Summary of Sources Relating to the Church's decision to expand youth service opportunities in the temple

Hello again, everyone! Though I have already done a post covering the Church's announcement about how the youth would be given more opportunities to serve in the temple, today the Church News provided specifics, including links to the official letter and quotations from Church leaders regarding these changes.

You can click here to read the Church News article, here to access a copy of the letter read worldwide in Church services today, and here for an article from the Church's official website that shares more of an interview that was quoted in the first article I cited above in which Elder Quentin L. Cook, who chairs the Temple and Family History Executive Committee, along with the response of auxiliary leaders to these changes.

What a great opportunity the youth now have to expand the ways they serve in the temple. That does it for this post. Any and all 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.

Temple Updates

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post right now to note a couple of developments, minor though they may be, relating to temples worldwide. First, I wanted to reiterate what I have previously stated: that whether or not the Church makes an official goal to do so, it is more likely than not that we could see a minimum of 200 temples in operation by or before the Church's bicentennial anniversary is marked on Saturday April 6, 2030.

Because there are currently 23 temples in various stages of construction, the Church would just need to dedicate each of those and announce, complete, and dedicate 18 others (for a total of 41) in the 12.3 years between now and then, which would be an average of 3.3 per year, or 10 every 3 years.

If the Church stays on track with its current temple projects, there will be 3 or 4 dedicated next year, 5-7 during 2019, and at least 1 (that we know of so far) during 2020. And if, as anticipated, several other temples have a groundbreaking in 2018 and 2019, then the Church could maintain (and perhaps even exceed) that average within 2020 and the 2 or 3 years following that.

In the meantime, after not seeing any progress reported on the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple for the last week or so, it has been reported today that the exterior walls are being plastered and that a moisture barrier had been attached to the roof eaves, which have recently completed the framing process.

Aside from these developments, there is nothing new to report in terms of temple construction progress. So that does it for this post. Any and all 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: North America Southwest Area, Part Five--Area Wrap-Up and Potential Future Temples

Hello again, everyone! After devoting a good chunk of my day to posting the previous four parts of my analysis of current and potential future temples, I just wanted to post again briefly and wrap up this "series within the series" by discussing those potential future temple locations which I have on my personal list for this area.

Here are the possibilities I see, in order of likelihood within that area: Fort Worth Texas (which, as noted in Part Three of the series of posts I have done today on this area, is the most likely location for the next temple in Texas); Flagstaff Arizona (which, as mentioned in Part Two of this series, seems to be the most likely prospect for Arizona's next temple, and which would serve many of the Saints in that region of Arizona who, as noted, travel almost 120 miles to get to their currently assigned temple in Snowflake.

Finally, aside from the discussion about anything I have missed, the last few possibilities I see in terms of future temples for this area are three specific locations in Nevada, namely: Elko, Winnemucca, and Henderson.

A Henderson temple would help split the current Las Vegas temple district, just as Winnemucca would do for the current Reno temple district. As far as Elko, the interesting thing there is that the two stakes of the Church in that city fall under the Salt Lake temple district, which is currently a drive of 229.6 miles for the Saints in Elko.

Another city in Nevada which I will be watching (but which I do not presently have on my list) is Ely, which is assigned to the Cedar City Utah Temple district at the moment, and which makes it necessary for the Ely Saints to travel 201.1 miles to get to that temple. So I have the first three I mentioned among the list of potential prospects I have kept, and I will be keeping Ely in mind and watching for anything that might warrant my adding it to the official list. For now, it's among some other temples that are more distant possibilities than for the immediate future.

This concludes my coverage of the North America Southwest Area, and also the bulk of my coverage of the areas of the Church within the North American continent, with the exception of the three areas of the Church that cover Utah and small portions and fragments of surrounding regions. That also does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, especially those that would let me know if I have not considered something in the analysis I have provided here. 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.