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Thursday, October 19, 2017

Massive Temple News Update

Hello, everyone! Much to my surprise, my first check of favorite Church websites today revealed some massive changes in terms of temple developments. I don't want to post a full version of my report, because that would be too much clutter, But these are certainly developments that deserve mentions. So I hope you'll bear with me as I try to briefly share what has changed.

For starters,  with today being the 19th, there are now only 12.46 years for the Church to announce 18 temples and complete the other 25 in various stages, which would give us the 200 temples before April 6, 2030, when the Church will mark its bicentennial.

I was also reminded that the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple will start this weekend. The Church News reported that Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who may have some role on the Temple and Family Council, has been in Meridian Idaho conducting VIP and media tours for that temple. In the meantime, open house tents are going up in preparation for the Cedar City Utah Temple open house.

Now here come the more significant updates: the temples that may be completed at some point next year have all shifted positions. Where I was sure as recently as yesterday that the Rome Italy Temple would be the first new temple dedicated next year, followed by Concepcion Chile and the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple, and that the Barranquilla Colombia Temple would be the last to be dedicated next year, it now appears that the temples have changed positions in the following way (note that nothing has changed in terms of the status of these temples, just the completion timeframes):

The Concepcion Chile and Kinshasa DR Congo Temples are now anticipated to be the first ones dedicated in 2018, and that is anticipated to happen sometime during mid-to-late 2018, the same time-frame given for the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. In the meantime, it appears that the estimates for both Rome Italy and Barranquilla Colombia have been pushed back to occur sometime between late 2018 and early 2019. The final changed estimate is for the Durban South Africa Temple, which was anticipated as recently as yesterday to be completed in the early months of 2019. It has now been noted that it might be completed sometime during early-to-mid 2019.

Aside from what has been noted above, there have not been no notable changes to report in terms of temple construction. I will take time as I am able to do so this weekend to put together a revised timeline for future temple-related developments. For now, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Minor Temple Updates (Including a status change for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple)

Hello, everyone! As I previously mentioned, a new tradition on this blog will be brief updates relating to temple construction progress. In that regard, there are a couple of great things to report.. Let's get right into those details.

First of all, I have mentioned previously on this blog that I have been tracking the amount of time the Church has between the current date and Saturday April 6, 2030, when the Church will mark the 200th anniversary of its restoration. I have offered my opinion previously that the Church could easily have a minimum of 200 operating temples by that time. All it would take is for the Church to announce 18 additional temples and complete the other 25 in various stages. There are 12.47 years between now and then, which means the Church could easily have those 200 temples if 3 or 4 are dedicated per year within that time.

Additionally, as previously mentioned on this blog, we know that the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple is set to begin this Saturday, and that the open house for the Cedar City Utah Temple will start a week from this Friday. Additionally, we also know that the groundbreaking for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple is set to take place ten days from now.

I also learned today that Elder David A. Bednar, who has been traveling in the Africa Southeast Area conducting an area review, has visited the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple,  where the steeple is being cladded and where roof shingles are being laid.

Aside from these updates, there has been no notable temple progress to report. Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. May the Lord be with and bless you all until my next post. Until that time, I wish you all the best.


PDF of the November 2017 Ensign is finally available

Hello, everyone! I am pleased to report that I found out earlier today that the PDF version of the November 2017 Ensign is finally available on the Church's website. I am still going over it as time allows, and will post within the next couple of days about how the table of contents I put together compares with what that actually looks like. In the meantime, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord be with you all until my next post. Until that time, I wish you all the best.