BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS Part Two: Site Locations and Initial Details Released for 6 New Temples

Note: The first paragraph of this report was published this afternoon, as shown by the time stamp for this post. The additional analysis followed throughout the evening once I'd concluded my other obligations.

Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, the next major temple news has been shared by the Church. Site locations and preliminary details have been confirmed for 6 new temples. Further analysis will follow this afternoon/evening as my situation allows. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

I am pleased to be back now to share the additional analysis I promised. Once again, the Church has shared the location and preliminary information for 6 temples. That news was released just one day after another new report in the Church News shared insights from the Presiding Bishopric about the location, design, and construction of temples. 

As you might recall, that article noted that the process whereby temple sites are selected has been considerably shortened. Where it once took the Church a minimum of two years to get initial approval for a temple site, two years is now the maximum length of time in general, with more site locations actually being able to be procured and confirmed sometimes within weeks or mere months of a temple announcement. And that accelerated timeline was certainly reflected again in the 6 locations announced today. 

The Church has confirmed the sites and initial information for the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple (the one remaining temple of the six originally announced in October 2020); the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple (originally announced in October of last year). the Wellington New Zealand and Santos Brazil Temples (originally announced in April of this year), and the Londrina and Ribeirão Prêto Brazil Temples (originally announced last month).

As an update to previously-shared information, this means that the Church has 3 temples remaining which were originally announced in April 2018, 1 each from the following October and April, 3 from April 2020, 5 from April of last year, 9 apiece from the following October and April, and 15 of the 18 from the temples announced last month in General Conference.

With that preliminary background in mind, let's now dive into details about each of the 6 temples had site locations confirmed and initial details announced. While both of the articles to which I linked earlier in this post listRibeirão Prêto Brazil Temple the 6 temples in unique order, I have chosen to provide the details on these 6 temples according to the same order in which they were originally announced.

So we'll start in Santa Cruz Bolivia, where a single-story temple of approximately 29,000 square foot temple will be built at Av. Quinto Anilla y Santa Rosa (Av. Radial 27), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The acreage of the site in question was not specified. I believe I recall opining that the Church could possibly announce the official details for the La Paz Bolivia Temple before we got an announcement for Santa Cruz, but the Lord has proven me wrong in that belief, which is never shocking.

We now shift to the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple, where a 10,900 square-foot single-story edifice will rise on a 1.26-acre site near Dachang Road and Dehua Street, Niaosong District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Given that it is only slightly larger than the standard 10,000-square-foot modular design, I could see the Church doing a minor tweak to that standard floor plan so modular components could potentially be used.

Regarding New Zealand's third temple, the Church will construct the 14,900 square-foot two-story edifice on a 3.35-acre site. The Church seems to have a solid relationship with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (the niece of Elder Ian S. Ardern, formerly the Pacific Area president who now serves as Second Counselor in the Africa Central Area), so that might help expedite approvals for this temple.

Moving on to the final 3 temples, all in Brazil, let's break down the details for each. We start with the Santos Brazil Temple, where, at Avenida Doutor Waldemar Leão, 305, Jabaquara, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, a 23,000 square-foot two-story edifice will rise. The Santos Brazil Temple will be the third for the greater Sao Paulo area (with the others being the first Sao Paulo Brazil Temple and the Sao Paulo East Temple, and the site confirmation for the latter coming just under one month ago).

As for the Londrina Brazil Temple,  the single-story temple of 32,000 square feet. is planned for the Church-owned property at Avenida: Harry Prochet, S/N, Jardim São Jorge, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. And the Ribeirão Prêto Brazil Temple will be a single-story edifice of 32,000 square feet, rising at the Church-owned property at Av. Antonio Marcal and R. Jose Brandani in Ribeirão Prêto, Brazil.

What I see the Brethren setting up here is a situation where 2023 will be another year for a high number of temple groundbreakings. There are now 23 temples with groundbreakings that can safely be anticipated, which will be reflected in the announcement of groundbreaking arrangements in the months ahead. 2023 is thus likely to claim its place in history as the year with the highest number of temple groundbreakings.

As expected, today's announcement did not relate to the opening arrangements for any new temples, though the Bangkok Thailand, Bentonville Arkansas, and Brasilia Brazil Temples are all nearing completion. Next week's temple announcement could either relate to opening arrangements for any of these three temples, more site confirmations, or more likely new temple groundbreakings, since the last such announcement was made on Monday October 17, when groundbreakings were set for four temples in Latin America.

I continue to monitor all temple updates and Church news reports and will be sure to bring word of those to you as I become aware of such updates. In the meantime, that does it for now. 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. 

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