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Monday, March 18, 2019

Numerous Temple Updates Provided

Hello again, everyone! Given that a number of temple updates have been brought to my attention, I wanted to post again now to share them in sum and total. First of all, after not having an update on the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Temple since mid-November of last year, it has been reported that its' foundation is nearing completion. Next, as previously noted, work began in earnest on the Pocatello Idaho Temple today, as site clearing and rough grading is underway. So that temple was in a "Construction pending" status for only around 48 hours after its' groundbreaking.

Last week, surplus items from the Yigo chapel were being sold. With the completion of that surplus sale, that chapel is now being prepared for demolition. And the final two updates I have are on temples undergoing renovation. At the Memphis Tennessee Temple, entrance doors have been installed, and, as noted earlier, open house reservations are now available for that temple (with such reservations being accepted through Saturday April 20, which will mark the last day of that open house).

Meanwhile, on the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple, entrance sconces are being installed, while the exterior lighting is now operational. As noted elsewhere on this blog earlier today, reservations for that temple's open house will be available from today through Wednesday May 1, which will coincide with the last day of such tours. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

A Couple of Items of Blog Business

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to take an opportunity to briefly transact some blog business. First, after a lot more research and some experimentation, I have again made alterations to the layout of this blog. Based on the results I see with the latest alterations, or on the feedback any of you might choose to provide about them, further adjustments may be necessary over the next little while. So I'd like to thank you all for your ongoing patience while I continue to experiment in this regard.

In the meantime, I made the determination earlier today that I could be more effective in presenting the progress of temple construction during the year if I were to post my full report once every quarter-year. With that in mind, I will be posting a comparative look at temple progress as it was at the beginning of this year to what it will look like at the end of March, either in the late night hours of March 31, or at my first opportunity to do so on April 1. So stay tuned for the post on that at that time.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.

Saturday, March 16, 2019

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Held for Pocatello Idaho Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to be able to bring you news that the groundbreaking for the Pocatello Idaho Temple took place this morning as planned. Elder Wilford W. Andersen, who serves as president of the Church's Idaho & North America Central Areas, presided at this groundbreaking, accompanied by his counselors, Elders S. Gifford Nielsen and Brian K. Taylor. The size of this temple has been compared in size to some other temples, including the Meridian Idaho Temple that was dedicated roughly 16 months ago.

Construction of this temple is anticipated to take between 2-3 years to complete. Having noted that, I wanted to pass along some other temple information as well. A few of the sources I have available for some of the things I have passed along on this blog have revisited their thoughts about the time-frames for the completion of each of the three temples that are now considered to be in a "Construction pending" status. Particularly, those sources list the completion estimates for both the Pocatello Idaho and Urdaneta Philippines Temples somewhere between late 2021 and early 2022, while pushing the estimated completion for the Bangkok Thailand Temple to sometime in 2022.

I mention these changes because, depending on other tidbits I can glean elsewhere, I may need to thoroughly revisit my recently-offered altered observations about the more specific time-frames for the completion of each of these temples. Stay tuned for more on that as I figure it all out. In the meantime, I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those you to all as I become aware of such updates.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Thursday, March 14, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Church (and World) Invited to Celebrate President Nelson's 95th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! The Church's Newsroom shared this report earlier today noting that members of the Church (and friends of other faiths) worldwide are being invited to a celebration which will be held in honor of President Nelson's 95th birthday this year. 5-year milestone celebrations have traditionally been held for presidents of the Church for a while now. President Hinckley had a 90th birthday celebration, and also a 95th, and President Monson had one in honor of his 85th birthday in 2012.

This celebration will be historically significant for another reason, as this is the first time in Church history that the first major milestone birthday celebrated by a Church President since his ordination will be a 95th birthday. We have seen the first such celebrations for other Church Presidents occur at the 80th, 85th, or 90th, but never the 95th as that first birthday. I hope the wording of that last sentence makes sense to you all.

As has been somewhat traditional as well, the celebration will be held on Friday September 6, before President Nelson's actual birthday (which he will observe the following Monday). The special guests and other particulars and details about the celebration will be announced as those arrangements are made. And the news release in question features a quote from President Nelson's right-hand man, President Oaks.

I had thought that the Church would be having such a celebration for President Nelson in this milestone year, and it is wonderful to have that confirmed. I will be sure to do my level best to bring you all word of any additional details I hear on this, as well as any and all Church news and temple developments, ASAP after I receive word of such things.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Additional Temple Updates Reported

Hello again, everyone! A number of new temple developments have been reported within the last 12 hours or less. So let's get right into talking about those. First, the last time we had an update on the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Temple was almost four months ago, on November 17, 2018, at which time we learned that construction poles were being installed. Today, a new report shows that the construction barrier has been erected around the temple site, which is a major step setting the stage for the construction of the temple to officially begin.

We turn now to a couple of the temples that have a groundbreaking scheduled. At the Pocatello Idaho Temple site, a groundbreaking tent has been set up in preparation for the groundbreaking ceremony, which, as we know, is scheduled to occur this upcoming Saturday March 16 at 11:00 AM.

Barring anything unexpected occurring, I would anticipate that construction will be able to begin for that temple within the week following the groundbreaking ceremony. In the meantime, surplus items from the Yigo Guam chapel are being sold today and tomorrow in order to clear that chapel out before it is demolished.

And I have one other update to report by way of progress on the Raleigh North Carolina Temple renovation process. That temple's latest status update still notes that stone cladding has been completed, but also provides new updates indicating that decorative fencing has been delivered, and that landscaping is underway.

Given the fact that 1 new temple will be dedicated and 1 temple currently undergoing renovation will be rededicated in June, I stand by my earlier offered assessment that the rededication of the Raleigh Temple will likely be announced within the next month or two, but set to occur at some point in August, following the conclusion of the annual July recess for the General Authorities.

Additionally, I should note that, because of the many unexpected temple-related announcements we have seen within the last several months, I am anticipating a few more of those in the not-too-distant future. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news in addition to all temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all here as I receive it.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.