Important Posts by Matthew Martinich

Matthew Martinich has done two significant posts on his blog in the last little while. This post is to draw attention to those monumental posts. As with any of Matt's posts that I make mention of on this blog, I would much prefer that any comments on these posts be made on the LDS Church Growth Blog at the addresses of the original posts featured below, instead of so commenting here.

That said, here's the details on these two posts. The Church has reestablished a stake in Liberia. What wonderful news! It is marvelous to see Church growth, and it is especially good to have heard of this reestablishment, especially as the stake was just disbanded about a year or two ago due to political unrest. The problems in Liberia must have cleared up enough to warrant reinstating that stake. Great news!

Matt's second recent significant post focused on the creation of new stakes in Brazil, Iowa, Nigeria and Thailand. In that same post, he reported the creation of new districts in the Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Click here to read that post.

With the report of new stakes created recently, the number of stakes either organized or yet to be organized this year now number 97. A mere 3 stakes need to be created to reach the 100 Matt has been projecting all along would be created by the end of this year. Stay tuned for all the latest updates.

As I stated during my first post made this morning, I had originally planned on doing four posts today. This post makes three. The remaining one was to be a Church news conglomeration. But because I feel so absolutely physically spent by all I have done since waking up for the day about 12 hours ago and by my attempts to recover from the after effects of the lumbar puncture, it will have to wait until I have gotten some sleep, perhaps twelve or so hours from now. Until I can do that post, I welcome your feedback on what I have done so far since my last updates, and I will do my best to read and (where applicable) respond to comments made on anything I have lately posted. Thanks.

Apostolic Age Averages

As of about an hour ago, here are the latest apostolic age averages. The average age of the First Presidency is 82.96 years. The average age of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is 74.51, and the average age of the 15 apostles is now 76.2. Nothing has changed with the tenure rank of President Nelson as Quorum President or where he sits in terms of nonagenarian rank, or with President Monson's tenure or age ranks as prophet. And nothing has changed in terms of which apostles are closest to those averages for their separate groups. Hope these periodic updates have proven interesting for you. Thanks, as always, for your kind attention.

Winnipeg Manitoba Temple Groundbreaking Held Yesterday/Temple Construction Progress Update

Yesterday (Saturday), the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Winnipeg Manitoba temple. While it was initially reported that Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy (who oversees the administration of the area in which this temple is located) would preside at the event and that Elder Larry Y. Wilson, General Authority Seventy and Executive Director of the Church's Temple Department, would accompany him, for whatever reason, those plans changed, and Elder Wilson was the one who actually presided at today's event. According to reports, construction of this temple is anticipated to last around 20 months. This puts it in contention for completion in late 2018 or early 2019, ahead of other temples which had a groundbreaking earlier this year.

Given the fact of the groundbreaking and the resulting necessary change in estimated construction completion order, in addition to the progress that has been made in temple construction since my last such posted report on Monday last week, I thought I would include such an update in this post today. As always, comments and feedback of any kind are welcome.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 12/3/16)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 11 under construction; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 10 announced; (NOTE: Up to 2 additional temples may soon have a groundbreaking announced).

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple: Interior work underway; open house and dedication dates announced; scheduled to be dedicated on Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Exterior lighting tests underway; welcome center reopens in stake center; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Installing sprinkler systems and planting bushes; installing window frames and art glass; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Adding landscaping structures and walkways; plumbing water feature; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

161. Concepcion Chile Temple: Cupola assembly attached to steeple framework; paving main entrance; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

162. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building the exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Pouring the foundations; connecting to city utilities; installing sewage lines; landscaping entrance mounds; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Exterior walls rising; completion anticipated sometime between 2018 and 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between 2018 and 2019.

165. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Concrete forms surrounding main floor exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime in 2019.

166. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Pouring meetinghouse footings; clearing temple site; completion anticipated sometime in 2019.

Scheduled for rededication:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime in late 2017.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime in 2018.

Announced:

168. Arequipa Peru Temple: General contractor selected; groundbreaking pending.

169. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Construction preparation phase; plans approved by local government; groundbreaking pending.

170. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

173. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:

Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.

Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress update.