Hello again, everyone! Today, the First Presidency announced opening arrangements for the San Diego California and Phnom Penh Cambodia Temples. Let's get right into the details: We start with the San Diego California Temple. A media day will be held on Monday, June 15, 2026, with tours for invited guests the following two days. The open house will then occur from Thursday, June 18 through Saturday, July 11, 2026. The temple rededication will follow on Sunday, August 23, 2026, with the presiding apostle to be named at a later time. The dedicatory session will be held at 10:00 AM local time, with a rebroadcast at 2:00 PM to all units in the temple district.
Meanwhile, the media day for the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple will be held on Wednesday, August 12, with invited guest tours the next two days. The public open house for this comparatively smaller temple will be held for a week between the Saturdays of August 15 and 22. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, August 30, 2026, with Elder Patrick Kearon presiding thereover. The 10:00 AM dedicatory session will also be rebroadcast at 2:00 PM local time to all units in the temple district.
I am not surprised that the open house for the San Diego California Temple is almost a month long, and the temple's rededication was around the time I htought it would be. I am also not shocked that the presiding apostle was not named at this time. That means the odds are very good that it could be rededicated by a member of the First Presidency, though I don't know whether any of them have connections to San Diego. In the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I believe that Elder Quentin L. Cook has some connection to the San Diego area, but I could be mistaken on that.
But I was surprised that the open house for the first temple in Cambodia will only last a week, and that the temple dedication in question will not take place until the end of August. Ihad projected it would occur on August 2, 9, or 16. I was only off by two weeks from the latter end of that estimate, but it still surprised me. I am cautiously optimistic that the mid- to late August windows for both of these events might mean that we could get other new temples dedicated in early to mid-August (August 2, 9, or 16). That might be a good window for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple. But time will tell on that.
I am glad that two more temples have had opening arrangements announced. I hope for other opening arrangements tobe announced later this month, along with perhaps some groundbreakings, exterior renderings, and/or site location confirmations later this month as well. 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.
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The temple in Camodia announced Elder Kearon as the presiding elder at the dedication. But they did not announce who will preside at the rededication in San Diego. I wonder who that will be.
ReplyDeleteHey, Chris! Thanks, as always, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you. The news release does indeed confirm Elder Kearon as the presiding official for the dedication of Cambodia's first temple, but does not specify the presiding authority for the San Diego California Temple's rededication. In general, when the presiding official is not named at the time a temple dedication or rededication is announced, that's because it will likely be a member of the First Presidency or a member of the Quorum of the Twelve with connections to the area in question. Not specifying it in advance makes sense if it's going to be a member of the First Presidency. 2 or the 3 First Presidency members are in their 90s with unpredictable health, so if either of them has been tentatively assigned to that temple dedication, theChurch likely wants to delay announcing it until it is certain they will be well enough to make the trip.
DeleteThe other possibility is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with ties to the area, As I stated in my analysis above, I am not sure exactly which current apostle(s) may have ties to San Diego. Aside from that, it has been a general rule up until recently that temple Rededications are typically under the direction of either a First Presidency member or one of the six senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve. That trend was broken a few years ago when Elder Gong, a junior member of the Twelve, was sent to rededicate the Hong Kong China Temple. So the general rule may not be the best gauge to determine which of the 15 apostles will preside at the San Diego California Temple rededication. But barring anything very unexpected, I anticipate it will be a member of the First Presidency or of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who has a personal connection of some kind to the San Diego region. Who might that be? Stay tuned to find out.
As always, Chris, your longtime friendship and readership are appreciated. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts and questions. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Also on this Monday, the Church News has covered today's temple news and has also provided several apostolic updates: aside from the aforementioned reports about Elder Soares' meeting with Brazil's vice president and President Uchtdorf's recent address at BYU-Hawaii, additional reports include the text of the dedicatory prayer offered by Elder Gerrit W. Gong to dedicate the Harare Zimbabwe Temple,, and the Estonia ambassador's meeting at Church headquarters with the First Presidency and Elder Quentin L. Cook. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteOn this Tuesday thus far, the Church News has published one new report. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteAnd the Newsroom has recapped the Tabernacle Choir's Brazilian ministry. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteThe Newsroom has reported on the release of discourses by Eliza R. Snow and Elder Quentin L. Cook's BYU-Provo devotional in which he offered counsel about artificial intelligence. The Church News has also covered those same updates, in addition to the latest edition of the Church News podcast. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteThe Newsroom and the Church News have also provided a final report on the Tabernacle Choir's ministry trip to Brazil. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteAnd a status update has been provided for the Tarawa Kiribati Temple. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteOn this Wednesday, the Newsroom has shared a few new updates: the future Chilean minister of women has visited Church leaders in Chile, Elder Gary E. Stevenson recently met with the governor of the state of Mexico. and the Church has provided key information on its' Easter initiative. Since General Conference coincides with Easter this year, the article also notes that a Solemn Assembly will be held during General Conference weekend. While that was always taken as rote, it's nice to have it officially confirmed.
DeleteMeanwhile, from the Church News comes a report of Elder Gérald Caussé's recent apostolic ministry in his native France; a two-day JustServe blitz in Meridian Idaho; the reunion of Asian Church members with their ancestors across time; and new GA Seventy Elder Aaron T. Hall's BYU-Idaho devotional address. My thanks once again to you all.
And the latest updated completion order for temples under construction or undergoing renovation brings some surprises with it. At a glance, in view of Sunday's dedication of the Harare Zimababwe Temple, that temple is off the list, while Phnom Penh Cambodia joins the temples with a dedication scheduled. It appears that major construction has wrapped up on the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple, but that it is still behind the Cleveland Ohio and Torreon Mexico Temples, the former of which is being prepared for the installation of its' cupola, and the latter of which is awaiting the arrival of its' cupola. In other temple news, full-scale construction has begun on the Antananarivo Madagascar Temple, which is now between the Lone Mountain Nevada and Cape Town South Africa Temples in the construction queue.
DeleteThe latter development comes roughly one year after ground was broken for that temple. This takes the number of temples for which full-scale construction is pending down to 10, which I hope will continue to go down in the next month or so before General Conference. To the best of my knowledge, there are no other temple construction updates, but I will be sure to provide them if there are. My thanks once again to you all.