BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Casper Wyoming Temple; Orlando Florida Temple to Close for Renovation; Revised Rededication Arrangements Announced for the Manti Utah Temple; Exterior Renderings Released for the Natal and Teresina Brazil Temples

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced the next major temple construction updates, which affect 5 total temples: opening arrangements for the Casper Wyoming Temple; a renovation closure for the Orlando Florida Temple; revised rededication arrangements for the Manti Utah Temple; and exterior renderings for the Natal Brazil and Teresina Brazil Temples. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get right into it.

We start with the opening arrangements for the Casper Wyoming Temple. As a bit of a preface, I should note that I am somewhat surprised by the timing involved here, as it's much later than I anticipated. A media day will take place on Monday, August 26, 2024. The article doesn't mention any VIP tours, but since the open house only begins on Thursday, August 29, I am assuming VIP tours will take place on Tuesday-Wednesday, August 27-28.

The open house will run through Saturday, September 14 (excluding the relevant Sundays), and the temple dedication will take place just under one month later on Sunday, October 13, 2024, in two sessions to be held at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM MDT, with Elder Quentin L. Cook presiding thereover. Since Elder Cook does not have any connections to the Wyoming area (at least insofar as I am aware), my assumption is that he has apostolic oversight for the North America Central Area of the Church. 

I am not sure why that temple's dedication is not going to occur for another 8 months, as I had anticipated it could occur before the end of June. But I assume the Brethren know something I don't about the situation in Casper and have planned accordingly. It's probably a given, but we are likely to see the dedication of several other temples before the October dedication of the Casper temple.

We move on now to the Orlando Florida Temple renovation closure. The temple will close in July 2024 for extensive renovations, which are not described in detail. The First Presidency will announce the anticipated completion date of those renovations at a later time, and the eventual open house and rededication arrangements closer to the time when the renovation process is complete.

Moving along to the Manti Utah Temple, its' opening arrangements were originially announced on November 20 of last year, at which time the First Presidency indicated that more specific details would be announced at a later date. While the rededication date remains unchanged, and while there is still no word on who will preside over that temple's rededication, the First Presidency announced that the temple would be rededicated in a single session to be held at 5:00 PM MDT on April 21 and that Church meetings for all units in that temple district would still be held on that day.

And that brings us to the Natal and Teresina Brazil Temple renderings. While I will let others more qualified than I provide analysis on any architectural or exterior design elements, I will note that both temples were originally announced by President Nelson during the April 2023 General Conference, and both of them had their site locations confirmed less than 5 months later on August 28, 2023. I would also like to note that I am very appreciative that we got a groundbreaking announcement last week and more exterior renderings this week.

I see in these announcements that the First Presidency is releasing renderings as they can to enable the settings of groundbreakings at later dates. I fully believe other groundbreakings are coming. In fact, with the opening arrangements confirmed for the Casper Wyoming Temple today, and with no other dedication announcements likely for at least a month or two, that will allow the First Presidency to focus on site approvals and confirmations, exterior renderings, and groundbreakings. 

So I'm looking forward to such announcements in the coming weeks. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all 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.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband Observes His 73rd Birthday

Hello again, everyone! Elder Ronald A. Rasband is observing his 73rd birthday tody. Ronald Anderson Rasband was born in 1951 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson. He served as a full-time missionary in the Eastern States Mission, which was headquartered in New York City and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western New York and Pennsylvania. Sometime following his honorable return from his mission, he met Melanie Twitchell in a class they both attended at BYU. At the time, both of them were dating other people, but they soon made arrangements to go on a date themselves, and once they started dating, that was it for both of them. They got engaged eight weeks later, were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1973, and went on to raise their five children.

Following their marriage, they continued their studies at the University of Utah. He later discontinued his college experience in order to begin his professional career in the Huntsman Container Company as a Sales Representative in 1976. Still in that employment 11 years later (in 1987), he was promoted to the position of president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Chemical Corporation, where he closely worked with Jon Huntsman Sr. and later served on the board of directors of that company. It was not until 1995 that, in tribute to his success as a businessman, he received an honorary degree in business and commerce from Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University).

