Small But Significant Progress Reported on Temples Worldwide

Hello again, everyone! With the progress that has been made on temples around the world (which has been seen in small but very significant developments in various locations), I felt a need to devote a blog post to reporting on the latest news in that regard. Let's dive right in to what has changed since I last did a post on such progress (a couple of days ago).

First, I wanted to note that the Church now has 12.39 years within which to get 18 more temples announced, along with the 25 others currently in various stages, if, as I suspect will be the case, the Church has 200 temples by or before the 200th anniversary of its reestablishment. That bumps the average number of temples that would need to be dedicated per year to around 3.5. It should be easy to get that done. After all, as I have said, the Church will add two others within the next 27 days.

And in that regard, I wanted to again reiterate that the Meridian Idaho Temple has now completed its open house process. The cultural celebration will be held this Saturday, with President Uchtdorf presiding at that and at the dedicatory services the next day.

In the meantime, the Church is entering the final week of the Cedar City Utah Temple's open house. Following the conclusion of that (this Saturday), there will be a 3-week period of preparation (which will coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday and within which the First Presidency will hold their annual Christmas devotional), and the cultural celebration will be held on December 9, with the dedication occurring the next day. With that dedication being held for a temple in Utah, I am anticipating it will be widely-attended by Church leadership.

That said, the one notable update on temples currently under construction is that, at the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple site, rebar is being set for the upper center facade wall. And in terms of temples that are being renovated, the temple in Memphis has seen a completion of the removal of its exterior stone. In Oklahoma City, the process of dismantling the temple continues. I have not heard whether any progress has been made with the Asuncion Paraguay Temple since its closure over two weeks ago, nor have I heard whether or not its design will be similar in concept to what is being done with the other two temples. As soon as I have word on that, I will pass it along.

All of that aside, and while noting that there has not yet been any reported progress on the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, and that, depending on what is determined later this month, we may know more about the exact site that will be used by the Church for the Pocatello Idaho Temple. there has been no other progress reported at this time. I will continue to keep an eye on such things and pass updates along as I make them.

That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

Two Districts Headquartered in Bo Sierra Leone Upgraded to Stakes; Likelihood Increases for a temple in Sierra Leone

Hello again, everyone! I am posting in the early hours of November 13 (on the same day Elder Renlund is celebrating his 65th birthday; stay tuned later today for a post on that subject) to report that two districts headquartered in the city of Bo in the African nation of Sierra Leone (both of which would have otherwise marked the 1st anniversary of their being established on the 27th of this month) were reportedly upgraded to stakes. Now, before any of you ask, I will not be providing information about the units involved. That is the specialty and privilege of others (such as Matthew Martinich on his excellent Church Growth Blog; I am sure he will be posting a thorough analysis of this later this week, if he has not already done so). What I did want to mention is that this significant development for the nation of Sierra Leone solidifies my opinion that we could see a temple announced there sooner rather than later; with this development alone, a temple in that nation makes sense. I have not forgotten my promise to continue my post series on this blog about the potential temple sites in the other geographical areas of the Church which I have not covered, and hopefully I will be able to get back to doing that later this week.

That does it for this post, Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

Open House for the Meridian Idaho Temple Concludes Today/Other Notable Developments

Hello again, everyone! In dealing with my personal crises (as I mentioned in my last post), it slipped my mind that today was the last day for the Meridian Idaho Temple Open House. After tours conclude tonight, the temple will undergo an additional week of preparation prior to the cultural celebration one week from today, and the dedication the day after that. As previously mentioned, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf will be the one presiding at next week's events, and I imagine that Elder David A. Bednar, who is the apostle junior to President Uchtdorf and who, because of his ties to Idaho, presided at the groundbreaking, will be accompanying him. And I imagine that, at very least, Elder Ulisses Soares will be in attendance as well, as he presides over the business of the Church in the Idaho area, and that at least one representative from the Church's Temple Department will also be in attendance, along with perhaps a member of the Presiding Bishopric, as the Temple Department and the Presiding Bishopric both have different roles working with temples undergoing the construction process.

Additionally, I also wanted to note that the Cedar City Utah Temple is entering its final week of tours, which will end on the same day that the cultural celebration takes place in Meridian. A few weeks of preparation will follow, culminating in the cultural celebration (to be held on Saturday December 9) and the dedication the day after that. Utah temple dedications are always widely attended by Church leaders, and I anticipate that this dedication will be no different.

Next, I wanted to report that, if, as I suspect will be the case, the Church will have a minimum of 200 temples in operation by or before the 200th anniversary of the Church's reestablishment, 43 temples will additionally need to be dedicated within the next 12.40 years between today and Saturday April 6, 2030 (which would include 18 new temples that would need to be announced, in addition to being completed during that same amount of time). That works out to just under 3.5 temples per year between now and then.

So, how might that happen? As I have mentioned elsewhere, if the Church stays on track between now and then, there will be, of course, the 2 dedicated during the remainder of this year, 3 or 4 the next year, and 6 or 7 the year after that, And if, as I suspect, several other temples have a groundbreaking within the next two years, then the odds are very good that the Church will continue to complete an average of 3 or 4 temples per year.

Additionally, as I have also mentioned, Elder Larry Y. Wilson stated in late April of this year that the Church was actively considering the feasibility of 80 locations for a future announcement within the 15 years after that. If we assume that no other temples are announced before next General Conference, then the Church would only have 14 years to announce those 80, assuming Elder Wilson is taken at his word, and also understanding that while many (or even most) of these locations may indeed go on to an announcement, some will be replaced with more feasible locations (either one or many, as has been the case previously) and new locations will be added as well, some of which may go on to an announcement and be built while others are stalled in various stages.

So what does all of this mean? The Church will end this year having 159 temples in operation. By the end of 2018, that number will increase to either 162 (most likely) or possibly 163. In 2019, all going well, that number will jump to 169 by the of the year. By the time the Church marks its 190th birthday, there could be a minimum of 170 temples, leaving the Church to complete the remaining 30 in the next 10 years that follow, or just about 3 a year.

It will be interesting to see what happens in terms of that progress. And whatever might occur, you can depend on hearing the latest from me as soon as I can make that happen. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.