Two New Temples Announced in Arizona

The First Presidency recently announced that two new temples will be built in Arizona, The Gila Valley and Gilbert Temples. Church member density and activity is rather high in the Gilbert area and is rapidly developing (this is in the same vicinity as Queen Creek, where five stakes have been organized in the past six years). The number of stakes assigned to this temple will probably be around 30-40, depending on whether the stakes in Tucson will be assigned to this temple or the Gila Valley Temple. The Gila Valley Temple will likely serve less than five or six stakes if the stakes in Tucson are not in the temple district. However, the Gila Valley is home to Mormon colonies established in the 1870s and have been far away from a temple for some time (The Colonia Juarez Temple is another example of how Church members living in an isolated region for over a hundred years get a temple). The size of the temples has not been specified yet, but I imagine that the Gila Valley Temple will be one of the small, 10,700 square foot temples the the Gilbert Temple being a large, 60,000 square foot temple.

I have not created any posts on potential temple sites in the United States, and will do so in the coming weeks.