Temple Site Possibilities: Central America Area

Hello again, everyone! I am back in the early morning hours of November 28 with my next post in the series exploring potential future temple sites. This post will discuss the current temples in the Central America Area and which locations in that area might have a temple announced in the near future. Let's dive right in to that.

The Central America Area of the Church covers the nations of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. There are 6 temples in that area, 2 in Guatemala (Quetzeltenango & Guatemala City), 1 in El Salvador (San Salvador), 1 in Honduras (Tegucigalpa) 1 in Costa Rica (in San Jose), and 1 in Panama City Panama.

Let's get into specifics for each of these countries. Belize has 2 districts (with a total of 12 branches), so it seems unlikely that the Church will build a temple in that nation in the next little while. Costa Rica, in addition to having the aforementioned temple, also has two missions (both of which are headquartered in San Jose). There are also 10 stakes and 23 districts, which are further subdivided into 56 wards and 23 branches, making a grand total of 79 congregations.

Since the dedication of the temple in June 2000, the second mission in that country was established, and 4 of those 10 stakes have been created. Many have seen the case for a second temple there, and I explored two of those at one point. But lately Costa Rica has had a very negative political climate, which does not lend itself to the progress of the Church. It's possible, but not likely, in my opinion, that we will see a second temple in that nation in the near future.

In El Salvador, the three missions are all located in San Salvador, the capital city, although one of them also serves Belize. There are 21 stakes that further break down into 133 wards and 31 branches, for a total of 164 congregations. That nation may be set for now with just the one temple, but if and when I find a good potential candidate for a second one, I will be sure to pass that along.

Next we come to Guatemala, where there are two temples in operation: in Guatemala City and Quetzeltenango. There are six missions of the Church in Guatemala. There are also 48 stakes and 15 districts, which break down further into 285 wards and 156 branches, bringing the total number of Guatemalan congregations to 441.

But what of the current temple districts? The temple in Guatemala City has a district containing 31 stakes and 10 districts.  And Quetzeltenango;s temple district only serves 17 stakes and 7 districts.

In relation to Guatemala, for a while now, I have believed that Guatemala City could get a second temple, based on the precedent set with the second temples in Lima Peru and Manila Philippines. And that could still happen in a big way. But I looked into things further, and a city called Villa Nueva is 3,582 miles from Guatemala City. And while Villa Nueva may be closer to Quetzeltenango (by around 2,00 miles), it is still in the Guatemala City district). Either way, that is around 10 times further than President Monson's goal, so a temple in Villa Nueva makes sense. I could also see the merits of having a second temple in Guatemala City as well.

Now we turn our attention to Honduras. Its only temple is in Tegucigalpa. The nation has four missions (1 in Tegucigalpa, 1 in Comayaguela, and the final two in San Pedro Sula). There are also 31 stakes and 5 districts, which are further divided into 176 wards and 60 branches, making a grand total of 236 congregations, which is a lot for one temple. Many have said that a second temple in San Pedro Sula would be a great idea, and I couldn't agree more. So it is on my list.

Next on the list, I wanted to note that Nicaragua has no temples yet. That nation has two missions, both of which are headquartered in Managua. Nicaraguan members are currently assigned to the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple district, and to get there, they have to travel a distance of 233.4 miles. That is not much further than the 200 mile goal President Monson set for each member's distance from a temple, but is still far enough to qualify for its own temple.

There are also 12 stakes and 4 districts, which are subdivided into 72 wards and 39 branches, for a total of 111 congregations. As I have previously noted, in 2012, then-Elder Nelson publicly proposed a temple for Managua, and my research indicates land has been held in reserve for that purpose, which means an announcement is only a matter of time. Additionally, Nicaragua ranks #1 of the top ten countries with the most members that does not have a temple in any phase. So it is sure to happen sooner rather than later.

We conclude the discussion of this area by reviewing where the Church is at in Panama. That nation's sole mission is located in Panama City, where the only temple is also located.There are 7 stakes and 4 districts in that nation, which further break down into 45 wards and 28 branches, for a total of 73 congregations. I don't see the Church announcing a second temple in that nation until more units are created.

That does it for this post. Thanks for wading through it. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Temple Site Possibilities: Brazil Area

Hello again, everyone! In the midst of my series of posts about the potential likelihood temple sites I see in each of the Church's geographical areas, I have only done two such posts in one day one other time, with the Asia Area two days ago. The fact that I am now doing a post to cover the Brazil Area after the previous post covered areas in which I felt no new temples would be announced is significant for me. That said, let's dive right into the discussion of the Brazil Area.

Brazil, as some of you may be aware, consists of 26 states, and within those states, there are 10 temples, 34 missions, 268 stakes and 40 districts, which in turn break down into 1,645 wards and 436 branches, or a grand total of 2,081 congregations. In terms of the 10 temples, let's talk some specifics. As I have thought about it, I have put three potential temples in my predictions for the Brazil area: Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and a potential second temple to serve the Sao Paulo Saints.

