Temple Site Possibilities: South America Northwest Area, Part Six--Potential New Temples for Peru

Hello again, everyone! While I had said at one point in an earlier post that six posts for the South America Northwest Area would cover everything, it turns out I will need one more as well. Therefore, this post will be the second-to-last one for this area and will focus on the potential likelihood of two Peruvian cities that could get a temple of their own. After I get this post published, I will conclude my coverage of this area with a seventh post that will focus on Venezuela's likelihood of getting a temple, and that post will also serve as the wrap-up of the content covering this area.

I wanted to first note that the difficult thing in trying to determine if the Church would announce one or more temples for Peru while Arequipa is still under construction and while progress is pending for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple. But as we saw with Brazil, the Church did not wait until the temples in Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro were completed, nor did the fact that the Belem temple has not progressed since its April 2016 announcement prevent the Church from announcing a temple for Brasilia. In fact, the odds are more likely than not that the temple in Brasilia, which already had its site confirmed by local leaders and inspected by Church engineers, will have a groundbreaking ceremony and begin its construction process perhaps before anything is done additionally on the Belem temple.

So because there are those four Brazilian temples in varying stages, it seems likely and even perhaps highly probable that the Church could easily announce other Peruvian temples while work continues on the temple in Arequipa and while the construction process is started for the temple that will be built in Lima's Los Olivos district.

And while we don't yet have an idea of how the stakes in Peru might be redistributed following the dedication of the temple now under construction in Arequipa (which is currently anticipated to occur in late 2019 or early 2020), or how they might be further redistributed following the construction and dedication of the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, it is apparent that the Peruvian Saints are keeping their temples busy.

So which locations in Peru are likely to get a temple of their own in the near future? I have felt that there is a strong argument in favor of Peru's fifth and sixth temples being built in the cities of Cusco and Iquitos. As with other candidates about which I have written in this series, there is also a very good chance that both temples could either be announced at the same time or have some degree of overlap in their processes. Digging into things a little more deeply, let's examine the merits of these potential locations.

First, we look at Cusco's potential for its own temple. With two stakes based in that city, a temple there would serve, at a very minimum, the 12 wards and 2 branches within those two stakes. As mentioned, I am not by any means or stretch of the imagination a geography expert, so I am sure many stakes in the surrounding region could also be served by a temple in Cusco.

A temple in Cusco makes sense as well in terms of the mileage metric. Saints in Cusco currently travel 680.8 miles to do their ordinance work, and since the temple in Los Olivos would be even further from them than that (the distance being 691.6 miles), the Saints in Cusco are far more likely to remain with the Lima district..

When the Arequipa Peru temple is dedicated (which, as already noted, is anticipated to occur during either late 2019 or early 2020). the distance for the Saints in Cusco will be cut by more than half, to 303.8 miles. Even so, that is still over 100 miles more than President Monson's set goal to have every member within 200 miles of their nearest temple.

Before moving on to discuss specific reasons for my feeling that Iquitos could get a temple, I wanted to note that, with Cusco being a distance of 682 miles, it would not be out of the question for one or the other to be announced first, nor would it surprise me to either see them announced at the same time or to have one under construction at the time the other is announced. So I can't rule out that possibility.

Let us now turn our attention to the potential merits of a temple in Iquitos. In addition to having its own mission, the city of Iquitos is home to two stakes of the Church. A temple in that city would, at minimum, serve the Saints in the 14 stakes and 1 branch within that city. While I am, as noted, not great with geography, if and when Iquitos does get its own temple, the Saints in surrounding areas would also be spared the journey of an inordinate distance to get to their assigned temple.

Regarding the distance involved, the Saints in the Iquitos region  currently have a 629 mile journey to get to the Lima temple. As with the city of Cusco, since the Iquitos Saints are over 200 miles further than that from Arequipa (the exact distance being 882 miles), the Saints within the Iquitos region would also likely stay in the district of the Lima temple until they have a closer one either in that city or the surrounding regions.

And whenever the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple is dedicated, there is a possibility that the Saints in Iquitos could fall within that new temple district. But I can't be sure of that at the moment, since it would only cut their journey by a mere 4 miles (as the Los Olivos region is 625 miles from the Saint in Iquitos.

