BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple

 Hello again, everyone! Since today is not a state or federal holiday, the Church has resumed major temple announcements on Monday. Today, we have confirmation on the opening arrangements for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple. Let's get right into the details: A media day will occur on Monday, November 6, 2023. VIP tours will follow between Tuesday, November 7-Thursday, November 9, and the public open house will be held from Friday, November 10-Saturday, December 9, 2023.

The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, January 14, in two sessions (at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM PET) by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Interestingly enough, I mentioned over the weekend that I was recalculating my estimates for anticipated temple events, and I had just projected yesterday that the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple would be dedicated on either January 14, 21, or 28. Now that this temple has had a dedication scheduled, the next one up will be the Red Cliffs Utah Temple.

It is possible that the Church could opt to make another temple announcement tomorrow at 2:00 PM (groundbreaking, exterior rendering, and/or site confirmation). Whatever might occur in that regard, I'll do my level best to cover it here. I continue to monitor all other Church News and Newsroom reports and other temple construction progress updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I receive it.

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, May 7, 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), and an overview of 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 4 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 11 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list. With these updates coming every 7 weeks, the next update will be posted here on August 13. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Open House and Dedication Set for Orem Utah Temple; Closure Date Announced for Provo Utah Temple; Location and Preliminary Details Released for the Wichita Kansas Temple

 Hello again, everyone! At this 2:00 PM hour on this Tuesday, the Church has shared the next major temple construction announcement has been made, which means that Tuesday may be the new standard date for temple news going forward. What we have today is opening arrangements for the Orem Utah Temple; an official closure date for the Provo Utah Temple; and the site location and initial information for the Wichita Kansas Temple. There's a lot to break down, so let's get right into it.

We begin with the Orem Utah Temple. Following a media day on Monday, October 23, and VIP tours from Tuesday, October 24-Thursday October 26, the public open house will be held between Friday, October 27-Saturday, December 16, 2023, except for the Sundays of October 29, November 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30, and December 3 and 10. 

The dedication of that temple will follow in two sessions at 12:30 and 3:30 PM on Sunday, January 21, 2024. I was intrigued by the later times for these sessions. That may indicate that another temple dedication is anticipated to be held on that day.  No word on who will preside at that dedication, but the fact that this is the first temple dedication for 2024 is significant. 

I wouldn't be shocked if a member of the First Presidency, perhaps even President Nelson himself, presides at this dedication, but either of his counselors or any members of the Twelve with ties to that part of Utah County could be chosen for the task. At a glance, that may include President Dallin H. Oaks, or Elders D. Todd Christofferson or Ronald A. Rasband.

I also don't know what this might indicate about the timing of the dedications for the Lima Peru Los Olivos and Red Cliffs Utah Temples, but if I had to guess, one of the two might be dedicated by the end of the year, and the other might be delayed until next year. It's also possible that both will be dedicated next year on either January 14, 21, or 28. Stay tuned for further updates on this as I receive word thereof.

We now shift to the Provo Utah Temple, which, as we know, was announced to be reconstructed once the Orem Utah Temple was dedicated. Since that dedication has now been set, the Church has also announced the closure date for the Provo Utah Temple. That temple will be open through Saturday, February 24, and will close at the end of that day. I have ventured a completion estimate of late 2026 or sometime in 2027, but it could be completed sooner if construction goes smoothly and without interruption.

That brings us to the information released today about the Wichita Kansas Temple site. The temple will rise at at Lot 1 Block 1 of The Moorings Plaza Fourth Addition, Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 9,950 square feet on the 6.42 acre site, and the temple may or may not use the modular design. I

t was my original understanding that the Church intended the Helena Montana, Casper Wyoming, and Elko Nevada Temples to all use the modular design, but the modular method was apparently only used on the first of those 3. The Okinawa Japan Temple was the right size for the modular design, but as far as I'm aware, that was built with normal methods. And the Casper and Elko temples were apparently built normally as well.

It's possible also that the Port Moresby Papua Nee Guinea, Port Vila Vanuatu, Tarawa Kiribati, and Torreon Mexico Temples all use the modular design as well, as could any temple with a floor plan close to 10,00 square feet. But I'm less sure on that than I once was. The Wichita Kansas Temple was one of the last two US temples announced in April 2022 that did not have any information officially confirmed. The last one is Missoula Montana. And today's announcement on the Wichita Kansas Temple means that 47 of the 79 announced temples have not had official information confirmed yet.

As I noted at the beginning of this post, with the Orem Utah Temple dedication set to occur next year, it remains to e seen how soon the Lima Peru Los Olivos and Red Cliffs Utah Temples could have official opening arrangements announced. But I'm glad we have additional information about these three temples today. Since it appears that Tuesday is the new standard day of the week for major temple updates, I will be sure to keep an eye out for those and will pass them along ASAP as time and circumstances allow.

I likewise monitor all updates from the Church News and the Newsroom, and any other temple construction developments and will pass those along to you all 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.