BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Arequipa Peru Temple Open House to Begin on Friday; Church President Russell M. Nelson To Dedicate Temple In December

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to bring you all some breaking temple news right now. The open house tours for the Arequipa Peru Temple will begin on Friday, and, per information from the Church News and the official Newsroom, that temple will be dedicated on Sunday December 15, with Church President Russell M. Nelson presiding thereat. That dedication will occur just under a month after he returns from the Southeast Asia leg of his ongoing Global Ministry Tour. And it makes sense that he will dedicate that temple himself, as he is a prophet fluent in Spanish. The only question now is who might accompany him on that particular assignment, which we may find out more about in the coming days. With this announcement made, a few other reminders here: Within the next 12-15 hours, I will be publishing a birthday tribute to Elder Dale G. Renlund, who will be observing his 67th tomorrow. With the Arequipa Peru Temple open house commencing on Friday, VIP/Media tours will likely occur within the next day or two. And, as noted earlier in this post, Friday will also mark the start of President Nelson's one-week tour of Southeast Asia, during which time I anticipate we may receive more information about the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple.

Looking ahead to the rest of this month, Sunday will see both the rededication of the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the day when, at 4:00 PM MST, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will join the Primary, Young Men, and Young Women General Presidencies to share more information about the new Children and Youth program for which initial details were shared in the September 29 Fifth-Sunday broadcast.

And the last day of this month (Saturday November 30) will mark both the last day of the Arequipa Peru Temple open house and the day on which the Puebla Mexico Temple will have its' groundbreaking. At this point, I have no idea what (if any) other major Church news and temple developments might be reported before the end of this year, but I am hoping for at least a few more announcementns, including that at least one more temple (but perhaps even two or three) might also have their groundbreakings before the end of this year.

Whatever might happen in that respect, I am as committed as I ever was to bringing word of such developments to you all as I become aware of it. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the second part of this apostolic statistical update, in which we will move on to note specific information about the long-form and decimal ages of our current apostles, which will also include updated information on the average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the 15 apostles as a group, and current and future nonagenarians. So let’s get right into all of that. Again, all data is current as of today (Sunday November 10). There have been three apostolic birthdays since my last such update: Elder Ulisses Soares, as I previously mentioned, observed his 61st birthday on Wednesday October 2. Just six days later (on Tuesday October 8) President M. Russell Ballard marked his 91st birthday. 4 days prior to this update (on Wednesday November 6), Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf celebrated his 79th birthday.. And three days from now, Elder Dale G. Renlund will be marking his 67th birthday, for which I will post another tribute. With my next planned update scheduled to occur on Sunday December 29, in addition to Elder Renlund’s aforementioned 67th birthday, the final two apostles will have had their 2019 birthdays by that date. On December 3, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland will be observing his 79th birthday. Just 20 days later (2 days before Christmas), on December 23, Elder Gerrit W. Gong will observe his 66th birthday. Having noted that, we now move on to some exact figures about the ages and average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and all 15 apostles as a group. In the Church’s leading Quorum, President Nelson is, as noted towards the end of my previous post, 95 years, 2 months, and 1 day old, with a resulting decimal age of 95.17 years. Hi apostolic seatmate and right-hand man, President Oaks, is now 87 years, 2 months, and 29 days old, or 87.25 years. President Eyring, as the junior member of the First Presidency, is now 86 years, 5 months, and 10 days old, which is 86.45 in decimal years. The First Presidency thus now has a combined 268.87 years of life experience, which results in an average age for each man of 89.62 years.

President Nelson remains 5.55 years older than the aforementioned average, with President Oaks closest to it: he remains 2.37 years younger, and President Eyring, at 0.8 years younger than President Oaks, remains 3.17 years below that average. Unless there is something of which we are not aware in relation to the health of any of these Brethren, they will almost certainly continue to set new records for the oldest-serving First Presidency in Church history for the foreseeable future, and are bound to join (and even move up quite a bit on) the list of the longest-serving First Presidencies, as I mentioned towards the end of my previous post.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Ballard’s long-form age now sits at 91 years, 1 month, and 2 days, or 91.09 years. Elder Holland now has a long-form age of 78 years, 11 months, and 7 days, with a resulting 78.94 decimal years. Elder Uchtdorf (who is 27 days older than his senior current apostolic seatmate) is now 79 years, 0 months, and 4 days old, which works out to 79.01 years. Elder Bednar has now reached the full age of 67 years, 4 months, and 26 days, which works out to 67.41 decimal years.

