BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 15 New Temples as the April 2023 General Conference Concludes

Hello again, everyone! In all but one of the Church's 10 previous General Conferences held since early 2018, the Sunday Afternoon Session has usually concluded with closing remarks and the announcement of new temples by our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. Today was no different. I am pleased to report that 15 new templeshave been announced in each of the following locations: 

Retalhuleu Guatemala; Iquitos Peru; Teresina & Natal Brazil; Tuguegarao City & Iloilo Philippines; Jakarta Indonesia; Hamburg Germany; Lethbridge Alberta Canada; San Jose and Bakersfield California; Springfield Missouri; Charlotte North Carolina; Winchester Virginia; and Harrisburg Pennsylvania. Today's announcement brings the total number of temples in the Church to 315, 133 (42% of which President Nelson has personally announced).

I had the following 9 locations exactly correct: Iquitos Peru, Teresina and Natal Brazil, Jakarta Indonesia, Hamburg Germany, Lehtbridge Alberta Canada, San Jose and Bakersfield California, and Charlotte North Carolina. I had the right general location but the wrong specific location for the following temples: Retalhuleu Guatemala & Tuguegaro City & Iloilo Philippines, And the following temples announced were not on my radar, but perhaps they should have been: Springfield Missouri, Winchester Virginia, and Harrisburg Pennsylvania.

As a general note, unless I am mistaken, Sister Wendy Nelson is a native of Raymond Alberta, and the temple in Lethbridge will likely serve the area in which she grew up. Matthew Martinich, who maintains the Church Growth Blog, will likely have more information on this than I could provide here. With today's announcement of new temples, the Church may or may not have another major temple construction update announced at around 2:00 PM tomorrow afternoon. 

But if such an announcement is made, I will be sure to cover it here ASAP once I learn of it. 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 the offered 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.

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.

UPDATE: First Quarter 2023 Review of Temple Construction Progress

Hello again, everyone! With the final day of March coming to its' official conclusion, and as we head into April, I am pleased to provide a look back at temple construction progress through the first quarter of 2023. For this review, I have a link to what my temple construction progress report looked like on the first day of this year, and a look at where things stand as the first quarter of 2023 ends. 

We are still getting regular temple construction updates every Monday. I don't anticipate that this weekend's General Conference will change that, so I anticipate that Monday will mark the first major temple construction announcement since General Conference weekend. In the meantime, I will be sure to bring you all an analysis of any other major developments from this General Conference weekend,

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 the offered 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.

UPDATED: April 2023 General Conference Predictions (Final Version)

Hello again, everyone! On this Thursday, with 36 hours remaining until the April 2023 General Conference, I wanted to pass along the final version of my predictions for the upcoming conference. But before I get into those, a disclaimer: I have no inside information, nor do I claim any special inspiration that would lead me to assert that these predictions are in any way an accurate representation of what will occur this weekend. Such inspiration is solely in the purview of the prophet of the Church. 

That being said, I have noticed some patterns in General Conference upon which these predictions are based. And whether I am correct or incorrect about any of these elements, I always enjoy seeing if and how my predictions based on those patterns stack up against what actually transpires over General Conference weekend. So I hope none of you takes these predictions as inspired or gospel, because they are neither. 

With that disclaimer noted, first up, we have the projected speaker lineup (which includes the alterations I made based on the announcement that the Saturday Evening Session would be two hours rather than 1.5 hours). The speaker lineup is relatively self-explanatory. I will just add that I anticipate that the prophet will conclude the Saturday Morning Session rather than opening it, especially if the recommendations of his physicians are to be seated while he gives those remarks. If that happens, President Eyring will likely be the first speaker in that session. 

The second document shows the changes I anticipate will be made in general Church leadership, and also the projected data for the Statistical Report, 2022. With the exception of the temples dedicated and rededicated, the temple total, and the stake and mission totals, those figures are based on a somewhat complex algorithm that is difficult to explain.

And the third document shows the list of potential locations in which a temple announcement appears most likely for this General Conference. As I have noted previously, I heard last year that 35 new temples would be announced, and since that happened, and since President Nelson has made new temple announcements a prominent part of his prophetic tenure, I believe we will see a minimum of 40 new temples announced this year. 

If that happens, I anticipate a 21/19 or a 19/21 split between April and October. I have been slightly more specific in my selections in another document that shows the temples announced every 6 months by geographical areas of the Church. The more specific list for this conference is at the bottom of that document.

I will be tuned in to General Conference throughout this weekend and will bring you the latest major updates and announcements as they are publicly released. In the meantime, since midnight tomorrow marks the end of the first quarter of 2022, stay tuned for my first quarter 2023 review of temple construction progress just before that time tomorrow.

