Update: The Church Reports Success of Worldwide Christmas Initiative

Hello again, everyone! I almost missed this story, but the Church has released this report demonstrating the success of their second annual Worldwide Christmas initiave, "Light the World". At this Christmas season, it warmed my heart to hear what was surely just a small sampling of such success stories. In focusing on others, members around the world have demonstrated in abundance their belief that Christ truly is the reason for the season. It was awesome to read that article, and I hope each of you will enjoy it as well. 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: Philippines Area

Hello again, everyone! While I still welcome any feedback any of you have about anything I have posted about the current and potential future temples in the areas of the Church I have already covered (including and especially the six-part series within that series about the current and potential future temples that might be  announced within the Pacific Area), since I have time to do so, and since it will be the easiest of all the areas of the Church which I already have or will yet discuss, I wanted to take some time and share some observations on the Philippines Area, including a discussion of the four temples in various stages within those areas, and the two possible prospects which I have on my list for the near future. And that, barring anything unexpected, can all be done in one post.

As some of you may be aware, the Philippines Area includes not only the Philippines, but the US owned Northern Mariana Islands. In addition to having two operating temples (in Manila and Cebu City), there are two others that have been announced.

The temple anticipated to serve the Saints in Urdaneta and the surrounding regions was announced just over 7 years ago, during the October 2010 General Conference. Between having to change both the site location and also potentially the temple design and plan, this temple has had the members anxiously waiting for news. I heard through the grapevine that there is a possibility that the Urdaneta Temple will have a site announcement and groundbreaking in the early months of next year.

In the meantime, as we found out in April, the Church has a second temple planned to serve the Saints in the Greater Manila area, and its site (located in the Alabang area of Muntinlupa City) has already been confirmed and inspected by Church engineers. We may or may not see an official name announced and a groundbreaking scheduled for this temple at some point next year, or that may be delayed until the year following.

With that overview out of the way, I wanted to note next that, in addition to those 4 temples, the Church in the Philippines also has 21 missions, 101 stakes and 74 districts, which break down further into 645 wards and 573 branches, for a whopping total of 1,218 congregations.

If we divide that by two, then each currently operating temple serves 609 congregations, which is a lot for just two of them. When the Urdaneta and second Manila temples are dedicated, that will cut that average in half again, to 304.5 congregations. And even that is somewhat overwhelming for a single temple district. That is why I see a couple of other possible additional locations in the near future for the Philippines.

I wanted to move on to discuss first the history of the two temples currently serving this area, then to talk about the current districts, and conclude with my thoughts on how soon we might see other temples announced for this area, and where those might be built.

The temple in Manila was dedicated in the three day period spanning September 25-27, 1984, and was another dedicated by President Hinckley during the years he was the only fully functioning member of the First Presidency under President Kimball's leadership. Its' district includes 67 stakes and 43 districts, which means that this temple district is the largest of the two. And it appears that both the second Manila and Urdaneta Philippines temples will break up that district a bit.

Some stakes within the Cebu City Philippines Temple district may also be pulled away when the other two temples are dedicated. That temple, which was dedicated on June 13, 2010, by President Thomas S. Monson, has a very large district as well, with 36 stakes and 34 districts.

So we can see that the two temples that have been announced additionally are greatly needed. We also know that the Urdaneta Temple is anticipated to be a closer option for those Saints in the Luzon Island area, and that the second Manila Temple will further potentially split the current two and the potential Urdaneta district as well. Admittedly, I do not have a good sense of geography, so I am not sure how all that might play out.

In the meantime, the potential temples I see in the near future for this area might be built in either Cagayan del Oro, or Davao, and I would anticipate a temple in both locations at some point. Future prospects (which are further away) may be the areas covered by the stakes in Bacolod and Quezon City. If I had to narrow that down, I would give my guess that Quezon City and Davao will get temples first. I have had, at different times, either one or the other of them.

But these are just my own thoughts. Be sure to let me know yours in the comments below. 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.

2017 News In Review

Hello again, everyone! I was just reminded that both the Church News and Mormon Newsroom have provided articles reviewing the news and developments relating to the Church and its leaders in the last week or so. Click here for the article from the Church News and here for the Mormon Newsroom article. There has been so much Church news this year, and so much good the Church has done.