Leading off the second third of that Quorum is Elder Cook, who is also the oldest but least senior of the 3 apostles born in 1940. His long-form age is 79 years, 2 months, and 2 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 79.17 years. Elder Christofferson has now reached the age of 74 years, 9 months and 17 days, making his decimal age 74.79 years. Elder Andersen is now 68 years, 3 months, and 1 day old, and his decimal age is 68.25 years. And, as of today, Elder Rasband is 68 years, 9 months, and 4 days old, or 68.76 decimal years.

As for the final third of the Quorum, Elder Stevenson, who is exactly 4.5 younger (to the very day) than Elder Rasband, has a long-form age of 64 years, 3 months, and 4 days, with a decimal age of 64.26 years. Elder Renlund, the last apostle called during the prophetic administration of President Thomas S. Monson, is now 66 years, 11 months, and 28 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 66.99 years. As for our newest apostles, Elder Gong’s long-form age is 65 years, 10 months, and 18 days old, which works out to 65.88 decimal years. As for Elder Soares, he is now 61 years, 1 month, and 8 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 61.11 years.

Based on those numbers, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles now have a combined 865.66 years of life experience, which results in an average of 72.14 years per member. Elders Christofferson and Rasband remain respectively above and below that average. Elder Christofferson continues to be 2.65 years older, while Elder Rasband is now 3.38 years younger. With the information I presented earlier about the First Presidency, the 15 apostles as a group now have a combined 1,134.53 years of life experience, which is an average of 75.64 years. As noted previously, for the apostles above and below that average, Elder Holland remains 3.3 years older, while Elder Christofferson is now 0.85 years younger than that average.

We now move on to the apostolic nonagenarians. As I mentioned in a previous post, President Nelson remains the 6th spot on that list, a spot he took from Ezra Taft Benson in early July, and he will not move up thereon again until late August of next year. In the meantime, President Ballard remains the 14th oldest apostle in Church history. President Ballard will move up two more spots on that list before President Nelson moves up to his next spot, and the next time he will do so is in late March of next year. In the meantime, among the other apostles, President Oaks will join the nonagenarian list in 2 years, 9 months, and 2 days, while Elder Soares will do so in 28 years, 10 months, and 22 days, with the other apostles doing so at various intervals, which will be detailed more fully as they approach.

I hope that many of you found this information to be interesting, informative, and accurate. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Current Apostolic Statistics: Part One—Updated Data for President Oaks, President Nelson, and Longest-Serving Apostolic Groups

Hello again, everyone! While I continue to welcome comments on any previous posts, it is time once again to bring you all updated information on the latest apostolic statistics. This data will again be published in two posts. As has been customary, all data is current as of today (Sunday November 10, 2019). My last such update was published here on Sunday September 22, and with my continuing efforts to provide these updates roughly every 7 weeks, my next such update, the final one I will publish in 2019, will be posted to this blog on Sunday December 29. While I continue to hope that most of you will find this information interesting and enlightening, because some of you may not be interested in this update, I in turn will not be offended or bothered if any of you skip over this post and the next one. This first post, as has been the case for previous updates, will address President Dallin H. Oaks’ tenure as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then shift to explore where Church President Russell M. Nelson currently stands in terms of his age and tenure length among his prophetic predecessors. That will be followed by some observations about the tenure lengths of the three groups of apostles (First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and overall).. The more specific data about upcoming apostolic birthdays, the long-form and decimal ages of our 15 current apostles, and details about current and future apostolic nonagenarians will then follow in a second post, which will be published a few minutes after this one is.

There is a lot to get to, so let’s jump right in. President Oaks has now served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for a period of 1 year, 9 months, and 27 days. As I previously mentioned. President Oaks remains the 22nd longest-serving Quorum President, and he has not moved up on that list since my last update. His next three milestones as such, as I mentioned in my last such update, will be observed consecutively, with one each later this month, and in December 2019, and January 2020. Five days from now, he will become the 21st longest-serving Quorum President, at which time the length of his tenure as such will match the second (and longest) tenure of Brigham Young Jr. I previously explained why Brigham Young Jr. had two separate tenures as Quorum President.

