BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Salvador Brazil Temple; Exterior Rendering Released and Groundbreaking Scheduled for the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple; Groundbreaking Scheduled for the Austin Texas Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the next major temple construction update. Today's announcement includes the opening arrangements for the Salvador Brazil Temple, the exterior rendering released and groundbreaking scheduled for the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple, and a groundbreaking scheduled for the Austin Texas Temple. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's jump right in!

We start with the opening arrangements for the Salvador Brazil Temple. A media day will be held on Monday, August 19, followed by VIP tours the next two days. From Thursday, August 22-Saturday September 7 (except for the Sundays of August 25 and September 1). The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, October 20, with Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding at the two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM UTC (which, unless I am mistaken, is 3:00 AM and 6:30 AM MDT).

I will just note here that the Salvador Brazil Temple dedication comes after the previously announced dedication for the Casper Wyoming Temple, which suggests that no other temple might be dedicated before Casper, and I had hoped one or two other temple dedications would happen before that. I had heard through the grapevine that there were some bureaucratic issues that were delaying the announcement of opening arrangements for this temple, so I'm glad to hear that has been resolved.

I also seem to recall that Elder Andersen served in the presidency of whichever Brazil Area covered Salvador, so this is yet another example of President Nelson recognizing those connections and sending an apostle to a dedication that holds personal significance to them. As a result of today's announcement, I have updated my document showing apostolic temple dedication assignments.

We now move on. The site for the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple site was announced on November 28, 2022. The exterior rendering of the temple largely speaks for itself. I will just note that I see a lot of Spanish architectural elements in the rendering, and with that, I will leave it to others more qualified than I am to comment on the specifics of the rendering. The groundbreaking for Bolivia's second temple will be held on June 8, 2024, with Elder Jorge F. Zeballos, the president of the South America Northwest Area, presiding. 

Given the size of the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple, I estimate that construction will take roughly 2 years to complete, give or take a few months. We now move on to the groundbreaking for the Austin Texas Temple. Previous reports suggested that that groundbreaking would occur in June. However, it is set to occur on Saturday, August 17, 2024, with Elder Michael A. Dunn, currently the Second Counselor in the North America Southwest Area Presidency, who is set to become the First Counselor in that presidency by the time the groundbreaking occurs.

I likewise project that the construction of the Austin Texas Temple will take roughly 2 years. I can't remember who it was at the moment, but I distinctly remember someone in General Conference urging us to pray for the approvals and construction of temples worldwide. That is something I would likewise strongly encourage from my readers. As a result of today's announcements, there are now 4 temples with scheduled groundbreakings, and I have a feeling more will follow.

The Church seems to have some pattern of alternating site announcements, exterior renderings, and groundbreaking announcements, but I am not sure what that pattern is. The announcements today have given me much to think about, and will necessitate more updates to the files of information that I keep. I will try to remember to link to those updated files here as those updates and adjustments are made.

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 Released for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple; Preliminary Information Released for the Des Moines Iowa and Cincinnati Ohio Temples

Hello again, everyone! Just before this 2:00 PM hour, the First Presidency released an exterior rendering for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple and the initial details for the Des Moines Iowa and Cincinnati Ohio Temples. There's a lot to get into, so let's dive right in! First, the site location for the Lethbridge Alberta Temple was announced on September 5, 2023. 

The exterior rendering for the Lethbridge temple, as released today, reminds me a bit of the Burley Idaho and Syracuse Utah Temples, but I will defer to others to share their observations about this newest exterior rendering. That brings us to the two newest site locations announced today. Both temples were just announced earlier this month in General Conference by President Russell M. Nelson. 

The Des Moines Iowa Temple will be a single-story edifice of approximately 18,850 square feet. The temple will rise on a 19.576-acre site at 9050 NW 62nd Avenue, Johnston, IA 50131.  I have mentioned this previously, but Iowa has a Mount Pisgah stake, and the Mount Pisgah name has significance in the pioneer history of the Church. Could the new temple be renamed the Mount Pisgah Iowa Temple? I think there may be more than an outside chance. 

As for the Cincinnati Ohio Temple, a 35-acre site located at the intersection of Mason-Montgomery Road & Cedar Village Drive, Mason, OH 45040 will be home to the single-story edifice, with the square footage estimated to be approximately 29,630. As a result of today's announcements, of the 109 announced temples, 2 have groundbreakings scheduled, an additional 58 have had site locations confirmed, and 49 lack official information. Of the 58 temples with site locations confirmed, 21 have also had exterior renderings released.

Once again, we didn't get any additional temple dedications or temple groundbreakings. But as today's updates clearly note, the Church is working through the approvals process for those 58 temples with site locations that have been confirmed, so at some point, groundbreakings will pick up. As for new dedications, not sure what is delaying an announcement on the Tallahassee Florida Temple. I was alerted to some bureaucratic issues impacting the Church's ability to announce the opening arrangements for the Salvador Brazil Temple, and the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple just barely had major construction completed.

I think each of these temples could have dedications announced in the next month or two, which would put their dedications likely in October/November. And other temples are also drawing closer to completion. At this point, I'm not too unduly concerned about the lack of dedication/groundbreaking announcements. I would prefer that the Church take their time to get everything done right rather than rushing to get temples to a groundbreaking or dedication and run into problems as a result. I will be sure to monitor any updates I get on any of this on my end and will pass them along to you all here ASAP.

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: New Location Announced for the Tampa Florida Temple; Site Locations and Preliminary Information Released for the West Jordan and Lehi Utah Temples

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the First Presidency announced the relocation of the Tampa Florida Temple and the site locations for the West Jordan Utah and Lehi Utah Temples. There's a lot to get to, so let's jump right in! 

The site location for the Tampa Florida Temple was originally announced in late October 2022. No reason was given for the relocation, but hopefully approvals will be easier to get on the new location. The single-story edifice of approximately 29,000 square feet will now rise on a 12-acre site at 9445 Camden Fields Parkway, Riverview, Florida. 

The announcements of site locations for the two newest Utah temples caught me off guard a little, as I didn't anticipate them so soon since those temples were just barely announced earlier this month in General Conference. But I am pleased to report that the Lehi Utah Temple will rise a short distance from where I currently live.  The multi-story temple of approximately 85,000 square feet will rise on a 22.48-acre site northwest of the intersection of 3950 North and Center Street in Lehi. 

A meetinghouse will also be built at that location.  The West Jordan Utah Temple will have the exact same square footage and multistory as the Lehi Utah Temple (the two might even be twins). The project will also include a meetinghouse. Both the temple and meetinghouse will rise on a 16.10-acre site at approximately 7148 South and west of Highway 111. 

The fresh-out-of-the-gate announcement of the site locations for the two newest Utah temples may suggest that the Church is already beginning to secure approvals for those temples. If that is the case, hopefully, exterior renderings and groundbreaking announcements can follow shortly. Likewise, hopefully the decision to relocate the Tampa Florida Temple (whatever might have been behind it) will enable approvals to be expedited for that temple.

As a result of today's announcement, I have updated my document showing announced temples for which no information has been officially confirmed yet. Of the 109 announced temples, 51 lack any official information. Given how many temple sites the Church has been able to confirm this year alone, I'm sure other site location confirmations are pending.  While I was working on getting this report ready for publication, the Church News also covered this update. 

I am grateful for this news and to have been able to share it with you all. 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.