Hey Matt or others, I left a comment/question earlier, but wondering if the church has played around with or piloted any tools to look at membership at a more relevant/granular level? In particular, being able to filter by those who are active vs. not active would be incredibly helpful, and have the added benefit of getting better data regarding real vs. nominal church growth.
I know local leadership has the ability to see certain lists, like those with temple recommends, those with action items on their covenant path, etc. But that doesn't necessarily reflect activity. When I was in the Bishopric, I would get on LDS Tools and parse through hundreds of names as I would look for people to call for a certain calling, someone to visit, etc. It was incredibly inefficient because the list doesn't reflect real active membership at any point in time. It includes dead people, people who got baptized 20 years earlier and moved away 5 years ago, people who have changed their names through marriage or divorce, etc. The data are soooooo stale, and they become increasingly difficult to use over time.
There seems to be local reporting of active membership to church HQ, but I've yet to see the church facilitate a way for lay members to see or use a more relevant measure of church membership even though it could be incredibly useful for people.
Thanks for putting out the newsletter consistently. This is really cool and underreported. Smaller countries like the Gambia and Guyana are growing, which is the way it should be.
Russia is understandably contracting and morphing with this current crisis on its borders and thousands of its troops. I wonder how many of its soldiers and sailors might be members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Hopefully not too many.
A temple there, as well as China, seem to be on indefinite hiatus. Ecuador proves that the Lord and His Church has patience.
10 years, 20 years, it will require faith and stamina.
President Russell M. Nelson is set to become the oldest living apostle in this dispensation on Monday, August 8, 2022. He will reach the age of 97 years and 333 days, surpassing Elder David B. Haight (September 2, 1906 - July 31, 2004).
He will also become the oldest person to dedicate/rededicate a temple when he rededicates the Washington D.C. Temple on August 14th, breaking the record held by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was 96 years and 121 days when he dedicated the Helsinki Finland Temple on October 22, 2006. (President Nelson was 94 years 184 days old when he concluded the dedication of the Rome Italy Temple on March 12, 2019, the most recent temple he has dedicated.)
Chris - Taylorsville Utah Valley Park Stake was renamed 03/07/2021 Salt Lake Granger Stake was renamed 04/11/2021 Puyallup Washington Stake was renamed 08/25/2019
The Church announced this morning that the term "Tithing Settlement" would be retired and replaced by "Tithing Declaration". Since Church members do not meet with their bishops at the end of the year to "settle" anything but to "declare" their tithe-paying status, it makes sense. Where time and circumstances allow, bishops can now begin holding those "Tithing Declaration" interviews as early as September, to give them sufficient time to meet with each ward member and not need to rush through the interviews.
I wonder if we are going to hear some news coming from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Church soon? The Ambassador to the Kingdom has recently made a 2nd visit to the First Presidency.
"15 August 2022 - Salt Lake City News Release
Saudi Arabia Ambassador Meets with Top Church Leaders Princess Reema Makes Second Visit to Church Headquarters"
Another curiosity found on the Classic Maps site, the entire Peru Trujillo South Mission is part of the boundaries on the map of the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission - 2013460.
Although it really won't matter. The site is going down to the public in about 10 days on August 31st, 2022.
Luckily, I was able to finish copying about 4450 Church boundaries from the site from 23 Areas, 411 Missions, 3511 known Stakes and 507 known Districts.
Hello again, everyone! It has been a busy August for the Church. The Relief Society and Primary General Presidency changes went into effect, a new Church Historian and Recorder has been appointed, the area leadership changes went into effect, the names of 2 more temples have been announced/clarified, "tithing declarations" have replaced "tithing settlements, President Nelson has become the oldest living apostle in this dispensation, the Washington D.C. Temple has been rededicated (with all 3 First Presidency members presiding over and offering the dedicatory prayer in one session apiece, and with 1 apostle with connections to Washington D.C. present in each session), and 3 apostles have celebrated their birthdays, with Elder Stevenson marking his 67th on the 6th, Elder Andersen celebrating his 71st on the 9th, and President Oaks becoming the third apostolic nonagenarian on August 12. You can find coverage of each of these developments, along with an updated and reworked version of my October 2022 General Conference predictions, on my blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/
My continued thanks to Matt for continuing to share the latest Church growth updates here and for allowing me to share these updates here, and my thanks once again to you all.
