Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency officially confirmed the site location and preliminary details for the Puerto Montt Chile Temple, which was originally announced by then-Church President Russell M. Nelson in October 2024. Let's get right on into the details:
A single-story temple of nearly 18,500 square feet will rise on a 5.8-acre site at Avenida Chamiza Lote 2 2015, Pelluco, Comuna de Puerto Montt. An exterior rendering and groundbreaking date will be announced later, when the time is right for that announcement. As a result of this update, there are now only 14 temples from the 17 originally announced during that conference. And this means that the number of temples with no official information announced is now down to 55, with that number hopefully continuing to go down before the April 2026 General Conference.
And speakingof that General Conference, I need to issue a correction to what I have stated in the past. When the First Presidency announced the Portland Maine Temple in December through the area president, I had stated my opinion that this new method of announcing temples might not necessarily mean no temples would be announced in General Conference anymore. But as many of you know, President Oaks was interviewed by the media in conjunction with his presiding at the Burley Idaho Temple dedication.
During that interview, he was asked the following questions, with theanswers following:
President Oaks, you recently announced a temple for Portland, Maine, at a devotional, not in general conference. Why did you announce that temple?
President Oaks: That was a strong impression that came to me early in my knowledge that President Nelson had transferred to heaven. It has occurred to me for a long time that the best place to announce a temple is in that temple district. And the best person to announce it is the file leader in that area, which can be an Apostle on assignment to a stake conference or another meeting, or it can be the area president if there’s no Apostle in the district when a decision is made by the First Presidency to have a temple there.
So, this is a pattern we can expect to see again?
President Oaks: It’s a pattern that we will follow as long as I have influence in determining those things. This does not change the pattern of decision-making or gathering facts and determining the agreeable timing and the need. And all those things will continue to be analyzed. But when it comes to making a decision from all those facts, the First Presidency will continue to make the decisions. But they’ll assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built.
So it appears from that interview that any other temple announcements made while President Oaks is the prophet will be announced locally. That makes sense in a big way. While President Nelson loved to announce new temples in General Conference, I know I was bothered by the audible vocal reactions to those announcements. If new temples are instead announced unexpectedly and locally under the direction of the First Presidency, that particular problem goes away.
I am sharing all of this to note, with my apologies, that I now assume temple announcements in General Conference will go away, and the local announcements, as approved, will be the status quo. I had believed and asserted that we could still see temple announcements in General Conference, but that assertion was, simply put, incorrect. I will look forward to hearing more of these local announcements going forward.
In the interim, I am nire than a little surprised that we only got an announcement about one temple today. I had hoped we'd perhaps see 1 or 2 temple dedications, 1 or 2 groundbreakings, the release of 1 or 2 renderings, and more than 1 site confirmation. But it occurs to me to wonder if there might be something else coming down the pike in terms of major announcements this week. Will that happen? Only time will tell.
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.
The Church News has also covered today's update. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteThe Church News shared information about 18 stake presidencies (6 new stakes, and 12 reorganized stake presidencies). My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteMaybe I am talking too soon but I thought we would see a significant increase of temple news after what President Oaks said in his october speech. I wonder if they share temple updates as soon as they have them or they have a schedule influenced by marketing or other reasons (I wouldn't see a problem with it). For example, I'm from Guatemala and I am so excited for the temple open house of the Miraflores temple or the groundbreaking ceremony of the Retalhuleu temple because it'll be my nearest temple but perhaps they're waiting until the groundbreaking of the Huehuetenango temple is done. I don't know how this works but I'll be patient haha
ReplyDeleteHey, A. J. Merlos. Thanks for stopping by to comment. There has been somewhat of a significant increase in temple news between when President Oaks was called and now. By my count, there were 18 such announcements between his October 14 ordination and the end of last year, which can be verified here, and there have been 8 so far this year, as verified here.
DeleteBut some of those announcements included multiple temples, which does suggest a significant uptick in temple news. There were several occasions, like today, when there was only an update on a single temple, but if you look at the announcements overall, it appears, by my rough check just now, that most of those announcements involved multiple temples.
Unfortunately, it takes time to arrange open houses and dedications, groundbreakings, the release of exterior renderings, and even site announcements like the one we saw today. A variety of factors can delay information or even updates about any temple. And I'm sure there would be more movement in the queue if all the First Presidency had to worry about was announcing those updates. But they've also been busy calling new mission and temple leaders, filling vacancies in Church leadership, and preparing for the April 2026 General Conference.
With their weighty responsibilities in mind, I'm grateful we're getting any temple news at all. I don't know what, if any, methodology may be in place in terms of which temples are prioritized. But I'm sure a lot of consideration goes into that as well. There's no marketing involved, insofar as I am aware. But the Church is committed to moving temples along as soon as possible. I would estimate, based on known factors, that the dedication of the Miraflores Guatemala City, Guatemala Temple will only occur in August, at the earliest, which would put its open house in late June-early July or so. I would also estimate that a groundbreaking forthe Retalhuleu Tuatemala Temple will occur sometime either later this year or possibly early next year.
Hope these thoughts, such as they are, are helpful. Thanks, A. J. Merlos, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you.