Hello again, everyone! The Church News shared yet another new report on temple reopenings this morning. The latest update indicates that 9 more temples of the Church will begin to transition to phase 4 (normal operations). Let's get into the details: 162 of the Church's 171 dedicated temples are operational. With 8 closed for major renovations, 1 other (the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple) has been dedicated and is anticipated to begin operations soon.
The 9 temples moving toward normal operations include: 4 in the United States (Boston Massachusetts, Hartford Connecticut, Louisville Kentucky, and Nashville Tennessee); 2 in Europe (Madrid Spain and Preston England) and 1 each in Canada (Montreal Quebec); Central America (San Salvador El Salvador); and Asia (Seoul Korea).
As a result of these details, the status of the Church's 171 temples stands as follows: 1 (Rio de Janeiro Brazil) will begin operations soon; 8 are closed for major renovations (with all 8 having been granted phase 3 status, allowing patrons in those districts to schedule phase 3 living and proxy work at the nearest temple); 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) has had operations paused/suspended in phase 3 out of an abundance of caution due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine; and 1 (Suva Fiji) remains in phase 1.
With no temples currently in phases 2 or 2-B, of the remaining temples, 26 are in phase 3 (those 26 do not include the 8 temples undergoing renovation, which are being separately categorized for the time being), and, with the changes announced today, the total number of temples now in phase 4 is 134. The Church News has also updated the temple reopening status tracker, which shows an area-by-area breakdown of temples worldwide.
Incidentally, on that status tracker, if you look at the Brazil Area specifically, there is an entry for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple. The text on that entry reads: "Dedicated May 8, 2022. Ordination work for patrons begins May 19, 2022." I assume that "Ordination work" was supposed to be "Ordinance work" because otherwise, it doesn't make much sense. But if the temple is officially open for ordinance work on May 19, I assume that it will be granted phase 4 status right away, since all other Brazilian temples are now in phase 4.
Either way, the status of that temple is likely to be clarified by the Church News in the update next week. I will continue to monitor all updates from the Newsroom and the Church News, along with any updates on the status of temples in the construction queue (under construction, undergoing renovation, or those in various other phases) and pass those along to you all here as I become aware thereof.
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 feedback offered is consistent 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 two additional reports:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2022-05-17/episode-83-deseret-news-religion-reporter-kelsey-dallas-importance-of-religious-freedom-254554
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-17/send-it-in-accepting-president-nelson-invitation-to-end-a-personal-conflict-254453
And here is a new report from the Newsroom:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-oaks-elder-gilbert-ensign-college
My thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom shared a report on May 13 about the beginning of the Praia Cabo Verde Temple open house:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/open-house-praia-cape-verde-temple
And today, updates were provided on the Red Cliffs Utah and Elko Nevada Temples. In conjunction with the update on Elko, a general completion estimate of late 2023 has been offered. The Red Cliffs Utah, San Pedro Sula Honduras, and Coban Guatemala Temples are ahead of Elko, in that order. Here are the two updates:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/red-cliffs-utah-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/elko-nevada-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Wednesday, the Church News has provided coverage of its' own on the open house for the Praia Cabo Verde Temple:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-18/see-8-exterior-interior-images-of-new-praia-cape-verde-temple-254688
The Church News also shared a summary of remarks given by Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela to the students at BYU-Idaho's weekly devotional. Elder Valenzuela is the current Second Counselor in the North America Central Area and will be the new First Counselor thereof effective August 1:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-18/elder-valenzuela-to-byu-idaho-students-follow-the-promptings-of-the-holy-ghost-254664
My thanks once again to you all.