New LDS Stake in California - 11-Sep-2022 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will organize the new San Marcos California Stake at a special church conference session scheduled for Sept 11th. This will be the first new stake of the church in the great state of California to be created in over four years, which has seen a number of stake and ward consolidations over that time period. The stake will draw the Buena Creek and Shadowridge Wards from the Vista California Stake and at least four ward units from the Escondido California Stake. This realignment will create 3 medium size stakes from two of the larger stakes in Northern San Diego County. No word yet on who will be in the new stake presidency. More info to follow: #SanMarcosStake. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2554201094971783
@Adam, I just took about 4,456 different screenshots with the assigned wards/branches on the side of each Stake/District. I hope this answers your question. I too would like to access the boundary data.
Here is a sharable link to my Microsoft Excel spreadsheet copy of the Screenshots of Areas/Missions/Stakes/Districts July/August 2022.
Citlaltepetl District in Puebla announced today on their social media that they will be having an "extraordinary" district conference with the Area President and an area 70 in attendance alongside the mission president. Their conferences are normally in November and in May. Two seventies at the same conference make me speculate that this COULD be the formation of a stake there.
There are eight branches in the district, and I know at least four of the branches are ward-sized.
I will bring back more info as details warrant and after I contacted the relevant parties including friends that live in the area.
San Luis Potosi México Industrias Stake (2204983) Active Date: 21 Aug 2022 Españita Ward (114367) Barrio Españita Independencia Ward (207675) Barrio Independencia Industrias Ward (2102676) Barrio Industrias Las Joyas Ward (335312) Barrio Las Joyas Oriente Ward (183032) Barrio Oriente Prados Ward (488828) Barrio Prados
The city of Libreville, Gabon, now has 3 branches. With the organization of the "Charbonnage Branch - 2200872", that brings the city that much closer to having a District organized.
Hi everyone, I spent way too much time last March trying to guess where new temples would be announced :) …. so for me, it’s probably best a temple prediction post hasn’t come yet. Having said that, I do hope to see such a post at least 2-3 weeks before conference!
With just over a month to go until the next conference, I want to be the first to present my bet for the next temples. I'm being very conservative when betting on the most real possibilities possible, and I believe that the number of announcements is no greater than 12. Here's the guess:
1. Iquitos, Peru 2. Ribeirão Preto, Brazil 3. Maracaibo, Venezuela 4. Cuautla, Mexico 5. Uyo, Nigeria 6. Kampala, Uganda 7. Angeles, Philippines 8. Osaka, Japan 9. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia 10. Charlotte, North Carolina 11. Spanish Fork, Utah 12. Des Moines, Iowa (underdog)
If I am wrong and more than 12 annoucements occur, I believe that my Brazil will receive one more ad in João Pessoa.
This is of course for fun only and I have a a full testimony that announcements are decided with lots of data from the temple department and revelation from above. I made a spreadsheet calculating the the square footages per stake in temple (for rough districts after all announced temples are built) seeing which temples have the least space/stake in comparison with other nearby temples (I may have spent way too much time on this) and have balanced that with distance needs.
Iquitos, Peru (both for distance and sqft in Lima) Florianopolis, Brazil (both Curitiba and Porto Alegre have hardcore lack of space) Chihuahua, MX (both) Rosario, Argentina (both, primarily sqft) Santa Ana, El Salvador (sqft)
Charlotte NC (sqft at Columbia) Des Moines IA (both) Bridger Valley WY (both) Herriman UT (sqft at Oquirrh) Fairbanks AK (both at Anchorage) Flagstaff AZ (sqft at Snowflake)
Luzon, even with Urdeneta and Alabang done will still be extremely under-templed, so Angeles and Santiago are also solid hopes. Same with all of Nigeria.
