BREAKING NEWS: Elder Quentin L. Cook Dedicates Temple District of Nauvoo in First Apostolic Assignment Outside of Utah

Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and the Church News have shared a similar report on the first major apostolic travel assignment to be filled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who chairs the Priesthood and Fmaily Concil of the Church, visited Nauvoo to look over several prominent Church history sites in the city, and to dedicate those sites collectively to form what will be known as the Temple District of Nauvoo. That name is being applied to those historic locations because they are all fairly close the the Nauvoo Illinois Temple of the Church. 

Note the subtle difference in title there. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple District encompasses the specific stakes assigned to that temple. But the Temple District of Nauvoo refers not to those stakes that the temple serves, but the historic sites just west of the temple. Elder Cook was accompanied by his wife, Mary G. Cook, Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., who serves as the Church Historian and Recorder, and his wife, Jane C. Curtis. Also in attendance at the dedication was Lachlan Mackay, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Aposstles in the Community of Christ, who was accompanied by his wife, Christin Mackay, the latter of whom has an assigned role in the Community of Christ as the Joseph Smith Historic Site Director.

Elder Cook provided grateful acknowledgement of the efforts of Mackay and his wife in fulfilling their roles to maintain those sites, and noted that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ have a good partnership in place to ensure the preservation of those sites for years to come. The articles note the specific sites that were included in the dedicatory prayer offered by Elder Cook. And the Newsroom particularly provides more context into why each site is significant in Church history.

This is a wonderful development. And that's not just because of the dedication of the Temple District of Nauvoo, but also because it is the first time since the onset of COVID-19 that any apostle has traveled outside of Utah. I am hoping that means that the Church is able to cautiously transition back into having the apostles expand their ministry efforts through more regular travel.

Having said that, as President Ballard and other apostles have acknowledged, the COVID-19 pandemic has led the Church towards hopefully using a combination of in-person apostolic visits where practical in combination with virtual efforts where that option makes more sense. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months in that respect. I continue to monitor all Chruch news and temple updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware thereof.

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: Official Rendering Released for the Lindon Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, in December of last year, the site location and preliminary details were released for the Lindon Utah Temple, with the note that a rendering would be released and a groundbreaking set when that was feasible, with project manageers working through the approvals with city leaders. In the interim, the Church has had a few examples in the recent past where initial site announcements were updated with renderings. I believe that happened most recently with other Utah or US temples, but I have not been able to confirm that.

Anyways, in the latest news update on that temple from the Church Temples site, it has been noted that a rendering has been added to the initial news release on the Newsroom. The rendering shows two steeples, no angel Moroni statue, and similar elements of design to the Layton Utah Temple, in addition to similarities to perhaps a few other temples. I will leave it to others (particularly longtime reader and commenter Jim Anderson, if he is willing to do so) to provide further insight on the temple's rendering. The timing of the release of this rendering comes as the Church is moving closer to being able to set a formal groundbreaking for that temple. 

It seems likely that the grundbreaking for that temple could be set for July, August, or perhaps even September, and that the groundbreaking for the Lindon Utah Temple might be one of the next announced, if not the very next. Parenthetically, it is worth noting that I'm watching the following temples for potential groundbreaking announcements in the near future (listed in current order of likelihood, though that is subject to confirmation from the First Presidency through official announcements): Lindon Utah, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Helena Montana, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Neiafu Tonga. 

It would also not surprise me if, in the next several months, announcements came down the pike for temple groundbreakings in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Port Vila Vanuatu, Tarawa Kiribati, and Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temples. In addition, as previously mentioned, it would not surprise me if further action and official announcements were made regarding locations, renderings, or groundbreakings for any of the 9 other US temples which were announced most recently, or for 4-6 other temple cities outside the United States.

I won't list those particulars here for the time being, but will be happy to give the details to any of you who request them in the comments. I am grateful to have been able to hear about and pass along this news to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will be sure to mention those as well as time and circumstances allow. 