We have seen extensive coverage of the ministry of our apostles (which has included coverage of the death of Elder Hales and President Monson stepping back from an active role in Church leadership, in addition to the apostles' increased presence on social media) developments in the Church's missionary program (with changes in mission rules about scheduling and attirees, missionary safety surveys, and the Church's expressed intention to decrease the number of missions and allow utilization of technology for missionaries in the remaining missions to find religiously-minded people) so much temple news (including 4 temples dedicated, 1 rededicated, 4 others closing for renovation, 3 temple groundbreakings, and 5 new temples announced for Brasilia Brazil, the greater Manila Philippines area, Nairobi Kenya, Pocatello Idaho, and Saratoga Spring Utah), the establishment of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, the consolidation of General Conference sessions, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing at both General Conferences, President Trump's inauguration, and Pioneer and Christmas Day Concerts, President Trump visiting Welfare Square and praising the Church leaders with whom he met for all the Church does to help its members.

There was also, of course, one negative development, in the excommunication of Elder James J. Hamula in August. But I find it hard to believe that will be the end of his experience as a Church member. In fact, I fervently hope that he has begun or will begin the process of preparing himself to have his blessings restored at the proper time.

And through the news, both good and bad, relating to the Church, I have had the honor of bringing such information to all of you as soon as I have been able to after I have received it. At a time when both my wife and I are having health issues that currently prevent us from living the fullest quality of life we can, the one constant I could count on has been that, whatever I have "sounded off" about, there are so many of you willing to not only read and comment on such subjects, but also to read my responses to such comments, which has, I hope, allowed the opening of a dialogue about important issues.

Some of my favorite posts have been those when I have been able to pass along the latest apostolic statistics, and also the many developments that are occurring on an almost daily basis for temples that are or may soon be under construction. And capping my favorite posts of the year have been the series that is still ongoing about future temple prospects I see in the near future for each of the Church's areas. The thoughtful feedback on all of it has been amazing to see.

What a year it has been for the Church, and for me personally as well. I will continue to do my best to bring you Church and temple-related news and updates as I find out about them. And while I fully intend to do a few more posts as I have time to do so prior to Christmas and, after that, before 2018 is rung in, I just want you all to know how much I have appreciated your readership, especially with all of these reported developments.

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 for a happy, safe, and very Merry Christmas, and pray that the Lord will not only bless each one of you in everything you do, but that you and your families will be especially blessed during this Christmas season to remember that Christ is the reason for the season. This is my heartfelt prayer for each of you.

Updated Estimates for Future Temple-related Events

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again today and pass along my updated estimates for future temple-related events, which was necessary to do in view of the news I reported in my last blog post. The estimates follow below. 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.

Revised estimated time-frame for future temple-related events:

2018:

Sunday January 7: Raleigh North Carolina Temple Renovation Closure (confirmed)

Sunday January 28: Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple Renovation Closure (confirmed)

Monday February 19: Oakland California temple Renovation Closure (confirmed)

Sunday March 4: Washington DC Temple Renovation Closure (confirmed)

April or May: Full-scale construction anticipated to begin on the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple

Sunday May 20: Jordan River Utah Temple Rededication/Mesa Arizona Temple Renovation Closure (both have been confirmed)

Sunday August 12 or 19: Frankfurt Germany Temple Rededication

Sunday October 21 or 28: Concepcion Chile Temple Dedication (160^th operating temple)

Sunday November 11 or 18: Barranquilla Colombia Temple Dedication (161^st operating temple)

Sunday December 9 or 16: Kinshasa DR Congo Temple Dedication (162^nd operating temple)

2019:

Mid-April: Memphis Tennessee Temple Rededication

Mid-to-late April: Rome Italy Temple Dedication (163^rd operating temple)

Early-to-mid May: Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple Rededication

Mid-May: Asuncion Paraguay Temple Rededication

Late May-early June: Durban South Africa Temple Dedication (164^th operating temple)

Mid-June: Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple Dedication (165^th operating temple)

Early-to-mid August: Fortaleza Brazil Temple Dedication (166^th operating temple)

Early-to-mid September: Raleigh North Carolina Temple Rededication

Mid-to-late September: October: Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple Rededication

Mid-October: Lisbon Portugal Temple Dedication (167^th operating temple)

Mid-to-late October: Arequipa Peru Temple Dedication (168^th operating temple)

Mid-November: Oakland California Temple Rededication

Mid-December: Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple Dedication (169^th operating temple)

NOTE: There is a slight possibility that the dedications of the new temples in Arequipa Peru and Rio de Janeiro Brazil and the rededication of the Oakland California Temple could potentially be delayed until early 2020. As the next 18-21 months pass, the likelihood of that possibility will be easier to determine, and I will pass all of that along as I am able to do so.