Temples in the 21st century will take on the model of Kirtland, they are not a prize awarded when an area has enough saints to "merit" a temple, they will be investments. We will likely build temples the first moment possible. They will strengthen the church in those areas to the point of reducing inactivity rates over time and increasing baptisms.
The temple is more accessible than ever before and has now more than ever an opportunity to spark even much more change in the church than they did in the Hinckley era.
There are rumors, big rumors, mainly about numbers, and whether you heard it third-hand or fourth-hand, it is like the fish story where the fish gets bigger with each telling. The rumors mainly have to do with how many, the biggest number heard so far is 50.
That is a pretty large fish, so I think the actual number will be somewhat less, maybe closer to ten but not more than 20.
As part of that larger number story, it was also stated that the person who stated it said that Utah is not finished with all the temples it needs, it was stated that even though we have all the building going on, we still do not have enough to meet the demand here/
The new paradigm is members not having to drive or travel more than an hour to any temple, not a 100 percent goal but as much as possible, they think they can get up to 95 percent in that ballpark.
Elder Pearson spoke at Lindon, and he said 500 temples at least announced by 2030.
I sent an email to Christopher Duerig earlier with my picks, but I wanted to mention here something I have said in the past: The reports on President Nelson's temple construction plans continue without abatement. Among the latest of which I've become aware is the idea that the prophet intends to announce a minimum of 35 temples per year every year for the foreseeable future. With 17 announced in April, that means a minimum of 18 are likely to be announced next month, which would give the Church 300 temples in any phase. For the readers of this blog, I posted my latest General Conference predictions on my blog:
That blog post links to several documents, two of which are relevant to the discussion of prospective temple locations. Here are the links to those Google Docs:
The first document shows all possible locations in which I think a temple could be announced. If I am correct in my assessment that at least 18 might be announced, the bottom of the second document shows the areas and specific locations in which I think those 18 will be announced.
Incidentally, speaking of the October 2022 General Conference, I'm surprised no comments have been made about the latest big announcement from the Church: the October 2022 General Conference will consist of five general sessions for all members and friends of the Church:
I'm glad to hear about the Kona, Hawaii Temple Renovation and Expansion.
To my knowledge, out of the smaller Hinckley Era Temples, only Monticello and Anchorage have had significant additions to their square footage. The other renovations have mostly been aesthetic, from what I've seen.
Am I missing any others from that group that've been expanded during their updates?
I've never contributed a list of temple predictions before, although I thought about it a lot.
I had a hard time even getting it down to 15, and I chose to focus mostly on places who primarily need a temple because of distance considerations, rather than because of large numbers of members. I think only 2 of these are an exception, in Buenos Aires and Charlotte. Also I am being hopeful in suggesting a Maine temple in Portland rather than Augusta, as that would make it closer than Boston for 4 of the 6 wards in the Exeter NH stake, including my ward.
Anyway, here are my predictions, if we get 15 new temples announced:
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Jakarta, Indonesia Naga Philippines
Kampala Uganda Abuja Nigeria
Teresina Brazil Florianópolis Brazil Buenos Aires 2nd Argentina Osorno Chile Iquitos Peru
Portland, Maine Charlotte, North Carolina Evanston Wyoming Price Utah Fairbanks Alaska
I would also venture to add that pretty much every Hinckley-era smaller temple that has had me a full redesign has also had its'square footage increased, which includes most of the temples rededicated in 2019 and also the Hong Kong China Temple, which had its' non-temple floors repurposed as temple worship spaces. Hope that answers your question.
42 comments:
Does anyone know when the "Lyman Wyoming Stake - 508608" was renamed "Bridger Valley Wyoming Stake - 508608"?
