Hello again, everyone! For my 2000th post on this blog, I am pleased to bring you word of two breaking temple developments which have been shared by the Newsroom this morning. The Church has released the location and rendering for the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple, and has announced a relocation and renaming for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple. Let's get right into the breakdown of these announcements.
We start with Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. That temple will be located at the site that was widely speculated as the spot for the temple, at 2093 Powell Road in Cranberry Township Pennsylvania. The single-story temple of 32,000 square feet is currently in the approvals process, where project leaders are working with local governmental leaders through the approvals process. This is another temple announced in the United States less than a year ago (in April 2020) by Church President Russell M. Nelson. No groundbreaking has been announced for this temple, but given its' smaller size, I anticipate we could see that occur within the next 6-8 months, if not sooner.
Next, we turn our attention to the changes announced for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple. First, the big news is a change to the name of it. Although it has been known by that generic name, it has been renamed the Deseret Peak Utah Temple. And given the residential objections to the original temple plans for the Erda Utah location, the temple has now been relocated and will rise just west of the intersection of 2400 North and 400 West in Tooele City.
Although no mention is made of any accompanying residential development, it has been noted that the temple's exterior and interior renderings, in addition to the estimated size (70,000 square feet) and plans for an adjacent meetinghouse (of 20,000 square feet) remain unchanged. The Church also notes the following in the newest release on the Deseret Peak Utah Temple: "The First Presidency expresses gratitude for the faith and prayers of Church members in this area, and continues to encourage all people to treat one another with kindness and Christlike love."
I am grateful that the Church has made these announcements. With regard to the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, I also personally want to put out an apology to longtime reader Kenny, who had commented on another post 4 days ago on a rumor he had heard that the location might be changed as a result of that opposition to the residential development. At the time, based on the evidence and sources I had on my end, I shared my personal opinion that the Church would try to make the originally-announced lcoation work, and I included some sources available to me at the time that led me to assert that opinion.
Today, however, the Lord has once again confirmed that my personal research is imperfect even at the best of times, and that His ways and thoughts did not align with my personally-offered analysis. So I take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Kenny, and to also make a new commitment as we get further into this new year. Over the last little while, I have felt sufficiently confident enough in some of my personal research and reasoning to discount some earnestly-offered feedback from my regular readers.
What happened regarding my response to Kenny a few days ago is similar to what has recently happened with the announcement of Utah temples, where feedback received on suggestions for future Utah locations has turned out to trump and be more accurate than my own personally-offered estimates. Those comments, recently offered by Jim Anderson, another longtime reader, should have been given more earnest consideration and corresponding changes that I have not yet made to my personal list.
And so, recognizing these recent repeated personal follies, where my ego, pride, and attitude have led to clear evidence of how much I've missed the mark, I want to make a new commitment. When I say "any and all comments are welcome and appreciated", I will hereafter make an extra effort to be more earnest in my consideration of all such feedback, and attempt to not be so dismissive or appear so unappreciative of the feedback that is offered.
I could not possibly have gotten to this 2000th blog post milestone today without the kindness of so many of you who read, follow, and regularly comment on reports and information I share here, and it's become more obvious in recent months that some of that feedback has more merit and validity than I may have tried to suggest. I hope, going forward, to be more inclined to listen to those suggestions, and to request more information when I am uncertain on anything relating to that feedback.
In the meantime, I sincerely request forgiveness from any who have offered those comments and any who may have been put off by my short-sighted response to those suggestions. It's plain that I need to spend more time listening and less time advancing my own ideas. I also hope you all will continue to be patient with me as I try to change these elements in my life. As I begin working on the next 2000 posts and beyond, I also hope to show more profoundly the gratitutde I feel for all of you who are always so willing to read, follow, comment, and share.
I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass those along to you all as I become aware of those developments. 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.
