The public open house will run from Saturday, August 5 to Saturday, August 26, except for the Sundays of August 6, 13, or 20, so tours will be offered for roughly 19 days. The temple's dedication will follow on Sunday, September 17, in two sessions held at 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM, and will be carried to all units in the new temple district.
The First Presidency has asked Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to preside over those sessions, due to his personal connection to the area while serving in the Brazil South Area Presidency in the early 2000s.
And for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, a media day will be conducted on Monday, June 12, followed by VIP/invited guest tours between Tuesday, June 13, and Friday, June 16. The temple will be open to the public between Saturday, June 17-Saturday, July 2, except for the Sundays of June 18 and 25, which means tours will last approximately 14 days.
The temple's dedication will follow in two sessions at 10:30 AM and 1:00 PM, also on Sunday, September 17, 2023. The First Presidency has asked Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to preside at that dedication. He lived in that area for nearly two decades and also presided over that temple's groundbreaking remotely during COVID-19.
So a couple of takeaways here: This is the first time (to my knowledge) that a news release on this has indicated the reason for the assignment of these apostles to dedicate these temples. Hopefully that continues. We also know that the Church has set the dedications of these two temples for the same day, so they could do something similar with other temple pairs. Additionally, the Okinawa Japan Temple has not yet had opening arrangements announced, but it's possible that when that announcement is made, the dedication of that temple could take place between the June 18 dedication of the Helena Montana Temple (announced last week), and the August 13 dedication of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple dedication.
Additionally, the fact that these dedications are set for mid-September leads me to believe that, at least for the time being, the scheduling of dedications will be further out than I have hoped or projected previously. Bryan Dorman, who is my Church contact from Mexico, mentioned the hope that the Puebla Mexico Temple might be dedicated in October or November.
But since the two dedications announced today are not taking place until September, and since there are 7 other temples in the queue between Brasilia/Bentonville and Puebla, we may only see the dedication of the Puebla Mexico Temple either towards the end of this year or the beginning of the next year, unless that temple moves ahead in the queue of the 5 other current temples in various phases between it.
That also likely means that the dedications of the 3 Utah Temples which are back-to-back in the queue might only occur next year as well, which would mean the Provo Utah Temple will likely not close for reconstruction until early-to-mid 2024, which might mean the reconstructed temple will only be rededicated in 2027 or 2028.
I am analyzing various factors on this and will have updated estimates for you here ASAP. I am grateful to have found today's update, and for the opportunity to pass those along to you all here. I continue to monitor all temple construction developments and updates from the Newsroom and the Church News and will pass those along to you all here as I become aware of them.
In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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.
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