BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Held for Okinawa Japan Temple

 Hello again, everyone! Yesterday, I reported on the December 2 groundbreaking for the Bengaluru India Temple, which had taken place on Tuesdayy December 2. On this Saturday morning, I am pleased to report that the groundbreaking for the Okinawa Japan Temple took place a short while ago. As had been previously announced, the Asia North Area President, Elder Taksashi Wada, presided thereat. The news release covering today's event reiterated the details on the temple: "The Okinawa Japan Temple will be located on a half-acre site at 7-11, Matsumoto, Okinawa Shi, in Okinawa-ken, Japan. Plans call for a two-story, 10,000-square-foot temple. A temple-patron waiting area will also be added to an adjacent existing meetinghouse that was completed in 2013."  

Given the relatively smaller size of this planned project, I'm going to assume that, if all goes well, the temple could be completed in mid-2023 at earliest or mid-to-late 2023 at latest. Of course, that will depend on how soon full-scale construction is able to begin, and a number of factors relative to any temple project. Between COVID-19 on the one hand, all kinds of natural disasters on the other, and any factors specific to Japan being added in, it will be interesting to see how all of that works out. Having noted that, we are barely 5 days into December, and reports have aloready been provided on two of the four remaining groundbreakings for 2020 already having taken place. 

This leaves just the Harare Ziimbabwe and Mendoza Argentina Temples in the queue, and with any luck, the next week will see both of those groundbreakings occur, unless either or both are postponed into early 2021. And with respect to those two groundbreakings, I have diligently checked the Argentina and Zimbabwe Newsroom pages, and have frequented the South America South Area page for any news on the specifics of either, and have not yet heard anything solid beyond what has been previously announced for the Mendoza Argentina and Harare Zimbabwe temples. 

As previously discussed on this blog, in some mentions of temple groundbreakings that were to take place this year, the Mendoza Argentina Temple was conspicuously absent, leading me to believe that it was possible that the groundbreaking might be delayed on that temple. Given that November specifically came and went without any word on that, and that there has been no subsequent information provided to suggest otherwise, I'm now going to assume that the Mendoza groundbreaking has merely been delayed, perhaps by local COVID-19 restrictions or some other reason. 

But as soon as I have anything solid to report on either temple, you can count on my bringing word of that to you all here. I also continue to monitor any other temple updates and all Church news and will be sure to pass along those updates here as well. 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 NEWS: Additional Information Provided About the 3 Global Church Magazines

Hello again, everyone! As I mentioned in the comment thread of my last post, more information has been provided on the 3 global magazines that the Church will start using next year: the Liahona (for adults), For the Strength of Youth (for youth), and the Friend. It appears that more content will be made available digitally, and that each printed magazine will be slimmed down somewhat in terms of the number of pages. 

With the exception of the May and November editions that cover General Conference, the Ensign for the other ten months of the year has been an 80-page volume. The number of pages in most editions of the Liahona (which will now be the standard magazine for adults) will be reduced to 48 pages, with digital supplementary content available as well. Not sure what that might mean for the General Conference editions in May and November, but those editions will likely be the exception to the new standard. 

Likewise, where the New Era has had between 48-50 pages a month, For the Strength of Youth will be reduced to 32 pages. A similar reduction in pages is also anticipated for the Friend magazine. It will be interesting to see how things work with the new magazines. As I previously mentioned, it appears that the Church has expanded the number of individuals assigned as advisers to the Church magazines, which makes sense due to the upcoming changes.

I am grateful that the Church has again made an effort to correlatte, streamline, and unify Church materials on a global basis. The new magazines will surely be a blessing to all who will utilize the content therein. 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: Groundbreaking Held for Bengaluru India Temple

Note: This post was originally published at 10:00 AM, with subsequent updates added roughly 2 hours later.

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the Newsroom reports that ground was broken for the Bengaluru India Temple two days ago (December 2). As previously announced, Elder Robert K. William, an area seventy based in Bangalore, presided at the groundbreaking ceremony for this temple, marking the first temple groundbreaking held in the month of December since 2016.  It also might be of interest to some of you to know that, with the report of this temple's groundbreaking, the number of temples under counstruction (32) now exceeds the number of those announced temples left in the queue (31).  

But the count of those under construction also technically includes both the Rio de Janeiro Brazil and Winnipeg Manitoba Temples, both of which are awaiting the announcement of their revised opening dates. So if those temples are not considered, then there are 30 under construction and 31 announced, with 2 completed and awaiting dedications.  Getting back to the first temple in India, as many of you may recall, during President Nelson's first Global Ministry Tour in 2018, he visited the Saints in Bengaluru. 

During that visit, he provided insight into the impromptu impression he received the night before General Conference was to begin that led to the announcement of a temple in India. He also talked about how it is easier for the Church to build a temple than it is for the Church to build a people who are ready for the temple.  Subsequently, in January of this year, an exterior rendering for that temple was released. In that release, the location and design of that temple were first provided. The news release on the rendering and location noted: 

"The 38,670-square-foot temple will be built on a 1.62-acre site at 2-B, Garudachar Palya, Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, Karnataka, in India. The temple was announced in April 2018 by Church President Russell M. Nelson.

"In addition to construction of the temple, existing Church offices and a meetinghouse on the site will be removed. A new two-level meetinghouse will be built, along with new Church offices, a distribution center and housing for patrons. The site will also include new residences for the temple president, temple and service missionaries and the mission president."

With that verb Iatim quote in mind, based on the exterior rendering and the plans for the temple project, I'm anticipating that, once construction is underway, it could take anywhere from 2.75-3.75 years to complete. In the portion of the news release I quoted above, it mentioned that the temple had been announced in April 2018. So I wanted to also note that, of the 7 temples originally announced in April 2018, 4 of those 7 (Salta Argentina, Bengaluru India, Layton Utah, and Richmond Virginia) have had groundbreakings in 2020.

And although it may be anyone's guess how soon action could be taken on the Cagayan de Oro Philippines and Russia temples, it's worth noting that, if the information I have is correct, ground could be broken on  the temple in Managua within the first half of next year, if not sooner than that. It is also worth noting that the Church is now down to 3 temples that have groundbreakings scheduled to occur before the end of this year (Mendoza Argentina, which had been announced to occur last month, but which has not seen that occur), Harare Zimbabwe, and Okinawa Japan.

I have no idea what to expect in terms of how soon any annnouncement may be made about the first groundbreaking(s) that may occur next year, but hopefully that might occur soon. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of all such developments. 

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.