Then, looking ahead to President Oaks’ next milestone as Quorum President, just 29 days after reaching the milestone I detailed above, on Sunday December 14, the length of his tenure will match that of George Albert Smith, which will then make President Oaks the 20th longest-serving Quorum President. And just over 7 weeks later, on January 19, 2020, President Oaks will become the 19th longest-serving Quorum President when the length of his tenure as such will match that of Heber J. Grant. And his next Quorum Presidential milestone will only be observed more than 3 months after that. Therefore, I will detail the next ones closer to the time.

Turning now to President Nelson, who was ordained and set apart as Church President on the same day he set apart President Oaks as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, his prophetic tenure has spanned 1 year, 9 months, and 27 days as well. His next prophetic tenure milestone will not be observed until mid-June of next year. Regarding his age, he is now 95 years, 2 months, and 21 days old. His next prophetic age milestone will not be observed until mid-August 2020.

In the meantime, as also noted previously, I have been keeping lists of the longest-continuously serving First Presidencies, Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, and apostolic groups as a whole. Those lists include 13 of each of those groups that have served together for the longest continuous periods of time. The current First Presidency will only be joining the list of other First Presidencies on Saturday April 20, 2024, so I will be outlining their future milestones on that list closer to the time. As for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the current members will mark 3 years together on March 31, 2021, at which point they will join the list of the longest-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles in Church history. I will likewise be providing updates on those future milestones closer to that time.

Interestingly enough, less than two months prior to that, the 15 apostles will make the list of the longest-serving such group (the exact date is February 8, 2021). With that said, I want to conclude this portion of the update. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such feedback is in compliance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

UPDATED: Revised Groundbreaking Anticipated and Announced Temples Sections of My Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! 8 days ago, when the site announcement was made for the Moses Lake Washington Temple, I had made a few revisions to the "Groundbreaking Anticipated" and "Announced Temples" sections of my temple construction progress report. I had been tempted to share htose updates that day or the day after, but something told me to wait to do so. Then, two days ago, a comment published to another post on this blog, which came from my Church member contact in Central America, shared information indicating that sites had been procured for all three announced Central American temples (Managua Nicaragua, San Pedro Sula Honduras, and Coban Guatemala), all of which could potentially have a groundbreaking during the first half of next year. So I had to again make adjustments to those two sections of that report. And then today, of course, we learned that the Washington County Utah Temple will be built in St. George Utah, becoming the second temple in that city. So that necessitated further changes. And although I fully anticipate that President Nelson's Southeast Asia Ministry Tour will almost certainly yield further informaiton about the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple, and that other temple announcements which may come down the pike before the end of the year, now seems as good a time as any to publish those updated and revised sections of my temple construction progres report.

Those updates follow below. In order to not disturb the flow of that information, I will end here as I always do: That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Groundbreaking anticipated:

183. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; President Nelson visited potential site on April 17, 2018; groundbreaking anticipated in late 2019-early 2020.

Note: Aside from the information noted above, in mid-November of last year, Elder Andersen visited with Zimbabwe’s Vice President, and indicated to him that the Church was hoping to begin construction on the Harare temple in late 2019. Therefore, barring anything unexpected, it seems more likely than not that a groundbreaking could occur at around this time.

184. Nairobi Kenya Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; construction contract awarded; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020..

Note: Although a construction contract for this temple was awarded 1-3 months ago, since only 2.5 months remain in 2019, and since no additional information (including an official site announcement and rendering) has been released yet, it has seemed wise to update my estimate to this point. 

185. Bengaluru India Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.

Note: On May 19, 2019, Bishop Dean M. Davies, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, visited members of the Bengaluru India stake and told them that the Church hoped to release the information about the site location and design for this temple before the end of 2019. Given that there are just 2.5 months remaining in 2019, and that nothing related to this temple has been announced, I felt it wise to readjust my estimate for this temple to around this time.

186. Richmond Virginia Temple: Planning and approval phase; official renderings released on August 28, 2019; groundbreaking anticipated in spring 2020.

Note: Two days after the renderings for this temple were released, an article printed in one of the Henrico County newspapers indicated that Church officials were planning to break ground for this temple during spring 2020. Accordingly, I have updated this estimate to this point.

187.  Tooele Valley Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location officially confirmed on September 25, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.

Note: Because this temple is reportedly being fast-tracked, if the plans for it also receive rapid approval, a groundbreaking could easily follow within this time, if not sooner than that.

188. Managua Nicaragua Temple: Planning and approval phase; site acquired (location not yet officially confirmed); groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.

189. San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple: Planning and approval phase; site acquired (location not yet officially confirmed); groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.

