BREAKING NEWS: 55 New Missions to Open in 2026

 Hello again, everyone! I am back with a stunning announcement from the First Presidency: Due to the continually rising number of missionaries, the Church will add 55 new missions in 2026. These additional missions will bring the total mission count worldwide to 506. Church President and Prophet Dallin H. Oaks offered the following statement: 

"It is inspiring to see the number of young Church members who continue to answer the call to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. These missionaries are helping to bless the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year who are choosing to be baptized into the Lord’s Church."

The total coount of young teaching, servicee, and senior missionaries has steadily risen and is currently at a total of more than 84,000. Elder Quenntin L. Cook, who chairs the Missionary Executive Council, offered the following statement: "It’s a blessing to see how each missionary contributes to the individuals they teach and serve as they share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. These additional missions help to balance the number of missionaries in each mission, allowing mission leaders to better support and mentor the missionaries they lead."

Here is the list of new missions, grouped by alphabetical geographical Church areas, then alphabetically within those areas:

Africa Central

1. DR Congo Kinshasa North

2. DR Congo Mwene-Ditu

3. Kenya Kisumu

4. Uganda Kampala East

Africa South

5. Angola Luanda North

6. Malawi Lilongwe

7. Mozambique Nampula

8. South Africa East London

9. Zimbabwe Harare West

Africa West

10. Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan South

11. Cote d’Ivoire Daloa

12. Ghana Accra South

13. Ghana Sunyani

14. Liberia Monrovia West

15. Senegal Dakar

16. Togo Lomé

Asia North

17. Mongolia Ulaanbaatar West

Brazil

18. Brazil Guarulhos

19. Brazil São Bernardo

20. Brazil Sorocaba

Canada

21. Canada Halifax

22. Canada Toronto East

Europe Central

23. France Paris South

24. Greece Athens

25. Spain Madrid East

Europe North

26. Cape Verde Mindelo

México

27. México Tula

Pacific

28. Australia Brisbane South

29. Papua New Guinea Daru

30. Papua New Guinea Madang

31. Samoa Apia East

32. Solomon Islands Honiara

Philippines

33. Philippines Lingayen

34. Philippines Lipa

35. Philippines Ormoc

36. Philippines Ozamiz

37. Philippines Puerto Princesa

South America Northwest

38. Perú Lima Northwest

39. Perú Tacna

South America South

40. Paraguay Asunción South

41. Uruguay Salto

United States Central

42. Missouri Kansas City

43. Wyoming Cheyenne

United States Northeast

44. Indiana Fort Wayne

45. Virginia Norfolk

United States Southeast

46. Mississippi Jackson

United States Southwest

47. Arizona Phoenix East

48. Oklahoma Tulsa

49. Texas Dallas North

50. Texas Houston North

51. Texas San Antonio South

United States West

52. California Oceanside

53. California Ontario

54. California Victorville

55. Idaho Coeur d’Alene

This announcement is a huge surprise, but also a welcome one. I am grateful for the many missionaries that are making tthe announcement of these 55 new missions possible. I will just add here that, apparently, since the Church's last announcement of new missions in 2024, one new mission has been created that I can't quite account for. On another note, I was kind of hoping that, if the Church had breaking news to report today, it would be the announcement of the newest apostle. But clearly it's not time for such an announcement now.

So I will just cap off today's news by saying I am grateful for this announcement, despite the fact that it wasn't what I had expected/hoped for. There will be a lot of new mission presidents for the First Presidency to call, in addition to however many other missions are due to have a new mission president. And I expect that the announcement of almost 200 new mission presidents will soon follow. I will just addthat while I was composing this post, the Church News also reported on today's announcement.

I am grateful for today's announcement, even though it wasn't what I had hoped for. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 

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: Groundbreaking Announced for the Brussels Belgium Temple; Renderings Released for the Savaii Samoa and Tulsa Oklahoma Temples; and Site Location Confirmation and Exterior Rendering for the Houtson Texas South Temple

Hello again, everyone! With the First Presidency reorganized, they have hit the ground running and have made significant announcements on this Monday relating to four temples: a groundbreaking for the Brussels Belgium Temple, exterior renderings for the Savaii Samoa and Tulsa Oklahoma Temples, and the site location confirmation and exterior rendering for the Houston Texas South Temple. So let's get right into exploring these latest updates:

Elder Jack N. Gerard, First Counselor in the Euorpe Central Area Presidency, will preside at the Saturday, November 22, 2025, groundbreaking for the Brussels Belgium Temple, While the groundbreaking in question will not include any turning of the soil (as the edifice is being built within an existing building rather than on empty ground), there will be a short program followed by a dedicatory prayer over the construction process. 

It appeasrs that the Church is still trying to obtain the necessary approvals to turn the existing building intto a religious building with accommodations, but that the Church was able to get the go-ahead for this program and dedicatory prayer. Unless any other groundbreakings are scheduled between this Saturday (the groundbreaking for the Cape Town South Africa Temple) and November 22, 2025, the "groundbreaking" for the first temple in Belgium will be the 20th groundbreaking in 2025. But I still have a few temples I am anticipating will have groundbreakings this year, so we'll see what happens there.

Moving on to the Savaii Samoa Temple, the release of the exterior rendering today follows the March 11, 2024 site confirmation and the October 2023 announcement of that temple by President Russell M. Nelson. Hopefully a groundbreaking will follow either later this year or soemtime next year.  Meanwhile, the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple was also originally announced in October 2023, and the confirmation of its' site location on August 12, 2024. I have no particular insights about the temple renderings in question, so I will let them speak for themselves. if any of you have anything to share about either rendering, I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

Finally, we wrap things up with the details on the Houston Texas South Temple. Following its April 2024 announcement, also by President Nelson, the dual confirmation today of the location and the exterior rendering is fantastic. The single-story edifice of approximately 46,000 square feet, along with a meetinghouse and an ancillary building, will rise on a 15.7-acre site along Fort Bend Parkway, just north of Sienna Parkway in Missouri City, Texas. I guess I wsas somewhat confused by the rendering because it looks in some ways similar to the modular temple designs we've seen, but since it is the wrong size for a modular temple, I'm not sure why that was my first assumption.

With the release of the information about the Houston Texas South Temple, this document shows the latest count of temples for which no information has been released. That number now sits at only 64, and I'm sure that will go down further in the coming weeks. I am grateful to see that the First Presidency is (thus far) sticking to the Nelsonian practice of 2:00 PM Monday announcements. Hopefully that continues. And the fact that we got major announcements about four temples meanss we had just about everything I projected, except temple dedications. Hopefully those will follow in the coming weeks. 

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.

2,500th Blog Post: BREAKING NEWS: New First Presidency Announced

Note: This post was originally published at 9:30 AM, when the broadcast was announced, and was updated following the broadcast, just after 1:00 PM the same day.

Hello again, everyone! As was reported this morning, a new First Presidency was announced just after 1:00 PM MDT today. Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles conducted the broadcast to announce that. It goes without saying that President Dallin H. Oaks is the 18th Church President in this dispensation, having been ordained and set apart in that role on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. He has selected Presidents Henry B. Eyring and D. Todd Christofferson as his respective First and Second Counselors. 

President Jeffrey R. Holland is the new President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I did not see President Christofferson's call coming, but as the Lord said to Isaiah, His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts. I fully sustain this new First Presidency, and I hope that is true for each of you.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.