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 the offered 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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 Bangkok Thailand Temple; Groundbreakings Set for 3 Temples in Brazil and the Pacific Islands; Rendering Released for the Cody Wyoming Temple

Hello again, everyone! The Church's final Monday temple announcement before General Conference has just been shared. Today's update includes the opening arrangements for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, groundbreaking arrangements for the Belo Horizonte Brazil, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples, and the release of an exterior rendering for the Cody Wyoming Temple.

Let's get right into the details. We start in Bangkok Thailand. A media day will be held on Monday, August 28, with VIP tours held from Tuesday, August 29-Thursday August 21. Public tours will follow from Friday, September 1-Saturday, September 16, excluding the Sundays of September 3 and 10. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Bangkok Thailand Temple in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM Bnngkok time on Sunday, October 22.

Although I had ventured an estimate of October 8, 15, or 22 for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, I was more than a little surprised that this dedication will occur on the last of those dates, given the Church's recent setting of 3 dedications for September 17. I don't know how or to what extent that might affect the timing of other temple dedications that I've protected, but I'll be looking into that ASAP and will provide updates as I make them.

I was also slightly surprised that the temple in Thailand will not be dedicated by one of our apostles with Asia connections. Elder Gerrit W. Gong served in the Asia Area presidency, and Elder Gary E. Stevenson served in the Asia North Area presidency. So I assume the Church is saving those apostles for other temple dedications. Despite the details of the announcement not being exactly what I anticipated, I am grateful to see this temple's dedication scheduled.

We now move on to the three temple groundbreakings. First up, the groundbreaking for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 8, with Elder K. Brett Nattress, Pacific Area President, pressing as originally announced (it had been set to occur on March 4 but was postponed due to two major cyclones) The Church released the site location and exterior rendering for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple on May 19, 2021. 

The groundbreaking for the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple will occur on Saturday, April 22, with Elder Peter F. Meurs, First Counselor in the Pacific Area, presiding. The site location and exterior rendering for Papua New Guinea's first temple was announced on September 15, 2020, so it's great to have a groundbreaking announced almost 3 years later.

Ground will be broken for the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple on Saturday, June 17, with Elder Juan A. Uceda, Second Counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, presiding thereat. The temple's site location and exterior rendering were originally released on September 23, 2021. Two of the other three temples for which site confirmations and renderings were released have had groundbreakings, leaving only the Cali Colombia Temple as the one from that group of four for which a groundbreaking has not yet been announced.

Finally, just two weeks after the Church confirmed the location of the Cody Wyoming Temple, the Church has today released its exterior rendering, which may suggest that the Church is fast-tracking that temple's construction start. With that in mind, this temple may also use the modular design to speed up construction. I am grateful to have learned of these updates and to be able to pass them along here. 

I continue to monitor Churchwide developments and will be sure to pass along Church News updates, Newsroom reports, and other temple construction updates as they cross my radar. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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 Feather River California Temple; Rendering Released for Tampa Florida Temple; and Location and Preliminary Information Released for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the Church made announcements about 3 temples: 2 in North America and one in Central America. The opening arrangements have been confirmed for the Feather River California Temple; the exterior rendering has been released for the Tampa Florida Temple; and the site location and preliminary information has been confirmed for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple. Let's break down the relevant details:

First, we start with the Feather River California Temple. There will be a media day on Tuesday August 15, followed by VIP tours Wednesday, August 16-Friday, August 18. Public open house tours will then be conducted from Saturday, August 19-Saturday, September 9, except for the Sundays of August 20 and 27, and September 3. The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, October 8 in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM, with Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding thereat.

Over this last weekend, I had reconfigured my estimates for temple events yet again, and my updated projection for the Feather River California Temple dedication was for October 8, 15, or 22. With October 8 confirmed now for Feather River, I wouldn't be shocked if the dedications of the Bangkok Thailand and Okinawa Japan Temples were set for any of those 3 dates as well. Given the fact that the Church will dedicate 3 temples on Sunday September 17, multiple dedications on the same day in October, November, and December may be in store for the Church.

Of course, the timing of any temple event is up to the Lord, so unless and until official announcements confirm, clarify, or correct any of the estimates I offer for such events, as a disclaimer, I want to ensure my readers understand that these are no more and no less than my own best projections. Until an official Church announcement sets the actual details, no one reading those estimates of mine should take them as gospel. I am just as elated when proven wrong as I am on days like today, where an announcement verifies any of my projections.

Let's move on now to the rendering released for the Tampa Florida Temple. The site location for Florida's newest temple was announced on October 31 of last year, so to have the official rendering released today is a clear indicator of progress made towards being able to hold a groundbreaking ceremony. With that temple planned to be roughly 30,000 square feet, the rendering released today seems reminiscent of other Southwestern US temples in general, but also, more specifically, of a couple of other recently-announced Florida temples of the Church. 

