Ecuador's president and medical experts launched a 100-day plan to get COVID-19 under control. Since Quito is Ecuador's capital city, if the plan is successful, Quito could be close to herd immunity by mid-September, which might enable the temple in that city to be dedicated before the end of this year, maybe in December. Here is the information on Quito that led me to that conclusion:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ecuador-launches-100-day-vaccine-plan-president-recognizes-challenges-2021-06-01/
Meanwhile, according to the following article, Guam is well on track to achieve herd immunity by July 21, at which point restrictions will lift there. That means that an October or November opening for Yigo would not be out of the question, if progress continues to be made at the current rate:
Deletehttps://www.postguam.com/news/local/guam-keeps-mask-policy-after-cdc-says-fully-vaccinated-people-can-go-without/article_bcd3efca-b445-11eb-8862-134aa685dc58.html
Meanwhile, despite recent spikes in COVID-19, the governor of Puerto Rico has optimistically stated his opinion that Puerto Rico could achieve herd immunity by August, if vaccination efforts are stepped up, and if the citizens step up to be vaccinated:
https://www.voanews.com/usa/puerto-rico-groans-under-covid-pandemic-health-economy-suffer
If we assume that it might take Puerto Rico a bit longer to actually reach herd immunity, the temple in San Juan may be able to be dedicated in April 2022. Meanwhile, after doing a little digging on Cabo Verde, I came across the following report:
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-03/19/c_139820246.htm
In that article, it was mentioned towards the end that the hope is to vaccinate Cabo Verde's population sufficiently enough to eradicate the effects of COVID-19 by the end of this year. With that in mind, I'm cautiously projecting that the San Juan Puerto Rico and Praia Cabo Verde Temples could be dedicated in April, May, or June of next year.
Another article I found on COVID-19 in Praia Cabo Verde indicates the hope is to achieve herd immunity there by the end of this year:
Deletehttp://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-03/19/c_139820246.htm
And the followng article sheds light on Puerto Rico's fight against COVID-19:
https://www.voanews.com/usa/puerto-rico-groans-under-covid-pandemic-health-economy-suffer
We also know that New Zealand is crushing the pandemic, and that despite a resurgence of COVID-19 in some parts of Japan, currently, the 2020 Summer Olympics are still on for next month in Tokyo. Depending on how things go with that, the Church might be able to evaluate more fully how feasible it might be to reopen the temple, and how best to do that.
We also know that Utah has gotten past the worst of COVID-19, so I'm sure the opening of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple will not occur any later than currently anticipated. The bggest question marks could be how soon it might be safe to conduct openings for the Washington D.C. and Mesa Arizona Temples. I will evaluate this newest information and will try to have updated estimates for temple events published in the comments here or in a new post over the next day or two. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
The Church also reported today that the Provo MTC is one of a few MTCs throughout the world where the Chrch will use a cautious hybrid blend of in-person/virtual participation to train new missionaries who are preparing to serve in various parts of the world:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/provo-missionary-training-center-resumes-in-person-training
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-06-23/provo-missionary-training-center-mtc-new-missionaries-reopens-online-onsite-training-217342
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! Based on the patterns the Church has observed for the announcement of major breaking developments in recnt weeks, I half-expected that today or tomorrow would bring such a report. What I had not taken into account, however, is the fact that this weekend marks the last weekend in June, and that the Church has traditionally held its' yearly mission leadership seminar before the last weekend in June.
ReplyDeleteConsequently, this year's seminar is being held today and tomorrow, and involves instrcution from some Church leaders for all incoming mission leadership, in addition to specific breakout sessions featuring other general leaders that address specific topics.
