BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreakings Announced for Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Nairobi Kenya Temples

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the First Presidency announced the groundbreaking arrangements for the temples in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Nairobi Kenya. First, it's worth noting that the Newsroom article on this development incorrectly states that both temples were announced in April 2020 by President Nelson. That's not quite correct. As we know, the Nairobi Kenya Temple was actually the last temple in the queue that had been originally announced by President Monson (in April 2017).

That inaccuracy aside, the first of the two to have a groundbreaking will be the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple. That's set to occur on Saturday August 21, 2021, and is the second groundbreaking held during COVID-19 to have an exact date announced for the ceremony instead of a general window. Elder Randall K. Bennett, president of the Church's North America Northeast Area, will preside over that ceremony. The location and rendering of that temple was released in mid-January.

As for the Nairobi Kenya Temple, its' groundbreaking is set to occur on Saturday September 11. Elder Joseph W. Sitati, a native of Kenya currently serving as the president of the Africa Central Area of the Church, will preside at that event. In a somewhat odd development, the news release notes that the temple's official location and exterior rendering will be released at a later time. I imagine that's because the final approvals for the location and design are pending, but they are far enough along that a groundbreaking can be safely set.

It would appear that, except for areas where COVID-19 still makes things unpredictable, the Church is able to again set exact dates for temple groundbreakings. I would anticipate that both temples will be completed sometime in 2023 (with Nairobi possibly completed in 2024), but we'll have to see. Although I was anticipating groundbreaking announcements for more temples would be coming down the pike, the announcement specifically relating to Kenya's first temple surprised me in terms of its' timing.

I take today's announcement as a positive sign that the Church will be able to schedule other groundbreakings for specific dates in the future. On my personal watchlist for such an announcement are the temples in Lindon Utah (though the Church temples site indicates that the groundbreaking for that temple is anticiapted in 2022), and any of the Pacific Area Temples for which official details have been confirmed. 

I particularly anticipate something official might come down the pike for the Neiafu Tonga, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples, but we'll see what happens for each of those temples. It's also worth noting that, while I was composing the content of this post, the Church News shared their own coverage on today's announcement, though again, the Church News article also mistakenly asserts that the Nairobi Kenya Temple was announced in April 2020.

Today's announcement brings the number of temples for which a groundbreaking has been scheduled this year thus far ro 6, but I anticipate a sharp increase in that number for the second half of this year. For my part, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all here 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: Additional Temple Reopenings Announced for July and August

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the latest temple reopening updates were released through the Newsroom, with those same updates noted in the Church News and reflected as well in the temple reopening status tracker, with each of those showing the changes that will go into effect throughout the rest of this month and into August.

18 more temples have moved or will move into phase 3 as early as this week. Those temples break down by area as follows:

Caribbean: Port-au-Prince Haiti

Europe: Frankfurt and Freiberg Germany, Bern Switzerland, Copenhagen Denmark, Lisbon Portugal, Madrid Spain, and Rome Italy.

Philippines: Cebu City Philippines

North America Central: Calgary and Edmonton Alberta

North America Southeast: Fort Lauderdale and Orlando Florida; Columbia South Carolina; Louisville Kentucky; Memphis Tennessee; Raleigh North Carolina

South America Northwest: Guayaquil Ecuador

The Anchorage Alaska Temple (which falls under the North America West Area) has also reopened, but patrons in those districts have been able to schedule limited phase 3 proxy ordinances for the last several weeks. The Church also announced other temples projected to move to phase 3 in July and August, which are likewise listed by Church area:

Brazil: Manaus Brazil

Mexico: Tijuana Mexico

North America Northeast: Toronto Ontario

North America West: Vancouver British Columbia; Medford Oregon and Spokane Washington (The Church had originally planned to reopen the latter two temples later this month, but that's been pushed back to August, likely due to COVID-19 conditions).

South America Northwest: Caracas Venezuela

As of next Monday (July 19), the status of the Church's 168 temples will break down as follows: 8 closed for major renovations (6 of which have been given phase 3 designations); 9 paused (5 in phase 3, 1 in phase 2-B, and the remaining 3 in phase 2); 3 in phase 1; 10 in phase 2; 21 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 117 in phase 3.

I am grateful for the Church's continued measured and cautious approach to reopening temples. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will bring word of those to you all as I receive it. 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: Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra At Temple Square Plan a Phased Return to Normal Operations

Hello again, everyone! This morning, there was an unexpected update from the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra, and Bells at Temple Square. Although the development in question was reported earlier this morning, I'm still classifying it as breaking news. So let's look at the relevant details here. First, the daily organ recitals, which have been offered virtually for the last several months, will reopen to the public beginning Monday July 19. On Monday-Saturday, those daily recitals are scheduled for noon MDT, while they are scheduled to occur at 2:00 PM MDT on Sundays. 

But with the return to daily organ recitals that are again open to the public, the Church will continue to provide a virtual edition of those recitals in the ongoing Piping Up! series will continue to be live-streamed through the Choir's Youtube channel every Wednesday at noon. Meanwhile, a phased reopening plan has been announced for the Choir, Orchestra, and Bells. The Choir will resume in-person rehearsals on Thursday August 26, which will be open to the public starting on Thursday October 7.  The Bells at Temple Square resume regular rehearsals onWednesday September 1, which will again open to the public beginning Wednesday October 6. 

The Choir has also announced that the completely-live Music & the Spoken Word broadcasts will replace the hybrid version of the broadcast (prerecorded performances with a new Spoken Work message) beginning Sunday September 19, and that beginning Sunday October 10, the live broadcasts of "Music and the Spoken Word" will again be open to the public. The Choir further announced that, for the October 2021 General Conference, rather than using prerecorded music, the Choir will provide music for three of the four General Conference Sessions. 

Although the particulars of that are not spelled out specifically, I'm reasonably certain that the three sessions in question will be the Saturday Morning and Sunday Morning and Afternoon Sessions. As far as how that will work, I imagine that the Choir will be in either the otherwise-empty Conference Center or possibly the Tabernacle at Temple Square, with the feed of their performances piped in to the Conference Center Auditorium, from which the rest of the sessions will originate. 

Today's announcement also noted that the Choir hopes to be able to present a live Christmas Concert this year, but official confirmation on the details will be deferred until they are more firmly set and able to move forward. I am grateful to see that the Choir, Orchestra, and Bells at Temple Square have announced a phased plan to move towards normal practices and performances, and will be be interesting to see how all of that turns out.

On an unrelated note, Iu had recently mentioned that I anticipated at least a few major temple-related announcements in the near term, but when I made those statements, I had somehow spaced the fact that July has been the typical recess month for the General Authorities and General Officers of the Church. As a result, although we could see a few other breaking news updates this month, I imagine that July could potentially be a much quieter month than we have most recently seen in terms of major general developments or specific temple announcements. 

I will keep my eyes open for word on all such developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along 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.