Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced For Saratoga Springs Utah Temple

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Monday, November 21, 2022

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced For Saratoga Springs Utah Temple

Note: The first paragraph of this post was published to this blog at 2:20 PM, with subsequent paragraphs added between 5:30-6:30 PM MST that same day.

Hello again, everyone! The Church has been announcing the newest major temple updates every Monday at around 2:00 PM. Today's announcement pertained to opening arrangements for the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple. I have some appointments to take care of but I will have further analysis later this evening as time and circumstances allow. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the additional analysis I promised this afternoon. The press is invited to tour the temple on Monday, April 10. VIP tours will follow from Tuesday, April 11-Friday, April 14. The public open house will follow between Saturday, April 15, and Saturday, July 8, with the exceptions of the Sundays of April 16, 23, and 30, May 7, 14, 21, and 28, and July 2.

President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, will preside over the 3 dedicatory sessions at 9:00 AM and 12:00 and 3:00 PM on Sunday, August 13, 2023. Since the scheduling of opening arrangements for larger temples like Richmond Virginia and Saratoga Springs Utah Temples are more spread out, I assume that will also likely be the case for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, which is also on the larger end of that spectrum. 

With that temple being the next to have a dedication announced, I'd anticipate it will be dedicated at some point in September, and that such an announcement is likely to occur in about two weeks since that temple has not yet been completed. And the Feather River California and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples are also comparatively on the larger side, so the dedication of the former could be set for October and the latter for November. 

By contrast, the Bentonville Arkansas, Brasilia Brazil, Okinawa Japan, and Helena Montana Temples are on the smaller side, so as they are completed, their dedications could be set to occur between those of their larger counterparts. So it will be interesting to see how the Church balances all of that. In the meantime, I stated above that I believe that the dedication arrangements for the Bangkok Thailand Temple will be the next temple opening announced, but I think that announcement is two weeks out. 

It could also potentially be three weeks away. With that in mind, what could we expect in terms of temple announcements in late November and early December? I see a few possibilities. There are 17 temples with site locations confirmed (7 of which have had exterior renderings released), so any of those could have groundbreakings set. 

A site confirmation (whether or not the Church also releases exterior renderings and sets groundbreakings at the same time) could occur for any of the other 9 US temples announced in October of last year or in the two General Conferences of this year. And I am watching for news on 5 other temples outside the United States.

 It is also entirely possible that, for any of the other 37 announced temples, either individual or combined site confirmations, exterior renderings releases, and scheduled groundbreakings could be on the horizon in the near term as well. So I think we may have a lot to which we can look forward in the coming weeks, even if the next dedication announcement is three weeks out.

To the best of my ability, I will continue to cover all such developments, in addition to all temple construction updates and Church news reports, and to pass along word of those to you all as they cross my radar. 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.

5 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and the Church News have shared the following reports, which speak for themselves:

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/apostles-dedicate-two-temples-in-south-america

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/gerrit-w-gong-meets-with-vice-president-of-panama-jose-gabriel-carrizo

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022/11/21/23470105/quito-ecuador-temple-dedication-elder-cook-savior-atonement-temple-covenants-eternal

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022/11/21/23470421/mybaby4me-church-naacp-help-mothers-in-memphis

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022/11/21/23471182/quito-ecaudor-temple-dedicatory-prayer-elder-cook

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022/11/21/23471291/belem-brazil-temple-dedicatory-prayer-elder-renlund

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022/11/21/23471209/gilbert-arizona-giving-machines-open-light-the-world

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022/11/18/23465176/giving-machines-2022-open-light-the-world

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022/11/21/23445676/taylor-talbot-paralympics-legally-blind-track-field-service-mission

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On this Tuesday, the Newsroom and the Church News have shared the following updates, which speak for themselves:

      https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/event/2023-churchwide-events

      https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/boston-thanksgiving-feeding-the-hungry-2022

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022/11/22/23460617/blackstone-valley-massachusetts-womens-conference-dignity-matters-service-menstral-kits

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2022/11/22/23473058/podcast-eliza-r-snow-discourses-emmeline-b-wells-diaries-historians

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2022/11/22/23471739/president-m-russell-ballard-elder-andersen-missionaries-gilbert-arizona

      Delete
    2. Here are two additional Church News reports:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022/11/22/23461366/wheelchairs-hearing-aids-medical-donations-self-reliance-rwanda-south-africa-uganda

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022/11/22/23473935/hurricane-ian-volunteer-disaster-relief-efforts-by-the-numbers

      Additionally, there have been some major shifts in the temple construction queue. I've noted the updated general windows in the following document:

      https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L7HBLNZZTnlI4Dk8fpr3HZCf-wqkjUBcCCYqdxP7HRk/edit?usp=sharing

      So far, I can confirm that new updates have been provided on the Bangkok Thailand, Bentonville Arkansas and Brasilia Brazil Temples:

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/bangkok-thailand-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/bentonville-arkansas-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/brasilia-brazil-temple/

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    3. Each of these 3 temples is now nearing completion. So I think I need to amend my statement that the next major temple announcement will not be opening arrangements for new temples. But because the temple in Bangkok is on the larger side of the spectrum (although it has roughly half the floor area of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple), even if the opening for the Bangkok Thailand Temple is set next week, I believe the earliest we will see its' dedication is at some point in September.

      By contrast, with the Bentonville Arkansas and Brasilia Brazil Temples both being 25,000 square feet, it seems likely that a smaller open house window will lead to earlier dedications for both of those temples. And based on some research I've done, it appears likely that those dedications could be set for 3-4 months after the opening arrangements for each of those two temples are announced.

      It is likewise possible that at least a few other temples in the construction queue behind these 3 could also potentially have their open houses and dedications occur before the Bangkok Thailand Temple is dedicated. With that in mind, I think it would be wise to not assume that the more spread-out dedications might mean less dedications will occur this year. I will be interested to see how that timing works out, and the order in which temple dedications occur next year. I will be sure to pass along any other temple construction updates as I find out about them. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    4. Additional status updates have been noted for the Helena Montana, Casper Wyoming, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Phnom Pehn Cambodia, and St. George Utah Temples:

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/helena-montana-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/casper-wyoming-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/phnom-penh-cambodia-temple/

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/st.-george-utah-temple/

      My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete

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