Hello again, everyone! With only one exception in recent weeks, Tuesday has been the designated day on which the Church has announced the latest temple reopening updates. Those releases have been shared in the Newsroom and through updates in the Church News (including the weekly status tracker).
This post will be updated with an analysis of that announcement if and when it comes. Note: The following paragraphs between here and the closing text for the post were added once the Church's official announcement on temple reopenings was made.
The Church specifically announced this morning that the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple, which unpaused and was granted phase 2 status just one week ago, will shift to phase 2-B, allowing proxy baptisms by appointment in addition to all living ordinances in priorirty order, as soon as one week from today (Tuesday November 16). Meanwhile, the Manila Philippines Temple, which unpaused last week and resumed phase 2-B will transition to pase 3 ASAP, perhaps as soon as next Tuesday November 16. Additionally, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple will open in phase 3 as early as this Friday (November 12), with the Pocatello Idaho Temple set to open phase 3 as soon as Tuesday November 16.
The Church News reiterated yet again today that the Medford Oregon Temple, originally projected to move into phase 3 at some point in August, remains in phase 2--B for the time being, and that no revised date has been set for that transition. 6 of the Church's temples remain in phases 1 or 2, while no phase designation has been given for the temples in Hong Kong China and Tokyo Japan both of which are currently closed for renovation.
As a result of the latest adjustments, next Tuesday (November 16), 159 of the Church's 170 operating temples (93.5%) will be in phase 3. And since 4 other temples are operating in phase 2-B, the percentage of those now offering any proxy work (in addition to living ordinances in priority order) has now risen to 95.9%. With today's announced updates, as of next Tuesday (November 16) the reopening of temples will stand as follows:
9 temples are closed for major renovations (all but 2 of which have been granted phase 3 designations); 2 temples remain "paused" in their reopenings (both of which had reached phase 3 prior to their pauses); and 2 other temples are in phase 1. There are now 3 temples in phase 2, with 4 others in phase 2-B; and the remaining 150 open in phase 3.
I have noted this in the past, but feel a need to reiterate it again: I am grateful for the carefully-planned cautiously-coordinated reopening of temples around the world, and for the revelatory process that drives those announcements every week. Although no temples anywhere have reached phase 4 (a return to full normal operations), it is wonderful the Church has been prudent and wise in the announcements of changes each week.
As always, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates, and remain committed to bringing you all word of those updates as I become aware thereof. This Saturday (November 13) willl see Elder Dale G. Renlund observing his 69th birthday. I will be presetting my next apstolic data update to publish here on Sunday November 14 (which will mark the final such update for this year).
I also continue to be hopeful that opening arrangements might soon be announced for the Yigo Guam and Quito Ecuador Temples, with reopening arrangements for the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples announced soon as well. And I continue to hope that the announcements of multiple temple groundbreakings will be made within the next couple of week for most (if not all) of the remaining temples that will have a groundbreaking this year, though there is also the prospect that the Church could report a groundbreaking has already occurred for some temples. So stay tuned for more on all of these developments as i find out about them and pass them along.
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.
