Further Updates Provided on Temple Renovations

Hello again, everyone! I am happy to be able to focus a blog post on new updates for temples undergoing renovations that came to my attention earlier today. The nature of these updates is such that I will need to once again revisit my estimated time-frames for the affected temples and, by extension, the new temples of the Church in various parts of the world. My work on that estimate revision process has kept me from reporting these updates before now. So let's dive right in and discuss the new information.

First of all, I wanted to note that, as of earlier today, the Raleigh North Carolina Temple was moved ahead of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, and that the Paraguayan temple has an updated completion estimate of mid-2019.

More specifically, the status of the Raleigh renovation process has been updated to note that the steeple has been removed and that the removal of marble cladding is underway. And in terms of new progress which has been reported for the Asuncion renovation process, it has been noted that building permits have been secured, which means the full-scale renovation efforts will likely begin early next week.

It is good to see what has occurred in terms of these developments. As noted earlier in this post, I am in the process of revising my estimates for future temple-related events, and I will do my best to ensure that I complete that process and pass the updates along to you as I get them figured out. Stay tuned for that, which will likely be posted within the next 6-18 hours.

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.

First Presidency Announces Renovation Closure for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple

Hello again, everyone! The new First Presidency has hit the ground running. Three days after their introductory press conference, the presiding quorum of the Church has announced another temple renovation closure. This time, it is the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, which was originally dedicated in April 1958 by President David O. McKay as only the 11th operating temple of the Church. The renovation process will include seismic and systemic upgrades, including updating the electrical and mechanical systems of the temple and bringing them up to code. In view of it being another older temple of the Church, the completion of that process is only anticipated in 2021, when an open house and cultural celebration will be held prior to this temple's rededication. It was good to hear about that, and I hope this is of interest to most of you. 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.

Miscellaneous Temple and Church News

Hello again, everyone! Today, I was able to learn that the construction status for the Lisbon Portugal Temple has been slightly updated. While the process of cladding the adjoining meetinghouse continues, the work of pouring the steeple base walls has progressed to the pouring of its mid-section. It is wonderful indeed to have learned of this update.

In the meantime, I wanted to return to a subject I have previously referenced, and that is assignments given under one Church president that are honored by his successor following the reorganization of the First Presidency. President and Sister Nelson recently indicated that they would honor the assignment given to them with President Monson's approval, which was to address the youth of the Church in a Face-to-Face event, but in view of President Monson's passing, that event (which would have coincided with the 10th anniversary of President Monson's presidency, as it was planned for February 3 of this year) has been postponed and will be rescheduled later on. I appreciate the Nelsons' willingness to honor that assignment but also to be sensitive about the subsequent need to reschedule that event.

Additionally, in case I haven't mentioned this before now, the featured speaker has been announced for the annual CES broadcast for seminary and institute personnel. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will fill that assignment. The broadcast is scheduled for January 26, will be held just two days following his 73rd birthday. And you can be sure, as has been the case in the last couple of years, that I will be doing a post on this blog on January 24 in honor of his birthday.

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.