So there are my thoughts about these two potential candidates for Peru's next temples. I have felt that both will get their own temples at some point, but I look forward to hearing from you, my readers, on the following questions: Which temple might be announced first? Could both be announced simultaneously? What are the odds that while one of them is in the construction process, the other one might be announced? I look forward to the feedback.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. I will be back very shortly with my final post, which will contain my analysis of the prospects for a temple in Venezuela, and which will wrap up my coverage of the South America Northwest Area. Until that time, 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--South America Northwest Area, Part Five--Exploration of Candidate Cities for Colombia's Third Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again to share my thoughts about two potential candidate cities in which Colombia's third temple might be built. With one temple currently operating in Bogota, and one other under construction in Barranquilla (which, as we know, is anticipated to be dedicated during the fourth quarter of next year), the candidates on my list are Medellin and Cali. Each of the two cities have a mission established. Let's now explore the merits of each.

Firstly, the Saints living in the city of Medellin are 261.1 miles from the Bogota temple. Since the temple in Barranquilla would be 439 miles exactly from that city, odds are more likely than not that the Medellin Saints will remain part of the Bogota district after the second temple in that nation is dedicated. So Medellin qualifies based on the mileage factor. Since I am not good with geographical matters, I am not sure how many other units might be served by a potential temple in Medellin, but such a temple would, at minimum, serve the two stakes based in that city, and also those in the surrounding region, which would be a respectably-sized district.

As for the merits of a potential temple in Cali, the Saints in that city currently travel 286.7 miles to attend the Bogota temple. Since the temple in Barranquilla will be further away from Cali (the distance being 700.5 miles), the three stakes in Cali will likely remain in the Bogota district. With three stakes within that city, a Cali temple would serve the 16 wards and 1 district based in Cali, and any other stakes in the surrounding region.

Just by way of comparison, the distance between Cali and Medellin is  269.1 miles, so a temple in either city could likely serve both. But which one might we see first? Whichever one is first, might the Church announce the other while the construction process is underway on the first? How likely might it be that both are announced at the same time, even if their construction timetables differ? Let me know your thoughts in the comments 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 (which will come shortly to discuss the possible candidates for yet another temple in Peru and also a potential second one for Venezuela), 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: South America Northwest Area, Part Four--Overview of Potential Temple Locations & Exploring the Most Likely Candidate for Bolivia's Second Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again, with what I intended to be the final post covering the South America Northwest Area, and in this one, we will explore my personal list of those candidate cities which I have felt could potentially get a temple, and the exploration of factors relating specifically to the likely location of Bolivia's second temple. Because of the volume of detail involved, I will need to defer discussion of the merits of other locations in subsequent posts about this area.

I have felt that the following cities could have a temple announced in the near future: Santa Cruz or La Paz Bolivia;; Cali or Medellin Colombia, Cusco or Iquitos Peru. and possibly  Maracaibo Venezuela. As I mentioned above, I will take the rest of this post to explore the two Bolivian candidates, then do other posts about those in Colombia, another for Peru, and a final post for Venezuela/ 

So, could Bolivia get a second (and possibly a third) temple in the near future? As noted in the previous post, the Cochabamba temple district takes in 32 stakes and 8 districts in Bolivia, along with 3 additional stakes located in Southeastern Peru. As I looked into the options, Santa Cruz and La Paz made the most sense as candidates for Bolivia's next two temples. Why is that, which might be announced first, could they be announced at the same time, and, if one of them is announced first, how soon might the other be? All of those questions are interesting to consider. Before exploring the answers I have found, as I noted previously, the two cities each have two missions within their boundaries.

Let's look at Santa Cruz first. The Saints in Santa Cruz currently travel 295.7 miles to reach the Cochabamba temple. A temple in that city would, at minimum, serve the 9 stakes headquartered there, drawing away at least the 54 wards and 3 branches, for a total of 57 congregations which are based in that city. Even though I am not familiar with Bolivian geography, I would imagine that other nearby Church units would also benefit from a temple in Santa Cruz.

