BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for Moses Lake Washington Temple; Site Location and Initial Details Released for the Cody Wyoming Temple

Hello again, everyone! As you are undoubtedly aware, the Church has recently habitually made major temple construction announcements nearly every Monday afternoon at some point during the 2:00 PM hour. Today's announcement relates to two temples in the western United States (Moses Lake Washington and Cody Wyoming). Let's get right into the details:

The opening arrangements have been set for the Moses Lake Washington Temple.  A media day will be held on Monday, July 31, with VIP tours between Tuesday, August 1, and Thursday, August 3. The public open house will follow from Friday, August 4 to Saturday, August 19, 2023. That temple will then be dedicated on September 17, with Elder Quentin L. Cook presiding over the two dedicatory sessions, which will be held at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM.

As most of us might recall, the Church has already set the dedications for the Bentonville Arkansas and Brasilia Brazil Temples for September 17 as well. So that means that 3 temples of the Church will be dedicated on a single day, which is a first for the Church unless I am mistaken. The order of those dedications will be Brasilia Brazil, Bentonville Arkansas, and Moses Lake Washington.

I was honestly stunned by this announcement, as I had been expecting news on the Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, Bangkok Thailand, and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples before anything was announced for Moses Lake. Even though I wasn't expecting this announcement now, 3 temple dedications held on the same date will be wonderful and may suggest that more temples could be dedicated this year than I had projected previously.

That being said, we move on now to the news about the Cody Wyoming Temple. The single-story edifice, which will be roughly 9,950 square feet, will rise on the northwest side of Skyline Drive at Cody Canal. Based on that, either a slightly-downscaled modular design could be used, or the Church could opt to use two dual-purpose ordinance rooms which could serve alternately as either endowment or sealing rooms as the need and schedule may require.

That temple was the final one in the US originally announced in October 2021. So the only US temples remaining in the queue of those without an announcement now include 2 from April of last year and 3 from last October. With 68 announced temples in the current queue, today's announcement brings the number of temples with no information officially confirmed down to 37. I am certain that number will decrease further in the two Mondays remaining before General Conference weekend.

The better question is how soon we might hear news on any other temple openings, and that's a harder question to answer. I think we could see at least one or two more dedications, groundbreakings, and/or site locations announced in those two weeks. And if the Church is setting a new precedent of 3 temple dedications in one day, it's not s stretch to believe that 4 or 5 could potentially take place over a two-week period.

Whatever might happen in that regard, I am keeping my eyes open for all such updates, and will be sure to pass them along to you all here as I become aware thereof. 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Set for the Montpelier Idaho Temple; Site Location and Preliminary Details Confirmed for the Maceio Brazil Temple

 Hello again, everyone! As I mentioned a few minutes ago, there was no new temple update at 2:00. However, here we are at around 2:30, and such an update has been published. The First Presidency has announced the groundbreaking arrangements for the Montpelier Idaho Temple and the site location and initial details for the Maceió Brazil Temple. Let's get right into the details:

Ground will be broken for the Montpelier Idaho Temple on Saturday, June 17, 2023, with Elder Ryan K. Olsen, a GA Seventy, presiding. An official rendering for the temple, and additional details about the groundbreaking, will be released closer to that time. By way of review, the Montpelier Idaho Temple was announced in April 2022, with the site location and initial details confirmed just 1 month later. 

As for the Maceió Brazil Temple (which was also announced in April of last year), the single-story 19,000-square-foot temple will rise at the location of  Avenida — Dr. Durval de Góis Monteiro, S/N, Quadra 0522, Lote 0228. Project leaders will work with government officials through the planning and approvals process, and an exterior rendering will likely be released closer to the time of its groundbreaking.

I'm a little surprised about the timing for the Montpelier Idaho Temple groundbreaking. My assumption is that the Church wanted to lock in a date for the groundbreaking now and then do the work to ensure the approvals can go through so that the exterior rendering can then be released once it gets the go-ahead from the governmental leaders with whom the Church will work. I think this may be the first time (at least in a couple of decades) that the Church has set a groundbreaking for any temple without a rendering being simultaneously released or released before the groundbreaking is announced.

To get these two updates in the same announcement was exciting. It's interesting to see how these announcements have come about. I will likewise be curious to see how the scheduling of other groundbreakings, dedications, and rededications works in the months ahead. I am watching out for word on all of these updates and will do my best to pass word thereof along to you all here, in addition to all Church News and Newsroom updates as they cross my radar. 

Between now and my next update, here is a revised copy of the document showing temples for which no official information has been announced. Of the 68 temples currently announced, 38 have not yet had any official information confirmed. If the First Presidency continues to announce preliminary information about other announced temples, either in conjunction with or separate from other temple construction announcements, those numbers are likely to change in the weeks ahead. 

I look forward to seeing what other updates will be announced between now and the upcoming General Conference. 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Location and Preliminary Details Confirmed for the Vitoria Brazil Temple

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the First Presidency officially confirmed the site location and preliminary details for the Vitoria Brazil Temple, which was announced during the October 2021 General Conference by Church President Russell M. Nelson. The one-story temple of approximately 10,600 square feet will rise in Vitoria at Avenida Leitão da Silva #2055, Iteraré.

Given this temple's indicated size, I am anticipating that the Church may use a slightly larger variation on the standard 10,000-square-foot modular design for this temple. Of the 13 temples originally announced in October 2021, 7 temples have not yet had any information officially confirmed. And of the 68 total announced temples currently, 39 are lacking the announcement of any official details. 

I was slightly surprised that we only got an update on a single temple today, and also that the Newsroom release doesn't say anything about project managers working on approvals for the temple. From that, I'm assuming that the Church is taking a slower approach to getting approvals to ensure they get everything squared away right off the bat, which lessens the amount of time a temple has to sit in a construction pending status following its' groundbreaking. 

So if taking more time to begin and progress through the approvals process can accomplish that, I'm personally of the opinion it will be worth it. I was similarly somewhat surprised that today's announcement only pertained to one temple, and that the confirmation of these details came before the announcement of any other temple groundbreakings, dedications, or rededications. 

But again, if the Church is taking more time with all of that to ensure that no subsequent delays or adjustments are necessary, I have no problem with that at all. I stated over the weekend that the dedications of the Feather River California, Okinawa Japan, and Bangkok Thailand Temples, along with a rededication for the St. George Temple, could be announced soon, and I stand by that assessment. 

In the meantime, I also stand by my assessment that we could soon see groundbreakings announced for the Montpelier and Teton River Idaho and Modesto California Temples. So, with today's announcement having been made, I am certain that the 4 Mondays in March will see most of those announcements officially made. I look forward to covering all of that. I also monitor all other Church news updates and temple construction developments and will be sure to pass those along to you all here as I receive word thereof.

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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.