Temple Site Possibilities: Utah South Area, Part Four--Temples in Washington and Weber Counties and Area Wrap-Up

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the fourth post I promised just a few moments ago, which will discuss the two temples in Washington and Weber Counties (St. George and Ogden respectively) and which will serve as the wrap-up for this area. Let's get right to it.

The St. George temple was the 1st one dedicated in this dispensation that is still operating today. That dedication occurred on January 1, 1877, which a private dedication done by Wilford Woodruff, Erastus Snow, and Brigham Young; a public one followed between April 6-8 of that same year, with Brigham Young presiding and his counselor in the First Presidency, Daniel H. Wells, reading the prayer at President Young's request. Following a renovation period, a rededication was held on November 11 & 12, 1975, with President Spencer W. Kimball presiding.

With the dedication of the Cedar City Utah Temple about 2.5 weeks ago, that left the St. George district to serve 33 stakes from Bloomington, Hurricane, Ivins, Kanab, La Verkin, Santa Clara, St. George, and Washington City, along with the Page Arizona and Mesquite Nevada stakes. This temple district may need to be split, but I am not sure how or when the Church might opt to do so.

That brings us to the Ogden Utah Temple, which became the Church's 14th one in operation when it was dedicated January 18-20, 1972 by President Joseph Fielding Smith.. As noted in an earlier post, the Ogden temple originally looked identical in design to the Provo Utah Temple.

But when the Ogden Temple closed for renovation, its' design was completely redone to match the evolving architecture of that city. As I previously noted, that redesign was quite divisive for a while, and may still be so for the immediate future. That rededication was held on September 21, 2014, with President Thomas S. Monson presiding.

The current district of the Ogden Temple is comprised of 57 stakes in northern Utah and 4 other additionally from southwestern Wyoming. There is a possibility that the stake could be split, and that a temple in Evanston Wyoming could do the trick, but I honestly don't know how immediate or feasible a temple might be to split this district.

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 I will put up in a few minutes as my wrap-up to this series), 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: Utah South Area--Part Three: Temples in Utah County

Hello again, everyone! I am back to discuss the 5 temples that the Church has dedicated (and one that has been announced) to help serve the Saints in Utah County, which, as I have previously noted, has been my home for the 31 years I have been alive. So let's dive right into that.

First, some preliminary information. Utah County has 2 missions (headquartered in Orem and Provo), 161 stakes, and members in 1,407 wards and 53 branches, for a congregational total of 1,460. This means that each temple (once the one in Saratoga Springs is dedicated) will then serve an average of 292 congregations (and that is without taking into account any new ones that will likely be created).

The first temple for the Saints in this area was the Provo Utah Temple, which was dedicated on February 9, 1972 by 10th Church President Joseph Fielding Smith (note that though he composed the prayer, at his request, it was read during the dedication by President Harold B. Lee). As a result of its' dedication, it became the 15th operating temple of the Church. Some of my earliest memories are those associated with my parents leaving us at home to go do temple work in the Provo Temple.

Since the Provo Temple was (and in many ways continues to be) very busy, it has been great to see four other temples which have or will cut down on the distance the Saints in Utah County have th travel.

The dedication of three of those has left the Provo Temple district with 52 stakes based in North Provo, Orem, and the Heber Valley. While the Saints in Heber only have a 28.1 mile drive to get to the Provo Temple, I have a potential temple for Heber City on my list for the Utah South Area. I am also certain that Orem (where I currently reside) will get its own temple at some point, but that might be a few years down the road.

The next temple dedicated in Utah County was the Mount Tmpanogos Utah Temple, which, as I have already noted, holds a special place in my heart. Dedicated between October 13-19, 1999 (for which I was in attendance) by President Gordon B. Hinckley, it became the Church's 49th operating temple.

Serving 60 stakes in the northern Utah Valley, its district includes the cities of Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Highland, Lehi, Pleasant Grove, and Saratoga Springs. With the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple announced last April, it is anticipated that that temple district will include stakes based in Eagle Mountain, Lehi, and Saratoga Springs. Right now that means that 30 stakes will be pulled away from the Mount Timpanogos district, which will split it right in half. As the Church gauges how patron attendance is at both temples, any subsequent adjustments could be made to either district.