As prestigious as his professional career might have been, his life, in similarity to those of his fellow apostles, has been characterized by a variety of assignments in the Church. Elder Rasband has served as a bishop, Temple Square missionary guide, member of the Church’s Sesquicentennial Committee, and, from 1996-1999, as president of the New York New York North Mission. On April 1, 2000, he was sustained as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Over the next 5 years, he served in the Europe North and Europe Central Areas from 2000-2003. Those areas were later consolidated into a single Europe Area before subsequently splitting agin in August of last year. From 2003-2004, Elder Rasband presided over the Utah Salt Lake City Area. In August 2004, responsibility for oversight of the work of the Church in North America was transferred to the Presidency of the Seventy (with oversight for the US and Canada subsequently being delegated back to area presidencies in August 2018).

He then served from 2004-2005 as Executive Director of the Temple Department. He was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy in August 2005, at which time he was assigned oversight for the North America Northwest and North America West Areas. Two years later, his assignment shifted to supervising the Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City, and Utah South Areas (from 2007-2009).

With the April 2008 call of Elder D. Todd Christofferson to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he had become the second most senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy. The following April, as a result of Elder Neil L. Andersen's call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Rasband became the Senior President of the Seventy, and, as such, was given oversight for all areas in the United States and Canada.

He was still serving in that same assignment when, in October 2015, he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. With Elders Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund called at the same time (something that had not happened since 1906), the number of those who had served as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reached a total of 100. He is currently the seventh in seniority among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the tenth in overall apostolic seniority. He also ranks as the fifth oldest among the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve, and the eighth oldest among all 15 apostles.

As I’ve noted previously, I have an indirect personal connection to Elder Rasband. When my wife was initially involved in the institute program, Elder Rasband was one of her instructors. As a result of the three apostolic vacancies in 2015, my wife was one of many who felt Elder Rasband would be called to the apostleship to fill one of those, and she (and others who felt the same way) turned out to be right.

I will never forget praying in advance of the October 2015 General Conference for my own personal witness to know that whoever was called had indeed been chosen by the Lord. The moment President Eyring read the names of the three new apostles, I received the witness I had requested. That experience is one that has been repeated for every apostle called since I entered my adult years.For that reason, I gratefully sustain not just Elder Rasband, but also each of the other 14 apostles in their divinely-appointed roles.

Having served for nearly 23 years as a General Authority, Elder Rasband has had 23 opportunities to address us in General Conference: 1 as a General Authority Seventy, 5 more while in the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 17 since his call to the apostleship around 8.33 years ago. Any of those addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, is well worthy of review.

I am grateful to be able to provide both birthday tributes to and attest to the spiritual confirmation I continually receive regarding the inspired calls of those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. I am likewise grateful to have the opportunity to share the latest details on the global ministries of these Brethren.

I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all 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: Exterior Rendering and Groundbreaking Information Released for the San Luis Potosi Mexico Temple

Hello again, everyone! Today, as expected, the next major temple construction update has been announced. I was not expecting this, but today's announcement related to the San Luis Potosi Mexico Temple. Its' exterior rendering has been released and a groundbreaking date has been set. Let's break down the details:

This temple was announced during General Conference in April 2022. Its' site location was confirmed a little over six months later, several weeks after the October 2022 General Conference. The groundbreaking will occur in just over a month, on Saturday, March 9, 2024, with Elder Sean Douglas, Second Counselor in the Mexico Area presidency, presiding thereat. 

Today's announcement gives me hope that we could see groundbreakings for other temples sooner than I've conjectured, because I wasn't anticipating today's announcement and had projected a window of late 2024 for that temple's groundbreaking. So the fact that this groundbreaking will occur in March is huge news. Also, this means that 2024's second temple groundbreaking will be taking place one month earlier than 2023's second temple groundbreaking.

So if other temples in the queue can likewise have an exterior rendering released and a groundbreaking announced simultaenously, or if others can get a site announcement confirmed, a rendering released, and a groundbreaking announced, there could be many other drastic shifts to the current queue of announced temples as we know it. And this indicates that the Church may indeed be able to do a double-digit number of groundbreakings this year. 

With the size of the San Luis Potosi Mexico Temple, I''m sure it could easily be constructed speedily, possibly having construction wrap up sometime in 2026 or 2027. Stay tuned for more on this as that information is released.

I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all 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.