BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS Part Two: Site Locations and Initial Details Released for 6 New Temples

Note: The first paragraph of this report was published this afternoon, as shown by the time stamp for this post. The additional analysis followed throughout the evening once I'd concluded my other obligations.

Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, the next major temple news has been shared by the Church. Site locations and preliminary details have been confirmed for 6 new temples. Further analysis will follow this afternoon/evening as my situation allows. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

I am pleased to be back now to share the additional analysis I promised. Once again, the Church has shared the location and preliminary information for 6 temples. That news was released just one day after another new report in the Church News shared insights from the Presiding Bishopric about the location, design, and construction of temples. 

As you might recall, that article noted that the process whereby temple sites are selected has been considerably shortened. Where it once took the Church a minimum of two years to get initial approval for a temple site, two years is now the maximum length of time in general, with more site locations actually being able to be procured and confirmed sometimes within weeks or mere months of a temple announcement. And that accelerated timeline was certainly reflected again in the 6 locations announced today. 

The Church has confirmed the sites and initial information for the Santa Cruz Bolivia Temple (the one remaining temple of the six originally announced in October 2020); the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple (originally announced in October of last year). the Wellington New Zealand and Santos Brazil Temples (originally announced in April of this year), and the Londrina and Ribeirão Prêto Brazil Temples (originally announced last month).

As an update to previously-shared information, this means that the Church has 3 temples remaining which were originally announced in April 2018, 1 each from the following October and April, 3 from April 2020, 5 from April of last year, 9 apiece from the following October and April, and 15 of the 18 from the temples announced last month in General Conference.

With that preliminary background in mind, let's now dive into details about each of the 6 temples had site locations confirmed and initial details announced. While both of the articles to which I linked earlier in this post listRibeirão Prêto Brazil Temple the 6 temples in unique order, I have chosen to provide the details on these 6 temples according to the same order in which they were originally announced.

So we'll start in Santa Cruz Bolivia, where a single-story temple of approximately 29,000 square foot temple will be built at Av. Quinto Anilla y Santa Rosa (Av. Radial 27), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The acreage of the site in question was not specified. I believe I recall opining that the Church could possibly announce the official details for the La Paz Bolivia Temple before we got an announcement for Santa Cruz, but the Lord has proven me wrong in that belief, which is never shocking.

We now shift to the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple, where a 10,900 square-foot single-story edifice will rise on a 1.26-acre site near Dachang Road and Dehua Street, Niaosong District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Given that it is only slightly larger than the standard 10,000-square-foot modular design, I could see the Church doing a minor tweak to that standard floor plan so modular components could potentially be used.

Regarding New Zealand's third temple, the Church will construct the 14,900 square-foot two-story edifice on a 3.35-acre site. The Church seems to have a solid relationship with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (the niece of Elder Ian S. Ardern, formerly the Pacific Area president who now serves as Second Counselor in the Africa Central Area), so that might help expedite approvals for this temple.

Moving on to the final 3 temples, all in Brazil, let's break down the details for each. We start with the Santos Brazil Temple, where, at Avenida Doutor Waldemar Leão, 305, Jabaquara, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, a 23,000 square-foot two-story edifice will rise. The Santos Brazil Temple will be the third for the greater Sao Paulo area (with the others being the first Sao Paulo Brazil Temple and the Sao Paulo East Temple, and the site confirmation for the latter coming just under one month ago).

As for the Londrina Brazil Temple,  the single-story temple of 32,000 square feet. is planned for the Church-owned property at Avenida: Harry Prochet, S/N, Jardim São Jorge, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. And the Ribeirão Prêto Brazil Temple will be a single-story edifice of 32,000 square feet, rising at the Church-owned property at Av. Antonio Marcal and R. Jose Brandani in Ribeirão Prêto, Brazil.

What I see the Brethren setting up here is a situation where 2023 will be another year for a high number of temple groundbreakings. There are now 23 temples with groundbreakings that can safely be anticipated, which will be reflected in the announcement of groundbreaking arrangements in the months ahead. 2023 is thus likely to claim its place in history as the year with the highest number of temple groundbreakings.

As expected, today's announcement did not relate to the opening arrangements for any new temples, though the Bangkok Thailand, Bentonville Arkansas, and Brasilia Brazil Temples are all nearing completion. Next week's temple announcement could either relate to opening arrangements for any of these three temples, more site confirmations, or more likely new temple groundbreakings, since the last such announcement was made on Monday October 17, when groundbreakings were set for four temples in Latin America.

I continue to monitor all temple updates and Church news reports and will be sure to bring word of those to you as I become aware of such updates. 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 feel free to subscribe if you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content. 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 Part One: New Information Points to 20-30 Temples Opening in 2023

 Hello again, everyone! As those following along are undoubtedly aware, Monday afternoon has been the standard window for major temple news from the Church. Since that appears to be on track to continue, I have prepared this post for publication in advance of today's anticipated announcement. Because I have some other personal priorities to handle today that will prevent me from covering today's update in my usual timely manner, I am directing those interested to the general home page of the Newsroom that holds the releases relating to temples as those are announced.

I will have more complete coverage of today's temple announcements later this afternoon or evening as my personal situation allows. In the meantime, it is worth noting that I became aware of some information about the Church's plans for temple openings next year. The latest information of which I have become aware indicates that the Church's goal will be to open a total of closer to 20-30 new temples throughout 2023 than any other number I might have previously suggested. 