The Sao Paulo Temple, dedicated between October 30 and November 2, 1978, covers 45 stakes.Two-thirds of those stakes (30) are located in Sao Paulo. Based on that, I can certainly see why the Church might give those 30 stakes a second temple.

As recently as last year, when I started sharing my thoughts on future temple prospects, if someone had told me that less than two years later, second temples would be announced in Lima Peru and Manila Philippines, I would have dismissed that as impossible. But now that the Church has a precedent of doing so, it seems entirely possible that a second temple could be built to serve the Brazilian Saints in Sao Paulo. So I wanted to mention that possibility. A second temple in Sao Paulo would be the third built to accomodate Saints in that area, following the dedications of the Sao Paulo and Campinas

After that first temple was dedicated in Sao Paulo, it would be more ore than 22 years later before the next temples were dedicated. In 2000, President Hinckley dedicated the Recife Temple on December 15, and dedicated the Porto Alegre Brazil Temple two days after that. So the number of temples more than doubled in roughly a 72 hour period.

The Recife Brazil Temple currently serves 76 stakes and 9 districts, although that number will be cut somewhat when the Fortaleza Brazil Temple is dedicated (which will, barring any unexpected delays, take place in mid-to-late 2019).

If I have my facts straight, then, at minimum, the Fortaleza Temple district will be comprised of stakes in the the Ceara region, and there are 18 stakes there, which would trim down the Recife District to 58 stakes and 9 districts.

The stakes that are anticipated to be covered by the temple in Belem fall under that temple district as well, and, as we know, that temple was announced last year, though it has not had a site announcement or a groundbreaking as of yet. When that temple is dedicated, it will serve the Saints in the Para region, and will, at minimum, include the 6 stakes and 2 districts based in that region, which would then leave Recife with 52 stakes and 7 districts.

In addition to that, another city, Salvador, is the number one candidate I see for the next temple in Brazil. Salvador falls under the Bahia region, which contains 10 stakes and 2 districts. A temple there would trim the Recife district down to a a still respectable 42 stakes and 5 districts.

Turning our attention now to the Porrto Alegre Brazil Temple, it  serves 25 stakes and 8 districts. None of the temples currently under construction or announced fall under that temple district. Some may be theorizing that a second temple could be built in that region of Brazil, but I don't see a compelling enough case supporting that idea.

Less than two years following the dedications of their second and third temples, the Brazilian Saints celebrated the May 2002 dedication of the temple in Campinas. That temple district has a total of 80 stakes and 19 districts. Once the Rio de Janeiro Temple, currently under construction, is dedicated (which is anticipated to include, at minimum, the 15 stakes and 2 districts in that region of Brazil, that will leave the Campinas district with 65 stakes and 17 districts.

That district will further be trimmed down once the Brasilia Brazil Temple is dedicated. That temple will, at minimum serve 5 stakes and 1 district located in the Distrito Federal region of Brazil, which would then leave the Campinas Temple district with 60 stakes and 16 districts.

But that district could be trimmed even more if, as I am projecting, a temple is announced for Belo Horizonte Brazil. Falling under the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, a temple in Belo Horizonte would take in the 13 stakes and 6 districts within that region, which would then leave the Campinas temple district with 47 stakes and 10 districts.

The Saints in Brazil had to wait 6.5 year wait before the next temple was dedicated, this one in Curitiba. That district contains 28 stakes and 3 districts, so it seems small enough that it will not split, at least not anytime soon.

Then in June 2012, Brazilians celebrated the dedication of the temple in Manaus. That temple district covers 13 stakes and 1 district currently, so I don't see any other temples being announced to split that district, at least not for the foreseeable future.

With all of this in mind, I hope it is apparent why I favor Salvador and Belo Horizonte, and why I have thought and felt that there could easily be an argument in favor of a second temple in Sao Paulo.

That said, are there any locations I did not consider, or are there any that should be eliminated? I look forward to the discussion. That does it for this post. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Areas of the Church which I have felt will not have any new temples in the near future

Hello again, everyone! To continue my series of posts on future temple prospects, I am temporarily turning my attention from locations within the Church's areas that I feel will get a temple to those areas which I have felt will not and the rationale behind that. Let's dive right in and discuss that.

With the 25 areas the Church has currently, I have felt that the following 6 areas likely will not get any temple in the near future: Asia North, Caribbean, Idaho, Middle East/Africa North, and North America West. Let me now detail the reasons I feel that way for each of those areas.

