Massive Temple Construction Progress Update; Another Blog Post Coming Soon

Hello, all! When I took the opportunity just a few minutes ago to check the LDS Church Temples website for the second time in 12 hours or less, I was amazed at the reported progress for quite a few of the temples in terms of construction. This necessitates a newly posted edition of my report of that progress. It has never been so red, and I couldn't be more delighted! The biggest surprise?

Apparently, there is reason enough with the given information to assume that, after the dedication of the Paris France temple on May 20 and the rededication in Idaho Falls Idaho, the next one is now projected to be in Tucson Arizona, instead of in Meridian Idaho as many, including myself, had originally believed. However, there is nothing so constant as change, and these unexpected developments are most welcome to me.

I couldn't wait to share my newest report with you all. And the best part about this is that I will now have to revise and revisit once again my projections for when future temple-related events might happen. Such a revisit was necessary anyways, given the unexpected recent announcement of the groundbreaking date for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple. With my promise that such a post will be coming as soon as I can manage it, for now, here is the updated report of temple construction progress. Please enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think. I always welcome and appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/25/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 11 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 9 announced. NOTE: With one groundbreaking announced already this year, two more have the potential to be announced and scheduled very soon, and there may be several more groundbreakings than that in the year ahead.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple:  Gilding inscription over baptistry; finish work underway on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Tucson Arizona Temple: Exterior lighting tests underway; installation of interior art glass and millwork nearing completion; president’s home undergoing renovation; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

158. Meridian Idaho Temple: Interior painting and millwork underway; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

159. Cedar City Utah Temple: Installing art glass windows; hanging drywall on interior; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building concrete block exterior walls; roughing in plumbing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162. Concepcion Chile Temple: Framing the interior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Applying waterproof mastic to temple foundation; setting concrete forms for missionary housing exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Exterior concrete walls completed; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Second floor exterior walls poured; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

167. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Excavation underway for temple and utility building; structural framing going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Groundbreaking Scheduled:

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

Rededication Scheduled:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between late 2017 and early 2018.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed; old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

Announced:

169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Erecting construction barrier; clearing and leveling site; awaiting groundbreaking announcement; groundbreaking anticipated in early 2017.

170. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been identified, though it has yet to be officially verified.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office building may be repurposed to function as a temple, meetinghouse, and office building under one roof, in a similar fashion to those temples in Hong Kong China and Manhattan New York. This is most likely to be confirmed sooner rather than later.

173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Quito Ecuador 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 numbers 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 numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report. 

Happy 72nd Birthday, Elder Christofferson!

While I have mentioned the upcoming birthdays of various apostles in many posts over the years, I believe that this may be the first time (or if not the first, one of the very few times) that I have done a birthday post for one particular apostle. Haven't done the research to back this up, but I still feel confident in stating that I haven't done it very often, if I have done it at all. If any of you feel like researching these blog archives to see if I have, you are welcome to.

But as to Elder Christofferson, I thought I would throw out some information that I enjoy in considering this milestone. Hopefully this post doesn't bore you because of these details, mostly trivial in nature.

Among other things, I know from study that Elder Christofferson is the 8th most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and among those Twelve, he stands as the 7th oldest. When considering the 15 apostles as a group, Elder Christofferson holds the distinction of being the 11th most senior (still pretty junior) and the 10th in terms of age. Since President Uchtdorf is the one that stands right in the middle in terms of age (being the 8th oldest), of the 7 youngest apostles, he stands at second oldest. (This may differ slightly from information previously reported. For that, I apologize. I will endeavor to correct that in future posts.)

Elder Christofferson's call to the apostleship was very unique. Among those who have been called to the apostleship in the past, his call is distinctly different for several reasons. First, he was one of the very few I know of (President Faust being another) who was called to the apostleship while serving as the second most senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy. Second, his call marked the first time of which I am aware that a former mission president (Elder Richard G. Scott) and one of the missionaries he served with (Elder Christofferson) had served together in the apostleship. That had to be more than a little intimidating for Elder Christofferson. That being said, while I'm sure Elder Scott may have recommended him, I have had my own witness that his call came from the Lord.

Third, he was the very first apostle called by 16th Church President Thomas S. Monson. Fourth, he was one of the few that served for just a year as the junior apostle before Elder Wirthlin's December 2008 death resulted in the call of Elder Neil L. Andersen as the new junior apostle. Speaking of Elder Andersen, that is the next interesting fact: Few people know or remember that Elder Christofferson and Elder Andersen were sustained to serve as General Authority Seventies on the same day. Since such calls are often presented alphabetically, technically, Elder Andersen was senior to Elder Christofferson in terms of their service as General Authority Seventies.

