BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Alabang Philippines Temple Groundbreaking Occurs Later Than Scheduled But Earlier Than Its' Rescheduled Plans

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, the groundbreaking for the Alabang Philippines Temple was originally scheduled to occur on Saturday May 2, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson presiding thereat. But COVID-19 put the kibosh on that, and the Church of Jesus Christ Temples page for that temple, along with comments on the Philippines Area Facebook page, announced the postponement of that groundbreaking until early June on the recommendation of the First Presidency based on governmental direction. A tentative date for that groundbreaking was announced as being today (Saturday June 6), though that date was tentative, and it was unclear who would preside at that groundbreaking. That was primarily because it seemed unlikely that Elder Christofferson would be sent while governmental restrictions impacted travel regulations from Salt Lake City to the Philippines. In the interim, the First Presidency had also announced the 2020 area leadership assignments, and among the changes that were announced was, that Elder Evan A. Schmutz would be released as the area president, along with resulting changes in that presidency.  With those changes in mind, I offered my theory that outgoing president Evan A. Schmutz might be the one to preside at the groundbreaking for the Alabang Philippines, as one of his final actions (if not indeed the final major one) before he left that assignment.

Anyways, fast forward to today. The Church of Jesus Christ Temples page for this temple reported that the groundbreaking had taken place in early June, but not this morning. Instead, it took place on Thursday June 4.  And instead of Elder Schmutz as the outgoing president of the area overseeing the groundbreaking, his current First Counselor, who will take over as president in August of this year, oversaw that groundbreaking on Thursday. The temple is anticipated to have its' construction wrap up sometime in 2023. So that leaves only two questions:

How soon will full-scale construction be able to begin? And will the same governmental restrictions currently impacting the construction of the Urdaneta Philippines Temple have a similar impact on the construction process for this temple? Either way, the groundbreaking for the Alabang Temple marks the first time ever the Church has had two temples in the Philippines simultaneously under construction, something that will continue to be true through at least 2022. That said, I am hopeful that at least one or two of the other three temples for the Philippines (which have all been announced by President Nelson) might have a groundbreaking within that time, leaving the trend to continue for a longer term. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such things.

That does it for now. 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.

Updated Observations and Information About the Temple Construction Program of the Church Over the Next Two Years

Hello again, everyone! Information of which I became aware a while ago through the comments on the Church Growth Blog indicated that President Nelson's immediate goal was to have a total of 300 temples in any phse by the end of 2025. Following the discovery of that information, I had run the numbers, and if President Nelson continues to announce at least 8 temples every 6 months, the Church will reach a minimum of 300 temples in any phase following the announcement of new temples during the October 2025 General Conference. Based on that, I conducted further analysis on the likely developments for the temple construction program of the Church. I assembled those thoughts in several documents, including one that shows the updated sections of my temple construction progress report,  some analysis on what may be needed for the Church to fulfill the goal of breaking ground on 18 temples before the end of this year, a revised list of temples for which I have felt a groundbreaking could occur this year and next year, and a look at the temples for which official information has not yet been confirmed.

That does it for now. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Church Reconfirms the Groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, in an earlier post this month, I had shared the report about the groundbreaking being set for the Salta Argentina Temple, and provided details about the temple at that time. Subsequently, the news release about that groundbreaking seemed to disappear, and I was not sure why that was. Then today, the Church News and the Newsroom provided the information again, with the Church Temples site providing additional context and corroboration. Aside from these corroborations, the releases additionally provided insight into how the Church will handle the groundbreaking in the midst of COVID-19. So, to sum up, the groundbreaking will take place on Sautrday August 15. The rendering is the same as it was at the time of the orignial release of this information. I still anticipate construction taking 2.5-3 years or so, based on the rendering of the temple, which will put its' general completion sometime around mid-2023 And the temple will be built on the location that had previously been widely speculated as the spot for it: a large grassy field across the street from the airport in southern Salta. It is good to have this gorundbreaking reconfirmed today through multiple sources. I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will bring you all word of those as I become aware of such things.

That does it for now. 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.