Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Alabang Philippines Temple

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Monday, August 4, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Alabang Philippines Temple

Hello again, everyone! Today, I am suprised and pleased to report that the First Presidency has announced opening arrangements for the Alaabang Philippines Temple. Let's get right into the relevant details: The temple will host a media day on Monday, November 17, 2025, followed by three days of tours for invited guests. The public is intived to tour the temple between Friday, November 21, through Saturday, December 13, 2025. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, January 18, 2026, in one session, with Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding thereat.

This temple dedication announcement came sooner than I was expecting, and the open house and dedication dates are sooner than I anticipated as well. I had anticipated that, if opening arrangements were announced for any temples today, that the Lindon Utah Temple would be the natural choice. I'm sure finishing touches may need a little longer there, since that temple is slightly larger than Alabang. Despitethe fact that the timing of both the open house and dedication are sooner than I expected them to be, I'm glad we got them.

Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.

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6 comments:

  1. James G. StokesAugust 4, 2025 at 2:41 PM

    The Church News also covered this update, and I have included Elder Bednar's assignment in this document, which shows the dedication history of our current apostles during President Nelson's prophetic administration. My thanks once again to you all.

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    Replies
    1. James G. StokesAugust 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM

      After my last comment yesterday, the Church News published this additional report, and has provided this report thus far today.

      A couple other things: I mentioned in my post above that the Lindon Utah Temple is "slightly larger" than the Alabang Philippines Temple. With the exact size of the Alabang temple yet to be confirmed, it does look to be similar in both size and design to the Auckland New Zealand Temple, which is 45,456 square feet. If that assessment is correct (bearing in mind that the size of the Alabang temple is unconfirmed as of yet), then Alabang is half the size of Lindon, which would explain why finishing touches wrapped up for Alabang sooner than they did for Lindon.

      The other interesting thing is that I don't know if the First Presidency will prioritize getting the remaining temples originally announced by President Monson out of the construction queue quicker than their counterparts elsewhere announced by President Nelson. If that is the case, I could see the Church setting opening arrangements for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple next week, with Lindon Utah following the week after that, or a situation where opening arrangements for both are announced at the same time.

      As I stated in previous posts and comments, Lindon's cornerstone reads "Erected 2025" while, to my knowledge, Alabang and Harare both read "Erected 2026". So I still hold out hope for a late November or early December dedication for the Lindon Utah Temple, which would put its' open house likely in October-early November.

      If the opening arrangements for these two temples are not announced within the next two weeks, I could see the confirmation of more site locations, the release of more exterior renderings, the setting of more groundbreakings, or any or all of the above next week (and possibly the week after). But since Alabang got an earlier announcement than I was anticipating, I hope that the same holds true of the Harare and/or Lindon Temples.

      It will be interesting to see what happens there. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    2. James G. StokesAugust 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM

      The latest edition of the Church News podcast is now available. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    3. James G. StokesAugust 5, 2025 at 2:05 PM

      And see which Church leaders will be speaking at the BYU-Provo Campus Education Week. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    4. James G. StokesAugust 5, 2025 at 3:15 PM

      Elder Patrick Kearon shared his thoughts on receiving and sharing the light of Christ with BYU-Pathway Worldwide students. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    5. James G. StokesAugust 5, 2025 at 8:26 PM

      The Church News Almanac section now includes this report on the new Canada Area. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete

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