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: 76% of Churchwide Temples Will Open for Proxy Work by July; Reopenings Announced for the Next Week

Hello again, everyone! I do have some major breaking temple news regarding reopenings to get to, but before I do, I wanted to note something else: During the last couple of weeks especially, with elements of the temple reopenings sticking to a standard form, it was easier for me to copy each post from the previous reopening announcement, and leave room for new developments to be added before the post was scheduled to publish as pre-set.

Because I could not have possibly anticipated the news I needed to share with you all this morning, and due to the fact that I had another rough night last night, I didn't wake up to the announcement from today as I usually would for Church news alerts. Since I wasn't able to update the copied post before it was scheduled for publication around 1.5 hours ago, the incomplete post, which had not been updated, was published at the appointed time.

But today's announcement contained major news that needed to be properly focused on, so I determined that the best option would be to delete the post that had been published as scheduled and to start this one with the major developments in a fresh new post. So I apologize to any of you who read or were in the process of reading that preset post, because it was incomplete and did not have the relevant information. Hopefully the new post penned at this time will make up for that.

That being said, let's get to the huge news shared by the Church this morning:: With this week's update being published, it will be the last one published for May. The next update, likely coming next week, will be posted on June 1. So the last update for May indicated that, as part of the phased reopening of temples, if COVID-19 conditions permit, 76% of all temples will open for proxy work by the end of July. This is a huge step towards normalcy for the Church.

phLet's break down the details: 60 temples are planned to open in phase 3 between now and the end of July. Rather than list the individual temples, I will refer anyone interested to the link I shared above, which breaks down the individual temples by area. My personal focus will be on listing the number of temples by geographical area that will open in phas:e 3 by the end of July:

Caribbean Area: 1 temple

Central America Area: 2 temples

Mexico: 4 temples

North America Central: 10 temples

North America Northeast: 1 temple

North America Southeast: 4 temples

North America Southwest: 15 temples

North America West: 7 temples

Utah: 16 temples

As an important note, the Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah Temples are closed for renovation but will be given phase 3 designation, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule proxy work at the nearest temple open in phase 3. Additionally, in the standard weekly update on temple reopenings from the Church News, two weeks from now (on June 7), 13 temples will move from phase 2 to phase 2-B, which allows the performance of all living ordinances, in priority order, in addition to offering youth the opportunity to participate in baptisms for the dead.

Those 13 temples include: 5 in the United States (Denver and Fort Collins Colorado; Boston Massachusetts; Hartford Connecticut; and Philadelphia Pennsylvania); 6 in Latin America (Hermosillo Sonora and Tijuana Mexico; Caracas Venezuela; Manaus Brazil; Quetzaltenango Guatemala; and Trujillo Peru); and 2 in Europe (Lisbon Portugal and Rome Italy). The information about the reopenings is further explored in the weekly temple status tracker, in addition to which all of these new updates and details are likewise confirmed through the official release on the Newsroom.

In view of these updates, effective Monday (May 31), the Church's temples will break down as follows: 8 remain closed for major renovation, 4 of which (Hamilton New Zealand, Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah) have been given reopening statuses, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule appointments at nearby temples. The Hamilton temple went into phase 3 status as of yesterday, and the 3 US temples have been in phase 2-B and will all be granted phase 3 status between now and the end of July.

Meanwhile, 1 temple (Kyiv Ukraine) has not reopened in any phase whatsoever since all temples were closed last year, 5 temples have "paused" in their reopening (3 were in phase 3, with 1 each in phase 2 and 2-B when local COVID-19 conditions necessitated the pauses); 4 are in phase 1, 41 in phase 2, 82 in phase 2-B, and the remaining 27 in phase 3. I am grateful for the latest reopening announcements (demonstrating the caution and inspiration attending that process), and will watch with great interest for further information on the June and July reopenings in the coming weeks.

I also continue to monitor all other Church news reports and temple updates and will do my best to bring you all word of those here 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.