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=41.28764,-110.342006&z=10&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=508608&find=stake:508608
Hey Matt or others, I left a comment/question earlier, but wondering if the church has played around with or piloted any tools to look at membership at a more relevant/granular level? In particular, being able to filter by those who are active vs. not active would be incredibly helpful, and have the added benefit of getting better data regarding real vs. nominal church growth.
I know local leadership has the ability to see certain lists, like those with temple recommends, those with action items on their covenant path, etc. But that doesn't necessarily reflect activity. When I was in the Bishopric, I would get on LDS Tools and parse through hundreds of names as I would look for people to call for a certain calling, someone to visit, etc. It was incredibly inefficient because the list doesn't reflect real active membership at any point in time. It includes dead people, people who got baptized 20 years earlier and moved away 5 years ago, people who have changed their names through marriage or divorce, etc. The data are soooooo stale, and they become increasingly difficult to use over time.
There seems to be local reporting of active membership to church HQ, but I've yet to see the church facilitate a way for lay members to see or use a more relevant measure of church membership even though it could be incredibly useful for people.
Does anyone know when the "Salt Lake Granger Stake - 502944" was renamed the "West Valley Utah Granger Stake - 502944" ?
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=40.679948,-111.955665&z=13&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:502944
Does anyone know when the "Taylorsville Utah Valley Park Stake - 508950" was renamed the "Taylorsville Utah Heritage Park Stake - 508950" ?
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=40.653284,-111.959974&z=14&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:508950
Does anyone know when the "Puyallup Washington Stake - 505978" was renamed the "Sumner Washington Stake - 505978" ?
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=47.188085,-122.25636&z=10&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=505978&find=stake:505978
Thanks for putting out the newsletter consistently. This is really cool and underreported. Smaller countries like the Gambia and Guyana are growing, which is the way it should be.
Russia is understandably contracting and morphing with this current crisis on its borders and thousands of its troops. I wonder how many of its soldiers and sailors might be members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Hopefully not too many.
A temple there, as well as China, seem to be on indefinite hiatus. Ecuador proves that the Lord and His Church has patience.
10 years, 20 years, it will require faith and stamina.
President Russell M. Nelson is set to become the oldest living apostle in this dispensation on Monday, August 8, 2022. He will reach the age of 97 years and 333 days, surpassing Elder David B. Haight (September 2, 1906 - July 31, 2004).
He will also become the oldest person to dedicate/rededicate a temple when he rededicates the Washington D.C. Temple on August 14th, breaking the record held by President Gordon B. Hinckley, who was 96 years and 121 days when he dedicated the Helsinki Finland Temple on October 22, 2006. (President Nelson was 94 years 184 days old when he concluded the dedication of the Rome Italy Temple on March 12, 2019, the most recent temple he has dedicated.)
C-F-R, James.
Finally the "Spain Madrid Mission - 2019159" has been renamed and realigned "Spain Madrid South Mission - 2019159".
https://ws.churchofjesuschrist.org/ws/maps/v1.0/services/rest/resource/media/mission/2019159?type=Image&index=0&client=mapsClient
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=35.364546,-9.654807&z=5&m=google.hybrid&layers=mission&q=Spain%20Madrid&find=mission:2019159
And new "Spain Madrid North Mission - 2200333" has been organized.
Chris - Taylorsville Utah Valley Park Stake was renamed 03/07/2021
Salt Lake Granger Stake was renamed 04/11/2021
Puyallup Washington Stake was renamed 08/25/2019
Lyman Wyoming Stake was renamed 10.24.2021
The Church announced this morning that the term "Tithing Settlement" would be retired and replaced by "Tithing Declaration". Since Church members do not meet with their bishops at the end of the year to "settle" anything but to "declare" their tithe-paying status, it makes sense. Where time and circumstances allow, bishops can now begin holding those "Tithing Declaration" interviews as early as September, to give them sufficient time to meet with each ward member and not need to rush through the interviews.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-tithing-declaration
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2022/8/11/23300722/changes-in-tithing-settlement-process-first-presidency-letter-tithing-declaration-september
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/08/breaking-news-tithing-settlement-to-be.html
My thanks once again to you all.
