BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Mesa Arizona Temples

Note: This post was originally published at 10:02 AM, and updated with additional analysis throughout that afternoon.

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the First Presidency announced the reopening dates for the Mesa Arizona Temple. At some point shortly after the Newsroom reported those arrangements, subsequent additional coverage on the announcement was provided through the Church News. I was surprised by the timing of both the arrangements being announced and by the parameters of when that will take place. Let's get into the details. 

I want to note right at the outset that I had believed and asserted as recently as earlier this week that the reopening of the Mesa Arizona Temple seemed likely to be delayed into 2022, primarily because I knew Arizona has had some issues getting COVID-19 properly controlled. At the same time, however, I recognize that the First Presidency likely has some information that may not be available to those of us not privy to the relevant discussions that has led them to surmise that this temple can be safely reopened.

Getting into the specifics of this morning's announcement, the Church announced plans to dedicate the Visitor's Center on Thursday August 12 @ 7:00 PM PDT.The use of Pacific Daylight time in those arrangements may require a bit of explanation. Time works differently in Arizona. Most of the year, Arizona aligns with Mountain Standard time, as a result of which the time in Denver, a majority of Arizona, and here in Utah is exactly the same. 

But because Arizona does no spring forward or fall back time-wise, when daylight savings time impacts Denver and Utah, most of Arizona (including Mesa) does not shift, and the time during those months aligns with Pacific time (which is impacted by Daylight Savings).. So during Daylight Savings time, although most of Arizona doesn't observe that, given the shifts in Denver and Utah, the Pacific Daylight time applies to Arizona.

The open house for the Mesa Arizona Temple will be held in the weeks between the Saturdays of October 16 and November 20, 2021. That is a period of 35 full days, but tours will obviously not he conducted on any of the applicable Sundays (October 17, 24, and 31 and November 7 and 14), which brings the number of open house tour days down to 30.

A youth devotional is set to occur on Saturday December 11, with the rededication set for the following day. Three rededicatory sessions will be held (at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM). Presiding over that weekend's events will be President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency. The youth devotional and rededicatory sessions will be carried to all meeting houses in the temple district, which will allow a smaller number of guests to safely gather for each session in the temple proper.

And it appears that in-person attendance in the temple proper will be by invitation only. The announcement notes that additional details will be announced closer to that temple's opening. Given that the rededication of this temple is occurring roughly one month after the recently-announced dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple, it will be very interesting to see what happens in terms of opening arrangements for temples that are or will sonon be completed, and for the rededications of the Washington DC, Tokyo Japan, and Hamilton New Zealand Temples.

I imagine that the First Presidency is waiting a little longer on announcing arrangements for the Hamilton temple because more needs to be done to move it towards completion, but since New Zealand has the pandemic well under control, the Church could probably fit that in to the schedule wherever it might make sense. We additionally know that Brazil still does not have the pandemic under control, nor is that likely to occur until April of next year, so the dedication of the Rio de Janeiro temple might be postponed until that time. If Washington DC (technically Maryland), Japan, Manitoba, Ecuador, Guam, San Juan, and Praia all continue to see improvements in COVID-19 conditions, those temples could ee opening dates announced in the coming months as well.

The one big question, to which we might not have an answer in the near term, is whether any of these other temples to which I referred might be able to have their openings before the end of the year. My gut feeling is that the Church will likely hold off on announcing reopening arrangements for the Tokyo temple until after the rescheduled 2020 Olympic Summer Games in that city conclude. And it will be considerably easier for the Church to schedule openings for smaller temples. So I'm thinking that we might see the Church dedicate the Quito temple and rededicate the Tokyo and/or Hamilton temples by the end of this year, and that other temple openings or reopenings might be deferred until the early months of next year.

But the Lord has surprised us in the recent past, and He can and definitely will continue to do so in the future. In the meantime, I am grateful to have learned of and been able to cover this announcement today, and I was intrigued by the mention that "additional details" will be announced on the Mesa reopening closer to the time it is set to occur, so we'll look forward to seeing what that means. Aside from that, I will continue to also monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will bring word of those to you all as I become aware thereof.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Locatons Confirmed and Preliminary Information Released for Three More Temples in the Western United States

Hello again, everyone! Within the last couple of weeks, six new temples announced during General Conference last April have had sites confirmed and preliminariy details announced. That trend continues today, with three more temples in the western United States having sites confirmed and preliminary information announced. Let's break down the details: The three today are the ones in Farmington New Mexico, Grand Junction Colorado, and Burley Idaho. The Farmington New Mexico Temple will rise at the intersecction of Windsor Drive and College Boulevard, on a site that is 6.62 acres. Plans call for a single-story temple of roughly 25,000 square feet (most likely comparable to the Bentonville Arkansas Temple), with the project to include a new meetinghouse adjacent to the temple.

