BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Bacolod Philippines Temple; Name Change Announced the the San Jose California Temple; Preliminary Infrastructure Work Will Begin on the Fairview Texas Temple

 Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced updates on three temples: the opening arrangements for the Bacolod Philippines Temple, a namecahange for the San Jose California Temple, (which will now be known as the Sunnyvale California Temple), and that preliminary infrastructure work is set to getunderway soon on the Fairview Texas Temple. The latter two updates are self-explnatory, so let me get into the details about the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication,then share some concluding observations about the other two temples.

I was stunned by the announced opening arrangements for the Bacolod Philippines Temple because, prior to today's announcement, that temple was only expected to have major construction wrap up in the early months of next year. As a result, not only did this announcemnent surprise me, but I was further stunned by the timing involved: the media day will be held on Monday, April 13, with invited guests touring the temple for a couple of days after that. The public open house will run from Thursday, April 16, to Saturday, May 2, excluding the Sundays of April 19 and 26.

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will then preside at the dedication of that temple on Sunday, May 31, 2026, in a single session at 10:00 AM (with a rebroadcast planned at 2:00 PM). Both the dedicatory session and the rebroadcast will be carried to all units in the Bacolod Philippines Temple dstrict. This is a stunning announcement, and the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication will follow that of the Davao Philippines Temple by just 4 weeks. So the Church now has 3 temple dedications in May,

Another thing that surprised me is that this dedication was announced before the first temple leaders were announced for this temple.  And if a temple that, up through yesterday, was anticipated to be completed in early next year can have a May dedication set, then that suggests that other temple dedications could happen sooner than I expect. As of yesterday, I had put my personal estimate for this tmeple's dedication as unlikely tto occuruntil sometime in 2027, so my estimates and projections were way off, and I will have to rethink some things as a result. This will be the third Philippines Temple dedicated next year, which  is another good sign.

We move on now to some thoughts about the other two updates mentioned. The former San Jose California Temple is being built in the city of Sunnyvale, so the name change makes sense. And for the Fairview Texas Temple, as I noted in this comment earlier today, the plans are currently before the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation,  so the fact that approvals are being sought for preliminary infrastructure work is encouraging, given the efforts of the neighborhood group of residents that continues to try and stop construction from moving forward. 

As I noted in previous posts and YouTube videos, there is nationwide group of  opponents to temple construction here in the United States that aims to hinder, delay, or stop construction of temples here in the United States, and that group seems to spur on the comparatively small groups of locals opposed to such projects. We see the fruitsthereof in relationtothe Coy Wyoming, HeberValley Utah, and Fairview TexasTemples at minimum, and there may be other temples impacted by the overarching work of the nationwisde group,

But as we know, the Prophet Joseph Smith state that no unhallowe hand can stop the work from progressing, and there are thankfully apparently more supporters than opponents of these projects on a local level, so hopefully that makes a difference. I repeat President Nelson 's plea for all of us to pray for the temples in any phase ofdevelopment, so thatwork make commence and continue and finish. We have the promise of the Lord that each temple dedicated thwarts the opposition of the advlersary and limits his power, so I hope that we will seriously pray for the temples in any phase of development.

I am somewhat isappointed thatwe didn't get any groundbreakings, site location confirmations, or exterior renderings this week, but i am grateful for the unexpected news of the Bacolod Philippines Temple dedication, and I look forward to seeing how many other temple dedications the Church may be able to squeeze in before the end of the first half of next year. If the current scheduling is any indicator, we are sure to see timelines shift dramatically in the days ahead.

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: First Presidency Announces New Temple Will Be Built in Portland, Maine

Hello again, everyone! At a Christmas devotional for the Portland Maine Stake this evening, Elder Allen D. Haynie, United States Northeast Area President, read the following statement from the First Presidency: 

"We are pleased to announce the construction of a temple in Portland, Maine. The specific location and timing of the construction will be announced later. This is a reason for all of us to rejoice and thank God for such a significant blessing — one that will allow more frequent access to the ordinances, covenants, and power that can only be found in the house of the Lord."

The First Presidency

This is the first temple to be announced under new Church President Dallin H. Oaks, and confirms what President Oaks said in his talk in October: "We will now move forward in providing the ordinances of the temple to members of the Church throughout the world, including when and where to announce the construction of new temples."

I had postulated that this would allow members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to announce new temples with the approval of the First Presidency in the course of their global ministry, so it makes sense that area presidencies would have similar authorizations to read official statements like this. The number of temples worldwide now sits at 383, with others to come in time, I'm sure.

Will any other temples be announced between now and the April 2026 General Conference? That's above my paygrade to know, but I conjecture that this could and likely will happen again. In view of this announcement, will anything else be announced tomorrow at 2:00 PM MST? I conjecture that will occur, since there is still a backlog of announced temples, and this just adds to it. But it also occurs to me to wonder how soon other updates will be announced for this first temple in Maine.

I had conjectured that, if temples were announcedoutside of General Conference, those announcements might come as temples are further along in the planning phase. So we could also potentially see a site location confirmed, rendering released, or groundbreaking set for this temple or any others in the near term. It's also worth noting that this is, to the best of my knowledge, the first temple since the Hinckley era to be announced in December.

Either way, this is wonderful news. 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 Set for the João Pessoa Brazil Temple; Exterior Rendering Released for the Jakarta Indoneisa Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the groundbreaking for the João Pessoa Brazil Temple, and released the exterior rendering for the Jakarta Indonesia Temple. We start with the groundbreaking information: Elder Joni L. Koch, president of the Brazil Area, will preside at the Saturday, January 24, 2026, groundbreaking for Brazil's newest temple. 

That groundbreaking will take place on the same date as the previously announced groundbreaking for the Jacksonville Florida Temple, but since João Pessoa time is one to two hours ahead of Jacksonville, João Pessoa now replaces Jacksonville as the first temple groundbreaking for 2026. The groundbreaking announcement follows the temple's announcement in October 2023 by President Nelson, with the site confirmation following just over a month later, and the exterior rendering released in July 2024.

And with both the João Pessoa Brazil and Jacksonville Florida Temples' groundbreakings set to occur on January 24, the second groundbreaking of the year will betaking place more than a month earlier in 2026 than the second groundbreaking in 2025 (which took place on March 1). So that already sets 2026 ahead of 2025 in terms of scheduled groundbreakings, and others could soon follow. I am grateful we got this groundbreaking announcement today, even though it wasn't what I expected.

As mentioned above, we also got the rendering for the Jakarta Indonesia Temple. The release of the rendering  follows the April 2023 announcement of that temple and the March 2024 release of its exterior rendering. While the rendering speaks for itself, it seems worthwhile to note that Indoesia's first temple is being built up rather than out, which is a common theme for Asia temples. 

It's also worth noting that, as with the Yigo Guaam Temple, the Jakarta Indonesia Temple is rising in an area that is projected to be submerged in water in 50-100 years. But as with the Yigo temple, the construction of this temple iscoming by inspiration from the Lord, who can temper those elements as He sees fit. As one of my seminary teachers observed: "Who was right, Noah, or the weatherman?" The Church will go forward with constructing this temple, for which I'm grateful. 

I was a little surprised we didn't get another temple dedication announced today, so I will have to factor that into my projected estimates for temple events in the near term. I was also somewhat surprised that we didn't get any announcement for other temples that have not had any details announced thus far. Hopefully such announcements come down the pike next week, as it will be the last week for major temple construction announcements before the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

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.