Hello again, everyone! In recent weeks, the timing of announcements about temple phase transitions has become slightly less predictable, with some announcements coming Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning rather than on Tuesday morning. So it has been difficult to anticipate the timing of such announcements each week, assuming there are any at all. Despite that, I am pleased to be able to report today that 16 additional temples will begin their transitions to phase 4 (normal operations) as soon as today.
The 16 temples include the following: 10 in Latin America (Buenos Aires and Cordoba Argentina; Concepcion and Santiago Chile; Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango Guatemala; Asuncion Paraguay; Montevideo Uruguay; Panama City Panama; and Tegucigalpa Honduras); 3 in Africa (Aba Nigeria, Durban South Africa, Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo); 2 in the United States (Birmingham Alabama and Orlando Florida) and 1 in Europe (Paris France). These adjustments are also confirmed in the area-by-area temple status tracker.
As a result of the latest adjustments, the reopening status of the Church's 170 currently-operating temples stands as follows: 8 are closed for major renovations (all of which have been granted a designation of phase 3, allowing patrons in those districts to schedule phase 3 appointments at the nearest temples open); 1 each with phase 3 operations suspended (Kyiv Ukraine) and in phase 1 (Suva Fiji); 0 in phases 2 and 2-B; 35 remaining in phase 3; and the remaining 125 which have transitioned or soon begin transitioning to phase 4 operations.
In view of today's announcement, 77.16% of the 162 currently-open temples are or will be returning to normal operations. Aside from the Kyiv Ukraine Temple, which is currently affected by the Russian invasion of that nation (which despite having previously moved on from Kyiv, has now seen action resume there), and the Suva Fiji Temple (where the transition to normal operations is being hindered by local COVID-19 conditions, among other factors), I believe in coming weeks that the 8 temples being renovation may be granted phase 4 status since the temples nearest to them have begun such transitions already.
The same is true of the 35 temples currently in phase 3. It has been interesting to watch the methodical way in which temple reopenings have occurred, and I again testify of the prophetic foresight guiding that process. But in addition to temple reopenings, there is another development I need to cover here. The Church is preparing to host tours of the Yigo Guam Temple.
Since some of the Saints in the forthcoming temple district are currently prohibited from traveling to Guam due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Church is bringing the experience of the temple open house through means of virtual tours and samples of materials used to furnish and beautify that edifice. The "traveling open house" will reach out to members and friends of other faiths in those regions to allow them to be part of that experience. That brings me to a potential correction I may need to make.
I had understood that the Church was using a multipurpose space in the temple that could serve alternately as an instruction room for the endowment or a sealing room. The open house pictures appear to indicate they will be separate spaces, which was not originally indicated when construction began. If that is correct, then it corrects and supersedes anything I previously said on that.
The VIP/invited guest tours have begun, with the formal open house starting tomorrow and going through May 14. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday May 22, under the direction of Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I will monitor available resources for updates on that and bring word of those to you as they are reported. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will bring you all word of those as I receive it.
In the meantime, 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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.
