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Tuesday, September 5, 2023

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Exterior Rendering Released for Austin Texas Temple; Site Location and Preliminary Information Confirmed for Lethbridge Alberta Temple

Hello again, everyone! Just a few minutes ago, the Newsroom released new information on two temples: An exterior rendering for the Austin Texas Temple and the site location and preliminary information about the Lethbridge Alberta Temple. The site location for the Austin Texas Temple was announced last year on December 19. With a rendering released for that 30,000-square-foot single-story temple, hopefully that means a groundbreaking could soon be announced.

That said, the Lethbridge Alberta Temple (set to be built in a region where President Nelson's wife Wendy lived) will be a multistory temple of 45,000-square-feet and an adjacent distribution center, which will rise on a site of more than 9 acres at the corner of Whoop Up Drive West and Mauretania Road West. The fact that it will be a multistory temple seems significant, and suggests that the temple will be built up rather than out.

I am grateful that the first Canadian temple announced by President Nelson now has preliminary information released. And the Church has announced sufficient information on several other temples that may soon have a groundbreaking. I'm also more than slightly surprised that today's announcement did not relate to a temple opening. We've got 3 temples awaiting the announcement of their opening arrangements, and a total of 4 others that are nearing completion.

As I've commented previously, the Church may be waiting to announce opening arrangements for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple until more is known about Elder Holland's health. Based on the fact that President Nelson has assigned temple dedications to apostles with personal connections to areas in the past, Elder Holland's health may be the foremost factor impacting an announcement on Red Cliffs. As far as the delays on arrangements for Layton Utah and Puebla Mexico, not sure of the cause there.

But the Church continues to make such announcements as they can. Stay tuned here for more information as I find out about it. While composing this post, the Church News also covered these updates. I continue to monitor all such news, in addition to updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and on other temples under construction or announced and will be sure to pass word of those along here as time and circumstances allow.

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.

Monday, August 28, 2023

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Manhattan New York Temple to Close for Renovation; Site Locations Announced for Temples In California, Brazil, and Bolivia

Hello again, everyone! The first major temple construction announcement in months that has not been related to a temple open house has just been released. As stated in the post title, the Manhattan New York Temple will close for renovations, and sites have been announced for the San Jose California, Natal and Teresina Brazil, and La Paz Bolivia Temples. Having posted preliminary coverage of this announcement, let's now dive into the details:

We start with the Manhattan New York Temple. The 119th dedicated temple of the Church will close for extensive renovations sometime next year, and those renovations are anticipated to wrap up sometime in 2027. The renovation will include an upgrade to the meetinghouse spaces, so while renovations are underway, the congregations that meet in the chapel spaces will be hosted in neighboring meetinghouses. Members in the Manhattan New York Temple district are encouraged to worship at the Hartford Connecticut or Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temples. An updated rendering of the temple has been provided.

The La Paz Bolivia Temple, planned to be a 18,850-square-foot edifice will rise on a 3.8-acre site near the intersection of Avenida Los Sauces and Calle 8 de Calacoto in Calacoto, La Paz, Bolivia. The temple was first announced in October 2021. The Natal and Teresina Brazil Temples were just announced in April by President Nelson. The Natal Brazil Temple will be a The La Paz Bolivia Temple, planned to be a 18,850-square-foot edifice will rise on a 3.8-acre site near the intersection of Avenida Los Sauces and Calle 8 de Calacoto in Calacoto, La Paz, Bolivia. The temple was first announced in October 2021. 

The Natal and Teresina Brazil Temples were just announced in April by President Nelson. The Natal Brazil Temple, a single-story edifice of approximately 19,800 square feet, will be built on a 5.53-acre site at Av. Senador Salgado Filho (BR-101), Nova Parnamirim, Parnamirim, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. And the Teresina Brazil Temple will be a 25,420-square-foot edifice (no indication whether it will be a single- double- or triple-story temple) at Av. CajuĂ­na and Rua Pedro Conde, Noivos, Teresina, Piaui on a 3.6-acre site.

In view of today's significant update, the number of temples with sites announced now rises to 35. And with a total number of 79 temples, 2 have groundbreakings scheduled, leaving the number of temples with no official information announced yet down at 42. With the time between now and General Conference weekend, if several more temples have initial details announced, that will lower the numbers further. I am also cautiously optimistic that groundbreaking announcements might be coming more regularly, and that site announcements and exterior renderings might be more frequent in the weeks between now and the October 2023 General Conference weekend.

With that said, that concludes my report on the temple news today. However, I wanted to provide a preview of what I've got coming between now and the weekend of the October 2023 General Conference. Elder Quentin L. Cook will be observing his 83rd birthday on September 8. The next day, President Nelson will become the first prophet/apostle to observe his 98th birthday.  

My next apostolic milestone update and the third-quarter-2023 review of temple construction progress will both be published on October 1, along with any coverage on new temples that are announced on that date, which will be the Sunday of General Conference weekend. The Monday after General Conference, I will provide a birthday tribute to Elder Ulisses Soareas, who will observe his 65th birthday on October 2, followed by an October 8 post honoring President M. Russell Ballard on his 95th birthday.

So lots of good things planned ahead for this blog. Please stay tuned for further coverage on all Church News and Newsroom reports, temple construction updates, apostolic ministry, age, and tenure reports, and of course, extensive coverage on General Conference weekend (including new temples). 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.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Update on My Blogging Efforts (Subscriber Button Added and Advertizing Ongoing)

Hello again, everyone! I am posting a personal update today to explain some changes made to my blogging efforts here. A recent comment in the threads of an earlier post on this blog advised me that the individual posting a comment wanted to subscribe, but was not able to do so. After researching the matter, I have now created a specific subscriber button that can be found in the log's right-side column, directly under the list of log post labels and the list of links to sites from which I pull most of the information I report, there is a checkbox. Clicking on that should allow any of you to subscribe to notifications for future content and comments/

Additionally, at the bottom of each comment thread on this blog, between the line where you have the option to publish a new comment and and the comment form (at the bottom of each blog post), you have the option to check a box that will notify you of either all new comments on that post or all comments replying to the one for which you've checked the box. So those of you who are interested now have the opportunity to check that box and subscribe. I believe the only requirement to be a subscriber is to check that box when you're signed in to your official blogger account.

I am excited to finally have this issue resolved. I look forward to having any or all of you, my readers, as official subscribers. If any of you have any concerns about the subscription system, please let me know through the comments here on my blog, or through email on my Blogger profile page. As my longtime readers know, I have displayed ads here for years trying to make my blog profitable. I find I'm still putting more into it (in terms of content creation) than I am getting out of it (in terms of financial yield). So I am working through a few strategies to try and improve those returns on that investment.

Time will tell how well that goes. In the interim, please let me know if any of you have concerns, questions, or issues to report regarding the content, placement, or volume of those ads. There have been a few times in the past where inappropriate ads have appeared, so if anything like that shows up again, let me know that as well. For my part, I continue to monitor all reports from the Church News, the Newsroom, and the Church Temples site, and will be sure to pass along any updates ASAP after I learn about 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. 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.