November 2017 Ensign Supplement Pays Tribute to Elder Robert D. Hales

Hello, everyone! As has been the case in recent years, the Church has provided a supplement to the November 2017 Ensign,  which honors the life and teachings of Elder Robert D. Hales. You can find that supplement in text form here. In the coming days, the full layout of it will be made available. Just wanted to note that. That does it for this post. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Groundbreaking Held for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple; Changes Made to Announced Temples Section of Report

Hello again, everyone! It is a busy season indeed for temple-related developments. In addition to the ongoing open houses for the Meridian Idaho and Cedar City Utah Temples, today ground was broken for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple.

That groundbreaking happened 6.5 hours ago, and Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, who presides over the Church's Caribbean Area, presided over that ceremony. Barring anything unexpected, full-scale construction is anticipated to begin sometime next week. The look of this temple is anticipated to be comparable to the look of the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple.

In terms of a potential completion time-frame, while some have said that could happen before the end of 2019, because there are so many new temples and existing temples that are being or shortly will be renovated and are anticipated to be dedicated or rededicated during 2019, it has seemed more likely that this temple could be dedicated sometime during 2020. The exact time-frame will depend on what happens between now and then,

As also noted, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple should be closing for renovation at the end of the day today. The weird thing is that, while I have looked at it every day, the only closure dates on the Church's official website for this temple are during 2018. As far as the plans go, if I am correct, then the design will be in the style of the renovation plans for the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples.

Additionally, I wanted to note that I have revised the section of my temple construction progress report for announced temples. As I thought about the information in that section, I felt impressed to alter the organization of that section. The potential future groundbreaking estimates seem a little too speculative to me until more information is provided.

We do know that the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple may be the next to have a groundbreaking, if, as previously mentioned, the year of pre-planning that the contractor said was needed began in March of this year. Additionally, since the Brasilia Brazil and Greater Manila Philippines Temples have had a site announced, it has seemed wiser to have those further up on the list, while all other temples have now been grouped by the order in which they were announced.

As always, I will keep my eyes open for any other temple-related developments and will be sure to pass those along as I hear of them. That does it for this post. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and until my next post, may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Church releases October 2017 General Authorities Chart

Hello again, everyone! Among other big news of the day, I wanted to report that the Church has released the October 2017 General Authorities Chart. As expected, with the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the first six members of that Quorum (ranging from those called in the time of President Kimball to those called during President Hinckley's administration) are on the top row, with the 5 called during President Monson's tenure below. You can find that chart here; it will also be available in a smaller format in the November 2017 Ensign. As always, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best.

Cedar City Utah Temple Open House Begins; Asuncion Paraguay Temple closes for renovation on Sunday

Hello, everyone! In keeping with my new tradition of reporting minor updates in temple construction progress, I am pleased to report that open house tours for the Cedar City Utah Temple officially began today. Additionally, as already noted, on Sunday, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple is scheduled to close for renovation. And, as I noted in my last post, if the design being used for the Memphis and Oklahoma City renovations is intended to be the new standard, then we know what the Asuncion Paraguay Temple will look like once renovated. Just wanted to pass that information along. Except for those things, there is no new progress to report. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and until my next post, I wish each of you all the best.

A New Look for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple

Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to take the focus away from the General Conference announcement, I wanted to let you all know that I discovered more yesterday about what is anticipated to change for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. It is getting a new look. And what will it be? Many of you may remember the post I did earlier on this blog about the renovation process for the Memphis Tennessee Temple. It appears (unless I misunderstood what I was seeing) that the design for the Memphis renovation is identical to the new design for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. This appears to be a standard design for temples built in a similar era. So I anticipate that this may be the new look of the other more recently-dedicated temples that are closing for renovation. If I find information that indicates anything else, you can be sure I will pass that along, as I always do.

That does it for this post. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.