@Gnesileah
That's really cool.
And he'll be 98 by the time October Conference rolls around!
My comments about President Nelson and the DC Temple rededication:
https://clinchitsoonerorlater.blogspot.com/2022/08/russell-m-nelsons-dedication-of-holy.html
So happy it finally happened. A glimpse of things to come, for sure.
I wonder if we are going to hear some news coming from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Church soon? The Ambassador to the Kingdom has recently made a 2nd visit to the First Presidency.
"15 August 2022 - Salt Lake City News Release
Saudi Arabia Ambassador Meets with Top Church Leaders
Princess Reema Makes Second Visit to Church Headquarters"
https://news-middleeast.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/saudi-arabia-ambassador-meets-with-top-church-leaders
The First Lady of The Gambia visited with the First Presidency in Salt Lake on Wednesday, August 17th, 2022.
"Church Leaders Meet With First Lady of The Gambia"
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-leaders-meet-first-lady-the-gambia
Another curiosity found on the Classic Maps site, the entire Peru Trujillo South Mission is part of the boundaries on the map of the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission - 2013460.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-9.839705,-76.765279&z=7&m=google.hybrid&layers=mission,area&q=2013460&find=mission:2013460
Although it really won't matter. The site is going down to the public in about 10 days on August 31st, 2022.
Luckily, I was able to finish copying about 4450 Church boundaries from the site from 23 Areas, 411 Missions, 3511 known Stakes and 507 known Districts.
Hello again, everyone! It has been a busy August for the Church. The Relief Society and Primary General Presidency changes went into effect, a new Church Historian and Recorder has been appointed, the area leadership changes went into effect, the names of 2 more temples have been announced/clarified, "tithing declarations" have replaced "tithing settlements, President Nelson has become the oldest living apostle in this dispensation, the Washington D.C. Temple has been rededicated (with all 3 First Presidency members presiding over and offering the dedicatory prayer in one session apiece, and with 1 apostle with connections to Washington D.C. present in each session), and 3 apostles have celebrated their birthdays, with Elder Stevenson marking his 67th on the 6th, Elder Andersen celebrating his 71st on the 9th, and President Oaks becoming the third apostolic nonagenarian on August 12. You can find coverage of each of these developments, along with an updated and reworked version of my October 2022 General Conference predictions, on my blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/
My continued thanks to Matt for continuing to share the latest Church growth updates here and for allowing me to share these updates here, and my thanks once again to you all.
The "Reinach Ward" of the "Bern Switzerland Stake - 514462", was recently consolidated with the "Basel Ward - 64246" of the same Stake.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/meetinghouses/@47.525842,7.576480,12s&id=ward:64246
The Church has 26 members in The Gambia according to this report published today.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-leaders-meet-first-lady-the-gambia
New LDS Stake in California - 11-Sep-2022
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will organize the new San Marcos California Stake at a special church conference session scheduled for Sept 11th. This will be the first new stake of the church in the great state of California to be created in over four years, which has seen a number of stake and ward consolidations over that time period. The stake will draw the Buena Creek and Shadowridge Wards from the Vista California Stake and at least four ward units from the Escondido California Stake. This realignment will create 3 medium size stakes from two of the larger stakes in Northern San Diego County. No word yet on who will be in the new stake presidency. More info to follow: #SanMarcosStake. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2554201094971783
Did you copy it with screenshots or somehow download the boundary data? I'd love access to the boundary data if you have it.
@Adam, I just took about 4,456 different screenshots with the assigned wards/branches on the side of each Stake/District. I hope this answers your question. I too would like to access the boundary data.