2020:

Mid-to-late April: Winnipeg Manitoba Temple Dedication (170^th operating temple)

Mid-May: Tokyo Japan Temple Rededication

Early-to-mid September: Mesa Arizona Temple Rededication

Mid-November: Washington DC Temple Rededication

NOTE: I heard that 2018 and 2019 could be big years for temple groundbreakings. If that proves correct, then many other temples could also be dedicated during 2020 and 2021. As the next two years unfold, I will have a better idea of when such events may occur, and they can then be added to the other estimates above.

Completion Estimates Changed for Several Temples

Hello again, everyone! While I hope that any or all of you will continue to feel free to share your thoughts on the content I have posted in the last few days about current and potential future temples within the Pacific Area, I need to deviate from that series yet again to share some game-changing information about completion estimates for temples currently under construction.

What has changed is that the Rio de Janeiro Temple, once anticipated to potentially be dedicated not long after its counterpart, the Fortaleza Brazil Temple, since both the Lisbon Portugal and Arequipa Peru temples have made more consistent progress, Lisbon now takes the spot  once held by Rio, Arequipa takes Lisbon's previous place, and Rio has been moved to the bottom of the list of those currently under construction.

Additionally, while I was once confident that the completion and dedication of the Rome Italy Temple would not occur until the early months of 2019 (rather than before the end of 2018), and since I had to adjust things on my temple construction progress report anyways, I have now put both the Kinshasa and Rome Temples in a new section for temples that could be dedicated between late 2018 or early 2019. I have also put the Arequipa Peru and Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temples in their own section, since they both could be dedicated during late 2019-early 2020.

That said, I still believe with all my heart that the Kinshasa temple will be dedicated prior to the end of next year, and what I have heard, that it is likely that the Rome temple will not be dedicated until the early months of 2019. And given the substantial progress that the temples in Arequipa and, to a smaller degree, in Rio, have had reported, I feel confident that they will both likely be dedicated prior to the end of 2019.

In that regard, however, I am doing my best to keep my eyes open for information, and I will be sure to pass along any further progress and/or changes in completion estimates as I become aware of them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated (including and especially those I have done and will do in the series about current and future temple prospects on my list). 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: Pacific Area, Part Six--Potential Future Temples in American Samoa and Tonga; Area Wrap-Up

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again with my sixth and final post about the Pacific Area to share my rationale behind supporting the idea of temples for Pago Pago American Samoa and Neiafu Vava'u Tonga. So let's dive right in and discuss those prospects, for which I provide some context.

First, for Pago Pago,, that was a recently added location which I put on my list primarily for two reasons. The most important one is that American Samoa ranks as the 7th of the top ten nations in the world that have the strongest Church presence but have not yet received a temple. Additionally, the Saints in American Samoa currently travel to the temple in Apia, which is 76.2 miles away. While that is not an inordinate distance by any means, it makes sense toa me that a temple could (and probably will) be announced sooner rather than later for this nation.


As for Neiafu Vava'u, the Saints in that part of Tonga currently journey 189 miles to get to their assigned temple in Nuku'alofa. While that is slightly below the 200 mile goal set by President Monson, it is close enough to it to make the idea of a temple there supportable.

Additionally, a second temple in Tonga would serve, at minimum, serve the four stakes in Neiafu Vava'u, and likely some in the surrounding region. But the biggest reason I see for a potential second temple to serve the Tongan Saints, the strongest reason is that the current district serves the 21 stakes and 2 districts based in Tonga, which further break down into 136 wards and 32 branches, or a total of 170 congregations. That is a lot for a single temple district.

With that said, this concludes not only my posts about future temple prospects within the Pacific Area, but also my coverage of the area as a whole. So that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, especially to let me know about anything I missed or have not considered over these last six posts on this area. 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 evevrything you do.

Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Five--Rationale Supporting the Idea of a Temple in Port Moresby Papua New Guine

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again, with my rationale for supporting the idea of a temple in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. Aside from being another location for which the Church has reportedly had land set aside for an announcement when it is warranted, I also wanted to note that New Guinea comes in as the second in the current top ten list of those countries with the strongest Church presence that do not have a temple.

Additionally, it would appear that a temple in that area would, at minimum, take away from the Suva Fiji district those 2 missions in New Guinea (the first of which was established in the Papua region), along with the 2 stakes and 12 districts of the Church in New Guinea, which make up 10 wards and 70 branches, or 80 congregations, along with the one district (made up of 5 branches) based in the Solomon Islands.