That brings our discussion to the Payson Utah Temple. It became the Church's 146th operating temple when it was dedicated on June 7, 2015 by President Henry B. Eyring. Having a temple in Payson means a lot to me personally. I spent the bulk of my childhood years in that city, and I always felt it would get a temple of its own someday, but I wasn't convinced that would happen in my lifetime. I still hear every once in a while from some members of the ward we were in during our time in Payson just how much of a difference having a temple there has made for them.

The district of that temple serves 28 stakes which have been established in Central Utah and the Southern Utah Valley, which includes the communities of Delta, Elk Ridge, Goshen, Mapleton, Nephi, Payson, Salem, and Spanish Fork. If and when this district needs to be split, I could see the merits of a temple in either Delta or Mapleton.

The last currently operating temple serving this area, as you are all probably aware, was once the Provo Tabernacle. When a fire tragically burned that building beyond repair, President Monson was inspired to rebuild and renovate it as a second temple for the city of Provo.

That temple was dedicated just last year on March 20, and the First Presidency sent Elder Dallin H. Oaks, who had numerous personal connections to preside at two of the dedicatory sessions (since President Russell M. Nelson was in attendance at the last one, he presided at that session). That temple became the 150th in operation worldwide. As for its district. the Provo City Center Temple currently serves those 29 stakes spread through southern Provo and Springville. So it is very decently sized.

This concludes my coverage of Utah County Temples, 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 will, as already noted, be put up to discuss those temples in Washington and Weber), 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--Utah South Area, Part Two: Temples in Iron, San Juan, Sanpete, and Uintah Counties

Hello again, everyone! In this second post covering the Utah South Area, I will be focusing on the following for temples: Cedar City, Monticello, Manti, and Vernal, which are located respectively in Iron, San Juan, Sanpete, and Sevier counties. Subsequent posts will focus on Utah County (which is home to 4 temples (which will be five when the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple is built and dedicated, so Utah County will likely get its own post), and a final post discussing the two temples in Washington and Weber Counties. In addition to the history, my remaining posts for this area will be addressing the composition of current (or, in the case of the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, future) temple districts, and will go into where and when other temples could be built be in each region.

That said, let's get right to the discussion of the first four. We start with the Cedar City Utah Temple. As we know, that temple was just dedicated just over 2 weeks ago, on December 10, 2017, and President Henry B. Eyring presided at that dedication. The purpose of building this temple was to reduce the size of the St. George Temple district.

The Cedar City Temple serves the Saints from 15 stakes in southern Utah, and 2 others (the Ely and Panaca stakes) from Nevada's eastern portion. I have before ventured my opinion that the Church could build a temple in Ely at some point. But I am not sure how else the Church might opt to split the district in the future. Right now, it seems fairly manageable.

Moving on to Monticello, that temple was dedicated as the 53rd operating temple of the Church by President Gordon B. Hinckley on November 17, 2002. Its' district takes in 7 stakes, 4 from Western Colorado (2 from Grand Junction, and 1 each in Durango and Montrose Colorado) along with 3 others from southeastern Utah (namely Blanding, Moab, and Monticello). So that district is also very manageable.

The Saints in Utah's Sanpete County are currently served by the Manti Utah Temple, which became the 3rd operating temple of the Church when it was dedicated between May 21-23, 1888 by 5th Church President Lorenzo Snow.

Its district currently serves those Saints from 22 stakes in Central Utah. If and when the Church opts to split this district, a temple could be announced in either Ephraim or Richfield. While that possibility does not seem to be imminent at the moment, I will keep an eye on this district as I am able to do so, and will pass along anything that would point to either possibility.

I would now like to finish this post by talking about the Vernal Utah Temple, which, as already noted, is based in Uintah County. Dedicated between November 2-4, 1997 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, it became the 51st operating temple of the Church. Its' district is comprised of 10 stakes located in northeastern Utah, and 2 each from northwestern Colorado (the Craig and Rife stakes) and southwestern Wyoming (Green River and Rock Springs). Again, not a huge district, so I don't see much potential for it to split.

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--Utah South Area, Part One: Area Overview and Current Temples

Hello again, everyone! I am back to start my coverage of the final Church area, the Utah South Area. This area is the one with which I am most familiar, as I have been born and raised within its boundaries. Therefore, while all of the areas have been a lot of fun to cover, this area is the one for which I have the greatest anticipation for temples. Every important event in my life has occurred in Utah County, including and especially my six-year service as a temple worker that led me to meet, fall in love with, and marry the woman who has stood by faithfully beside me through our now 7 years of marriage (our anniversary was on the 18th).