If anyone else has any observations about the rendering, their assessment would likely be better than mine. I don't know whether or not I've mentioned this, or how recently I last shared it if I did, but as part of my day-to-day health challenges, I do have some visual perception issues that may not prove helpful in analyzing such renderings. So if any of you have feedback on the rendering, please feel free to comment, because I love hearing from those who can see things I might miss.

That said, today's final announcement pertains to Guatemala's newest temple in Huehuetenango. The 10,787-square-foot single-story edifice will rise at 18 Avenida, Zona 4, El Terrero in Huehuetenango. That temple, originally announced in October of last year, may either use a slightly larger modular design or else have the dual-purpose ordinance rooms that can rotate between being used for temple sealings or endowment sessions as the need arises.

With today's announcement, the number of temples for which no official information has been confirmed now stands at 36. I am grateful to have been able to provide a look at this latest update, and it's good to see the Church continuing to announce such developments regularly. Today's announcement marks the second-to-last one the Church will make on a Monday before General Conference, which is now just under two weeks away.

Between now and General Conference weekend, I continue to monitor all updates from the Church News and the Newsroom and will be sure to pass those along ASAP after they cross my radar. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

 Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, January 29, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, in addition to updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the current First Presidency until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), in addition to when each of those current groups will move up on the list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 3 of the current 15 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 12 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list. With these updates coming every 7 weeks, the next update (which will be posted here on Sunday May 7) will be the last one before President Eyring joins the list of apostolic nonagenarians.

Hopefully, this shared data will be of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to ask anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here.

I continue to monitor all temple updates and Church news reports and will be sure to bring word of those to you as I become aware of such updates. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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 Moses Lake Washington Temple; Site Location and Initial Details Released for the Cody Wyoming Temple

Hello again, everyone! As you are undoubtedly aware, the Church has recently habitually made major temple construction announcements nearly every Monday afternoon at some point during the 2:00 PM hour. Today's announcement relates to two temples in the western United States (Moses Lake Washington and Cody Wyoming). Let's get right into the details:

The opening arrangements have been set for the Moses Lake Washington Temple.  A media day will be held on Monday, July 31, with VIP tours between Tuesday, August 1, and Thursday, August 3. The public open house will follow from Friday, August 4 to Saturday, August 19, 2023. That temple will then be dedicated on September 17, with Elder Quentin L. Cook presiding over the two dedicatory sessions, which will be held at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM.

As most of us might recall, the Church has already set the dedications for the Bentonville Arkansas and Brasilia Brazil Temples for September 17 as well. So that means that 3 temples of the Church will be dedicated on a single day, which is a first for the Church unless I am mistaken. The order of those dedications will be Brasilia Brazil, Bentonville Arkansas, and Moses Lake Washington.

I was honestly stunned by this announcement, as I had been expecting news on the Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, Bangkok Thailand, and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples before anything was announced for Moses Lake. Even though I wasn't expecting this announcement now, 3 temple dedications held on the same date will be wonderful and may suggest that more temples could be dedicated this year than I had projected previously.

That being said, we move on now to the news about the Cody Wyoming Temple. The single-story edifice, which will be roughly 9,950 square feet, will rise on the northwest side of Skyline Drive at Cody Canal. Based on that, either a slightly-downscaled modular design could be used, or the Church could opt to use two dual-purpose ordinance rooms which could serve alternately as either endowment or sealing rooms as the need and schedule may require.

That temple was the final one in the US originally announced in October 2021. So the only US temples remaining in the queue of those without an announcement now include 2 from April of last year and 3 from last October. With 68 announced temples in the current queue, today's announcement brings the number of temples with no information officially confirmed down to 37. I am certain that number will decrease further in the two Mondays remaining before General Conference weekend.

The better question is how soon we might hear news on any other temple openings, and that's a harder question to answer. I think we could see at least one or two more dedications, groundbreakings, and/or site locations announced in those two weeks. And if the Church is setting a new precedent of 3 temple dedications in one day, it's not s stretch to believe that 4 or 5 could potentially take place over a two-week period.

Whatever might happen in that regard, I am keeping my eyes open for all such updates, and will be sure to pass them along to you all here as I become aware thereof. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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 Montpelier Idaho Temple; Site Location and Preliminary Details Confirmed for the Maceio Brazil Temple

 Hello again, everyone! As I mentioned a few minutes ago, there was no new temple update at 2:00. However, here we are at around 2:30, and such an update has been published. The First Presidency has announced the groundbreaking arrangements for the Montpelier Idaho Temple and the site location and initial details for the Maceió Brazil Temple. Let's get right into the details:

Ground will be broken for the Montpelier Idaho Temple on Saturday, June 17, 2023, with Elder Ryan K. Olsen, a GA Seventy, presiding. An official rendering for the temple, and additional details about the groundbreaking, will be released closer to that time. By way of review, the Montpelier Idaho Temple was announced in April 2022, with the site location and initial details confirmed just 1 month later. 

