BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Location and Preliminary Information Confirmed for the Bakersfield California Temple; Exterior Rendering Released for Cleveland Ohio Temple

Hello again, everyone! As I predicted, today, the Church announced the latest major temple construction update has been announced. But contrary to what I had supposed, today's announcement did not include opening arrangements for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple. Instead, the First Presidency confirmed the site location and preliminary information for the Bakersfield California Temple, and an exterior rendering for the Cleveland Ohio Temple.

Let's break down the details: The Bakersfield California Temple was announced in April of this year. In addition to the 30,000-square-foot single-story temple, the Church will also be building a distribution center and a new meetinghouse at the northwest corner of Jewetta Avenue and Stockdale Highway in Bakersfield. Meanwhile, the site location and preliminary information were confirmed for the Cleveland Ohio Temple on December 19 of last year. 

The single-story temple of approximately 9,950 square feet will be built south of Longano Dr., Independence, Cuyahoga County. The current status of that temple suggests it is another that is being fast-tracked to the construction phase. The exterior rendering does not suggest this will be another modular temple, but since it is a smaller one, and because approvals are well underway for it, hopefully we will see a groundbreaking announcement soon.

In view of today's announcement, of the 79 announced temples, 46 have not yet had official information confirmed. Having covered these developments, I wanted to post a few thoughts about the timing for the opening arrangements for the next few temples. The announcement of opening arrangements for the Orem Utah Temple was made on Tuesday, June 20, with a dedication set for January 21, 2024. 

If we assume that the Red Cliffs Utah Temple dedication will have a similar length of time between the announcement of opening arrangements and the subsequent dedication, and we assume that the opening arrangements for that temple will be released next week, the dedication of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple is likely to be held sometime in March. 

I still don't know whether construction for the Puebla Mexico Temple is still being halted by the government, but we do know that that temple, in addition to those in Layton Utah, Salta Argentina, and Coban Guatemala, is nearing completion. So I think the Layton temple could be dedicated in either March or April, the Salta temple in April, the Coban temple in April or May, and the Puebla Temple in May.

The next 3 temples likely to be dedicated are, in order, Casper Wyoming, Taylorsville Utah, and Urdaneta Philippines, with a May or June window for Casper, a June window for Taylorsville, and a late June or early August dedication for the Urdaneta temple. Of course, these are no more and no less than my own projections, and they are subject to confirmation, correction, or clarification by an official announcement from the Church.

Whatever might happen with temple construction updates, you can count on my bringing word thereof to you all as I receive it. I also am continuing to monitor all Church News and Newsroom updates and will likewise pass word of those along to you all here as I receive it. 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: Groundbreaking Ceremonies Set for Modesto California and Fort Worth Texas Temples

Hello again, everyone! Although I previously stated that I didn't foresee the Church making any major temple construction announcements in the month of July, the First Presidency proved me wrong again. Just a few minutes ago, groundbreaking arrangements were announced for the Modesto California and Fort Worth Texas temples. Let's get right into the details: 

The groundbreaking for the Modesto California Temple will occur on Saturday, October 7 (the week after General Conference), with Elder Gary B. Sabin, the current Second Counselor in the North America West Area presidency (who will serve as First Counselor effective August 1), presiding. Ground will be broken for the Fort Worth Texas Temple on Saturday, October 28, with Elder Jose L. Alonso, First Counselor in the North America Southwest Area, presiding.

While I welcome the announcements of these upcoming groundbreakings, I was surprised they are spread out so far into the future. My hope is that the Church may be trying to get approvals for other temple groundbreakings that could occur between August 1 and these two October groundbreakings. I continue to monitor any and all temple construction updates, in addition to Church News and Newsroom reports and will be sure to pass those along to you all here as time and circumstances allow.

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.

UPDATE: Overview of Temple Construction Prgoress During the Second Quarter (and First Half) of 2023

Hello again, everyone! As the final minutes of the second quarter (and first half) of 2023 move toward their inevitable conclusion, I wanted to provide an overview of temple construction progress throughout the last six months. We begin with the document showing where temple construction stood as 2023 began, on the first day of the April 2023 General Conference, and where things stand at this mid-point of 2023.

The data largely speaks for itself. While I am not surprised at the high number of temples that have already been dedicated this year, I have been surprised by the slower pace the Church has taken in announcing subsequent dedications. Again, that seems to simply be the result of supply chain issues, which will not last forever. And the temples currently in the construction queue have moved a lot both forward and backward in terms of their completion orders and estimates.

Quite frankly, I was also surprised that the St. George Utah Temple will be rededicated before the end of this year. With Elder Holland having started to return to his apostolic duties, I believe he will either preside over or accompany whomever presides over both the rededication of the St. George Utah Temple and the dedication of the Red Cliffs Utah Temple.

And I'm cautiously optimistic that once the Saratoga Springs, Orem, Red Cliffs, Layton, and Taylorsville Utah Temples are dedicated, additional Utah temples could be announced.

I was similarly stunned that this first half of 2023 only had 4 temple groundbreakings. I'm cautiously optimistic that we could see over a dozen temple groundbreakings in this second half of 2023. And I'm sure we've got other site confirmations and exterior renderings coming down the pike in the near term, especially if the Church continues its' custom of sharing major temple construction news once a week. So I think we are in for a very busy second half of 2023.

To the best of my ability, I will be sure to track those developments, in addition to all updates from the Church News and the Newsroom, and will be sure to pass word thereof to you all here 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: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple

 Hello again, everyone! Since today is not a state or federal holiday, the Church has resumed major temple announcements on Monday. Today, we have confirmation on the opening arrangements for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple. Let's get right into the details: A media day will occur on Monday, November 6, 2023. VIP tours will follow between Tuesday, November 7-Thursday, November 9, and the public open house will be held from Friday, November 10-Saturday, December 9, 2023.

The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, January 14, in two sessions (at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM PET) by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Interestingly enough, I mentioned over the weekend that I was recalculating my estimates for anticipated temple events, and I had just projected yesterday that the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple would be dedicated on either January 14, 21, or 28. Now that this temple has had a dedication scheduled, the next one up will be the Red Cliffs Utah Temple.

It is possible that the Church could opt to make another temple announcement tomorrow at 2:00 PM (groundbreaking, exterior rendering, and/or site confirmation). Whatever might occur in that regard, I'll do my level best to cover it here. I continue to monitor all other Church News and Newsroom reports and other temple construction progress updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I receive it.

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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, May 7, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, in addition to updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the current First Presidency until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), and an overview of when each of those current groups will move up on the list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 4 of the current 15 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 11 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list. With these updates coming every 7 weeks, the next update will be posted here on August 13. Hopefully, this shared data will be of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to ask anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. 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 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.