The Utah South Area is comprised of regions south of the Salt Lake Valley, and small portions of both Arizona and Nevada. The Saints in this area are served by 8 temples in operation within its' boundaries, and will also have the Saratoga Springs area better covered once that temple is built and dedicated.

The 8 temples, by name, are the Cedar City Manti, Mount Timpanogos (built in American Fork City, a place I proudly claim as my hometown, not by birth, but rather by virtue of spending most of my now 31 years as a resident of that city, and to which I feel I have the greatest personal ties), Payson, Provo City Center and Provo Utah, St. George, and Vernal.

In subsequent posts, I will share a more particular history of these temples, the size of their districts, and the potential I see for future temples within the Utah South Area. I will be approaching that subject by the counties of Utah within which each of the counties that fall within this area of the Church

But 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: Utah Salt Lake City Area--Part Two: The Three Other Temples In This Area/Other Future Possibilities

Hello again, everyone! I am back with my second post about the Utah Salt Lake City Area, and will focus this post on the other three temples that serve the Saints within that area. That will include the history of those three, an exploration of the makeup of their current districts, and if, when, and where other new temples might be built to serve the Saints in this area.

So the second temple that was built to serve these Saints was the Jordan River Utah Temple. At the time of its' dedication (which was held between November 16-20, 1981; it is significant to me that this is the only temple of the Church that was originally dedicated by President Marion G. Romney), it became the Church's 20th in operation worldwide.

As we know, it has been closed for renovation since February 15 of last year, and has had its rededication set for May 20 of next year. While it may be too early to tell who might preside at this temple dedication, since this a Salt Lake Valley temple, I am anticipating high attendance from Church leadership.

That said, I had thought the same thing about every Utah temple dedication and rededication that has occurred for the last 3 years, and I always find out later that there weren't as many Church leaders in attendance as I was anticipating. So I am honestly not sure what to expect for this rededication.

When the temple is up and running again, it will continue to serve the Saints in the 66 stakes that comprise its district. There is a chance that this temple district could split at some point, but I am not at all sure if, when, and how that might occur.

I might venture Murray, Riverton, or Taylorsville as potential candidates, but if the Salt Lake district is split at any point, several stakes within this district may also be redistributed at surrounding temples.

That said, I would be interested in hearing any thoughts any of you have about the most likely prospect to effect such a split, and how soon you feel that might occur. Let me know in the comments below.

In addition to the Jordan River and Salt Lake Temples, Saints in the Utah Salt Lake City area are also served by two other temples: Draper and Oquirrh Mountain. I will start with the latter, since that is also located in South Jordan.

As most of you are aware, the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple was announced because of how busy the Jordan River Temple was. At the time of its dedication (which occurred between August 21-23, 2009, with President Thomas S. Monson, who celebrated his 82nd birthday on the first day of that dedication, presiding. That temple brought the number of those in operation to 130.

As for its district, it takes in 35 stakes from the Western Salt Lake Valley. Some have said that this district could be split as well. Because I have friends of my family who relocated a few years ago from Alpine in Utah County to Herriman in the Salt Lake Valley, I know from their reports that Herriman is growing speedily. For that reason, if and when another temple is built to divide this district, I feel confident Herriman will be selected for that honor.

Before moving on to Draper, the final temple in this area, I also wanted to note that President Gordon B. Hinckley announced in General Conference in April 2005 that the Church was holding land in reserve for a temple in the Southwestern part of Salt Lake Valley, and that an official announcement of its location would be made once a temple was needed there.

Some have contended that either the Draper or Oquirrh Mountain temples were likely the location to which President Hinckley referred, but since most sources I have available for such information still list that temple as only being publicly proposed, we know that an official announcement of that location is still pending.

That said, since many of the temples announced by President Monson were publicly proposed and/or referenced by President Hinckley, I feel we could see that location announced fairly soon, wherever it turns out to be.

I'd like to now conclude my discussion of the temple sites in this area by talking about the Draper Utah Temple, which was dedicated from March 20-22, 2009. President Monson presided at this event that gave the Church its' 129th operating temple.

The current composition of the Draper temple district is 29 stakes in the Southeastern Salt Lake Valley. If the Salt Lake Valley continues to grow, I could see a temple announced in the Sandy area, which would take stakes from this district, and also some other from the Jordan River district. Let me know your thoughts on that prospect in the comments below.

Sorry for the length of this post. That does it for the moment. 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.