Hello again, everyone! Another Tuesday has rolled around, as a result of which the latest information about temple reopenings has been released by the Church. Since there is just over a week of September left, the latest update shares some details about reopenings that are planned through the rest of September and into October. The updates are, as always, detailed in the updated Newsroom release, and through the Church News, with the latter also linking to the area-by-area temple reopening status tracker.
As I've mentioned in most (if not all) of the latest posts I've published to cover these updates, the Church has done remarkably well in understanding issues that will affect the reopenings, and there have been very clear signs that the Lord is inspiring these efforts. Parenthetically, I'd norote that the reason the Church has been able to make these changes work so smoothly appears to be due in part to the apostles taking an active role in checking in weekly with the presidencies of each Church area for which each of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have direct supervisory roles.
I am grateful for that inspired process. It has been humbling to see how that has worked out week-to-week. With that preamble, let's now get into the specifics that were detailed this morning. First, the Church has announced that 4 temples, including 3 in Mexico (Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico City Mexico, and Villahermosa Mexico) and the Kyiv Ukraine Temple will transition to phase 3 as early as Tuesday September 28.
Above and beyond that, 2 temples are unpausing, but have been downgraded in their reopening processes as a result of COVID-19 conditions and restrictions. The Cebu City Philippines Temple has been shifted back to phase 1, allowing only limited husband-to-wife sealings where both have previously been endowed. And the Papeete Tahiti Temple has been downgraded to phase 2, which will allow all living ordiances in priority order.
The Church has also noted one other previously-announced change that has not yet gone into effect. The Medford Oregon Temple was anticipated to transition to phase 3 at some point in August, but that has not yet happened, though it hopefully will occur soon. The Church News release also reiterated the information about the 11 temples not allowing any proxy work, which includes the changes announced today, in addition to all other temples not currently offering any proxy work.
As of next Tuesday (September 28), the Church's temple reopenings will stand as follows: 8 closed for major renovations (all but 2 of which have had phase 3 status granted to those within their districts), with 3 temples "paused" in their reopening process (2 of which had reached phase 3, with 1 in phase 2 at the time their reopenings were paused); 3 in phase 1; 6 in phase 2; 3 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 145 in phase 3.
I am grateful to have been able to learn about (and pass along) these updates. I continue to monitor all Church News reports and temple developments, and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all here 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! The Church News has provided the following two updates:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-21/elder-pieper-byu-devotional-trust-respect-226204
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2021-09-21/episode-49-translation-coordinator-vanessa-fitzgibbon-portuguese-spanish-226129
My thanks once again to you all.
THe Newsroom and the Church News have shared information indicating that the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square resumed rehearsals today, with the coverage outlining the COVID-19 plan for the Choir and noting that, in view of social distancing needing to be done, half of the Choir will participate in the Saturday Morning Session, with the other having participating in the Sunday Morning and Afternoon Sessions. The hope is that the phased return will be effective enough to allow the Choir to return to normal operations. In the meantime, the Church will monitor COVID-19 conditions here in Utah and is aiming for some kind of phased return for the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Bells on Temple Square. Here are those articles:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-tabernacle-choir-resumes-first-in-person-rehearsals-since-the-beginning-of-the-pandemic
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-21/tabernacle-choir-leavitt-pandemic-rehearsal-strategy-general-conference-226252
The Church News has also reported on the first BYU-PW devotional to be held following the recent announcement that Brother Brian K. Ashton would succeed Elder Clark G. Gilbert as the president thereof:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-21/new-president-byu-pathway-worldwide-president-ashton-faith-in-jesus-christ-226163
My thanks once again to you all.