How the Top Three Fastest Growing States Reflect Church Growth Prospects

Hello again, everyone! In this article featured on my favorite source for Utah news, I learned that Idaho, Nevada, and Utah currently rank respectively as the first, second and third fastest growing states in the US. Based on the research I have recently done, those same three states, along with Arizona, rank as the top four locations in the United States in terms of current and potential Church growth.

Since others are so much better than I am at detailing such growth occurring right now, and in venturing some thoughts about the potential for future growth, I will not be offering any opinions on those subjects. Rather, I wanted to note that, for my purposes, this news story and what I have discovered in studying the four states are more than enough reason for me to have potential new temples listed for Nevada and Arizona, and to have one possibility each for the three Utah areas of the Church.

As noted previously, with the announcement of the Pocatello Idaho Temple earlier this year, until that temple is builtuntil the Church makes a final determination of which stakes that new temple district will cover. Having already detailed the reasons behind why I feel that way about Arizona and Nevada, my discussion of the three Utah locations on my list will round out the series of posts on potential future prospects.

Stay tuned for that in the coming days. While I may or may not be successful in finishing that series of posts about temple prospects in each area of the Church prior to Christmas, I think I can safely promise to conclude the series before the end of 2017. Looking ahead, I only have 7 such areas to discuss, which will involve a detailed exploration of the 16 temple prospects I have for those 7. As I have thus far, I am looking forward to ongoing discussion of those prospects.

That does it for this post. Any and all 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.

An Additional Word Regarding Potential Future Temples in Texas & New Mexico

He llo again, everyone! While I had hoped to move on in my series of posts about potential future temples and talk next about the Pacific area (covering current temples and also those future possibilities I see), in addition to needing to settle the question of the most likely prospect for Nevada's third temple, I also wanted to give due consideration to the state of Texas, as possibilities for that state did yield quite a bit of discussion from all of you.

The way I see it, there are two possibilities mentioned extensively as being likely for Texas's fifth temple: Fort Worth and El Paso. Fort Worth, located 32.4 miles from its currently assigned temple in Dallas, has been mentioned to me by someone familiar with the Dallas district. In the meantime, the most compelling case for El Paso's chances of getting a temple is that the Saints in that city do have to cross the Mexican border to get to their assigned temple in Ciudad Juarez Mexico. That said, it is not an inordinate distance by any means, requiring a journey of only 7.1 miles. So about the only way a temple in El Paso would make sense is if President Trump is successful in building a wall along the Mexican border, which would prevent the El Paso Saints from accessing their assigned temple. It doesn't seem likely or feasible that this will happen.

There may be another option for a temple, which is unrelated to the discussion of future temples in Texas. When the discussion about El Paso's chances for a temple were mentioned, a comment mentioning Las Cruces New Mexico triggered my memory of how, when I had put together my initial list of 60 or so locations worldwide, someone had mentioned Las Cruces as a potential candidate for a temple. And the possibility intrigues me. The Saints in Las Cruces currently travel a distance of 224.5 miles to get to their assigned temple in Albuquerque. If a second temple for New Mexico is announced sometime soon, perhaps Las Cruces would be the most likely candidate for that honor.

These are just some additional thoughts that I wanted to put out there. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, especially any commentary on these thoughts. 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.

Feedback Requested--Most Likely Location for Nevada's Third Temple

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to revisit my thoughts on the most likely site for Nevada's next temple, and the hope is that I can, with your assistance, narrow the four possibilities I see for that honor down to the most likely prospect. The four final cities I have on my list right now are Elko, Ely, Fallon, and Henderson. Let me share my thoughts on the merits of each.

The saints in the two stakes the Church has established in Elko currently reside within the Salt Lake Temple district, and that makes their journey to their assigned temple a distance of 229.6 miles, which is above the goal set by President Monson. A temple in Elko would likely serve the Saints in that city and some surrounding regions and might cut down the number of stakes assigned to the Salt Lake temple.

The Saints in Ely travel a fair distance as well. Their assigned temple in Cedar City Utah has been built 201.1 miles from those Saints. Not too far above the 200 mile goal, but still enough of an inordinate distance to warrant a potential temple in Ely.

As for the Saints in Fallon, Nevada, with their assigned temple located in Reno, they have a journey of 62.9 miles to their currently assigned temple in Reno. Not too much of a distance, but the Church could easily build a temple there to save them and the Saints in the surrounding regions from making such a drive.

Rounding out the four is Henderson. The Saints there have the shortest journey of the four possibilities, as they have only 15.8 miles to drive to get to their assigned temple in the capital city. It has seemed to me from my research that the Las Vegas Temple district, which, as noted previously, covers 28 stakes in southern Nevada and two from northwestern Arizona, needs to be split somehow.

A second option to accomplish that would be to build a second temple elsewhere in the Las Vegas area, which is not out of the question since the Church has announced second temples for major cities such as Manila Philippines and Lima Peru. Another option I want to mention (which may or may not be likely) is for the Church to announce a temple for Nevada's capital, which is Carson City. There is one stake of the Church in that city, and that would break up the Reno district as well.