As for the Maceió Brazil Temple (which was also announced in April of last year), the single-story 19,000-square-foot temple will rise at the location of  Avenida — Dr. Durval de Góis Monteiro, S/N, Quadra 0522, Lote 0228. Project leaders will work with government officials through the planning and approvals process, and an exterior rendering will likely be released closer to the time of its groundbreaking.

I'm a little surprised about the timing for the Montpelier Idaho Temple groundbreaking. My assumption is that the Church wanted to lock in a date for the groundbreaking now and then do the work to ensure the approvals can go through so that the exterior rendering can then be released once it gets the go-ahead from the governmental leaders with whom the Church will work. I think this may be the first time (at least in a couple of decades) that the Church has set a groundbreaking for any temple without a rendering being simultaneously released or released before the groundbreaking is announced.

To get these two updates in the same announcement was exciting. It's interesting to see how these announcements have come about. I will likewise be curious to see how the scheduling of other groundbreakings, dedications, and rededications works in the months ahead. I am watching out for word on all of these updates and will do my best to pass word thereof along to you all here, in addition to all Church News and Newsroom updates as they cross my radar. 

Between now and my next update, here is a revised copy of the document showing temples for which no official information has been announced. Of the 68 temples currently announced, 38 have not yet had any official information confirmed. If the First Presidency continues to announce preliminary information about other announced temples, either in conjunction with or separate from other temple construction announcements, those numbers are likely to change in the weeks ahead. 

I look forward to seeing what other updates will be announced between now and the upcoming General Conference. 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 the offered 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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: Site Location and Preliminary Details Confirmed for the Vitoria Brazil Temple

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the First Presidency officially confirmed the site location and preliminary details for the Vitoria Brazil Temple, which was announced during the October 2021 General Conference by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The one-story temple of approximately 10,600 square feet will rise in Vitoria at Avenida Leitão da Silva #2055, Iteraré.

Given this temple's indicated size, I am anticipating that the Church may use a slightly larger variation on the standard 10,000-square-foot modular design for this temple. Of the 13 temples originally announced in October 2021, 7 temples have not yet had any information officially confirmed. And of the 68 total announced temples currently, 39 are lacking the announcement of any official details. 

I was slightly surprised that we only got an update on a single temple today, and also that the Newsroom release doesn't say anything about project managers working on approvals for the temple. From that, I'm assuming that the Church is taking a slower approach to getting approvals to ensure they get everything squared away right off the bat, which lessens the amount of time a temple has to sit in a construction pending status following its' groundbreaking. 

So if taking more time to begin and progress through the approvals process can accomplish that, I'm personally of the opinion it will be worth it. I was similarly somewhat surprised that today's announcement only pertained to one temple, and that the confirmation of these details came before the announcement of any other temple groundbreakings, dedications, or rededications. 

But again, if the Church is taking more time with all of that to ensure that no subsequent delays or adjustments are necessary, I have no problem with that at all. I stated over the weekend that the dedications of the Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, and Bangkok Thailand Temples, along with a rededication for the St. George Temple, could be announced soon, and I stand by that assessment. 

In the meantime, I also stand by my assessment that we could soon see groundbreakings announced for the Montpelier and Teton River Idaho and Modesto California Temples. So, with today's announcement having been made, I am certain that the 4 Mondays in March will see most of those announcements officially made. I look forward to covering all of that. I also monitor all other Church news updates and temple construction developments and will be sure to pass those along to you all here as I receive word thereof.

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 the offered 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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 NEWS: First Presidency Issues Directive for Easter Sunday 2023

Hello again, everyone!  A short time ago, the Church News reported a directive for Easter Sunday meetings. As we already know, Palm Sunday will coincide with the April 2023 General Conference weekend, so Easter will be observed the following Sunday, April 9. Today's directive indicates that, except for a  Sacrament Meeting in which music and talks will focus on the Savior, all other meetings are canceled to allow Church members worldwide to focus on that day.

This means that there will be no second-hour meetings, and any other ward or stake leadership meetings or interviews that might have taken place on that day are canceled for April 9. As soon as I read this update, I again experienced the instant confirmation that the decision was inspired. With all of you, I look forward to a greater focus on the Savior in my own life on that day. That may or may not include an Easter-themed post from me here. If it does, I will preset it to publish on Easter Sunday proper. 

I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple construction developments and will be sure to pass those along to you all as I become aware thereof. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.