I will get to the reports from this year's seminar thus far very shortly here, but wanted to note before I do so that the Church has released the next video in the ongoing "How I #HearHim" video series. The newest video features Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As a young bishop preparing to embark on a business trip, he received a frantic call from a couple in his ward whose marriage was in crisis. As he prepared to meet with the couple, he fervently prayed to find out the specifics on the issue the couple was having, and about how the Lord ould have him counsel this couple. Responding to the inspiration the Lord gave him on the matter. the counsel he provided proved to be exactly what the couple needed to hear to save their marriage. From that experience, Elder Cook learned that, for him, inspiration comes as a result of preparing to receive and swiftly acting upon revelation in any assignment from the Lord. The Newsroom and the Church News both covered that development:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-cook-says-we-can-hearhim-as-we-serve-and-strive-to-bless-others
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-06-24/elder-cook-hear-him-video-blog-bishop-216903
As a supplement to the released video, a post on the Church's official blog that was written by Elder Cook has also been provided:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/inspiration/strive-to-hear-him-to-receive-guidance-in-times-of-need?lang=eng
I will be back shortly with the reports from the mission leadership seminar. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
As promised, here are the reports which have been released about the mission leadership seminar for this year. First, we have the Church News repository section, where all content relating to the mission leadership seminar can be found as it is provided:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/category/mission-leadership-seminar
The first report provided covered remarks given by Church President Russell M. Nelson, who kicked off the seminar:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-06-24/president-nelson-mission-leadership-seminar-joseph-smith-2-217463
As has been customary in mission leadership seminars held since 208, Elder Uchtdorf, who chairs the Missionary Executive Council, also offered remarks in the opening session:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-06-24/elder-uchtdorf-mission-leadership-seminar-most-worth-217299
But something intriguing was noted in that article that I was not anticipating: The article noted that Elder Uchtdorf was "concluding a 3-year assignment" as chair of the Church's Missionary Executive Council." I have previously noted that the apostolic assignments for areas of the world or for committee and council assignments are usually made by the President of the Quorum of the Twelve (or, if the President is currently serving as a cosunselor in the First Presidency, the Acting President).
If Elder Uchtdorf is completing a "three-year assignment" as Chair of the missionary Executive Council, then it seems a near certainty that most other current apostolic committee, council, and perhaps even area assignments, are preparing to be rotated. And if that proves correct, then I’m also assuming that all applicable changes will be effective either July 1, along with the assignments of new mission presidents, or on August 1, in conjunction with the yearly assignment rotation for General Authority Seventies, which might also perhaps apply to the Presiding Bishopric members and the general officers of the Church.
I will keep my eyes open for anything that confirms how, when, and to what extent any of those assignments are rotated. In the meantime, it is also worth noting that, in recent years, with the Church shortening the Mission Leadership Seminar, and due to the remote participation from incoming new mission leaders, the coverage of that seminar is usually quite extensive. And it has traditionally been true that at some point during the Seminar, participants who are part of the Missionary Executive Council have been identified as such by name and position.
There has even been at least one time (in 2018) where the entire membership of the Missionary Executive Council was identified by name:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/new-mission-leaders-relish-teachings-greetings-from-first-presidency-and-apostles?lang=eng
With that in mind, and with Elder Uchtdorf completing the assignment as the Chair of that Council, hopefully this year, the new members of that Council might also be identified by name. Either way, I will keep my eyes open for any information on that.
Coincidentally, while I was working on this comment to publish it on this thread, another new report from the seminar had been provided. This one focused on remarks given by Elder Marcus B. Nash, who has been the Executive Director of the Missionary Department since August of last year:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-06-24/elder-nash-mission-leadership-seminar-baptism-217464
My thanks once again to you all.
I meant to share two other things. First, I don't know if I mentioned this in the recent past, but aside from plans to break ground for the Helena Montana Temple, the Church also announced recently that a Worldwide Broadcast on Sharing the Gospel will be held tomorrow morning:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/event/missionary-worldwide-broadcast
That broadcast is set to include participation from four senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, and Quentin L. Cook), along with Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President. We know from recent sources that Elder Uchtdorf is the outgoing Chair of the Missionary Executive Council, and that Sister Cordon has been a member of that Council. Unless things have changed, President Ballard only has a handful of committee or council assignments to enable him to focus more on his role in assigning duties to his fellow Quorum members. And since Elder Uchtdorf has been confimed as preparing to conclude his assignment as Chair of the Missionary Executive Council, then by process of elimination, either of the two other apostles listed (Elders Bednar and Cook) might have been asked to assue oversight for that Executive Council. If it's Elder Bednar, then either Elders Holland, Uchtdorf, Cook, or Christofferson might be the new Chair of the Temple and Family History Executive Council. But if Elder Cook is the incoming Chair of the Missionary Executive Council, whatever happens with the Temple and Family History Executive Council, Elder Cook's assignment as Chairman of the Priesthood and Family Executive Council might be transferred to any of the other 5 more senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
That being said, the other thing I wanted to mention is that although I continue to work on updates to my predictions for General Conference in October, it occurred to me to wonder whether the First Presidency speaking together in reverse seniority order in at least one General Conference session was more doctrine or tradition. If that practice does have doctrinal support, then it seems most likely that they will speak in reverse seniority order to close out eh Sunday Morning Session. But if that practice is more traditional than based on Church doctrine or policy, then we could perhaps see a scenario where the General Conference template going forward will be the standard one that has occurred in October sine 2018.