Turning now to the merits of a temple in La Paz, that city is located 235.4 miles from Cochabamba, and would be almost double that distance from a Santa Cruz temple (with the exact mileage being 528.1). A temple in La Paz would, at minimum, take in the 5 stakes based in the city, which would serve, at minimum, the 31 wards and 8 branches, or 39 congregations, to say nothing of any of the surrounding congregations.

So my first question for any who would like to comment is, which of the two seems more imminently likely? And if both have an equal likelihood, do you think the Church might opt to announce them at the same time, or construct one and announce the other while the construction of the first continues? I could easily see any scenario for these cities, and I look forward to your feedback.

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: South America Northwest Area, Part Three--Composition of Current Temple Districts

Hello again, everyone! I am back with my third of four posts covering the South America Northwest Area. In this post, I will be discussing the composition of the current temple districts, detailing how many stakes and districts are served by each. Let's get right to it.

First of all, to me, it makes sense to approach this subject methodically, So we will start with the Arequipa, Lima, Los Olivos and Trujillo Peru temples, then turn our attention to the Barranquilla and Bogota Colombia Temples, followed by the Guayaquil and Quito Ecuador Temples, then finish with the Caracas Venezuela and Cochabama Bolivia Temples.

Starting in Peru and working chronologically, we first take a look at the Lima Peru Temple. That district currently comprises 73 stakes and 11 districts from Central and Southern Peru and the Peruvian Amazons. The temple district will be broken up somewhat when the Arequipa Peru Temple is dedicated, and will be further divided once the Los Olivos Temple is constructed and dedicated. It will be most interesting to see how those divisions occur.In the meantime, the Trujillo temple district, by comparison, is much smaller, as it takes in 25 stakes and 8 districts from the northern part of Peru.

The Bogota Colombia Temple takes in 28 stakes and 10 districts within Colombia, and that district will be divided once the Barranquilla Colombia Temple is dedicated (which is, as previously noted, anticipated to occur late next year). Again, it will be interesting, to be sure, to see how that division plays out.

As for Ecuador, the temple in Guayaquil serves the Saints in 39 stakes and 1 district from Ecuador, in addition to 1 stake and 1 district from the southwestern portion of Colombia. With the Quito temple anticipated to divide that district somewhat, it will be interesting to see what happens in that regard.

We now come to Caracas Venezuela, where the temple in that city serves 34 stakes and 6 districts. Again, the subject of whether or not an additional temple could be built in this nation to more evenly disperse those stakes and districts will be discussed in my next post.

And that brings us to the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple, which serves 32 stakes and 8 districts in Bolivia, in addition to 3 other stakes from southeastern Peru. That district is not perhaps as much in need of a split, but I will address if and how I feel that could happen in the next post.

As this wraps up my examination of the current districts within the South America Northwest 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 come shortly and will discuss my thoughts about potential future temple locations, which will wrap up my discussion of this area), 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: Temple Site Possibilities: South America Northwest Area, Part Two--Overview of Church Units and Temple History

Hello again, everyone! As I advised you all that I might do, I have changed my thinking since putting the last post up, and I now believe it will be more effective for my purposes to focus this post on how many units this area covers within the five countries which fall within those areas (which again are Bolivia, Colombia,Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela), as well as a review of the history of the six temples operating.

 That in turn will be followed by a third post focusing on the size of the current temple districts, and a fourth post capping off my coverage of this area will explore the possible future locations for which I have felt a temple will be announced in the near future.

With that said, I would like to pass along to you the information I have been able to gather about the number of missions, stakes, districts, and congregations (wards and branches) within each of these 5 countries that comprise this area. We will be discussing those 5 in the same order I listed above.

So, let's start with Bolivia. The one temple in that nation was dedicated on April 30, 2000 as the 82nd operating temple of the Church. President Gordon B. Hinckley, under whose leadership so many smaller temples were built starting in 1997 (and to some degree is still continuing in areas where it is more practical to have a smaller edifice), presided at the dedicatory services for the temple.