190. Coban Guatemala Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.

191. Feather River California Temple: Planning and approval phase; official rendering released and site location announced on September 26, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.

Note: Since temples in the United States typically see an earlier start to their construction than their international counterparts (although not as quickly as their counterparts in Utah), it has 8 wise to move this temple and update the associated general estimate for its’ groundbreaking to this point. Depending on what happens over the next few months, I could see a need to readjust this temple’s position among the others and its’ estimate, which I will be sure to do. 

192. Brasilia Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; property fence installed around temple site; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.

Note: On September 1, 2019, I was advised that the concept plans for this temple were floating around social media. If those plans are verified as official, a groundbreaking could easily occur within this period of time, if not sooner.

193.  Greater Manila Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official name announcement; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2020. 

Note: Based on what is and is not known presently about this temple, it seems probable that a groundbreaking for it could be fit in during this window, if all goes well.

194. Auckland New Zealand Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location and preliminary information confirmed on May 21, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2020.

195. Moses Lake Washington Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location and preliminary information confirmed on October 29, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in late 2020.

196. Washington County Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement; site location and preliminary information confirmed on November 6, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in late 2020-early 2021.

Note on announced temples: During 2019, I had reasons to repeatedly reevaluate the information I had available, and made further adjustments to this section following the dedication of the revision process for the “Groundbreaking anticipated” section. I have felt that more information is needed on each of these temples before I offer any kind of estimate for their groundbreaking ceremonies. But as such information is made available, I will be sure to make further alterations to this section as needed.

Announced Temples (for which more information is needed before I provide a groundbreaking estimate):

197. Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.

198. Bentonville Arkansas Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.

199. Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.

200. Salta Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.

201. Mendoza Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.

202. Salvador Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.

203. Antofagasta Chile Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.

204. Pago Pago American Samoa Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Note: Although nothing has been officially confirmed, two potential sites (adjacent to the Pago Pago Samoa Central and  Pago Pago Samoa Malaeimi Stake Centers could be considered as candidate sites for this temple.

205. Okinawa City Okinawa (Japan) Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Note: On July 31, 2019, the Japanese edition of the Newsroom’s official website noted that a new stake center had been completed for the Okinawa stake. In early August, I subsequently heard a theory that the temple in this city could be built on the site of the former stake center. While it will be up to the Church to confirm or deny that prospect, the suggestion thereof has led me to move this temple up to this point.

206. Lagos Nigeria Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

207. Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

208. Davao Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

209. Neiafu Tonga Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

210. Budapest Hungary Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

211. Freetown Sierra Leone Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

212. Orem Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

213. Bacolod Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

214. McAllen Texas Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

216. Taylorsville Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

217. Russia Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Announces Site Location of Waxhintgton County Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! In a completely unexpected development, the First Presidency today announced the location and preliminary design information for the Washington County Utah Temple. While many people (myself included) had speculated that the temple would be built in Washington City (where the Church owns quite a bit of undeveloped land), will instead be built on a beautiful spot of land on a 14-acre site located northeast of 3000 East 1580 South in St. George, Utah. Preliminary plans note that the temple is anticipated to be a three-story edifice with an area of approximately 88,000 square feet. Thus, St. George becomes the fourth city in the world that will be home to two temples, joining Provo Utah, Lima Peru, and Manila Philippines. The statement also notes that the Church and project leaders will, in the coming months, be working through the approval process for this temple, that plans will be more fully detailed as they are developed and approved and that that process will culminate in the announcement of a groundbreaking ceremony once all approvals are granted. As previously noted, construction on the Washington County Utah Temple is not anticipated to be completed prior to the time when the St. George Utah Temple reopens in 2022 or 2023 following its' renovation process, and with ithe larger size of this newest temple, that is not surprising.

One other thing I also wanted to note: I will be interested to see whether or not a more official name is provided for this temple at some point along the way. The second Provo Utah Temple is known as the Provo City Center Temple. The second temple in Lima Peru has Los Olivos attached to its' name to distinguish it from its' counterpart in the same city. And a more official name announcement is hoped for on the second temple that willl, in coming years, be built in Muntinlupa City in the Philippines.

And this of course also increases the number of temples that may have a groundbreaking within the next year or so to now 15 or 16. As previously noted, temples in the United States, and particularly those in Utah, tend to have a much swifter start to construction than their counterparts in other places. It is wonderful to have heard of this news, and I was grateful to be able to pass it along to oyu all here. I continue to also monitor all major Church news and temple updates, and will, to the best of my ability, pass word of those along to you all as I receive it.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.