Stokes Sounds Off

Search This Blog

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Three Significant Posts by Matthew Martinich

Hello, all! Some exciting Church growth news crossed my radar just now, and I just had to share.

First of all, some significant growth milestones have taken place in the Ivory Coast. For an overview of these developments, please see this lnk.

Second, new stakes have been created in Guatemala, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Texas, and a new district has been created in Nigeria. For details, please see this link.

New stakes have additionally been created in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mongolia, another for Nigeria, and a new district in Brazil, For details, please see this link.

As you can see, the Church is exponentially growing throughout the world, How exciting it is to live in these latter days! I will keep my eye on Church growth developments, and let you know as news crosses my radar. Thanks for your readership.

Article on new General Authority Seventy Elder Peter F. Meurs

The Church News this week posted an article about Elder Peter F. Meurs, a General Authority Seventy. To see that article, please follow this link, Thanks.

Travels of the Apostles

Quite a bit of apostolic travel has been happening of late. Here's a look at some of the highlights:

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has been in England the last little while to focus on the subject of religious freedom. For a look at all that transpired during this trip, please see this link,

Elder David A. Bednar recently returned from a trip to Spain and Portugal. For an account of what he did there, please see this link.

Elders Quentin L. Cook and Gary E. Stevenson, in company with Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Presidency of the Seventy, did a review of the Asia and Asia North Areas, and were present when the Church was granted official recognition in Vietnam. To see what that trip entailed, please see this link.

Elder Neil L. Andersen toured in and held a review of the Pacific Area of the Church. Please see this link for details.

Elder M. Russell Ballard recently returned from a trip to Russia. For details of his visit, please see this link.

That's just a small sampling, I'm sure, of all the apostles have done recently. I will keep an eye out on future developments and post them here as soon as I can. Thanks for your readership.

Updated Temple Construction Progress Report

Enough changes have taken place with the status of temple construction around the world that I am posting an updated progress report. Here's a look at all that's been happening:

Temple Construction Progress (current as of 6/11/16)
Current Temple Status: 150 operating, 16 under construction (5 scheduled for dedication), 11 announced (2 groundbreakings anticipated to be announced soon), 4 undergoing renovation (1 scheduled for rededication).

Dedication scheduled:
151. Sapporo Japan Temple: Preparing for public open house and dedication; scheduled to be dedicated Sunday August 21, 2016.
152. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple: Accepting free reservations for public open house; scheduled to be dedicated Sunday September 18, 2016.
153. Fort Collins Colorado Temple: Finalizing construction in preparation for open house; scheduled to be dedicated Sunday October 16, 2016.
154. Star Valley Wyoming Temple: Angel Moroni placed on April 25, 2016; steeple lighting tests underway; scheduled to be dedicated Sunday October 30, 2016.
155. Hartford Connecticut Temple: Building entrance plaza and temple president’s residence; granite cladding nearing completion; scheduled to be dedicated Sunday November 20, 2016.

Under Construction:
156. Paris France Temple: Landscaping structures in place; planting trees and bushes; attaching exterior stone to visitors’ center wing; completion anticipated sometime in early 2017.
157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Stained glass windows installed; pouring parking lot curbing; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.
158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Exterior panels attached to main body of temple; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.
159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Roofing the dome; completion anticipated sometime between late 2017 and early 2018.
160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work underway including some material replacement and rework; completion anticipated sometime during 2018.
161. Concepcion Chile Temple: Second floor exterior walls poured; completion anticipated sometime during 2018.
162. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Site clearing and preparation phase; completion anticipated sometime during 2018-2019.
166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Full-scale construction anticipated to begin shortly; completion anticipated sometime during 2018-2019.
164. Durban South Africa Temple: Ground broken on Saturday April 9, 2016; completion anticipated sometime during 2018-2019.
165. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Ground broken on Saturday December 5, 2015; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.
166. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Ground broken on Saturday February 20, 2016; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Rededication scheduled:
33. Freiberg Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; adding extension; steeple covered; scheduled to be rededicated Sunday September 4, 2016.

Undergoing Renovation:
8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; reroofing underway; rededication anticipated sometime during early 2017.
41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime during mid-2017.
20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; construction trailers on site; rededication anticipated sometime during late 2017.

Announced:
167. Arequipa Peru Temple: Construction preparation phase; groundbreaking date anticipated to be announced soon.
168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Construction preparation phase; plans approved by local government; groundbreaking may be announced soon and scheduled sometime after the summer Olympics.
169. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
170. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
173. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
174. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
175. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.
177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:
Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose number already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.
Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose number may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.
Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose number may change based on the order in which their future groundbreakings are announced.

Updated list of new temple presidents for 2016

The Church has announced the calling of more new temple presidents. What follows is an updated list of all of those temples that have or may yet get a new president this year. The Church has finally announced the calling of the first president of the Sapporo Japan Temple, which will be dedicated in August and means that all the soon-to-be dedicated temples now have a temple president announced. The Church News also, for reasons unknown, duplicated and even triplicated the announcement of presidents for some temples. Here's the list:

Temples getting a new president in 2016:
1. Nashville Tennessee
2. Fort Collins Colorado
3. Star Valley Wyoming
4. Hartford Connecticut
5. Philadelphia Pennsylvania
6. Columbia River Washington
7. Chicago Illinois
8. Mexico City Mexico
9. Hong Kong China
10.  London England
11.  Manhattan New York
12.  Medford Oregon
13.  Dallas Texas
14.  Birmingham Alabama
15.  Seattle Washington
16.  Hamilton New Zealand
17.  Cochabamba Bolivia
18.  Gilbert Arizona
19.  Anchorage Alaska
20.  Curitiba Brazil
21.  Kyiv Ukraine
22.  Panama City Panama
23.  Fresno California
24.  Memphis Tennessee
25.  Winter Quarters Nebraska
26.  Lima Peru
27.  Nauvoo Illinois
28.  Portland Oregon
29.  Merida Mexico
30.  Reno Nevada
31. Spokane Washington
32. Rexburg Idaho
33. Montreal Quebec.
34. Monterey Mexico
35. Ciudad Juárez Mexico
36. Aba Nigeria
37. Nuku’alofa Tonga
38. Raleigh North Carolina
39. Provo Utah
40. Guadalajara Mexico
41. Copenhagen Denmark
42. St. Paul Minnesota Temple
43. Santo Domingo Dominican Republic
44. Halifax Nova Scotia
45. St. George Utah Temple
46. Santiago Chile Temple
47. Campinas Brazil
48. Johannesburg South Africa
49. Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico
50. Tampico Mexico
51. Paris France
52. Sapporo Japan

Temples that may still get a new president this year:
1. Columbus Ohio
2. Detroit Michigan
3. Frankfurt Germany
4.  Melbourne Australia
5.  Perth Australia
6.  Quetzaltenango Guatemala
7. Seoul Korea
8.  Twin Falls Idaho

Well, what do you think?