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Sunday, September 8, 2019

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Puebla Mexico Temple Groundbreaking to Be Held in November

Hello again, everyone! I have breaking temple news to report today. According to information shared in another thread of this blog from my Church member contact in Mexico, the groundbreaking for the Puebla Mexico Temple is set to be held in November. This information was confirmed to the Saints in Puebla by their local leaders earlier today. The report did not specific a date, although I imgaine one has been set. I want to be very clear here, however: there has been no offical announcement from the Church at this point to confirm the information, though that should be coming within the next couple of weeks or less.

This means that the Puebla Mexico Temple will be one of the next (if not the very next) to have a groundbreaking following the recently-announced October groundbreaking for the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple. And the Peubla Temple will thus become the fourth temple announced in October 2018 to have a groundbreaking. Construction will reportedly take around 3 years to construct, and the temple is anticipated to be fairly large, though not as big as the Mexico City Mexico Temple. This information replaces any previous information I have offered on that temple here.

Again, to clarify, there has been no official confirmation from Church headquarters or on the Mexico Newsroom of the Church as of yet, and this information is subject to such official confirmation. But I wanted to share what is known here thus far, and I am sure that confirmation of the specifics will be provided at some point before General Conference. Stay tuned for more information on that. In the meantime, to reiterate, the Nairobi Kenya Temple has had a construction contract awarded, so I anticipate a groundbreaking being held for that temple either before General Conference or not long after it.

The same may prove true for the Brasilia Brazil Temple, if the Church at any point confirms that the concept designs for the temple which have reportedly been floating around social media are offical.. I am similarly hoping for more information on the Greater Manila Philippines, Harare Zimbabwe, and Bengauluru India Temples, at very minimum, although I wouldn't rule out any other temples, due to the unexpected nature of recently-announced groundbreakings. I continue to monitor all temple updates and official Church news to the best of my ability, and will pass word of such developments along to you all as I receive it.

That does it for now. 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.

Tribute to Elder Quentin L. Cook on His 79th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! As mentioned towards the end of my last post, I am back in the early morning hours of September 8 to share some thoughts about Elder Quentin L. Cook in honor of his 79th birthday today. Let's dive right into that subject. Quentin LaMar Cook was born to J. Vernon and Bernice Cook on this day in 1940 in Logan, Utah. He was a middle child, having an older brother and a younger sister. He grew up in a very gospel-centered home, although his father eventually lost interest in Church activity. roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">At age 15, he had a discussion with his brother Joe that changed his life. Joe was unsure whether to continue with his medical school studies, or to delay that in order to serve a mission, with their father favoring the first option. During that conversation, they determined that either the gospel was true or it wasn't, and that if it was, serving a mission would be the best use of Joe's time. Joe’s decision to go resulted in young Quentin eventually accepting his own call to serve in the British Mission. One of his two mission presidents was, Elder Marion D. Hanks, who simultaneously served as a general authority. At one point during his mission, his companion was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Though the two didn't know it at the time, both would go on to serve as General Authorities and as colleagues in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Cook returned from his mission with a strong testimony of the Savior and a resolve to associate with people who love the Savior, both within and outside of the Church. He married his high school sweetheart Mary Gaddie in the Logan Utah Temple on November 30, 1962. Their posterity includes three children and numerous grandchildren. He graduated from Utah State University with a degree in political science and from Stanford University with a juris doctorate degree. As a managing partner in San Francisco Bay area law firm, he specialized in business law. He later became president and chief executive officer of California Healthcare System, and vice chairman of Sutter Health Systems.

His church service has included being a bishop, stake president’s counselor, stake president, regional representative, and area authority. While he was in the stake presidency, he was instilled with a love of people from all nations when he had responsibility for Spanish, Tongan, Samoan, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Cantonese congregations. He was named a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, 1996, and as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 4, 1998. He served as a member of area presidencies in the Philippines, the Pacific, and North America, and he also served executive director of the Church Missionary Department during the time the Church developed and encouraged the use of the new missionary guidebook "Preach My Gospel".

He was subsequently called to the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2007. Nine days after that, the death of President James E. Faust, who had been serving as Second Counselor to Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, would wind up having an unexpected impact on his life. As the October General Conference rolled around, then-Elder Henry B. Eyring was called as President Hinckley's new Second Counselor, which created a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles/ On October 6, 2007, Elder Cook was sustained to fill that vacancy, and he was ordained an apostle five days later.  Elder Cook has spoken 26 times in General Conference: twice as a General Authority Seventy and  2 dozen additional times in the almost-12 years since his call to the apostleship.

