Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple Dedicated as 163rd Operating Temple of the Church

Hello again, everyone! With the time now being almost 9:00 PM Sunday in Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo, all dedicatory sessions for that temple have concluded. So I wanted to provide a glimpse at coverage of the dedicatory events. Firstly, it is worth nothing that, in presiding over the dedicatory events this weekend, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (for whom, as I explained in another post yesterday, this temple's dedication was personally significant) was accompanied by his wife, Ruth L. Renlund, and their only child, Ashley.

The Africa Southeast Area Presidency (Elders S. Mark Palmer, Joseph W. Sitati, and Joni L. Koch) were also in attendance, along with their wives. I had thought I remembered reading about the Temple Department Executive Director, Elder Larry Y. Wilson,. also being in attendance, along with Elder Kevin S. Hamilton of the Seventy, who was just released last year as president of the Africa Southeast Area, but I could not find that verified in any of the sources I found.

So for now, I wanted to pass along the news articles I was able to find on this weekend's events. This article provided an overview of the dedicatory weekend, including the note about Elder Renlund presiding thereat. Another article highlights the youth devotional that was held roughly 24 hours or so ago, while a third article highlights the temple's dedication. Elder Renlund is, as I previously mentioned, the new least-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to ever preside over the dedication of a temple, and he received this assignment due to both his service on the Temple and Family History Executive Council and to his personal connection to that area.

With this temple dedication having been held, the next major temple events will be the Fortaleza Brazil Temple open house, which will begin in less than two weeks, the groundbreakings on May 4 of this year for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples, the private rededication of the Memphis Tennesee Temple on May 5 by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, the groundbreaking for the Quito Ecuador Temple the following Saturday, the private rededication of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple on May 19 by President Henry B. Eyring, the dedication of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple on June 2, the groundbreaking for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple the following Saturday, and the rededication of the Oakland California Temple 8 days after that/

Time will tell, but if what I am hearing on my end is any indication, the second half of 2019 will be just as busy (if not more so) in terms of scheduled temple events. We already know about the scheduled dedications for the Port-au-Prince Haiti and Lisbon Portugal Temples on September 1 and 15 respectively, and that the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple is scheduled for October 20. I woud anticipate that, following the scheduled announcement this Friday about the renovation plans. details, and involved timing for the Salt Lake Temple, there will be at least a few other temple events announced at some point over the next couple of moths and beyond.

It will be a busy season for the Church in terms of such developments, and for my part, I will be doing my level best to bring you all word of those as they occur, in addition to continuing to share any other major Church news which crosses my radar. At this point, I am not sure what to expect in terms of how soon the area leadership assignments for this year may be announced. That could happen prior to or just after Friday's announcement, or it could be delayed another week or two. But whenever any such announcements are made, I will be sure to bring word of those here as I learn about them.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Elder Dale G. Renlund Will Preside At Dedication of Kinshasa DR Congo Temple

Hello again, everyone! In a development I did not see coming but one that certainly makes sense, it has been reported that Elder Dale G. Renlund is in Kinshasa this weekend to preside over the dedicatory events for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple. As I mentioned previously, as of 2016, Elder David A. Bednar had been the most junior apostle to ever preside over a dedication without a more senior leader present. That occurred when he was asked to oversee the dedication of the Star Valley Wyoming Temple.

In Elder Renlund's case, not only is he a member of the Temple and Family History Executive Council, but because he, as a General Authority Seventy, had served in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency for a period of at least a few years prior to his call to the apostleship, the dedication of this particular temple would be significant for him on a personal level as well.

Just one or two other thoughts on this, if I may offer them. In a discussion late last year or in the early part of this year on the Church growth blog, the anticipated increase in temple events, primarily relating to the dedication of new temples, was mentioned. The question was asked whether General Authority Seventies could at some point be called upon to preside over temple dedications. While there may come a day when 3 temples are dedicated on average roughly every two weeks, the Church may not get to that point in the immediate or near future.

That said, while it is true that the seventy are the ones whom the Lord directed the apostles should call upon for assistance in the work of His Church, the keys to bind and seal on earth and in heaven, particularly in relation to the dedication of temples, are inherent in the apostleship, and apostles can only exercise those keys with the authorization of the Church President. Therefore, it would take a major change in the prescribed delegation of those keys for any General Authority Seventy to represent the apostles, and, by extension, the President of the Church in such cases.

Of course, with Elder Renlund being the 10th in seniority among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and thus being the 13th most senior apostle overall, it is plain to see that opportunities are being given to the more junior apostles to preside over dedications personally without a more senior apostle being in attendance. And that may be the start of a new precedent.

