BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Bacolod Philippines Temple; Name Change Announced the the San Jose California Temple; Preliminary Infrastructure Work Will Begin on the Fairview Texas Temple

 Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced updates on three temples: the opening arrangements for the Bacolod Philippines Temple, a namecahange for the San Jose California Temple, (which will now be known as the Sunnyvale California Temple), and that preliminary infrastructure work is set to getunderway soon on the Fairview Texas Temple. The latter two updates are self-explnatory, so let me get into the details about the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication,then share some concluding observations about the other two temples.

I was stunned by the announced opening arrangements for the Bacolod Philippines Temple because, prior to today's announcement, that temple was only expected to have major construction wrap up in the early months of next year. As a result, not only did this announcemnent surprise me, but I was further stunned by the timing involved: the media day will be held on Monday, April 13, with invited guests touring the temple for a couple of days after that. The public open house will run from Thursday, April 16, to Saturday, May 2, excluding the Sundays of April 19 and 26.

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will then preside at the dedication of that temple on Sunday, May 31, 2026, in a single session at 10:00 AM (with a rebroadcast planned at 2:00 PM). Both the dedicatory session and the rebroadcast will be carried to all units in the Bacolod Philippines Temple dstrict. This is a stunning announcement, and the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication will follow that of the Davao Philippines Temple by just 4 weeks. So the Church now has 3 temple dedications in May,

Another thing that surprised me is that this dedication was announced before the first temple leaders were announced for this temple.  And if a temple that, up through yesterday, was anticipated to be completed in early next year can have a May dedication set, then that suggests that other temple dedications could happen sooner than I expect. As of yesterday, I had put my personal estimate for this tmeple's dedication as unlikely tto occuruntil sometime in 2027, so my estimates and projections were way off, and I will have to rethink some things as a result. This will be the third Philippines Temple dedicated next year, which  is another good sign.

We move on now to some thoughts about the other two updates mentioned. The former San Jose California Temple is being built in the city of Sunnyvale, so the name change makes sense. And for the Fairview Texas Temple, as I noted in this comment earlier today, the plans are currently before the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation,  so the fact that approvals are being sought for preliminary infrastructure work is encouraging, given the efforts of the neighborhood group of residents that continues to try and stop construction from moving forward. 

As I noted in previous posts and YouTube videos, there is nationwide group of  opponents to temple construction here in the United States that aims to hinder, delay, or stop construction of temples here in the United States, and that group seems to spur on the comparatively small groups of locals opposed to such projects. We see the fruitsthereof in relationtothe Coy Wyoming, HeberValley Utah, and Fairview TexasTemples at minimum, and there may be other temples impacted by the overarching work of the nationwisde group,

But as we know, the Prophet Joseph Smith state that no unhallowe hand can stop the work from progressing, and there are thankfully apparently more supporters than opponents of these projects on a local level, so hopefully that makes a difference. I repeat President Nelson 's plea for all of us to pray for the temples in any phase ofdevelopment, so thatwork make commence and continue and finish. We have the promise of the Lord that each temple dedicated thwarts the opposition of the advlersary and limits his power, so I hope that we will seriously pray for the temples in any phase of development.

I am somewhat isappointed thatwe didn't get any groundbreakings, site location confirmations, or exterior renderings this week, but i am grateful for the unexpected news of the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication, and I look forward to seeing how many other temple dedications the Church may be able to squeeze in before the end of the first half of next year. If the current scheduling is any indicator, we are sure to see timelines shift dramatically in the days ahead.

I invite you all to 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Announces New Temple Will Be Built in Portland, Maine

Hello again, everyone! At a Christmas devotional for the Portland Maine Stake this evening, Elder Allen D. Haynie, United States Northeast Area President, read the following statement from the First Presidency: 

"We are pleased to announce the construction of a temple in Portland, Maine. The specific location and timing of the construction will be announced later. This is a reason for all of us to rejoice and thank God for such a significant blessing — one that will allow more frequent access to the ordinances, covenants, and power that can only be found in the house of the Lord."

The First Presidency

This is the first temple to be announced under new Church President Dallin H. Oaks, and confirms what President Oaks said in his talk in October: "We will now move forward in providing the ordinances of the temple to members of the Church throughout the world, including when and where to announce the construction of new temples."

I had postulated that this would allow members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to announce new temples with the approval of the First Presidency in the course of their global ministry, so it makes sense that area presidencies would have similar authorizations to read official statements like this. The number of temples worldwide now sits at 383, with others to come in time, I'm sure.

Will any other temples be announced between now and the April 2026 General Conference? That's above my paygrade to know, but I conjecture that this could and likely will happen again. In view of this announcement, will anything else be announced tomorrow at 2:00 PM MST? I conjecture that will occur, since there is still a backlog of announced temples, and this just adds to it. But it also occurs to me to wonder how soon other updates will be announced for this first temple in Maine.

