An initial brief version of this post was published at 9:15 AM, and additions were subsequently published at 4:45 PM.
Hello again, everyone! In two announcements this morning, groundbreakings were set for 3 more US temples, and an exterior rendering was released for the Ephraim Utah Temple. There is a lot of information to get to, so let's jump right in. First, with the release of the Ephraim Utah Temple rendering (which follows the October 2021 site announcement, which in turn was preceded by the unexpected May 1 announcement of that temple), we know that the rezoning application has been approved.
While I am not sure what else may need approval before the Church can get a groundbreaking set for that temple, hopefully a groundbreaking for it would occur in August or September, if all goes well. The design of the temple appears to be identical in appearance to other temples of a similar size (39,000 square feet). It will be interesting to see what happens on the timing for the Ephraim Temple.
In the interim, the 3 temples for which groundbreakings have been scheduled are the Burley Idaho, Smithfield Utah, and Yorba Linda California Temples. Here are the details: The Burley Idaho Temple groundbreaking will be conducted on June 4, under the direction of Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Presidency of the Seventy, who may have direct supervision of the North America Central Area, and who was born in that city.
I love the fact that the Church calls upon those with personal connections to areas getting a temple to presie at the groundbreakings for the temples in those areas. The announcement of the groundbreaking for Burley was preceded by the release of its' site location on June 23 of last year, followed by the release of the exterior rendering on September 17.
As an additional note, since the last scheduled groundbreaking was Elko Nevada on May 7, the fact that the Burley groundbreaking will occur 4 weeks after that may point to the Church trying to get other temple groundbreakings done between May 7 and June 4. Among the most likely candidates could be the Belo Horizonte Brazil, Ephraim Utah, Willamette Valley Oregon, Cali Colombia, Torreon Mexico, and Greater Guatemala City Guatemala Temples.
Any of those 6 could have groundbreakings in the 4 intervening weeks (May 14, 21, and 28, and June 11). I'm adding June 11 because today's announcement does not list any groundbreakings on that date. The other two temples, Smithfield Utah and Yorba Linda California, are both set to have their groundbreakings on Saturday June 11.
Utah's newest temple groundbreaking will be under the direction of Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a Cache Valley native, who will be accompanied by his apostolic colleague and another Cache Valley son, Elder Gary E. Stevenson. This temple's groundbreaking follows its' June 10 site announcement.
An exterior rendering for the Smithfield Utah Temple was released on November 24, at the same time the Church released the new rendering for the reconstructed Provo Utah Temple. Meanwhile, the Yorba Linda California Temple groundbreaking will also occur on June 18, with Elder Mark A. Bragg, the president of the North America West Area who was born in nearby Los Angeles, presiding thereat.
The announcement follows the July 15 site announcement and the September 17 release of the exterior rendering. This means that, for the first time ever, the Church has 9 temple groundbreakings set to take place between March and June of this year. This brings the total number of temples set to have a groundbreaking thus far to 9.
The Church's ninth groundbreaking in 2021 was held on September 18 for the Phnom Pehn Camobida Temple, so with the ninth groundbreaking in 2022 taking place a full 3 months earlier than last year, I don't think it's out of the question that the Church could hold 20 or more groundbreakings this year. With that in mind, I wanted to provide an updated look at groundbreakings in 2021 vs. this year.
August-December seems to be the most likely time we will see quite a few groundbreakings for temples in the southern hemisphere, and may also be the window within which ground is broken for the Tarawa Kiribati, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples. Hopefully action can be taken on other temples in Asia, Africa, and Europe.
And given that last year marked the clearing of the queue of the remaining temples originally announced by President Monson, and the Church has already cleared the queue of all temples originally announced in October 2019, hopefully at least 4 of the 5 remaining which were announced between April 2018 and April 2019 might get cleared from the queue as well soon.
The status and timing of the Russia temple might depend on how the current increasingly dangerous and volatile situation with the attack on Ukraine. I continue to keep my eyes open for all such developments and Church news updates and will bring you all word thereof as those updates are released.
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. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below.
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 shared the following additional reports:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-03/rootstech-connect-2022-keynote-speakers-choose-connection-rockwood-apollonia-maysoon-zayid-modine-molly-yeh-244849
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-03-04/new-mission-leaders-will-serve-in-ecuador-brazil-bolivia-mexico-argentina-philippines-244515
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-03-04/rootstech-2022-familysearch-get-involved-participa-app-allows-simple-family-history-tasks-indexing-handwriting-244926
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-03-04/elder-cook-honors-former-senator-lieberman-emphasizes-the-importance-of-faith-in-the-public-square-244968
There is one more Church News update, which I will get to shortly. Here are some additional updates from the Newsroom:
https://news-za.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/donation-of-2-000-mobility-devices-set-to-change-lives-in-south-africa
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/a-new-familysearch-tool-will-aid-genealogical-discovery
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-around-the-world
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-cook-honors-former-us-sen-joseph-lieberman
That brings me to the final Church News update: The latest edition of "This Week on Social" was published:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-03-04/social-media-choose-connection-family-history-friendship-fsy-adversity-elder-holland-elder-bednar-245111
The newest installment in that ongoing series featured posts from the following members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson (from whom 2 posts were shared), Dale G. Renlund, Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares; and the following other General Officers were also featured: Relief Society General President Sister Jean B. Bingham and her Second Counselor, Sister Reyna I. Aburto (from whom two posts were shared); Young Women General President Sister Bonne H. Cordon (from whom two posts were shared) and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Michelle D. Craig and Becky Craven; Primary General President Sister Camille N. Johnson and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Susan B. Porter and Amy A. Wright (from the latter of whom two posts were also shared); and Brother Milton Camargo, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency.
My thanks once again to you all.