Without factoring in today's announcement, the Church has only set openings for 3 temples thus far for 2023. So this new information suggests that the Church may schedule dedications for some temples around or in advance of previously-announced openings. For temples that are considerably smaller (such as Okinawa Japan and Helena Montana), they will have shorter open houses and likely earlier dedications. So that is a couple of examples of how the Church could get to 20 or even 30 dedications later this year. 

It's also worth noting that, with 4 Utah temples in the queue currently anticipated to be completed in 2023 (Layton, Orem, Taylorsville, and Red Cliffs), openings for those temples could be easier to schedule than openings for temples in places like Abidjan Ivory Coast, Puebla Mexico, and Salta Argentina. Similarly, smaller temples elsewhere in the US (with Moses Lake Washington and McAllen Texas being two examples coming up in the queue soon) would have shorter open houses and potentially earlier dedications than some of their international counterparts. 

So there will be a certain amount of flexibility for the Church in scheduling upcoming dedications. In part two of my coverage of today's updates, I will delve into more details about today's announcement and what that means for the temple construction queue, and more specifically for the timing of temple events likely to be set to occur in 2023. In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

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 feel free to subscribe if you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Church to Create 6 New Missions (and Rename 1 Other) in 2023

Note: An original one-paragraph version of this post was published at around 11:30 AM, just after the announcement was made. Additional details and analysis in subsequent paragraphs were added during the 1:00 PM hour.

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced this morning that 6 new missions will be created next year: 5 in Africa and one in Europe. Of the 5 in Africa, 2 are in Nigeria. I will have further analysis on this here later this afternoon, and I'm sure the news will also be covered by the Church Growth Blog. For now, my thanks once again to you all, 

I am back, as promised, with the additional analysis I mentioned. While I will certainly defer to Matthew Martinich at the Church Growth Blog to provide important context on today's updates, I can provide some initial thoughts I have, for whatever they may be worth to you all here. So let's break down the details: 

The first mission, the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan North Mission, will be created from a division of the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan East Mission, and will also take in some areas currently pertaining to the Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan West Mission. Given the fact that 3 missions will now cover the capital city in Côte d'Ivoire, it did occur to me to wonder if this newest mission, with or without any additional missions being created, could eventually lead to a second temple in the capital city of Côte d'Ivoire. 

We now shift to Central Africa, where the Church will divide the current Democratic Republic of the Congo Mbuji-Mayi Mission to create the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kanaga Mission. Since the Church has announced plans for a temple in Kananga, the creation of this mission makes sense. That is because we have seen several recent examples of those involved in the construction of a temple for the Church being converted to the gospel in the course of being involved with such projects. So I wouldn't be shocked if the new temple there plays a vital role in expanding missionary efforts in that newest mission.

The next two missions will be based in Nigeria, with the Nigeria Aba Mission being created from a division of the Nigeria Owerri Mission. Additionally, parts of the current Nigeria Benin City and Nigeria Enugu Mission will be reassigned to the Nigeria Owerri Mission. I am a little surprised a mission was not created in Aba before now, since the temple there was dedicated 17 years ago. In addition to the Nigeria Aba Mission, the Church will also create the Nigeria Abuja Mission by dividing the current Nigeria Lagos Mission.

The announcement doesn't indicate that parts of any other Nigerian missions will be incorporated into the Nigeria Abuja Mission, but I see that as a potentially likely scenario. During a period of time when the Church has 3 temples in Nigeria in various planning stages, it's not surprising that 2 new missions will serve that nation. Additionally, I have mentioned in the recent past that, per feedback from Matthew Martinich on the Church Growth Blog, it appears likely that the Church will split Nigeria off into its' own area at some point. 

Based on these two new missions, and on the fact that the Church has called at least 1 new GA Seventy from Africa every April for the last several years, the Church could conceivably have 3 GA Seventies who are native Nigerians by either next year or the year after. Whether or not that happens, I wouldn't be shocked if the 2023 or 2024 area leadership assignments include the announcement of a new Nigeria area.

The final new mission in Africa will be the South Africa Pretoria Mission, which will be created through a division of the Botswana/Namibia and South Africa Johannesburg Missions, while also taking in parts of the South Africa Durban Mission. Since the April 2021 General Conference, when the Cape Town South Africa Temple was announced, I have felt and said that I think the next temple in South Africa will be in Pretoria, and the creation of the South Africa Pretoria Mission may certainly strengthen the case for a temple in that city.

The final mission will be located in Europe. The Hungary/Romania Mission will be renamed the Hungary Budapest Mission, and the Church will create the Romania Bucharest Mission, which may in due course lead to a new temple in Romania at some point in the near term. The one other thing I wanted to note is that all of these missions will be operative on July 1, and the announcement of new mission presidents for 2023 is anticipated in January or thereabouts. These additional missions will bring the worldwide total to 416 as of July 2023, which means that the worldwide total for the year-end 2022 is 410.

And the fact that 5 of the 6 new missions are in Africa, with 2 in Nigeria alone, indicates to me that the Church continues to expand well throughout Africa. As I've mentioned a few times in this post alone, it will be interesting to see how existing, planned, or yet-to-be-announced temples might impact missionary work going forward. Having noted all of this, I will be sure to post a note in the comments of this post when Matthew Martinich has provided his analysis, as he will have more contextual information.

I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple construction developments and will bring word of those to you all as I receive it. In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.