Here is a sharable link to my Microsoft Excel spreadsheet copy of the Screenshots of Areas/Missions/Stakes/Districts July/August 2022.
https://1drv.ms/x/s!As_DA0WaWLkdjuxQFsdmF833okOOuQ?e=UoTdrE
If any are interested in viewing the database.
Syracuse Utah Fremont Park Stake (2203642)
Active Date: 21 Aug 2022
Eagle Estates Ward (475602)
Fremont Ward (435430)
Glen Eagle 1st Ward (374652)
Lakeshore Ward (374644)
Miller Springs Ward (2081326)
Trailside Ward (1177362)
Turnberry Ward (1177567)
Looks like this new San Macros Stake is essentially recreating the Escondido South Stake that was dissolved a few years back.
Citlaltepetl District in Puebla announced today on their social media that they will be having an "extraordinary" district conference with the Area President and an area 70 in attendance alongside the mission president. Their conferences are normally in November and in May. Two seventies at the same conference make me speculate that this COULD be the formation of a stake there.
There are eight branches in the district, and I know at least four of the branches are ward-sized.
I will bring back more info as details warrant and after I contacted the relevant parties including friends that live in the area.
San Luis Potosi México Industrias Stake (2204983)
Active Date: 21 Aug 2022
Españita Ward (114367) Barrio Españita
Independencia Ward (207675) Barrio Independencia
Industrias Ward (2102676) Barrio Industrias
Las Joyas Ward (335312) Barrio Las Joyas
Oriente Ward (183032) Barrio Oriente
Prados Ward (488828) Barrio Prados
"Elder Palmer Visits With The National Chief Imam of Ghana"
https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-palmer-visits-with-the-national-chief-imam-of-ghana
The city of Libreville, Gabon, now has 3 branches. With the organization of the "Charbonnage Branch - 2200872", that brings the city that much closer to having a District organized.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=0.357127,9.638758&z=9&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&q=Charbonnage%20Branch&find=ward:2200872
119 26-Aug-22 Charbonnage Branch
With October 2022 Conference only about 5 weeks away, Matt, is it too early for everyone to post their Top 10 New Temple locations lists?
Personally, I would like to see your updated Potential New Locations map, and James's updated list.
Thank you again all for your exciting and valued comments.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1W60CDwd4qDDMA3tW74z8g-2WxNw&ll=-3.81666561775622e-14%2C0&z=1
Hi everyone, I spent way too much time last March trying to guess where new temples would be announced :) …. so for me, it’s probably best a temple prediction post hasn’t come yet. Having said that, I do hope to see such a post at least 2-3 weeks before conference!
With just over a month to go until the next conference, I want to be the first to present my bet for the next temples.
I'm being very conservative when betting on the most real possibilities possible, and I believe that the number of announcements is no greater than 12. Here's the guess:
1. Iquitos, Peru
2. Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
3. Maracaibo, Venezuela
4. Cuautla, Mexico
5. Uyo, Nigeria
6. Kampala, Uganda
7. Angeles, Philippines
8. Osaka, Japan
9. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
10. Charlotte, North Carolina
11. Spanish Fork, Utah
12. Des Moines, Iowa (underdog)
If I am wrong and more than 12 annoucements occur, I believe that my Brazil will receive one more ad in João Pessoa.
As August turns to September, let the "Predictionpalooza" begin!
This is of course for fun only and I have a a full testimony that announcements are decided with lots of data from the temple department and revelation from above. I made a spreadsheet calculating the the square footages per stake in temple (for rough districts after all announced temples are built) seeing which temples have the least space/stake in comparison with other nearby temples (I may have spent way too much time on this) and have balanced that with distance needs.
