UPDATED: Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! As almost of you are obviously aware, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple was dedicated on Sunday by Elder Gerrit W. Gong, and this Sunday,  Acting President M. Russell Ballard will preside at the dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple. Construction has also concluded for the Yigo Guam Temple, and with the first president and matron of that temple having arrived, hopefully the announcement of opening arrangements for that temple will be made by the end of this month. In addition to having the final stages of construction wrapping up, there has not yet been an announcement about the first president and matron for the Quito Ecuador Temple. 

Similarly, we are awaiting the announcement of opening arrangements for both the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples. Hopefully those arrangements are forthcoming.  While those opening (or reopening) arrangements are pending for four temples (two new, and two for which renovations have been completed), a new report from the Church Temples site includes a stunning update on the Helena Montana Temple, including a move up the queue so it is now below Saratoga Springs Utah. 

The resulting adjustments that I've made to my temple construction progress report show changes in the queue and several updated and revised estimates for dedication windows, in addition to new reports on the status of Moses Lake Washington and Puebla Mexico Temples. Other than these preliminary notes, the changes in the temple construction progress report speak for themselves, and I was grateful to be able to provide them for you now. I am hopefully that on at least one of the final two days of this week, a breaking update will be shared on at least one temple, though I can't rule out the prospect of two days straight wherein new temple updates are shared.

In the meantime, 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. 

POTENTIAL BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Could Several Temple Groundbreakings Occur Privately?

Hello again, everyone! Although we are still waiting on official announcements for quite a few temples, an article from a newspaper that has no ties to the Church has used the now-discouraged terminology of "Mormon" in the article title before sharing the correct name of the Church in the article. The article, published in September, related to the site location, rendering, and name being released for Oregon's newest temple, features the following intriguing sentence: "A private groundbreaking ceremony will be announced at a later time, according to communicatiodn director and temple media liaison Jeff Robinson." (bold text highlighted by me to undercore a point).

We have seen the Church being able to broadcast temple groundbreakings on the same day or within a week after a temple groundbreaking takes place. That has allowed a limited number of invited guests to attend each of the 11 groundbreakings held this year while allowing others to view the ceremonies after the fact. Each of those 11 groundbreakings were announced in advance for specific dates as well. And for each of those 11, coverage was made available a few hours after those events took place.

But temple groundbreakings, even with limited invitied guests, can be informally attended by those nearest to the temple who know when those groundbreakings take place. And given the fact that some parts of the US and elsewhere in the world are struggling with COVID-19 to a much higher degree than those in the "Mormon corridor", it did occur to me to wonder, as I've often mused in the past, whether it would be possible for the Church to hold private temple groundbreakings without an advanced announcement that would be followed by an official Church acknowledgement that it has taken place.

Given the fact that there will be 6 weeks between the October 30 groundbreaking for the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple and the December 11 groundbreaking for the Bacolod Philippines Temple, I'd be very shocked if no other temples had a groundbreaking in the 5 Saturdays between the two dates. Maybe I'm mistaken in all of this, and the Church might just opt to hold off on any other US temple groundbreakings until next year, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that.

For my part, I will be diligent in checking for any such acknowledgements, and I will be sure to provide anything that is reported in that respect here. Just wanted to mention the possibility, given the wording of the article. In the meantime, 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.