The countries within the Asia North Area are Japan, Micronesia, North Korea, Palau, South Korea, and Guam. There are currently four temples for the Saints to attend in that area: Fukuoka Japan, Sapporo Japan, Seoul Korea, and Tokyo Japan. The Sapporo Temple was dedicated just over a year ago, and the Tokyo Japan Temple is currently closed for renovation. While I don't know whether or not that renovation process will include an expansion of any kind (as it was originally built under President Kimball's smaller temple revelation), whether that happens or not, Japan seems to be well set for temples for now, especially once the Tokyo renovation process concludes.

Additionally, the Church has no significant presence in North Korea, so that nation will have to wait a while for a temple. In Micronesia, the Church does not have a mission, and only has 1 stake and 3 districts, which break down further into 5 wards and 17 branches. The Church may need to progress a bit farther there before a temple is built.

Guam has a similar issue, except it has 1 mission and 1 stake, with only 4 wards. There is a long way to go for the Church there before a temple is announced. And in Palau, only a single branch currently operates.

Now, just a word about South Korea. The Seoul Temple was dedicated in December of 1985, and since that time, the Church has added 2 missions, 2 stakes, and 4 districts.  No stakes, missions, or districts have been organized there since 2013. For all of these reasons, I feel that the Asia North Area may not get another temple for the foreseeable future.

Next, we turn to the Caribbean Area. There are two temples there currently, one in the Dominican Republic, and the one in Haiti that had a groundbreaking last month. I know that for a couple of previous General Conferences, I had San Juan Puerto Rico as a potential candidate city for a temple. But the recent upheavals of nature in the Caribbean give me reason to believe that the Church may hold off on announcing any other Caribbean temples until they can gauge how busy the new Haitian temple and the one in the Dominican Republic turn out to be.

I cannot rule out the Caribbean (specifically Puerto Rico) as a great candidate for a temple at some point, but I honestly don't see the Church announcing another Caribbean temple for the foreseeable future. That said, Puerto Rico is currently the third of the top ten nations in the world with the strongest LDS presence that does not have a temple in any phase. I see that happening sooner rather than later, but perhaps not as imminently likely as others.

The next area I want to discuss is Idaho. The Idaho Falls Idaho Temple was rededicated and the Meridian Idaho Temple was dedicated this year (becoming the fifth temple in that state), and President Monson announced a temple for Pocatello last April.The Boise district now serves 16 stakes, after the dedication of the Meridian Temple, which also serves 16 stakes. The Idaho Falls district covers 45 stakes. If the information I have is correct, that district will be cut roughly in half, and will be comprised of 23 stakes once the Pocatello temple is dedicated. The Rexburg temple district takes in 25 stakes. And the Twin Falls temple district covers 15 stakes. An argument could be made for a temple in Nampa, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

We now move on to the Middle East/Africa North Area. In response to the last post I did in this series, there was extensive talk about the potential for a temple to be built in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While I would love to see a temple in this area sometime soon, I don't believe that will be possible in the foreseeable future. I have two reasons for saying so.

First, the prevalent religion in that region is Islam, and I don't think the people there would accept the idea of a temple there. Second, and slightly less important is the issue of staffing such a temple if it were to be built. That would be a major problem, primarily because the bulk of the Church membership in that area is made up of servicemen (and in some cases their families), and such people are only there temporarily.

Additionally, as one who had a brother-in-law that served in the armed services within that area, I know that the Church only has a few branches in the entire area, which is not an ideal situation for a temple. It is my hope that the tide might turn in the next 35-70 years to allow the Church to flourish, which would enable a temple to be built there, but a temple seems like a long way away for the moment. I would love it if the Lord proved me wrong in that regard, but barring a miracle, it doesn't seem likely.

I don't know how many of you know this, but Elder Holland is the apostle assigned to oversee the Church in this area, and he is assisted by two General Authority Seventies, Elders Wilford W. Andersen and Anthony D. Perkins. The three men administer the area from Church headquarters, and a single Area Seventy, Gary S. Price, who is living in Saudi Arabia, assists them as well.

And finally, we come to the North America West Area. Comprising California, Hawaii, and a tiny portion of Arizona, the area seems to be well covered by the temples already within it. As many of you may be aware, California has seen many congregational consolidations lately (I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the 20 missions there were discontinued and the boundaries of the rest realigned), and the 7 temples in that state seem to be sufficient to serve the 1,140 wards and 141 branches (a total of 1,281 congregations, which averages out to  183 congregations per district), especially since more consolidations are anticipated in the near future.

In the meantime, Hawaii has 2 temples (in Kona and Laie) that serve the 1 mission and 16 stakes on that island. There are 125 wards and 16 branches there, for a total of 141 congregations, and of those, 4 stakes (which comprise 29 wards and 6 branches, for a total of 35 congregations) are served by the Kona Temple. This means the Laie Temple serves 14 stakes and 1 district, which have a total of 106 congregations. Some have speculated that the Church could announce a third temple in Honolulu, but since the dedication of the Kona temple in January 2000, only two stakes have been created, neither of which are based in Honolulu.