That in turn would leave the Suva Temple district with the 4 stakes and 3 districts in Fiji, the 2 stakes and 1 district in Kiribati, and the 1 stake and 3 districts based in Vanuatu. Some have advanced the idea of a temple for Kiribati, and I have it on my list for the distant future (since it qualifies based on its mileage from Suva, and also as the fifth of the same top ten nations with the strongest Church presence but without a temple), but I don't see that happening as soon as some might think. As my study of foture temple prospects continues to evolve, I will be sure to post any updates that would lead me to add it as a more imminent possibility.

So that is the summation of my reasoning behind the selection of Port Moresby Papua New Guinea on my list of future temples. 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Four--Overview of Temple Prospects and Exploration of Reasons for a Second Temple in New Zealand

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again to wrap up my coverage of the Pacific Area by discussing the future temple prospects I see in the near future for this area. After providing the list of my personal picks, I will be commenting on the reasons for my selections of each. Let's get right to it.

I believe temples may be announced in the near future for the following locations (listed in order of likellihood): Auckland New Zealand, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Neiafu Vava'u Tonga. Subsequent posts will explore the other possibilities on this list, but in this post, I wanted to focus on my reasoning for the selection of Auckland.

First, Auckland New Zealand has a couple of factors in its favor for a temple. The one temple in New Zealand serves the 3 missions, 30 stakes and 2 districts in New Zealand, which break down further into 173 wards and 51 branches, or a total of 224 congregations.

Auckland also has the best chances to be the location of the second New Zealand temple for two reasons. I got a tip about a year ago that the Church has held land in reserve for a temple in Auckland for several years. Auckland was also the city out of which the first mission in New Zealand was established.

Additionally, while the distance to their assigned temple is less than half of the 200 mile goal President Monson has set (being just 77.5 miles away from it), the size of the current district is compelling enough to venture an opinion that an Auckland temple is just a matter of time.

And a potential temple in Auckland would, at minimum take in the 13 stakes based in Auckland, which break down into 85 wards and 2 branches, for a total of 87 congregations at minimum. And since I don't know much about geography generally or that of New Zealand in particular, I would imagine that an Auckland temple would serve other congregations in the surrounding regions, which would split the Hamilton temple district roughly in half.

So that is the reasoning behind my selection of Auckland. 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.

Temple Site Possibilities: Pacific Area, Part Three--Composition of Current Temple Districts

Hello again, everyone! Having set the background information about the Pacific Area in general and the history of its 10 temples, we now shift our focus to a discussion of the composition of each of those 10 temple districts. As I did in the previous post, I will start that discussion by covering the 5 Australia temples in their chronological order, followed by a discussion of the other 5 temples in their chronological order. So let's get right into all of that.

With the dedication of the other four temples in Australia, that leaves the district of its first dedicated temple (in Sydney) with 12 stakes and 3 districts from the New South Wales region. Not a large district by any means. The second Australian temple (in Adelaide), now has 3 stakes from South Australia and the district located in Australia's northern territory. Neither of these districts seem likely to split.

The district of the third temple (in Melbourne), serves the regions known as Victoria and Tasmania, with the former having 8 stakes and 1 district and the latter having 2 stakes. With that district only covering 10 stakes and 1 district total, it is not likely to split anytime either.

The Perth Australia Temple district is likewise small, having only 4 stakes, all based in Perth (which are located in Western Australia). And the final temple in Australia is the one Brisbane, which serves the 11 stakes and 3 districts in Australia's Queensland region.

With these districts seeming to be fairly manageable in size, I don't see much need to split any of them. But if there is a potential for any additional temples to serve the Saints in Australia, let me know. The driving factor would likely be the distance from each stake to their currently assigned temple, which I don't have the time to calculate currently.

We now move on to the other five temple districts within the Pacific Area. The Hamilton New Zealand Temple is substantially larger and therefore likely to split, as it takes in 30 stakes and 2 districts located in New Zealand, as well as the 1 stake in New Caledonia. I will be offering my thoughts about how that district could be split in my next post.

Coming to the Apia Samoa Temple, its district is also quite substantially sized, as it covers 20 stakes in Samoa, and 5 others in American Samoa. I have a temple prospect in mind that would split this district as well.

Another large temple district for which I have a prospect in mind would split the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple district, which is currently comprised of Tonga's 21 stakes and 2 districts. Next I wanted to note that the temple in Papeete Tahiti has another small district, with 9 stakes and 3 districts in French Polynesia, and 1 additional district located in the Cook Island region.