If the standard practice of having the counselors in the First Presidency alternate between speaking at the end of the Saturday Morning Session and the beginning of the Sunday Afternoon Sessionn winds up continuing, that would likely result in no sessions of General Conference featuring the entire First Presidency in reverse seniority order.
But if the entire First Presidency speaking in reverse seniority order during at least one session of General Conference is not just a tradition, then it seems likely that no First Presidency members will be the final speaker during the Saturday Morning Session or the first speaker on Sunday Afternoon, with the entire First Presidency speaking in that reverse seniority order to close out the Sunday Morning Session going forward.
I'm still workshopping both versions of those predictions, but the one thing I do know is that it appears to be the new standard for four General Officers of the Church to address us each conference, so the biggest factor playing into whichever scenario I wind up using will simply be the one that allows the highest nubmer of General Authority Seventies to speak. Stay tuned for more on all of this as I can provide more information. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has shared a report on remarks given by Elder Bed at during the Mission Leadership Seminar:
DeleteSince that article does not expressly confirm that Elder Bednar is succeeding his apostolic seatmate ad Chairman of the Missionary Executive Council, and also does not note an incoming role for him on that council, I am going to assume he doesn't have either assignment. That means that unless President Ballard or Elder Holland are noted as the new chairs, it will probably be either Elders Cook or Christofferson. The logical choice, in my mind, would be Elder Christofferson, since he has been the second-most senior apostle on that Council. Whoever will actually be the new chair might also change the more junior apostles who serve with that Council. It will be interesting to see what happens there. My thanks once again to you all.
So, a couple of fun facts. There has been no further coverage on the mission leadership seminar, which means the question of who will succeed Elder Uchtdorf in chairing the Missionary Executive Council remains unanswered for the time being. But additionally, I ran my two scenarios for the October General Conference, and it appears that the Church will likely be able to have at least 1 or 2 more speakers per conference if the entire First Presidency speaks together at the end of the Sunday Morning Session, rather than having them all speak separately during the four general sessions of General Conference. So I've settled that question, at least. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteThere has been yet another interesting development in terms of the coverage of this year's seminar for New Mission Leadership. During last year's Seminar, the apostles in attendance were socially-distanced from one anoter due to COVID-19 social-distancing protocols that were in place at that time. But in the coverage of that Seminar from 2018 and 2019, some of the available images from that Seminar showed Elder Uchtdorf, as the Chair of the Missionary Executive Council, seated to the immediate right of President Nelson.
DeleteI mention this because the Church News has finally shared a link to the article that will be the main repository for this year's coverage of that Seminar:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-06-24/mission-leadership-seminar-virtual-2021-217339
And the first available image shared at the top of that article shows Elder D. Todd Christofferson to the immediate right side of President Nelson. If that spot is indeed the spot still reserved for the Chairman of the Church's Missionary Exeuctive Council, then we may perhaps safely assume, until further evidence suggests otherwise, that Elder Christofferson is now the Chairman of the Church's Missionary Exeuctive Council. If that is indeed the case, then the only other question might be which three members junior to Elder Christofferson are serving on the Missionary Executive Council. While both Elder Christofferson and his seatmate Elder Andersen were the second and third of the four apostles servikng on the Missionary Exeucitve Council, I'm not sure that they would automatically both be retained in the midst of changes to the Missionary Executive Council. But I could see any of the other five apostles being assigned to that council, especially if Elder Christofferson opted to retain Elder Soares as the junior member of the Twelve assigned to that council.
Again, hopefully, more light will be shed on changes to that Council in the coming days. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
As further evidence corroborating my conclusion that perhaps Elder Christofferson is the new Chairman of the Church's Missionary Executive Council, and that if he is, it's likely that Elder Andersen was or will be released as a member of that Council as well, a new report from the Seminar shared remarks from Elder Andersen, which did not include any mention of his continuing to serve on the Missionary Executive Council:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-06-24/elder-andersen-mission-leadership-seminar-faith-love-217523
So, assuming Elder Christofferson is indeed the new Chairman, the other apostles who will also serve on the Council are likely to be Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson or Elder Dale G. Renlund, and Elder Gerrit W. Gong or Elder Ulisses Soares. More to come on that as further updates are provided on the Seminar. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom has shared the following additional report:
Deletehttps://news-uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/global-latter-day-saint-leaders-support-measures-enhancing-spiritual-healing-of-religiously-oppressed
My thanks once again to you all.