Hello again, everyone! The next major temple announcement has been made from an unexpected source. Though the main Newsroom does not show this update, the Japanese version of the Newsroom has announced opening arrangements for the Okinawa Japan Temple. According to the release, open house tours will be conducted from Saturday, September 23-Saturday, October 7, 2023 (except for the Sundays of September 24 and October 1).
Though this is not specified in the release, I'm assuming media tours will be conducted on Monday or Tuesday, September 18 or 19, with VIP tours following for a few days prior to the public open house. The temple will be dedicated in two sessions on Sunday, November 12. Though the session times are not specified, every other two-session dedications have been held at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM.
The release also fails to specify who will preside at the dedicatory services. I am somewhat surprised by the timing of this dedication, but I'm glad the Church has set those arrangements. In any case, the timing on this dedication means that we might not see dedications for the Lima Peru Los Olivos and McAllen Texas Temples until November.
The Red Cliffs Utah Temple dedication could either be held in November or December, with at least the Urdaneta Philippines and Puebla Mexico Temples dedicated before the end of 2023. That would then put the rededications of the St. George Utah Temple and the dedications of the Urdaneta Philippines, Layton Utah, Orem Utah, and Taylorsville Utah Temples in January or February.
So beginning in 2024, I believe we will see a double-digit number of temples dedicated per year going forward. Once the main Newsroom page and the Church News cover this update, I will be sure to update this post with those links. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and other temple construction updates and will bring those to you as they cross my radar.
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.
Added t 4:09 PM: The Newsroom published an update on the Okinawa Japan Temple, which indicated that Elder Gary E. Stevenson will preside over the two dedicatory sessions for that dedication. The Newsroom release also included new information about a temple in California. I will discuss that in a new post here in the next few minutes. For now, my thanks once again to you all.