Bolivia has five missions within its boundaries: two each in La Paz and Santa Cruz, and 1 in Cochabamba, where, as noted, the only temple currently serving that nation is located In terms of congregational numbers, Bolivia has 32 stakes and 8 districts, which in turn comprise 187 wards and 68 branches, for a total of 255 congregations. As noted, I will go into specifics about the Cochabamba district in my next post.

Turning our attention now to Colombia, the temple in Bogota became the 57th operating temple in the Church when it was dedicated by Church President Gordon B. Hinckley during a three day period spanning April 24-26, 2000. The nation is also the home of 5 missions of the Church, 2 of which are located in Bogota, with the other three in Barranquilla, Cali, and Medellin.

In terms of congregations, there are currently 29 stakes and 11 districts which are further divided into 169 wards and 82 branches. Because the total number of congregations currently stands at 251, it is easy to see why the Church is building a second temple for the nation in Barranquilla. If we divide that number of congregations between the two, each temple would serve 125-126 congregations. That will be a better scenario for the Saints in Colombia, but is there a reason to believe the Church could announce another temple or two for Colombia in the near future? That will be explored in more detail in my final post for this area.

We now move on to Ecuador. As noted in the previous post, the one operating temple in that area had a 14-year wait between its announced and subsequent groundbreaking, one of the largest such time periods in Church history. The one good thing about that is that, once the groundbreaking occurred, the temple was constructed fairly quickly, and it was dedicated during August 1-2, 1999, again by President Gordon B. Hinckley, making it the 58th operating temple of the Church.

As for the number of Church units, the Church in Ecuador has five operating at the moment, 3 of which are based in Guayaquil, with the other two in Quito. With 39 stakes and 9 districts, the congregational tally, including 236 wards and 67 branches, comes to a grand total of 303. Once the temple in Quito is built and dedicated, between the two, the congregational average for each temple will be 151-152. In my final post covering this area, I will offer my thoughts regarding whether or not Ecuador needs another temple.

For now, we turn our attention to Peru. As noted in my previous post, the Church has temples in operation in Lima and Trujillo. The first was dedicated as the 38th operating temple of the Church between January 10-12, 1986, and President Gordon B. Hinckley presided at this dedication as well.  The interesting thing with that dedication is that President Hinckley had been asked by President Kimball to preside over the services prior to President Kimball's death on November 5, 1985. When President Benson succeeded President Kimball as prophet 5 days after the latter's passing, the new Church president allowed President Hinckley to fill that last assignment from his prophetic predecessor.

It was not until June 21, 2015 (almost 30 years after the Lima dedication) that the second Peruvian temple was dedicated in Trujillo. By that time, President Monson was not able to preside at temple dedications, so he assigned President Uchtdorf to preside at that temple's dedication.  It became the Church's 147th operating temple.

In addition, a third temple for Peru is under construction in Arequipa, and will either be dedicated during late 2019 or early 2020. Also as noted in the previous post, the Los Olivos temple was announced last year to help serve the Saints in Lima, which is the Peruvian capital city, and if all goes well, a site announcement and groundbreaking may occur within the first half of next year.

Peru's four temples aside, the nation has 13 operating missions serving its people, 5 of which are in Lima, with 2 others in Trujillo, and 1 each in Arequipa, Chiclayo, Cusco, Huancayo, Iquitos, and Piura. Additionally, Peru has 101 stakes and 19 districts, which are further divided into 618 wards and 129 branches, for a total of 747 congregations. If we divide that number by the 4 temples, then each covers an average number of 186-187 congregations. Could we see another temple in Peru? I will discuss that more fully in my final post covering this area.

We now come in our discussion to Venezuela, the last nation alphabetically in this area. When its only temple was dedicated on August 20, 2000 by President Hinckley, it became the 96th in operation worldwide. Home to four missions of the Church (which are located in Barcelona, Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia), there are currently 34 stakes and 6 districts within that nation. Its congregations, which include 195 wards and 51 branches, total 246 in number. Since that is a large district, could the Church split it with a second temple to serve the nation? More on that in my final post for this area.

Having discussed all of this, the next task will be to go into specifics about the 6 temples which currently serve the district. Since that is a discussion requiring its own post, that does it for this one. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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.