But unless the Lord prompts a change in the keys specifically given to General Authority Seventies, or expands the ways in which the Seventy have authority to assist the Quorum of the Twelve, for the moment, based on my understanding of Church doctrine and policy, I would say that I don't see any General Authority Seventies being asked to preside over the dedication of any temples, at least for the immediate and near future.

I am grateful to have been able to learn of this development and to pass it along to you all here. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Announces New Church Historian and Recorder and Commissioner of Church Education

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced a new Church Historian and Recorder, along with a new Commissioner of Church Education. The Brethren serving currently in those assignments, Elders Steven E. Snow and Kim B. Clark respectively, will be released as General Authorities and granted emeritus status this October.

The new Church Historian and Recorder will be Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, who currently serves as First Counselor in the Utah Area Presidency and as Assistant Executive Director of the Church History Department. The new Commissioner of Church Education will be Elder Paul V. Johnson, who had been serving in that capacity when Elder Clark was called to replace him following Elder Johnson's call to serve outside the United States in the Europe Area Presidency.

Elder Johnson becomes the second general authority to serve two separate terms as Commissioner of Church Education. The other was Henry B. Eyring, who served in that capacity from 1980-1986 and again from 1992-2004. I had a feeling those changes were coming down the pike at some point, and I am grateful to have learned about and been able to report these changes.  I do continue to monitor all Church news and 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.

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson's Next Global Ministry Tour Announced

Hello again, everyone! Earlier today, the Church's official Newsroom shared a release announcing the next leg of President Russell M. Nelson's ongoing global ministry tour. The latest leg of that tour will take place in mid-to-late May throughout the Pacific Area of the Church, and President Nelson and his wife, Wendy, will be accompanied by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Susan.

The tour will kick off on Thursday May 16 and end on Saturday May 25. After departing from Salt Lake on that Thursday, the tour will begin in Kona Hawaii. On Saturday the 18th, the group of leaders will be in Apia Samoa, and will travel over to Sydney Australia the following day. On Monday, a two-day stop in Auckland New Zealand will be observed. Wednesday, the group will arrive in Suva Fiji, followed by a stop in Nuku'alofa Tonga the following day. Once their time in Tonga is completed, they will cross the international date line into Papeete Tahiti, which will mark the last stop on the tour.

As many of you may have noticed by now, quite a few of the stops are in nations where temples have been announced, and perhaps part of the time during that tour may involve looking at prospective temple locations. This tour will allow the leaders to meet with members and missionaries in all of these cities. And again, we see President Nelson planning a trip at somewhat of a breakneck speed. This may be the first of two or perhaps even three legs of his Global Ministry Tour this year.

The Newsroom release to which I shared a link above notes more specific details, which are well worthy of your time. The Newsroom will be carrying full reports on this tour as the stops are observed, and I will be carrying that coverage here on this blog as well. We are blessed to have a prophet who is healthy enough to travel extensively, and we continue to see him stopping at home between trips just long enough to recover, retrieve another apostolic companion, and head out again. And the fact that he is continuing to do so as his 95th birthday draws ever closer is amazing and outstanding.

I guess I should also mention that just because the next official leg of that ongoing Global Ministry Tour will take place in May, that doesn't mean he won't be making other stops elsewhere as time and circumstances allow in the interim. There is still no word as to who might be presiding over the dedication of the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple this weekend, so he could oversee that personally, or delegate that assignment to either of his counselors or one of the senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

For my part, I will continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will bring you all word of such news 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.

Temple Updates Noted

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now to share some temple updates, many of which are long overdue. First, as of today, there are 10.99 years between now and the bicentennial anniversary of the restoration of the Church (which will, as previously noted, be observed on Saturday April 6, 2030). For the Church to have a minium of 200 temples operating by that time, 38 of those currently under construction or announced will need to be dedicated within that time, which could be accomplished as long as the Church completes roughly 3.44 temples per year.

Given that the dedication of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple is set to be dedicated this weekend (with no indication yet as to who might be presiding thereover), and that 3 more temples will be dedicated over the course of the next 5.25 months or so, that average will likely have gone down quite a bit between now and the next General Conference. And the remainder of this year promises to be full of other temple-related events.

With that noted, let's move on to discuss some updates on temple construction. At the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, palm trees are being planted, while irrigation lines are being laid for the flowerbeds, and curbing and walkways are also being poured. In the meantime, the Arequipa Peru Temple is anticipated to be the next new temple to have a dedication scheduled, and it has been reported that temporary glass and the south momument sign have both been installed, that sod has been laid, and that flowers, bushes, and trees have been planted.

At the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, cladding is going up around the steeple pedestal. And an update on the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple notes that structural steel framing is underway. while wood framing continues for the meetinghouse. And moving on to temples which had a groundbreaking earlier this year, at the Pocatello Idaho Temple site, excavation is underway on the foundation, while the process of connecting to utilities continues. Meanwhile, footing and foundation work is underway at the Urdaneta Philippines Temple site.