I am grateful for his service as a special witness of Christ, and I wholeheartedly sustain him and the other apostles. That does it for now. 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.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Top Picks from List of Locations Which May Have a Temple Announced During the October 2019 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! Several days ago, I referenced the fact that I was working on thinning out my list of potential locations which could have a temple announced during the upcoming October General Conference to focus on the most likely picks from that list. Something told me to hold off on doing so, and in the interim, my attention was drawn to the video interview with President Nelson and Elder Cook where President Nelson indicated more temples were coming for remote areas of the world.  And based on my belief that 14-16 new temples will be announced, I offered additional thoughts regarding the general parameters I believed would come into play in the temples that will specifically be announced this go-round.

Working off of those parameters, I have thinned down my list as hoped to what I see as the top contenders for the top geographical areas in which I see a temple being announced. So I am posting again now to share that list of refined locations. I would like to reiterate a couple of things before sharing those refined picks. First of all, the following list will not be supplanting the more thorough list of locations I mentioned earlier. Within the last few General Conferences, even if I have had any of the right locations on my list, some of those locations for which temples were announced were not my top prioritized candidates for the corresponding goegraphical areas in which they were announced. So the more extensive list from July will remain my complete list of potential picks for October.

Additionally, since publishing that July list of locations, Mongolia has been transferred from the Asia Area to the Asia North Area of the Church. So that particular change impacted my assessment on the Asia and Asia North Areas in terms of the most likely candidates to get a temple in October. That said, the list follows below. In order to not disturb the flow thereof, I will end here as I always do: That does it for now. 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.

Africa Southeast: Antananarivo Madagascar
Africa West: Freetown Sierra Leone and/or Kumasi Ghana or Monrovia Liberia
Asia: Jakarta Indonesia or Singapore
Asia North: Ulaanbaatar Mongolia
Brazil: Belo Horizonte or Florianopolis Brazil
Caribbean: Kingston Jamaica
Central America: Coban Guatemala
Europe: Edinburgh Scotland or Berlin Germany
Europe East: Vilnius Lithuania
Middle East/Africa North:
North America: Bentonville Arkansas or Missoula Montana
Pacific: Port Moresby Papua New Guinea
Philippines: Tacloban or Bacolod Philippines
South America Northwest: Santa Cruz Bolivia or Iquitos Peru
South America South: Bahia Blanca Argentina

Utah: Herriman or Heber City Utah


Thursday, September 5, 2019

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Announced for the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! Around an hour ago, the Church's official Newsroom announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple will take place on Saturday October 19, and that Elder Craig C. Christensen, the President of the Church's Utah Area, will preside over that ceremony. Based on the artistic rendering for that temple and its' anticipated size, I am estimating that construction may take between 3-4 years to complete. That said, I am hopeful that the Church is setting things in motion so that at least 1 other temple can have a groundbreaking before General Conference occurs one month from today. Time will tell.

In the meantime, you can depend on my reporting on this groundbreaking as such reports are made available, including specifics on the time for it. That does it for now. 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.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Changes Made to the Sequence and Estimates for Temples In a "Groundbreaking Anticipated" Status

Hello again, everyone! On this Labor Day in the United States, I have new information to share on temples for which a groundbreaking is anticipated within the next year or less. I will present that data in the format of my restructured "Groundbreaking anticipated" section of my temple construction progress report. The information, along with the appropriate adjustments too the relevant estimates, largely speaks for itself, but if any of you have any questions for me on my reasoning for these changes, feel free to let me know. Here are those updates:

Groundbreaking anticipated:
181. Nairobi Kenya Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; construction contract awarded; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.
182. Brasilia Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; property fence installed around temple site; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.
Note: On September 1, 2019, I was advised that concept plans for this temple were floating around social media. If those plans are verified, a groundbreaking could occur within this period of time.
183. Greater Manila Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official name announcement; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2019.
Note: Based on what is and is not known presently about this temple, it seems probable that a groundbreaking for it could be fit in during this window, if all goes well.
184. 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: Aside from the information noted above, in mid-November of last year, Elder Andersen visited with Zimbabwe’s Vice President, and indicated to him that the Church was hoping to begin construction on the Harare temple in late 2019. Therefore, barring anything unexpected, it seems more likely than not that a groundbreaking could occur at around this time.
185. Bengaluru India Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.
186. Saratoga Springs Utah Temple: Preliminary plans submitted to local government on May 7, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.
187. Puebla Mexico Temple: Planning and approval phase; site acquired (according to a Church member living in Mexico); awaiting official confirmation; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.
188. Salta Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location confirmed; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.
189. Auckland New Zealand Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location confirmed on May 21, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.
190. Layton Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location officially confirmed on July 15, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.
191. Richmond Virginia Temple: Artist’s rendering and accompanying photographs released on August 28, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.
192. Mendoza Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location confirmed;
groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.


As always, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass along any and all such updates as I become aware of them. That does it for now. 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.