BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for Bangkok Thailand Temple; Groundbreakings Set for 3 Temples in Brazil and the Pacific Islands; Rendering Released for the Cody Wyoming Temple

Hello again, everyone! The Church's final Monday temple announcement before General Conference has just been shared. Today's update includes the opening arrangements for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, groundbreaking arrangements for the Belo Horizonte Brazil, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples, and the release of an exterior rendering for the Cody Wyoming Temple.

Let's get right into the details. We start in Bangkok Thailand. A media day will be held on Monday, August 28, with VIP tours held from Tuesday, August 29-Thursday August 21. Public tours will follow from Friday, September 1-Saturday, September 16, excluding the Sundays of September 3 and 10. Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the Bangkok Thailand Temple in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM Bnngkok time on Sunday, October 22.

Although I had ventured an estimate of October 8, 15, or 22 for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, I was more than a little surprised that this dedication will occur on the last of those dates, given the Church's recent setting of 3 dedications for September 17. I don't know how or to what extent that might affect the timing of other temple dedications that I've protected, but I'll be looking into that ASAP and will provide updates as I make them.

I was also slightly surprised that the temple in Thailand will not be dedicated by one of our apostles with Asia connections. Elder Gerrit W. Gong served in the Asia Area presidency, and Elder Gary E. Stevenson served in the Asia North Area presidency. So I assume the Church is saving those apostles for other temple dedications. Despite the details of the announcement not being exactly what I anticipated, I am grateful to see this temple's dedication scheduled.

We now move on to the three temple groundbreakings. First up, the groundbreaking for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 8, with Elder K. Brett Nattress, Pacific Area President, pressing as originally announced (it had been set to occur on March 4 but was postponed due to two major cyclones) The Church released the site location and exterior rendering for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple on May 19, 2021. 

The groundbreaking for the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple will occur on Saturday, April 22, with Elder Peter F. Meurs, First Counselor in the Pacific Area, presiding. The site location and exterior rendering for Papua New Guinea's first temple was announced on September 15, 2020, so it's great to have a groundbreaking announced almost 3 years later.

Ground will be broken for the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple on Saturday, June 17, with Elder Juan A. Uceda, Second Counselor in the Brazil Area presidency, presiding thereat. The temple's site location and exterior rendering were originally released on September 23, 2021. Two of the other three temples for which site confirmations and renderings were released have had groundbreakings, leaving only the Cali Colombia Temple as the one from that group of four for which a groundbreaking has not yet been announced.

Finally, just two weeks after the Church confirmed the location of the Cody Wyoming Temple, the Church has today released its exterior rendering, which may suggest that the Church is fast-tracking that temple's construction start. With that in mind, this temple may also use the modular design to speed up construction. I am grateful to have learned of these updates and to be able to pass them along here. 

I continue to monitor Churchwide developments and will be sure to pass along Church News updates, Newsroom reports, and other temple construction updates as they cross my radar. 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: Opening Arrangements Announced for Feather River California Temple; Rendering Released for Tampa Florida Temple; and Location and Preliminary Information Released for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the Church made announcements about 3 temples: 2 in North America and one in Central America. The opening arrangements have been confirmed for the Feather River California Temple; the exterior rendering has been released for the Tampa Florida Temple; and the site location and preliminary information has been confirmed for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple. Let's break down the relevant details:

First, we start with the Feather River California Temple. There will be a media day on Tuesday August 15, followed by VIP tours Wednesday, August 16-Friday, August 18. Public open house tours will then be conducted from Saturday, August 19-Saturday, September 9, except for the Sundays of August 20 and 27, and September 3. The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, October 8 in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM, with Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding thereat.

Over this last weekend, I had reconfigured my estimates for temple events yet again, and my updated projection for the Feather River California Temple dedication was for October 8, 15, or 22. With October 8 confirmed now for Feather River, I wouldn't be shocked if the dedications of the Bangkok Thailand and Okinawa Japan Temples were set for any of those 3 dates as well. Given the fact that the Church will dedicate 3 temples on Sunday September 17, multiple dedications on the same day in October, November, and December may be in store for the Church.

Of course, the timing of any temple event is up to the Lord, so unless and until official announcements confirm, clarify, or correct any of the estimates I offer for such events, as a disclaimer, I want to ensure my readers understand that these are no more and no less than my own best projections. Until an official Church announcement sets the actual details, no one reading those estimates of mine should take them as gospel. I am just as elated when proven wrong as I am on days like today, where an announcement verifies any of my projections.

Let's move on now to the rendering released for the Tampa Florida Temple. The site location for Florida's newest temple was announced on October 31 of last year, so to have the official rendering released today is a clear indicator of progress made towards being able to hold a groundbreaking ceremony. With that temple planned to be roughly 30,000 square feet, the rendering released today seems reminiscent of other Southwestern US temples in general, but also, more specifically, of a couple of other recently-announced Florida temples of the Church. 

If anyone else has any observations about the rendering, their assessment would likely be better than mine. I don't know whether or not I've mentioned this, or how recently I last shared it if I did, but as part of my day-to-day health challenges, I do have some visual perception issues that may not prove helpful in analyzing such renderings. So if any of you have feedback on the rendering, please feel free to comment, because I love hearing from those who can see things I might miss.

That said, today's final announcement pertains to Guatemala's newest temple in Huehuetenango. The 10,787-square-foot single-story edifice will rise at 18 Avenida, Zona 4, El Terrero in Huehuetenango. That temple, originally announced in October of last year, may either use a slightly larger modular design or else have the dual-purpose ordinance rooms that can rotate between being used for temple sealings or endowment sessions as the need arises.

With today's announcement, the number of temples for which no official information has been confirmed now stands at 36. I am grateful to have been able to provide a look at this latest update, and it's good to see the Church continuing to announce such developments regularly. Today's announcement marks the second-to-last one the Church will make on a Monday before General Conference, which is now just under two weeks away.

Between now and General Conference weekend, I continue to monitor all updates from the Church News and the Newsroom and will be sure to pass those along ASAP after they cross my radar. 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

 Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, January 29, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, in addition to updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the current First Presidency until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), in addition to when each of those current groups will move up on the list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 3 of the current 15 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 12 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list. With these updates coming every 7 weeks, the next update (which will be posted here on Sunday May 7) will be the last one before President Eyring joins the list of apostolic nonagenarians.

Hopefully, this shared data will be of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to ask anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here.

I continue to monitor all temple updates and Church news reports and will be sure to bring word of those to you as I become aware of such updates. 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.