BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Dates Announced for Four Latin American Temples; Official Details Released for the Managua Nicaragua Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has once again been announced by the Church. And this announcement is a huge one. The announcement includes a site confirmation, the release of an exterior rendering, and the groundbreaking announcement for the Managua Nicaragua Temple, which was announced by President Nelson in April 2018.  Let's break down the details:

The single-story 25,000 square foot Managua Nicaragua Temple will be built in the area of Departamento de Managua, Nicaragua, at km 9.3 Carretera Masaya, between 2nd and 3rd entrance streets to Residencial Las Colinas, Distrito V – (5).  Elder Taylor G. Godoy, First Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency, will preside at the temple groundbreaking on Saturday, November 20, 2022. I don't know at this point if the site location in question is in fact the one the Church has been holding in reserve for years, but we may find that out later.

If that was the only temple update today, it would be wonderful enough. But groundbreakings have also been confirmed for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple (first announced in October 2020) and the Torreon and Queretaro Mexico Temples (which were both announced in April 2021). The site locations and exterior renderings were revealed for the Torreon Mexico and Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temples on September 23 of last year, with the official name for Guatemala City's second temple being confirmed on July 1 of this year.  

As you might recall my mentioning, the Torreon Mexico Temple will be the first built outside the United States to use the 10,000 square-foot modular components. Oficial information was released for the Queretaro Mexico Temple on December 7, 2021. So, having reviewed the history of the stage-by-stage announcements for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Torreon Mexico, and Queretaro Mexico Temples, when will those groundbreakings take place? And who will oversee them?

The groundbreaking for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple will take place on Saturday, December 3, 2022, under the direction of Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, Second Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency. One week later, the groundbreaking for the Torreon Mexico Temple will take place under the direction of Mexico Area President Elder Hugo Montoya (his biography mistakenly notes him as serving in the South America Northwest Area Presidency, which has not been true for several years).

And the groundbreaking services for the Queretaro Mexico Temple are set to take place on Saturday, January 7 of next year, with Elder Adrian Ochoa, First Counselor in the Mexico Area Presidency, set to preside thereat.

Having shared this information, if I might do so, I'd like to interject a few other general comments: While I've been hoping for 3 of these temples to have groundbreakings in the near term,  Managua Nicaragua was not on my radar as a temple that could have a site location confirmed, a rendering released, and a groundbreaking set in one fell swoop.

Above and beyond that, however, I do not necessarily believe that the Torreon Mexico Temple will be the last one to have a groundbreaking announced and set to occur by the end of this year. I fully anticipate that more official information (particularly exterior renderings and groundbreaking arrangements) could be set for both the Teton River Idaho and Montpelier Idaho Temples in the coming weeks and that either or both could still potentially occur this year. Other temple groundbreakings could also be set to occur before the end of this year as well. 

A few prospects there: we know that the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple site is being cleared and that the Tarawa Kiribati and Port Vila Vanuatu could also see groundbreakings in the near term. And it's still possible that the Belo Horizonte Brazil and Cali Colombia Temples, which had their sites confirmed and exterior renderings released at the same time that both the Torreon Mexico and Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temples had their official information announced, could see groundbreakings set soon as well.

If I had to venture a guess as to the most likely other temples that might have a groundbreaking before the end of this year, I think that the Teton River and Montpelier Idaho Temples, and the Port Moresby Papua. New Guinea Temple top that list. Whether or not any or all of them might actually see that occur remains to be seen. But in any case, I continue to monitor all such updates, in addition to anything else relating to temple construction or general Church news, and will be sure to pass those updates along as they cross my radar. I am grateful to have been able to find out about this announcement and to share the analysis thereof here with you all.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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. 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.