Hello again, everyone! The Church's final Monday temple announcement before General Conference has just been shared. Today's update includes the opening arrangements for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, groundbreaking arrangements for the Belo Horizonte Brazil, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples, and the release of an exterior rendering for the Cody Wyoming Temple.
Let's get right into the details. We start in Bangkok Thailand. A media day will be held on Monday, August 28, with VIP tours held from Tuesday, August 29-Thursday August 21. Public tours will follow from Friday, September 1-Saturday, September 16, excluding the Sundays of September 3 and 10. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Bangkok Thailand Temple in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM Bnngkok time on Sunday, October 22.
Although I had ventured an estimate of October 8, 15, or 22 for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, I was more than a little surprised that this dedication will occur on the last of those dates, given the Church's recent setting of 3 dedications for September 17. I don't know how or to what extent that might affect the timing of other temple dedications that I've protected, but I'll be looking into that ASAP and will provide updates as I make them.
I was also slightly surprised that the temple in Thailand will not be dedicated by one of our apostles with Asia connections. Elder Gerrit W. Gong served in the Asia Area presidency, and Elder Gary E. Stevenson served in the Asia North Area presidency. So I assume the Church is saving those apostles for other temple dedications. Despite the details of the announcement not being exactly what I anticipated, I am grateful to see this temple's dedication scheduled.
We now move on to the three temple groundbreakings. First up, the groundbreaking for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 8, with Elder K. Brett Nattress, Pacific Area President, pressing as originally announced (it had been set to occur on March 4 but was postponed due to two major cyclones) The Church released the site location and exterior rendering for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple on May 19, 2021.
The groundbreaking for the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple will occur on Saturday, April 22, with Elder Peter F. Meurs, First Counselor in the Pacific Area, presiding. The site location and exterior rendering for Papua New Guinea's first temple was announced on September 15, 2020, so it's great to have a groundbreaking announced almost 3 years later.
Ground will be broken for the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple on Saturday, June 17, with Elder Juan A. Uceda, Second Counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, presiding thereat. The temple's site location and exterior rendering were originally released on September 23, 2021. Two of the other three temples for which site confirmations and renderings were released have had groundbreakings, leaving only the Cali Colombia Temple as the one from that group of four for which a groundbreaking has not yet been announced.
Finally, just two weeks after the Church confirmed the location of the Cody Wyoming Temple, the Church has today released its exterior rendering, which may suggest that the Church is fast-tracking that temple's construction start. With that in mind, this temple may also use the modular design to speed up construction. I am grateful to have learned of these updates and to be able to pass them along here.
I continue to monitor Churchwide developments and will be sure to pass along Church News updates, Newsroom reports, and other temple construction updates as they cross my radar. 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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