Since I posted my last comment, the Church News has shared two new reports:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-18/dallin-oaks-clark-gilbert-devotional-ensign-college-racism-lgbtq-254637
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-18/justserve-women-make-quilts-interfaith-conference-vernal-utah-254478
And the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site has moved both the Helena Montana and Elko Nevada Temples down in the current queue. Yesterday, the completion estimate for Helena was mid-to-late 2022, and it was listed between the Saratoga Springs Utah and Feather River California Temples, but it has been moved down in the current queue to now be between the Bentonville Arkansas Temple (which was the last of the current temples anticipated to be completed in late 2022) and the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple (with a completion estimate of late 2022-early 2023). The Helena Montana Temple is now the last temple with an anticipated completion in late 2022:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/helena-montana-temple/
And yesterday, as I noted in an above comment, the Elko Nevada Temple had been the last of the temples anticipated to be completed in late 2023. It had been in the queue between the Coban Guatemala Temple (for which completion was estimated in late 2023) and Tallahassee Florida (estimated to be completed in late 2023-early 2024).
With the latest move, the Elko Nevada Temple is now in the queue between the Salvador Brazil Temple (completion estimated in early-to-mid 2024) and the Nairobi Kenya Temple (which currently has a general completion estimate of 2024). Nevada's newest temple is now the last of those anticipated to be completed in early-to-mid 2024:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/elko-nevada-temple/
I will just mention here that because the Feather River California, Richmond Virginia, and Helena Montana Temples have all had their first presidents announced, while similar announcements have not yet been made for the Lima Peru Los Olivos and Bentonville Arkansas Temples, I am hopeful that moving Helena down on that list is temporary.
I have been thinking a lot lately about temple completion timeframes and what that might indicate about potential windows for their dedications. Just as several factors can influence where a temple is on the construction queue, there are factors that can influence the timing and order of completion and dedications. I've mentioned before that it appears there are a few factors above and beyond COVID-19 which have delayed the announcement of opening arrangements for the Quito Ecuador Temple.
As I've also mentioned, when the biographies for the first leaders of that temple were published by the Church News in mid-April, the other two couples were set to begin their service in September of this year, while the first leaders for Quito were set to begin their service "later." Not "later this year", just "later":
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-04-14/new-temple-presidents-and-matrons-quito-ecuador-dallas-texas-nashville-tennessee-250395
That leads me to believe that, unless whatever is delaying the announcement on Quito is resolved, there could be a chance that the Quito temple might not be dedicated before the end of this year. I hope I'm wrong on that, but that has been something else I've considered. Hope these additional notes are helpful. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
So I wouldn't be shocked if
Sorry. Forgot to remove that last stray phrase from my previous comment. But on this Thursday, the Church News has shared 3 new updates. First up is the announcement of a new president and matron for the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-05-19/new-temple-president-and-matron-philadelphia-pennsylvania-mains-calling-first-presidency-2022-254607
Just to recap here, the biographies of 70 couples who will begin serving as temple leaders have been featured thus far. Since 72 new couples were identified as beginning to serve later this year (per the March 25 announcement from the First Presidency), that leaves 2 couples who have not yet been featured: the new leaders for the Manhattan New York and Tegucigalpa Honduras Temples.
As previously noted, under normal circumstances, new presidents might also have been called for the Detroit Michigan and Port-au-Prince Haiti Temples, but since that didn't happen, I am assuming that perhaps the circumstances of the pandemic and the temporary closure of both temples may have led to an extension for the leaders of both.
And since the current leaders of the Columbus Ohio, Hamilton New Zealand, Mesa Arizona, and Tokyo Japan Temples had their tenures interrupted by the renovations for those temples, it also makes sense that the current leaders will continue to serve for a little while longer. The Mesa Arizona Temple was rededicated last year, and rededication arrangements have been announced for the Hamilton New Zealand and Tokyo Japan Temples, with rededication arrangements likely to be announced for the Columbus Ohio Temple perhaps by the end of next month.
I have also reduced the number of new temples for which I am predicting new leaders will be announced later this year. That list now includes temples anticipated to be completed between now through early 2023. Here is an updated copy of the document on which I'm tracking that information:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J-KR6Hdv4ElYa8ZxBn6OqGWSEMcZxi3GaLcCoYTrJec/edit?usp=sharing
And the other two reports speak for themselves:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-19/video-cabo-verde-new-praia-cape-verde-temple-inside-and-out-254345
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-05-19/byu-rotc-returned-missionaries-sandhurst-military-competition-254497
My thanks once again to you all.