With that last bit of information, that does it for this post. Any and all comments are always welcome and appreciated, particularly those that address your thoughts on the arguments I have presented here about each of these areas. I look forward to reading that feedback. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Some Thoughts About the Upcoming First Presidency's Christmas Devotional

Hello again, everyone! With the First Presidency's annual Christmas Devotional coming up next Sunday, I wanted to offer some thoughts about who we might hear from during that event. Since 2013, when the decision was made to include other Church leaders in that devotional, we have heard from President Monson once, President Eyring twice (most recently last time) and President Uchtdorf once (2 years ago). With President Monson out of the rotation, I anticipate President Uchtdorf will represent the First Presidency.

From the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we have heard from then-Elder Nelson, Elder Christofferson, Elder Bednar, and, most recently, Elder Oaks. And though we didn't know it at the time, Elder Rasband, who has since been called to the Twelve, represented the Presidency of the Seventy in his 2013 address. There hasn't seemed to be a regular pattern to the speaking rotation in that Quorum, but if I had to venture a guess, I could see the First Presidency calling on Elder Stevenson to speak this time.

In addition to Elder Rasband, we have also heard from the following members of the Presidency of the Seventy: Elders Maynes, Clayton, and Christensen. Again, there hasn't seemed to be any regular pattern in terms of who might speak, so if I had to venture a guess, I would say Elder Gong might be called upon to speak.

The only other speaker during that devotional has been a general officer of the Church. So far, we have heard from Primary General President Rosemary M. Wixom, Young Women General President Bonnie L. Oscarson, Relief Society General President Linda K. Burton, and the First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Douglas D. Holmes. Only the Sunday School General Presidency has gone unrepresented in that devotional, and I am thinking we could hear from the Second Counselor in that presidency, Brian K. Ashton.

There is also the possibility that the Church could call on a General Authority Seventy or member of the Presiding Bishopric.to speak as well. How likely that is remains to be seen. Those are my thoughts on this. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Minor Developments Reported on Several Temples

Hello again, everyone! About 9 hours or so ago, I became aware of minor developments that had been reported on several temples, but because of everything that happened today, I have not been able to pass those along until now. So what are these developments, and why are they significant? Let's talk about that.

A week and a half after the angel Moroni statue was placed on the Barranuqilla Colombia Temple, the temple grounds have been brightened by the placement of red pavers and green sod. At the same time, several sources available to me also changed the completion estimate of this temple, retaining the fact that its completion is anticipated more certainly to occur in late 2018 rather than possibly not doing so until early 2019. This development more or less confirms what I had suspected for a while.

That said, I also wanted to note that there has been no similar clarification on the Rome Italy Temple. Between expert opinions and my own research, it seems that, barring a miracle, we will only see the Rome Italy dedication in early 2019. I am not ruling out a miracle that would enable that dedication to occur before the end of next year, but it seems unlikely at this point.

Additionally, just over four weeks following the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple groundbreaking, we are still waiting for word that would confirm full-scale efforts are underway there. Because I have heard from a few sources that the construction process might only take 12-18 months, I see no reason why this temple could not be completed in early-to-mid 2019, especially if full-scale efforts begin by April or May 2018. By that same time, full-scale efforts are anticipated to begin for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple as well.

Another significant development to note is the fact that the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple renovation is moving along nicely, with a new report showing that the spire has been removed and that the removal of the exterior cladding is also underway now. I also wanted to note that, as far as I know, no progress has been reported on the Asuncion Paraguay Temple renovation process, which will have been underway for around a month later this week. I have been trying to check, but have not found anything that would indicate the extent of that process, for which I hope progress might be reported later this week as well.

With seven weeks exactly left in 2017 (we will observe New Year's Eve at that time), I don't know how much or how little progress we might see on temples for the rest of the year. I hope for significant developments on all fronts, including perhaps an official announcement of at least one (but hopefully more) temple location and groundbreaking, even if the actual events are only held in the early months of 2018.

I also hope that we might see more dedications announced (including the rededication for the Frankfurt Germany Temple), but don't know how likely that is. As many will recall, the open house and dedication dates for the Tucson Arizona, Meridian Idaho, and Cedar City Utah Temples were all announced in January of this year. I assume (but cannot say definitively) that all of those were announced so far in advance because of the interest of the general public in the relevant areas. I don't recall any temples outside the US having a dedication process announced that far in advance. If, as I suspect, the Frankfurt Germany Temple rededication is set for next August, the announcement for that event (along with any others) could come anytime within the next 4 or 5 months,

Thanks for wading through this information. I am keeping an eye out for any and all temple-related developments and will pass along any updates as soon as I am able to after learning about them. And, if all goes according to my plans, I will be back later this weekThat does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.