I had conjectured that, if temples were announcedoutside of General Conference, those announcements might come as temples are further along in the planning phase. So we could also potentially see a site location confirmed, rendering released, or groundbreaking set for this temple or any others in the near term. It's also worth noting that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first temple since the Hinckley era to be announced in December.

Either way, this is wonderful news. I invite you all to 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Set for the João Pessoa Brazil Temple; Exterior Rendering Released for the Jakarta Indoneisa Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the João Pessoa Brazil Temple, and released the exterior rendering for the Jakarta Indonesia Temple. We start with the groundbreaking information: Elder Joni L. Koch, president of the Brazil Area, will preside at the Saturday, January 24, 2026, groundbreaking for Brazil's newest temple. 

That groundbreaking will take place on the same date as the previously announced groundbreaking for the Jacksonville Florida Temple, but since João Pessoa time is one to two hours ahead of Jacksonville, João Pessoa now replaces Jacksonville as the first temple groundbreaking for 2026. The groundbreaking announcement follows the temple's announcement in October 2023 by President Nelson, with the site confirmation following just over a month later, and the exterior rendering released in July 2024.

And with both the João Pessoa Brazil and Jacksonville Florida Temples' groundbreakings set to occur on January 24, the second groundbreaking of the year will betaking place more than a month earlier in 2026 than the second groundbreaking in 2025 (which took place on March 1). So that already sets 2026 ahead of 2025 in terms of scheduled groundbreakings, and others could soon follow. I am grateful we got this groundbreaking announcement today, even though it wasn't what I expected.

As mentioned above, we also got the rendering for the Jakarta Indonesia Temple. The release of the rendering  follows the April 2023 announcement of that temple and the March 2024 release of its exterior rendering. While the rendering speaks for itself, it seems worthwhile to note that Indoesia's first temple is being built up rather than out, which is a common theme for Asia temples. 

It's also worth noting that, as with the Yigo Guaam Temple, the Jakarta Indonesia Temple is rising in an area that is projected to be submerged in water in 50-100 years. But as with the Yigo temple, the construction of this temple iscoming by inspiration from the Lord, who can temper those elements as He sees fit. As one of my seminary teachers observed: "Who was right, Noah, or the weatherman?" The Church will go forward with constructing this temple, for which I'm grateful. 

I was a little surprised we didn't get another temple dedication announced today, so I will have to factor that into my projected estimates for temple events in the near term. I was also somewhat surprised that we didn't get any announcement for other temples that have not had any details announced thus far. Hopefully such announcements come down the pike next week, as it will be the last week for major temple construction announcements before the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

I invite you all to 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.

In Tribute to President Jeffrey R. Holland, For His 85th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being December 3, President Jeffrey R. Holland is observing his 85th birthday. I know that the Lord is no respector of persons, and doesn't play favorites, but on a personal level, I wanted to reiterate again that he is my favorite apostle. I have a couple of familial connections to him. My dad was born and raised in St. George, and his father (Dean Stokes), was Elder Holland's home teaching companion when "young Jeff" was an Aaronic Priesthood holder. According to my dad, his father often expressed his wonder that a boy like Elder Holland had become an apostle of the Lord. I know that at times, it may seem that some members of the Church, to varying degrees, have put the leading Brethren of the Church on a pedestal, but I am reminded in accounts, such as that which was shared by my grandfather, that these men may have been foreordained to the apostleship, but they are no different than any other member of the Church; the Lord just ordered their lives based on their personal choices in such a way that when such calls came to them, they were qualified through years of service in the Church and living what they believe. That is important for all of us to remember.

My mom is a freelance proofreader, and in the early days of her marriage to my dad, she worked on many projects for the Church Educational System. Since that occurred at the time when then-Brother Holland was the Commissioner of the CES, he was essentially my mom's "boss." And she speaks warmly of the experiences she had working with him on such projects. Personal connections aside, I wanted to share a brief biographical sketch of Elder Holland.

Jeffrey Roy Holland was born in St. George, Utah to Frank D. and Alice Bentley Holland on December 3, 1940. He served a full-time mission in the British Isles. His mission president was Marion D. Hanks, (who at that time was a member of the now-defunct First Council of the Seventy and later served in the First Quorum and Presidency of the Seventy). One of young Jeff Holland's missionary companions was Quentin L. Cook, alongside whom he would later serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Of now-President Holland, Elder Cook has remarked that it is interesting to him that he, as the previously-senior missionary companion to Elder Holland, is now the junior apostle to his former junior companion. Following the concusion of Jeff's missionary service, he attended BYU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in religious education. Additionally, shortly after his release from missionary service, he married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Terry, in 1963. They are the parents of a daughter and two sons.