And rounding out the discussion of the current temple districts, we note that the Suva Fiji Temple district is also a large one that is likely to split as well. It is currently composed of 4 stakes and 3 districts in Fiji, 2 stakes and 12 districts in New Guinea, 2 stakes and 1 district in Kiribati, 1 stake and 3 districts in Vanuatu, and the 1 district in the Solomon Islands. The grand total for this temple district comes to 9 stakes and 20 districts, which is large any way it's considered.

So there you have it, a look at the composition of the 10 temple districts currently within the Pacific Area. 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 (which should be up in the next half hour or so, covering the specifics of the future temple prospects I referenced above), 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: Pacific Area, Part Two--Temple Overview and Dedication History

Hello again, everyone! Having done a post covering the Pacific Area's composition last night, I next want to turn to a discussion of the history of temples within it. While I had planned when starting the discussion of the Pacific Area to cover it in three parts, as I got into this second post, I realized that I would need  to focus it on an overview and dedication history, then follow that up with the third post for this area that will cover the current composition of this area's temple district and the fourth discussing other potential prospects.

So in getting into the history, I wanted to note that there are 10 such temples in this area currently, 5 of which are in Australia (in the cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney), with 1 each in Samoa (Apia), New Zealand (Hamilton), Tonga (Nuku'alofa), Tahiti (Papeete), and Fiji (Suva). We will discuss the current temple districts for this area almost in that same order, the only difference being that, in the case of Australia's temples, I will be detailing their districts in chronological order. So let's get started with all of that.

We start first in Australia. The chronological order in which the 5 Australian temples were dedicated is as follows: Sydney was the first (which was dedicated over four days from September 20-23, 1984, by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was the only functioning member of the First Presidency at that time; under the direction of the First Presidency, then-Elder Russell M. Nelson would be sent roughly seven years later to rededicate a portion of the temple that was added, which occurred on November 24, 1991).

The second and third temples for that nation were dedicated on consecutive days, with both presided over by President Gordon B. Hinckley as he dedicated the Adelaide temple on June 15, 2000, and then traveled 451.4 miles after that dedication to be in Melborne on June 16, 2000 for that temple's dedication.

Less than a year later, President Hinckley returned to Australia to preside over dedicatory services for the Perth Australia Temple on May 20, 2001. Then, 2 years and 26 days later, the fifth Australian temple was dedicated in Brisbane by President Gordon B. Hinckley which also marked three years to the day from the dedication of the Adelaide temple (June 15, 2003).

Since there have not been any other temples constructed in Australia, we now move to the history of the other five in the Pacific area. While running the research, I changed my mind on the order in which I would discuss these 5, and I will be discussing each of them in chronological order as well..So let's talk about each of those.

We start with the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, which was somewhat significant in its' groundbreaking, as it appears that was conducted by three Melchizedek Priesthood holders representing the Church Building Department rather than any of the General Authorities which were serving at that time. It became only the 11th operating temple when it was dedicated by 9th Church President David O. McKay from April 20-22, 1958.

Next, we turn our attention to Apia Samoa Temple, dedicated August 5-6, 1983 by President Hinckley (as you might have noticed, many of the current temples within the Pacific Area were originally dedicated by President Hinckley), and he returned to rededicate that temple on September 4, 2005, after it was rebuilt as a result of the original temple's destruction by fire.

That brings us to the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple, which was originally dedicated by President Hinckley between August 9-11, 1983, and rededicated on November 4, 2007 by then-Elder Russell M. Nelson, who was the third most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at that time, as well as the fifth most senior in the overall apostolic seniority at the time.

As for the Papeete Tahiti Temple, it was dedicated October 27-29, 1983, again by President Hinckley. Following a renovation process, the temple was rededicated by Elder L. Tom Perry (who was the second senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the fourth in apostolic seniority at that time) on November 12, 2006.

Wrapping up our discussion of the current temples, the last one to cover is the Suva Fiji Temple, which was dedicated on June 18, 2000, again by President Hinckley. Following its' renovation (which involved changing the exterior look of the temple to match the other temples from this period that have been renovated, which includes the three undergoing renovation in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Asuncion).

This concludes my overview of the current temples and their dedication histories in the Pacific Area, so 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 (which should be up later tonight and will cover the composition of the temple districts within the Pacific Area, followed up by the final one for this area which will share the possibilities I see for future temple prospects), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.