However, Elder Christofferson was made a member of the Presidency of the Seventy in 1998, just over five years after his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy, and he served for 10 years in the Presidency of the Seventy before his call to the apostleship. Elder Andersen, on the other hand, was called to the Presidency of the Seventy in 2005 (at the same time as his now-seatmate in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Elder Rasband), and though he (Elder Andersen) only had a four-year tenure in the Presidency of the Seventy, he did serve as the Senior President for just under four months as the Senior President.

It is interesting to consider the paths to apostleship that our different apostles have had. Both Elder Quentin L. Cook and now-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf were still among the junior half of the Presidency of the Seventy when their calls to the apostleship came in 2007 and 2004 respectively. It is interesting to note the time of year that the calls to the apostleship came. Of our 15 current apostles, 6 were called in April (President Nelson, Elder Oaks (though the latter wasn't ordained until May because of his judicial obligations), Elder Hales, President Eyring, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Andersen), 1 was called in June (Elder Holland), and 8 were called in October (President Monson, Elder Ballard, President Uchtdorf, Elder Bednar, Elder Cook, Elder Rasband, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Renlund).

But getting back to Elder Christofferson, while this birthday is not strictly a milestone one, I did want to write this birthday tribute. His has been a unique life, and his path to the apostleship has been likewise very unique. To read more about the life of this amazing apostle, click here (Wikipedia article), here (for his profile through LDS.org among all the Church leaders), here (for a special look into more highlights from his life), here (for some trivia about his life as published in the Deseret News for his birthday last year), here (for his profile on Mormon Newsroom), and here to review any of his conference addresses (1 given in response to his call as a General Authority, 5 as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and 18 in his almost 9 years as an apostle, for a total of 24.)

I hope that the information in this post has been informative and helpful to you all, and not in any way too much trivia. I do want to end with my testimony that Elder Christofferson's calls over the years have come from the Savior, and with my best wishes that he has had an amazing 72nd birthday. Thanks for reading this. Feel free to comment, if you feel so inspired.

Latest Apostolic Age Averages

Hello, all. This will be a post to let you know the latest on the average ages of our apostles. As I have noted before, not all that much has changed in terms of the statistics associated with the tenure length of President Russell M. Nelson or his rank among the other nonagenarian apostles, where President Monson stands among the other 15 Church Presidents in terms of age and tenure length (though it is significant that he is nearing his 9-year mark as our current prophet), and where the other apostles are in terms of being close to nonagenarian status and also in terms of who is closest to the average ages of the three apostolic groups. That being said, tomorrow Elder D. Todd Christofferson will celebrate his 72nd birthday. It is exciting to see such milestones happen.

That said, let's throw out some numbers. As of yesterday (Sunday January 22), the average of the the members of the First Presidency reached 83.09 years. As an interesting side note, the current First Presidency will have been organized for 9 years on February 3, making it very possible that, barring anything unforeseen, and especially in light of the fact that President Monson's health may be improving, they could, if nothing changes for the next year, tie the record for the longest period in Church history without a change. That record was previously set by President Hinckley's presidency that included him, President Monson, and President Faust. So it could very well happen.

With that noted, all that's left is to report on the other two numbers. The average age of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reached 74.64 years, while the average of the 15 apostles overall came to 76.33 years.

Any comments continue to be welcome and appreciated on things I post about here. I hope that some of you might find this information useful. If these updates at any point become too tiresome, please let me know. I am just hoping that this information means as much to some of my readers as it does to me. Thanks for continuing to indulge my ramblings, such as they are.

Major Additional Changes to Temple Construction Progress Report

Just since my last posted temple construction progress report late last night (less than 24 hours ago), there have been several more milestones in that regard that have led me to revise it once again. I hope you will enjoy this additional report. Thanks for your continued readership. Comments are always welcome and appreciated. Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/20/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 11 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 9 announced. NOTE: With one groundbreaking announced already this year, two more have the potential to be announced and scheduled very soon, and there may be several more groundbreakings than that in the year ahead.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple:  Gilding inscription over baptistry; finish work underway on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Patron plazas and water feature added to temple grounds; interior finish work underway; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Art glass installation and landscaping continues; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Trees and landscaping rocks added to parking lot green spaces; exterior lighting tests underway; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building the exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162. Concepcion Chile Temple: Attaching building wrap to exterior walls; adding landscaping structures; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Temple foundation poured; setting concrete forms for missionary housing exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Pouring walls for steeple base; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Second floor exterior walls poured; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

167. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Excavation underway for temple and utility building; structural framing going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Groundbreaking Scheduled:

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

Rededication Scheduled:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between late 2017 and early 2018.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed; old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

Announced:

169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Construction preparation phase; awaiting groundbreaking announcement; groundbreaking anticipated in early 2017.

170. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been identified, though it has yet to be officially verified.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office building may be repurposed to function as a temple, meetinghouse, and office building under one roof, in a similar fashion to those temples in Hong Kong China and Manhattan New York. This is most likely to be confirmed sooner rather than later.

173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Quito Ecuador 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 numbers 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 numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report. 

Yet Another Temple Construction Progress Update

We have had a couple of major changes in the construction status (including progress towards construction commencement) for several temples. Additionally, as many of you are aware, we had the report of how the Rio de Janeiro Temple groundbreaking announcement was made to units that will be within the district of that temple just a short while ago. While the groundbreaking was listed on the construction status page of the LDS Church Temples website, obviously the information had to be confirmed before it could be officially added to the main page that discusses the latest news and events and to the official news page. That confirmation came today in the form of an announcement on the Mormon Newsroom. See that official announcement here.

According to the LDS Church Temples page on this temple, Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, president of the Church's Brazil Area, has been asked to preside at the groundbreaking. And it is a pretty safe bet that among the other Church leaders that will be in attendance will be his counselors in the area presidency, Elders Marcos A. Aidukaitis and W. Mark Bassett, and also Elder Larry Y. Wilson, the Executive Director of the Temple Department.

However, the one who will actually preside at the groundbreaking remains to be seen. Assignments to preside at groundbreaking ceremonies have been known to change. As a recent example, Elder Ulisses Soares was originally asked to preside at the most recent temple groundbreaking in Winnipeg Manitoba, but when he, for reasons yet unknown, wasn't able to be there, Elder Wilson was the one who officiated at that groundbreaking.

I remember very clearly also how someone else had originally been assigned to preside at the Tucson Arizona temple groundbreaking. It may have been Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who at the time the groundbreaking was announced was serving as Senior President of the Seventy. But it was President Dieter F. Uchtdorf who actually presided at that groundbreaking. And if it had been Elder Rasband originally assigned, his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the fact that he was easing into that new role would have necessitated that change.

Now the question remains, what will the temple look like, and how long might construction take? At various and sundry times and places, I have voiced my opinion that we might see the temples in Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro be finished around the same time. I will keep my eyes open for more news on this front, and I will post such up;dates as soon as I can after learning of them.

In the meantime, in addition to the verification of this scheduled groundbreaking, there have been several other temple construction progress developments that have given me reason to post again my updated report of that progress. Enjoy, and please feel free to leave comments for me. Your feedback is part of why I have been able to do all I have done in terms of these posts. I appreciate you all! Thanks!

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/19/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 11 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 9 announced. NOTE: With one groundbreaking announced already this year, two more have the potential to be announced and scheduled very soon, and there may be several more groundbreakings than that in the year ahead.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple:  Gilding inscription over baptistry; finish work underway on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Patron plazas and water feature added to temple grounds; interior finish work underway; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Art glass installation and landscaping continues; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Pavers installed in parking lot and west patron plaza; trees and landscaping rocks added to parking lot green spaces; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building the exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162. Concepcion Chile Temple: Attaching building wrap to exterior walls; adding landscaping structures; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Temple foundation poured; setting concrete forms for missionary housing walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Pouring walls for steeple base; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Second floor exterior walls poured; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

167. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Excavation underway for temple and utility building; structural framing going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Groundbreaking Scheduled:

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

Rededication Scheduled:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between late 2017 and early 2018.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed; old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

Announced:

169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Construction preparation phase; awaiting groundbreaking announcement; groundbreaking anticipated in early 2017.

170. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been announced and that the temple itself is currently being designed. This indicates that a site announcement is likely to happen sooner rather than later.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office building may be reconstructed into a multi-purpose edifice that may in part function as the temple. If that happens, it will be similar to the situation of the Hong Kong China and Manhattan New York temples. This indicates also that a site announcement is likely to happen sooner rather than later.

173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Quito Ecuador 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 numbers 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 numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report.