Their oldest son, Matthew, served as the President of Utah Valley University and as president of the North Carolina Raliegh Mission. During General Conference in April 2020, Matthew S. Holland was sustained as a General Authority Seventy, marking the first time a fahter-and-son duo have served together as general authorities since the July 2015 death of President Boyd K. Packer. Once Elder Holland earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, he went on to earn a doctorate degree in American studies from Yale. He then became a professor at BYU, serving as Dean of the College of Religion. He served as Commissioner of Church Education from 1976-1980. In 1980, President Dallin H. Oaks, who was then serving as President of BYU-Provo, announced his intention to move on to other opportunities. Commissioner Holland was put in charge of the committee to find the new BYU President. 

Two days later, he was stunned when the First Presidency appointed him to that assignment. He had reportedly been favored for the position by President N. Eldon Tanner, who was then serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency, and was the protege of then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, who at that time was the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles asssigned to the Church Board of Education. Elder Holland would go on to serve as president of BYU for 9 years himself, until his April 1, 1989 call as a General Authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. 

Prior to his call to general Church service, Elder Holland also served as a bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, and regional representative. After the First Presidency was reorganized following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson, President Howard W. Hunter took immediate action to fill the apostolic vacancy. In the space of a few short hours on Thursday June 23, President Hunter issued a call to the apostleship to Elder Holland, gave him his apostolic charge, set apart and ordained him to that calling, and had him join the other 14 apostles in their weekly meeting at the temple. That action was sustained by Church membership during the Solemn Assembly that was held exactly 100 days later.

As we know, then-Elder Holland experienced significant health challenges earlier in 2023 that reportedly almost ended his life and kept him from speaking in both General Conferences in 2023. Prior to that hospitalization,Elder Holland also experienced the death of his sweet wife.

As we also know, President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,died on Sunday November 12, with Elder Holland set appart to succeed him in that assignment 3 days later.

President Holland has given a total of 64 addresses in General Conference.  Of those, 3 were prior to his apostolic call. The first time he spoke during General Conference was in April 1983, while he was serving as the President of Brigham Young University. He spoke alongside his son during that session. He gave two other talks following his 1989 call as a General Authority Seventy, and the remaining 61 General Conference addresses as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

To me, it always seems as though the talks given by President Holland are specifically focused on something I have been dealing with personally at the time. As a consequence, listening to him speak every six months is one of my favorite things about General Conference weekends, and I keenly felt his absence from the two General Conferences in 2023. The last thing I want to mention about Elder Holland is that he is currently the most-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the second in seniority among all current apostles. 

He is also the third-oldest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and is the ifth-oldest among all living apostles. Interestingly enough, although he is the most senior of the three apostles born in 1940 (with Elders Uchtdorf and Cook being the other two), he is the youngest of the three. His apostolic seatmate, Elder Uchtdorf,  obsrved his 85th birthday just under one month ago, with Elder Cook having done the same two months prior to that.

I am grateful for the life and ministry of President Holland, for the miraculous preservation of his life, and for the chance I had to write this post in his honor today. I invite you all to 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.

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

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the opening arrangements for the Davao Philippines Temple, the only major temple construction update announced today. Here are the relevant details: A media day will be held on Monday, March 23, 2026, with invited guests touring the temple over the next two days. 

The public is invited to tour that temple between Thursday, March 26, and Friday, April 10 (with the exception of the Sundays of March 29 and April 5. General Conference in the Philippines will air April 11-12, which is why tours will still take place on Saturday April 4. Following the conclusion of the public open house, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the May 3, 2026, single-session dedication (with that session being broadcast live at 10:00 AM to all units that will be served by the Davao Philippines Temple district). 

The dedicatory service will be rebroadcast to those same units the same day at 2:00 PM in the Philippines. While the announcement of this dedication is not surprising, the dedication date certainly is. That will be the same date as the previously announced dedication of the Lindon Utah Temple. And, because the time in Davao Philippines is 15 hours ahead of Utah time, the Davao dedication will take place 15 hours before the Lindon dedication, even though both are occurring on the same date.

Today's tremendous announcement gives me hope that we will see more temple dedications to round out the first half of next year than I had originally hoped or predicted. To be completely honest, I was half-expecting the Yorba Linda California Temple dedication to be announced today, but I am grateful for today's unpexted announcement either way. This temple dedication has been added to my document tracking current apostles' temple dedications during President Oaks' prophetic tenure.

As I said, today's announcement gives me hope that other temple dedications will occur sooner than I thought or have projected. The latest announcement reminds me that it is a given that the Lord's ways and thoughts are higher than mine. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get an announcement about any other temples today, but I think we will see other major temple construction announcements over the next two weeks to close out the year.

And I remain convinced that more temple dedications, groundbreakings, exterior renderings, and site location confirmations are in the works for the near term. With the two other weeks we have before the Christmas/New Year's observances, hopefully major momentum can round out the year. I invite you all to 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.