I had asked for additional feedback on this subject before, but after I adjusted my thoughts, I wanted to discuss these candidates in an entirely new post. So you can see that I have my own thoughts on this subject, but I wanted to give you all the opportunity to make any additional comments on these adjustments so that I can narrow these prospects down to the most likely candidate city for Nevada's third temple.

That does it for this post. Any and all 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.

Status Updates Provided For Two Temples

Hello again, everyone! While I have not forgotten my promise to try and finish the series of posts on current and future temple sites, I wanted to deviate from that subject to share some exciting developments regarding the construction progress that has recently been noted on the Concepcion Chile and Durban South Africa Temples. So let's dive right in and talk about the newest updates for both of these temples.

As many of you may remember, the Concepcion Chile Temple was at one point the second-to-last new temple anticipated to be completed in 2018. Based on the progress reported today, I can definitely see why it has been moved up in anticipation of being the first new temple dedicated during next year.

While the installation of millwork and hanging of light fixtures continues, the stone cladding of the exterior is being finalized, and curbing and parking is being poured on the temple grounds. I was pleased to find out about these developments, but, as I have previously noted, I am not seeing anything in this status update that would alter the completion estimate of late 2018 that I have previously provided.

Miracles have been known to happen, but unless something significantly changes, I don't think we will see this temple dedicated prior to the final quarter of 2018. That said, such a dedication could (and likely will) occur on one of the Sundays following the October 2018 General Conference. Since there are three such Sundays that will be left in that month, the dedication of this temple could easily occur on any one of the three. And if that happens, then the Church could easily have that dedication before the really rainy months that will occur as 2018 draws to a close.

Moving on now to the Durban South Africa Temple, there have been several new developments reported. Decking for the roof is being installed and waterproofed and the foundation of the temple is being backfilled. In the meantime, roof trusses are being set for the adjoining missionary housing facility.

While these reported developments for South Africa's second temple are tremendous, to be sure, I concur with the information others have provided about the potential time-frame for this temple's completion. Where it was thought for a while this year that this temple could be dedicated before the end of next year or in the early part of 2019, it makes more sense that the dedication of this temple will only occur at some point within the first six months of 2019. 

Additionally, most sources I have available for temple-related matters have indicated that the time-frames both the Kinshasa and Rome temple dedications would be in either late 2018 or early 2019, the progress of both seems to indicate that Kinshasa will be more likely completed on the earlier side of that estimate (prior to the end of 2018) and that Rome will likely be delayed in its dedication until the early part of the following year.

With that in mind, it appears that the Rome, Durban, and Port-au-Prince temple dedications and the rededications of the Memphis Tennessee, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, and Asuncion Paraguay temples are all anticipated to occur within the first 6-8 months of 2019.

If any of these temples experience delays in those processes, then that would push the probable completion of other temples (both new and those that have been scheduled to start renovation early next year) back a bit. I am keeping my eyes open for any new information on any of these temples and will do my level best to pass any needed changes along as I become aware of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all 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 Update Noted on Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple Renovation Process

Hello again, everyone! While we have not in recent days seen a lot of progress reported on temples worldwide, there was one milestone of which I learned earlier today that I wanted to pass along. According to reports I have received, those working on the renovation process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple have completed the removal of the marble cladding on that temple's exterior. It is amazing to see how much that temple has progressed since its renovation closure started just over two months ago on October 14.

By contrast, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple renovation process began about two weeks after that, and there has not been any news of progress on that temple since its October 29 closure. In so saying that, I do not mean to imply that no progress has been made whatsoever. Rather, it means that if any progress has been made on that project, it has not been reported in the sources I turn to for such information.

That said, I was able to confirm that, unless something more official is released verifying that is not the case, it would appear that the exterior of the Asuncion Paraguay temple will be altered to match the new look of the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples, and that this has been and will be the same exterior look for all temples build between the late 1990s and the early 21st century under President Hinckley's smaller temple design.

Aside from these developments, there is nothing new to report. It may be that with the world observing Christmas and New Year's Day within the next two weeks, those working on such projects will have a holiday hiatus so they can be home with their families. But I am doing my best to keep myself (and, by extension, each of you) informed on the latest developments and I will be sure to pass along any developments as I become aware of them.

That said, it might not happen today, but at some point prior to Christmas Day in one week, I hope to have a few more posts up in my series that I have done about current temple districts and potential future ones within each of the Church's geographical areas. I have seven such areas left to cover: the Pacific, Philippines, South America Northwest, South America South, and the three areas in Utah (Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City, and Utah South).

When I began that series, I could not have envisioned the amount of interest and thoughtful and thorough commentary that has been taking place for those areas of the Church which I have already covered, and I hope it will continue, not just for those areas I have already covered, but for any and all of those areas that I have yet to cover.

That does it for this post. Any and all 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.