Hello again, everyone! I do have some major breaking temple news regarding reopenings to get to, but before I do, I wanted to note something else: During the last couple of weeks especially, with elements of the temple reopenings sticking to a standard form, it was easier for me to copy each post from the previous reopening announcement, and leave room for new developments to be added before the post was scheduled to publish as pre-set.
Because I could not have possibly anticipated the news I needed to share with you all this morning, and due to the fact that I had another rough night last night, I didn't wake up to the announcement from today as I usually would for Church news alerts. Since I wasn't able to update the copied post before it was scheduled for publication around 1.5 hours ago, the incomplete post, which had not been updated, was published at the appointed time.
But today's announcement contained major news that needed to be properly focused on, so I determined that the best option would be to delete the post that had been published as scheduled and to start this one with the major developments in a fresh new post. So I apologize to any of you who read or were in the process of reading that preset post, because it was incomplete and did not have the relevant information. Hopefully the new post penned at this time will make up for that.
That being said, let's get to the huge news shared by the Church this morning:: With this week's update being published, it will be the last one published for May. The next update, likely coming next week, will be posted on June 1. So the last update for May indicated that, as part of the phased reopening of temples, if COVID-19 conditions permit, 76% of all temples will open for proxy work by the end of July. This is a huge step towards normalcy for the Church.
phLet's break down the details: 60 temples are planned to open in phase 3 between now and the end of July. Rather than list the individual temples, I will refer anyone interested to the link I shared above, which breaks down the individual temples by area. My personal focus will be on listing the number of temples by geographical area that will open in phas:e 3 by the end of July:
Caribbean Area: 1 temple
Central America Area: 2 temples
Mexico: 4 temples
North America Central: 10 temples
North America Northeast: 1 temple
North America Southeast: 4 temples
North America Southwest: 15 temples
North America West: 7 temples
Utah: 16 temples
As an important note, the Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah Temples are closed for renovation but will be given phase 3 designation, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule proxy work at the nearest temple open in phase 3. Additionally, in the standard weekly update on temple reopenings from the Church News, two weeks from now (on June 7), 13 temples will move from phase 2 to phase 2-B, which allows the performance of all living ordinances, in priority order, in addition to offering youth the opportunity to participate in baptisms for the dead.
Those 13 temples include: 5 in the United States (Denver and Fort Collins Colorado; Boston Massachusetts; Hartford Connecticut; and Philadelphia Pennsylvania); 6 in Latin America (Hermosillo Sonora and Tijuana Mexico; Caracas Venezuela; Manaus Brazil; Quetzaltenango Guatemala; and Trujillo Peru); and 2 in Europe (Lisbon Portugal and Rome Italy). The information about the reopenings is further explored in the weekly temple status tracker, in addition to which all of these new updates and details are likewise confirmed through the official release on the Newsroom.
In view of these updates, effective Monday (May 31), the Church's temples will break down as follows: 8 remain closed for major renovation, 4 of which (Hamilton New Zealand, Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah) have been given reopening statuses, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule appointments at nearby temples. The Hamilton temple went into phase 3 status as of yesterday, and the 3 US temples have been in phase 2-B and will all be granted phase 3 status between now and the end of July.
Meanwhile, 1 temple (Kyiv Ukraine) has not reopened in any phase whatsoever since all temples were closed last year, 5 temples have "paused" in their reopening (3 were in phase 3, with 1 each in phase 2 and 2-B when local COVID-19 conditions necessitated the pauses); 4 are in phase 1, 41 in phase 2, 82 in phase 2-B, and the remaining 27 in phase 3. I am grateful for the latest reopening announcements (demonstrating the caution and inspiration attending that process), and will watch with great interest for further information on the June and July reopenings in the coming weeks.
I also continue to monitor all other Church news reports and temple updates and will do my best to bring you all word of those here as I become aware of all such 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.