The Grand Junction Colorado Temple is planned to have an identical square footage as the tmple in Farmington New Mexico. That project only includes the temple, which will be built at the intersections of North 12th Street and Horizon Drive. Meanwhile, the plans for the Burley Idaho Temple call for a two-story edifice of approximately 38,600 square feet. That temple will be built at the intersection of 150 East and 40 South, which is home to a 10.1 acre site.

Given the larger size of these temples, and the nuances that may factor in to their approval and construction processes, each of these temples could have a groundbreakng in the final quarter of this year, with varying time-frames for their completion. But this also further demontrates that not all of the temples announced most recently by President Nelson will be the smaller size that will use prefabricated modular components.

I suppose there is a chance that the Church could potentially expand the use of modular compoenents to slightly larger temples, so we'll have to see what happens there. By way of information, this leaves only 2 of the temples announced in the Western United States with no official information confirmed yet: Eugene Oregon and Yorba Linda California. But it wouldn't shock me if preliminary details were to come down the pike for both of those next week, along with one or two of their international counterparts. It will be interesting to see what happens there.

On my end, I continue to monitor all such updates, including new Church Newws reports and any other temple updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware thereof.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Additional Temple Reopenings Announced

Hello again, everyone! Last night, knowing that the Church would be making its' weekly temple reopening announcements this morning, I repeated the process I've used to prepare for that announcement by scheduling a post to be published here not long after the anticipated announcement was made. I prepared a scheduled post for that purpose by copying and pasting the content of my last update into that scheduled post.

The post I'd prepared in advance was published roughly 2 hours ago as arranged, but I had yet another rough night last night and I wound up sleeping through the Church News alert on temple reopenings that was sent at around the same time the post was published here. We have seen major temple reopening developments reported weekly within the last month, and today was no different. When I got the chance to go over today's report, there were some very significant developments reported today alone.

So I opted to delete the previously-published post and start fresh. There is actually more to the coverage of today's announcement than the usual 2 articles from the Church News and the Newsroom release. Let's get into specifics. This week, the Newsroom noted that the Kyiv Ukraine Temple, which has not reopened in any phase since the closure of all operating temples was first announced, will reopen in phase 1 (allowing living husband-to-wife sealings where both are previously endowed, with limited guests in attendance and COVID-19 guidelines strictly observed). That temple is set to reopen next Monday (July 5). That development was further confirmed by the Church News.

Aside from that long-awaited announcement, the Church also noted this morning that 4 temples (Mexico City Mexico, Paris France, the Hague Netherlands, and Vancouver British Columbia) will transition from phase 2 (allowing all living ordinances in priority order) to phase 2-B (continuing to offer all living ordinances in priority order, but also allowing the baptistries in each of those temples to reopen to small groups). Additionally, the Church reported that 16 more North American temples reopened in phase 3 yesterday (Monday June 21). Those temples, broken down by the area of the Church under which they fall, are as follows:

North America Central: Boise, Idaho Falls, Meridian, and Rexburg Idaho; Billings Montana

North America Southwest: Monticello Utah; 

North America West: Fresno, Newport Beach, Oakland, Redlands, Sacramento,  and San Diego California

Utah: Manti, Mount Timpanogos, Payson, and Vernal Utah

The Church has now announced phase 3 reopenings for 25 of the 60 temples mentioned in that announcement, which means there are 35 temples remaining from that announcement. By area, that includes the following temples:

Caribbean: Port-au-Prince Haiti

Central America: Panama City Panama and Tegucigalpa Honduras

North America Central: Nauvoo Illinois and Star Valley Wyoming

North America Northeast: Montreal Quebec

North America Southeast: Birmingham Alabama

North America Southwest: The Gila Valley, Gilbert, Phoenix, Snowflake, and Tucson Arizona; Houston Texas; and the Mesa Arizona temple district (which will allow patrons to schedule phase 3 proxy work at the nearest temple.)

Utah: Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrh Mountain; and the Salt Lake temple district (which will allow those in that district to schedule phase 3 proxy work at the nearest temple).

Having said that, we now similarly break down by geographic area of the Church the 36 additional temples which are set to open in phase 3 by the end of July:

Europe: Frankfurt and Freiburg Germany; Bern Switzerland; Copenhagen Denmark; Lisbon Portugal; Madrid Spain; Rome Italy

North America Central: Denver and Fort Collins Colorado; Bismarck North Dakota; Chicago Illinois; Regina Saskatchewan; St. Paul Minnesota; 

North America Northeast: Manhattan and Palmyra New York; Boston Massachusetts; Columbus Ohio (which, while undergoing renovation, will allow patrons to schedule phase 3 proxy work at the next nearest temple); Detroit Michigan; Hartford Connecticut; Indianapolis Indiana;  Philadelphia Pennsylvania; Washington D.C. (which, while awaiting rededication, will allow patrons to schedule phase 3 proxy work at the next nearest temple).

North America Southeast: Fort Lauderdale and Orlando Florida; Columbia South Carolina; Louisville Kentucky; Memphis Tennessee; Raleigh North Carolina

North America West: Columbia River, Seattle and Spokane Washington; Medford and Portland Oregon; Anchorage Alaska; Los Angeles California

Philippines: Cebu City Philippines

South America Northwest: Guayaquil Ecuador

As of next Monday (June 28), the reopening status of all temples will break down as follows: 1 temple (Kyiv Ukraine) remains closed but is set to reopen in phase 1 next week; 8 others are undergoing renovation (2 of those districts have been granted phase 3 reopening status; with 4 granted phase 2-B opening status); 8 others remain paused (2 in phase 2-B, and 3 others each in phase 3 and phase 2); 2 remaining in phase 1; 18 in phase 2; 62 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 69 now in phase 3. The latest changes are also available in an area-by-area update of the temple reopening status tracker

I am grateful to have been able. to learn about and share these latest updates with you all. I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will be sure to pass word of those on to you all here as I learn about 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! As most of you are almost certainly aware, I have provided updates on the latest apostolic data (specifically relating to tbeir lifespan or tenure length milestones) roughly every seven weeks. Having last done so on  May 2, it is time to publish the newest data on th. As with that last update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, along with updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document also shows information on three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the First Presidency as presently constituted until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).  

The latest version of that document also shows when the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as currently comprised will move up on the list of the longest-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to specifics on when the current members of that Quorum, along with the current First Presidency, will reach the next milestones on that list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and the timing noted for when each of the other 13 apostles will join that list).

Hopefully this shared data will be of interest to you all, and again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, conFitinue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such reports.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Dates Announce for Pocatello Idaho Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has just been reported by the Church. The opening dates have been announced for the Pocatello Idaho Temple Given the fact that COVID-19 transmission rates have been considerably lowered and that vaccination numbers are up in Idaho, it is fully safe for the Church to plan this temple opening. And barring something extremely miraculous, I imagine that this may be the first temple dedication, if not the first temple reopening, for this year.

I say that because regardless of what happens with COVID-19 elsewhere, New Zealand also has the virus well under control, and that could mean the Hamilton temple will be the first to reopen after the pandemic. As I've previously observed, when the Church has set temple dedications in the past, it's not unheard of for rededications to be subseuqnetly announcced and scheduled to occur before temple dedications. My gut feeling is that the Church may be able to rededicate the Hamlton Temple in the weeks after the October 2021 General Conference, but we will see what happens there.

Either way,  this officially bumps the Pocatello Idaho Temple ahead in the queue of  both Rio de Janeiro Brazil and Winnipeg Manitoba, and I wouldn't be shocked if Winnipeg were scheduled wither for the end of this year or early next year. From what I understand, Brazil is still a mess in terms of the pandemic, so it could be the early months of next year before the Rio de Janeiro temple is finally able to reopen. But determinations on both temples, or any of those for which renovations have been completed, will come at another time. With those preliminary musings out of the way, let's jump right into the details on the opening arrangements for Pocatello.

The temple in that city will host public tours in the open house, which will occur from Saturday September 19-Saturday October 23, with the obvious exception of the dates for the relevant Sundays and General Conference weekend. The specific dates on which tours will not occur are September 19 and 26, and October 2-3, 10, and 17. Following the conclusion of the temple open house and a 2-week final cleaning of the temple, a yoouth devotional will be held on the evening of Saturday November 6, followed by the dedicated on Sunday Novembeer 7 by Acting President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There will be three dedcatory sessions for that temple, which will be held at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM.

Barring anything unexpected, the Pocatello Idaho Temple will thus become the 169th operating temple of the Churb. I continue to monitor all Church news and updates and will be sure to pass along that informaton to you all here as I become aware thereof.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.