BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Announces Groundbreaking for the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple

Hello again, everyone! Within the last few minutes, breaking news has again been reported by the Church. The First Presidency has just confirmed the groundbreaking arrangements for the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple. The groundbreaking has been set to occur on Saturday September 18, 2021. In an interesting development that I personally did not see coming, instead of having a member of the Asia Area Presidency or an area seventy preside at that groundbreaking, the Church has assigned the president of the Cambodia Phnom Pehn Mission, Veasna Kuonno Neang, whose service just began in July, to preside at the event.

I suppose that shouldn't be a huge surprise to me, as COVID-19 and governmental red tape has led the Church to do things differently in recent years than they have. Oddly enough, the size of the temple was also clarified. It is anticipated to be a single-story edifice of roughly 10.000 square feet, which I would not have guessed from the rendering when it was originally released during the November 2019 visit from the prophet to the Saints in that nation. 

But hopefully, that also means that work on the temple might only take 18-24 months, which I'm sure would be wonderful for the Saints in that nation. The temple site will also include an ancillary building. I was also surprised at the timing of this groundbreaking. My research had led me to conclude that this temple's groundbreaking might be a little further out than it wound up being. But I am pleased to have been able to learn about it and share that information with you all. 

With 5 temple groundbreakings now scheduled, in addition to the 5 which have already taken place thus far this year, the total number of groundbreakings to occur in 2021 will have risen to at least 10 by the week after the October 2021 General Conference. But I have a feeling other groundbreaking announcements could come down the pike relatively soon here, and I don't think it is out of the question for the Church to remain on track this year to the point of exceeding the 21 groundbreakings which occurred last year.

I will continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates on an ongoing basis, and remain committed to bringing word of all such news to you here as I become aware of it. 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.