Hello again, everyone! Within the last week, the artist's rendering was released for the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple. Today, the First Presidency officially announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for this temple will occur on Saturday May 4. Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, Carribean Area President, will preside at this event. Given the fact that Elder Gonzalez has served away from Church headquarters since January 2013 (first as president of the South America South Area, becoming Caribbean Area President in August 2016), I would anticipate this being one of the last official acts in that capacity, at which point he might be returning to Church headquarters, whether to serve in an area presidency based in Salt Lake, or in other capacities. Barring any other temples having a groundbreaking before that time, this will be the third temple groundbreaking of 2019.
Since construction on this temple is anticipated to take roughly two years, I will be setting a preliminary completion estimate of early-to-mid 2021, but could see reason to move that up depending on how quickly construction progresses. I have mentioned this elsewhere, but it bears repeating here: For any temple to have a site confirmed, artist's rendering released, and a groundbreaking held within less than 8 months of its' announcement has not been a common occurrence since the Hinckley-era temple-building boom ended. And that is significant any way it is considered.
It is possible that this temple could potentially be dedicated before the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple is in 2021. It will be interesting to see how quickly this temple makes progress. And I am sure that Puerto Rico's status as a US territory is helping and will continue to help to expedite that process. I will keep my eyes open for more news on this and other temples and am committed to passing word of those along to you all as I become aware of it.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Set for San Juan Puerto Rico Temple
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
New Mission Presidents Announced
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has published a list of new mission leadership (presidents and companions) who will begin serving later this year. Counted among that list are 8 currently-serving area seventies; several former area seventies, Elder Valeri V. Cordon, General Authority Seventy; and Reid L. Neilson, who currently is serving as assistant Church historian and recorder.
The 8 area seventies may or may not be released this April, as area seventies called as mission presidents have been known to fill both assignments for 1-3 General Conferences following the commencement of their service as mission presidents. Elder Cordon, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2015, will need to be released as a member of the Central America Area Presidency.
And for Brother Neilson, insofar as I have been able to ascertain, the Church did not formally present his name for sustaining vote in General Conference, so his release may not be done over the pulpit either. But Elder Steven E. Snow, who serves as Church Historian and Recorder, and whose call was presented for sustaining vote, will be 70 in November, so perhaps the Church will bring on both a new Church Historian and Recorder and a new assistant. That will be interesting to learn more about.
Getting back to the subject of new mission leadership, their biographies will be published in the Church News in the coming weeks, and I will pass those along either in new posts on this blog or on the comments of previously-published posts as I become aware of them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines.
Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
The 8 area seventies may or may not be released this April, as area seventies called as mission presidents have been known to fill both assignments for 1-3 General Conferences following the commencement of their service as mission presidents. Elder Cordon, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2015, will need to be released as a member of the Central America Area Presidency.
And for Brother Neilson, insofar as I have been able to ascertain, the Church did not formally present his name for sustaining vote in General Conference, so his release may not be done over the pulpit either. But Elder Steven E. Snow, who serves as Church Historian and Recorder, and whose call was presented for sustaining vote, will be 70 in November, so perhaps the Church will bring on both a new Church Historian and Recorder and a new assistant. That will be interesting to learn more about.
Getting back to the subject of new mission leadership, their biographies will be published in the Church News in the coming weeks, and I will pass those along either in new posts on this blog or on the comments of previously-published posts as I become aware of them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines.
Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Private Rededications Scheduled for Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples; Groundbreaing Held for Urdaneta Philippines Temple
Hello again, everyone! I am back with some breaking temple news. According to this release from the Church's official Newsroom, single-session (where attendance will be by invitation only) private rededications for the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples. No public open house or youth devotionals will be held.
The Memphis Tennessee Temple rededication will take place on May 5, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at that rededication. In the meantime, two weeks later, on Sunday May 19 (the same day on which the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple will be dedicated), President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, will preside at the rededication of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. Neither rededication will be broadcast to meetinghouses, so the Sunday block will continue as regularly scheduled.
I do wonder if private rededications will become the new normal for the Hinckley-era smaller temples. That would take less planning, and would allow several rededications to take place over a shorter period of time as required in the future. But perhaps the biggest thing that this announcement does is enables these two temples to be back open before the General Authorities observe their annual July recess.
My older sister and her family are living in the southeastern United States right now, and from what I hear from them, the Saints in the eastern states have had an unexpectedly long commute to the next closest temples. So it will be good to have both temples operating again by mid-May. In fact, the rededications of both temples will be held before the already-scheduled rededication for the Oakland California Temple in June.
Just by way of reminder, President James E. Faust, who was then serving as Second Counselor in the First Presidency, originally presided at the dedications for both temples, with the Memphis dedication occurring on April 23, 2000, and the Oklahoma City dedication being one of the rare ones which occurred during the annual July recess, on July 30, 2000.
The other big bit of temple news is the confirmation of the groundbreaking for the Urdaneta Philippines Temple. The Philippines Newsroom shared this article about that event, which was linked to on the Church's official English Newsroom. That article does not specify the anticipated length of construction for that temple, but other sources have provided sometime in 2021 as a general window until more is known. And if the construction of this temple stays on track, I could see construction being completed in early-to-mid 2021, if not sooner. I will offer a more specific estimate for that temple when I next post my list of other estimates for known temple events, which I hope to do within the next week or less.
I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple events and will bring you all word of those here as I become aware of it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
The Memphis Tennessee Temple rededication will take place on May 5, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at that rededication. In the meantime, two weeks later, on Sunday May 19 (the same day on which the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple will be dedicated), President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, will preside at the rededication of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. Neither rededication will be broadcast to meetinghouses, so the Sunday block will continue as regularly scheduled.
I do wonder if private rededications will become the new normal for the Hinckley-era smaller temples. That would take less planning, and would allow several rededications to take place over a shorter period of time as required in the future. But perhaps the biggest thing that this announcement does is enables these two temples to be back open before the General Authorities observe their annual July recess.
My older sister and her family are living in the southeastern United States right now, and from what I hear from them, the Saints in the eastern states have had an unexpectedly long commute to the next closest temples. So it will be good to have both temples operating again by mid-May. In fact, the rededications of both temples will be held before the already-scheduled rededication for the Oakland California Temple in June.
Just by way of reminder, President James E. Faust, who was then serving as Second Counselor in the First Presidency, originally presided at the dedications for both temples, with the Memphis dedication occurring on April 23, 2000, and the Oklahoma City dedication being one of the rare ones which occurred during the annual July recess, on July 30, 2000.
The other big bit of temple news is the confirmation of the groundbreaking for the Urdaneta Philippines Temple. The Philippines Newsroom shared this article about that event, which was linked to on the Church's official English Newsroom. That article does not specify the anticipated length of construction for that temple, but other sources have provided sometime in 2021 as a general window until more is known. And if the construction of this temple stays on track, I could see construction being completed in early-to-mid 2021, if not sooner. I will offer a more specific estimate for that temple when I next post my list of other estimates for known temple events, which I hope to do within the next week or less.
I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple events and will bring you all word of those here as I become aware of it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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