And an update has been provided on the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/san-juan-puerto-rico-temple/
Meanwhile, there have been updates in the temple construction queue order yet again:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/status/
In terms of what has changed, the Helena Montana Temple, which was moved down just yesterday to be between the Bentonville Arkansas and Abidjan Ivory Coast Temples, is now between Lima Peru Los Olivos and Bentonville Arkansas Temples.
The next noted change is a status update and an adjusted completion estimate for the Brasilia Brazil Temple:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/brasilia-brazil-temple/
That temple is now the first of three for which completion is anticipated in late 2022-early 2023. Additionally, the Abidjan Ivory Coast and Okinawa Japan Temples have now switched positions in the queue, with both still estimated to be completed in late 2022-early 2023. Additionally, a new update has been provided on the Okinawa Japan Temple:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/okinawa-japan-temple/
And with the Yorba Linda California Temple groundbreaking set to occur just 1 month from now, project approval for that has been granted by the city council, meaning work will likely be able to commence on that temple not long after its’ June 18 groundbreaking:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/yorba-linda-california-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has shared 2 additional updates:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-19/scott-taylor-how-historic-was-the-may-15-worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults-nelsons-hinckley-254709
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-19/elder-dieter-uchtdorf-broadcast-teaching-savior-classroom-instruction-254830
Also, in view of the update I noted on the Brasilia Brazil Temple, I have made additional edits to my list of temples for which new leaders have been or might be announced this year. The Lima Peru, Bentonville Arkansas, Brasilia Brazil, Okinawa Japan, annd McAllen Texas Temples might all be completed by the end of this year, and for any that will be, the Church could announced the first leaders for them.
And since there are 7 additional temples anticipated to be completed between now and mid-2023, depending on the progress (or lack thereof) with each of those temples, the announcement of the first leaders for some of those could be made before the end of this year or early next year as well.
Those updates are now reflected in the document to which I previously shared the link. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
And the Newsroom has shared a new report indicating that Elder Anthony D. Perkins, the current president of the Middle East/Africa North Area made a trip to Saudi Arabia, where he participated in an event entitled: "Forum on Common Values Among Religious Followers". He was the first General Authority to personally participate in that forum. (with Elder Bednar participating virtually in a G20 Religious Forum two years ago). Here is that report:
Deletehttps://news-middleeast.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-leader-shares-common-values-in-saudi-arabia
I am cautiously optimistic that recent opportunities the Church has taken to present common values in similar settings may lead to further growth opportunities in the Middle East/Africa North Area. My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has shared the following additional reports, which speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-05-20/new-mission-president-companion-singapore-tolman-calling-first-presidency-2022-254643
I had mentioned in the past that, with the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission President presiding at the groundbreaking for the Cambodia Temple, and with my "Uncle" David Sturt assigned to oversee the Nairobi Kenya Temple construction while serving as president of the Kenya Nairobi Mission, temple construction oversight may be part of a mission president's assignment.
So with the new mission president called for the Singapore Mission, I'm hopeful that might help hasten the approval for the Singapore Temple. Other updates, which speak for themselves, include the following:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-05-20/winter-quarters-nebraska-missionaries-pull-handcarts-florence-days-parade-175th-anniversary-year-of-trek-west-254618
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-20/classrooms-church-humanitarian-education-in-mozambique-254850
And as reported by the Newsroom, Elder Ronald A. Rasband became the first Church representative to meet with the president of Mozambique, whose government has placed religious freedom as a high priority:
https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-ronald-a-rasband-meets-with-mozambique-president-filipe-nyusi
That report gives me hope that the government may be willing to speed up approvals for the Beira Mozambique Temple. My thanks once again to you all.