I just wanted to post an additional comment here to let you all know that, after additional analysis and research on my part, I have taken the liberty of revising my projections for the speaker lineup for the upcoming General Conference:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/171uzE00CZqEd_lHcQkE4ZIlcn9X46wfVM44LSd_6OuI/edit?usp=sharing
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Saturday, the Church News has provided the following additional updates:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-03-05/video-elder-cook-latter-day-saints-new-york-honor-former-u-s-senator-joseph-lieberman-245172
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-03-05/rootstech-2022-family-discovery-day-elder-sister-soares-share-family-and-spiritual-roots-brazil-2-245162
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-02/rootstech-2022-familysearch-choose-connection-family-history-speakers-244442
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-05/australia-heavy-rains-flooding-justserve-latter-day-saints-helping-queensland-new-south-wales-245080
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-05/europe-area-presidency-invites-latter-day-saints-day-of-prayer-fasting-244996
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-05/church-latter-day-saint-charities-were-ready-to-help-refugees-in-europe-sister-eubank-245197
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-03-05/music-and-the-spoken-word-the-focus-of-our-lives-244934
And here is one more report from the Newsroom:
https://news-uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/members-of-the-church-in-europe-provide-relief-and-help-to-refugees
If there are any temple construction updates, I will be sure to pass those along shortly. My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! Updates have been noted today for the Belem Brazil, San Juan Puerto Rico, Helena Montana, Feather River California, Salta Argentina, Tallahassee Florida, Columbus Ohio, and Lindon Utah:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/belem-brazil-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/san-juan-puerto-rico-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/helena-montana-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/feather-river-california-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/salta-argentina-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/tallahassee-florida-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/columbus-ohio-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/lindon-utah-temple/
I should also note that with the update on the Feather River California Temple, that temple has now officially moved ahead of both Richmond Virginia and the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, and it has now been noted that the temple's completion is anticipated in late 2022, which aligns with a new report from someone living in the area that will be served by the Feather River temple.
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Sabbath Day, the Newsroom and the Church News have covered quite a few new developments:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/donna-edith-smith-packer-obit
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-03-06/sister-donna-smith-packer-wife-of-the-late-president-boyd-k-packer-dies-at-age-94-245239
https://news-uk.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/members-of-the-church-in-europe-provide-relief-and-help-to-refugees
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-06/how-the-church-its-leaders-members-in-europe-are-providing-aid-and-relief-245265
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-03-06/relief-society-invitation-to-serve-180-anniversary-justserve-244760
Before moving on to other updates, just wanted to interject here that, with the 180th anniversary of the creation of the Relief Society occurring later this month, that is probably why the Brethren have opted for a Women's Session in April.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-03-06/week-in-review-church-sends-aid-to-eastern-europe-president-nelson-speaks-to-california-rootstech-roundup-245085
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-03/rootstech-connect-2022-keynote-speakers-choose-connection-rockwood-apollonia-maysoon-zayid-modine-molly-yeh-244849
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Church Temples site has shared some major updates today. Rather than trying to enumerate them, I'm referring all who are interested to the following resource:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/status/
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has only published one new update thus far today:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-03-07/pacific-area-come-and-help-month-service-projects-tahiti-vanuatu-french-polynesia-bora-bora-244843
My thanks once again to you all.
Here is one other update:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-03-07/anxiety-help-hope-emotional-resilience-244418
My thanks once again to you all.
A side note from simply someone on the sidelines looking in, but it seems that the dedication of the Bentonville temple could be before September. The reason for this is that the Kansas City Temple will be close from the third week of September until just before Christmas for some minor repairs that need to be made to the windows. The timing of the closure, to me, seems like it was pushed off from a normal summer season closure to ensure that the members in the KC metro have a couple of options to attend a temple within a reasonable driving distance.
ReplyDeleteMichael, thanks for taking time to weigh in here. As a general rule, the Church routinely closes several temples per year for periods that can range from 6 weeks on the short end to 19+ weeks on the longer side. Usually that is done in order to complete minor renovations/repairs or adjust furnishings without the need to rededicate the temples once that process is complete. As far as the theory that the dedication of the Bentonville Temple could occur before September, I'm not convinced on that count. The Praia Cabo Verde Temple dedication was just announced for the third week in June. The Belem Brazil and Helena Montana Temples are expected to have dedications set next, and hopefully pandemic-related delays preventing an announcement for the Quito Ecuador Temple presently will not prevent an announcement on that temple at around the same time as well. But I would anticipate most of those 3 temples would have arrangements announced for August and September. But the Saratoga Springs Utah, Feather River California, and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples are all anticipated to be completed (and perhaps dedicated) before arrangements are announced for Bentonville. In fact, Bentonville is now the last temple antiicipated to be completed sometime in late 2022. So based on those updates, some of which have just been made today, I would be very much surprised if that temple was dedicated before November.
DeleteYou can see those updates for yourself on the following web page:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/status/
If "completion" is estimated in late 2022, then dedication might only follow in February-April of 2023. Of course, I don't know what information the Brethren might have that could indicate something different, but that would be my estimation. Construction was reportedly being finalized on the Praia Cabo Verde Temple on Thursday February 17, and the dedication thereof was announced 2 weeks later, and scheduled out to 3 months after the announcement thereof. So unless a dedication is announced for Bentonville by June (bearing in mind that Bentonville is considerably larger than the Cabo Verde Temple), I don't see that occurring in September. I'd be shocked if it were dedicated by the end of this year. But that's just from the perspective of someone who has been monitoring temple construction extensively for the last decade or so. I look forward to all such announcements when they are made, and I hope you might be correct, but wouldn't be shocked if that's not the case. Thanks for weighing in on this, Michael. I appreciate hearing from you.