And it has also been reported that the demolition process for the Trujillo Alto Ward chapel has been completed. As a result, the site of the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple has been cleared for its; groundbreaking. We move on now to temples undergiong renovation. The one-week open house for the Memphis Tennessee Temple begins this Saturday. And at the Frankfurt Germany Temple grounds, trees and shrubs are being planted, while a staircase is being poured to the temple entrance.

Progress has likewise been noted on both the Raleigh North Carolina and Baton Rouge Louisiana Temples. Regarding the former, hard landscaping elements continue to be installed, which includes planter boxes and walkways. And in relation to the latter, new information indicates that the monument sign has been completed, that lamp-posts are being installed, and that the work of cladding the exterior walls in nearing completion.

As previously noted, I have also put the Salt Lake Temple down on my report as a temple for which a renovation announcement has been scheduled. I have additionally taken time between the conclusion of General Conference and now to revisit my thoughts about temples which I consider to be in a "Groundbreaking anticipated" status, and have added the 8 new temples to the "Announced" section of my temple construction progress report. There were numerous changes involved in that process, so I will conclude this post by publishing the updated version of those two sections.

In order to not disturb the flow of that information, I will end here and now as I always do: 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.

Groundbreaking anticipated:

180. Brasilia Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; property fence installed around temple site; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2019.

181. Greater Manila Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official name announcement; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2019.

182. Richmond Virginia Temple: Preliminary plans submitted to local government; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.

Note: On March 27, 2019, new information on this temple indicated that plans had been submitted, but also the location where the plans will be utilized, which appears to be the location held in reserve for that prospect around 3-4 years before the temple was announced. If the First Presidency confirms this information, it is not hard to believe that a groundbreaking could be held at around the time indicated.

183. Nairobi Kenya Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site confirmation; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.

Note: The Church of Jesus Christ Temples site noted in mid-February 2019 that a site had been procured for this temple. But during President Nelson’s visit to Nairobi in April 2018, a public affairs representative had noted that this temple would be smaller, and that a dedication for it was anticipated to occur sometime in 2021. So it seems reasonable to assume that a groundbreaking could occur within the next 12 months, but hopefully sooner, if all goes well.

184. Saratoga Springs Utah Temple: Government approval phase; awaiting official site confirmation and release of artist’s rendering; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.

185. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; President Nelson visited potential site on April 17, 2018; groundbreaking anticipated in late 2019.

Note: Although the site visited by President Nelson in April 2018 has not been confirmed as the official location for the temple, Elder Andersen, in a November meeting with Zimbabwe’s Vice President, noted that the Church hoped to break ground for that temple in the late months of 2019. So I have no doubt that will be able to occur.

186. Salta Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019.

Note: The site has already been confirmed for this temple.

187. Layton Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.

Note: A potential site has already been identified (though not yet confirmed) for this temple.

188. Mendoza Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.

Note: The site has already been confirmed for this temple.

189. Puebla Mexico Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.

Note: A Church member living in Mexico reports that the area presidency is scouting that city for temple locations, and that construction could begin in the early months of 2020.

190. Managua Nicaragua Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.

Note: The Church has held land in reserve for a temple site for several years. If that property is confirmed as the temple site, a groundbreaking could easily occur at around this time.

191. Auckland New Zealand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site confirmation; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.

Note: I found out several years ago that the Church had held land in reserve for a temple in this city for a while now (with that fact confirmed by a Church member living in that area), so I hope that means a site confirmation will occur sooner rather than later.

192. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.

Note: Although there has not been an official site confirmed for this temple yet, President Nelson seems to be working on the queue of announced temples from both ends thereof. With that in mind, although I hope this temple’s groundbreaking will occur before then, if it doesn’t, I could see it occurring at around this time.

193. Yuba City, California Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.

Note: A potential site has been identified (though not yet confirmed) for this temple.

194. Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.

Note: A potential site has been identified (though not yet confirmed) for this temple.

195. Bengaluru India Temple: Planning and approval phase; announced April 1, 2018; awaiting official site announcement; President Nelson toured potential locations on April 19, 2018; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020

Announced Temples (for which more information is needed before I provide a groundbreaking estimate):

196. Washington County Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement.

197. Salvador Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

198. Lagos Nigeria Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

199. Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

200. Davao Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

201. Pago Pago American Samoa Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

202. Okinawa City Okinawa (Japan) Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

203. Neiafu Tonga Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

204. Tooele Valley Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement

205. Moses Lake Washington Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

206. San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

207. Antofagasta Chile Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

208. Budapest Hungary Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

209. Russia Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement.