Hello again, everyone! In a stunning announcement that I did not see coming at all, the First Presidency has announced the revised opening arrangements for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, Open house tours will occur between Saturday March 26 and Saturday April 16, with the exceptions of Sunday March 27, Saturday and Sunday April 2 and 3 (General Conference weekend), and Sunday April 10.
A youth devotional wilnl take place on Saturday May 7, 2022, and the temple will be dedicated in 3 sessions the following day (at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM Rio de Janeiro time). Elder Gary E. Stevenson, the only remaining member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who has not yet presided at a temple dedication, will preside at this one.
I think I would be remiss if I didn't share some thoughts about the timing of the dedication arrangements here. As some of you might recall, back in July, the First Presidency announced revised reopening arrangements for the Washington D.C. Temple, which will see that temple rededicated on June 19. With the Rio de Janeiro dedication now set for My 7, that will occur before the Washington D.C. Temple rededication.
It's also worth noting that, with this temple dedication set in May, there seems to be a high likelihood that the opening arrangements for the Yigo Guam and Qutio Ecuador Temple could be set to occur before this dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple. But for temples outside the United States, COVID-19 is the big variable in play here. It's also worth noting that I am more than slghtly surprised that the Church isn't sending native Brazilian apostle Elder Ulisses Soares to dedicate this temple.
And with Elder Stevenson being assigned to preside at this dedication instead, it will be interesting to see who actually is assigned to preside at the dedications of the Yigo Guam and Quito Ecuador Temple. With President Ballard set to dedicate the Pocatello Idaho Temple this weekend, and Elder Stevenson designated to dedicate the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, it will be interesting to see what unfolds going forward with the scheduling of other temple openings and which apostles might be assigned to preside at each of those events.
The announcement of the Rio de Janeiro Temple's revised opening arrangements also gives me hope that the Church will be able to set the reopenings for Tojkyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand soon as well. And it will be interesting to see how COVID-19 might impact the scheduling of other temple openings as well. I remain cautiously optimistic that the Church might have some groundbreaking announcements made soon for other temples.
I will monitor all such developments and bring you word thereof here as i become aware of it.
In the meantime, 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.