Stokes Sounds Off: 2025

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Monday, January 13, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Nariobi Kenya Temple; Exterior Rendering Released for the Brussels Belgium Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the opening arrangements for the Nairobi Kenya Temple and released an official exterior rendering for the Brussels Belgium Temple. Here are the details: Kenya's first temple will welcome the media on Monday, April 14, 2025, followed by two days of VIP tours. 

The public open house spans from Thursday, April 17-Saturday May 3, except for the Sundays of April 20 and 27. The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, May 18, 2025, under the direction of Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who will preside over the single dedicatory session, which will be carried to all units in the Nairobi Kenya Temple district. 

The dedication is coming 4 months earlier than I had projected it might, which is a good sign for other temples. I forgot to account for the smaller size of the Nairobi Kenya Temple when I made my estimates for its dedication. I should also note that this dedication will occur a week ahead of the previously announced dedication of the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple.

We now turn to the rendering for the Brussels Belgium Temple. An existing building at Avenue des Arts 52, in Brussels, Belgium, will be home to an arrival facility and a meetinghouse, in addition to the multistory temple of 25,000 square feet.. The site location was announced on June 17 of last year. 

At a glance, the temple rendering released today reminded me of the redesigned exterior of the Manhattan New York Temple. The Church is currently seeking permits for the conversion of that existing building into the spaces I described, so the release of an exterior rendering for this temple gives me hope that construction may be able to begin soon.

I am grateful to have learned of this news and for the opportunity to share it with you today. Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 

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 all such 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. 

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Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.