Iquitos, Peru (both for distance and sqft in Lima)
Florianopolis, Brazil (both Curitiba and Porto Alegre have hardcore lack of space)
Chihuahua, MX (both)
Rosario, Argentina (both, primarily sqft)
Santa Ana, El Salvador (sqft)
Naga PH (both)
Kampala (distance)
Ulaanbaatar (distance)
Marshall Islands (distance)
Charlotte NC (sqft at Columbia)
Des Moines IA (both)
Bridger Valley WY (both)
Herriman UT (sqft at Oquirrh)
Fairbanks AK (both at Anchorage)
Flagstaff AZ (sqft at Snowflake)
Luzon, even with Urdeneta and Alabang done will still be extremely under-templed, so Angeles and Santiago are also solid hopes. Same with all of Nigeria.
Temples in the 21st century will take on the model of Kirtland, they are not a prize awarded when an area has enough saints to "merit" a temple, they will be investments. We will likely build temples the first moment possible. They will strengthen the church in those areas to the point of reducing inactivity rates over time and increasing baptisms.
The temple is more accessible than ever before and has now more than ever an opportunity to spark even much more change in the church than they did in the Hinckley era.
There are rumors, big rumors, mainly about numbers, and whether you heard it third-hand or fourth-hand, it is like the fish story where the fish gets bigger with each telling. The rumors mainly have to do with how many, the biggest number heard so far is 50.
That is a pretty large fish, so I think the actual number will be somewhat less, maybe closer to ten but not more than 20.
As part of that larger number story, it was also stated that the person who stated it said that Utah is not finished with all the temples it needs, it was stated that even though we have all the building going on, we still do not have enough to meet the demand here/
The new paradigm is members not having to drive or travel more than an hour to any temple, not a 100 percent goal but as much as possible, they think they can get up to 95 percent in that ballpark.
Elder Pearson spoke at Lindon, and he said 500 temples at least announced by 2030.
1. Cuernavaca, Mexico
2. Colorado Springs, Colorado
3. Charlotte, North Carolina
4. Bluffdale, Utah
5. Spanish Fork, Utah
6. El Paso, Texas
7. Uganda
8. Third Ghana
9. Mongolia
10. Iquitos Peru
I sent an email to Christopher Duerig earlier with my picks, but I wanted to mention here something I have said in the past: The reports on President Nelson's temple construction plans continue without abatement. Among the latest of which I've become aware is the idea that the prophet intends to announce a minimum of 35 temples per year every year for the foreseeable future. With 17 announced in April, that means a minimum of 18 are likely to be announced next month, which would give the Church 300 temples in any phase. For the readers of this blog, I posted my latest General Conference predictions on my blog:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/08/update-october-2022-general-conference.html
That blog post links to several documents, two of which are relevant to the discussion of prospective temple locations. Here are the links to those Google Docs:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QPM4ofjB-6V4lf6A7McBlLjJMqLT0mcsqkiP6ZHFRz4/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AHEJOqAjEJDN7aXQLlfrkzc2yTVer6E0TRR5eYdNKB8/edit?usp=sharing
The first document shows all possible locations in which I think a temple could be announced. If I am correct in my assessment that at least 18 might be announced, the bottom of the second document shows the areas and specific locations in which I think those 18 will be announced.
Incidentally, speaking of the October 2022 General Conference, I'm surprised no comments have been made about the latest big announcement from the Church: the October 2022 General Conference will consist of five general sessions for all members and friends of the Church:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2022/9/2/23334365/first-presidency-invites-all-to-participate-in-october-2022-general-conference
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/09/breaking-news-first-presidency.html
My thanks once again to you all.
I'm glad to hear about the Kona, Hawaii Temple Renovation and Expansion.
To my knowledge, out of the smaller Hinckley Era Temples, only Monticello and Anchorage have had significant additions to their square footage. The other renovations have mostly been aesthetic, from what I've seen.
Am I missing any others from that group that've been expanded during their updates?
I hope to see more announcements like this!
I've never contributed a list of temple predictions before, although I thought about it a lot.
I had a hard time even getting it down to 15, and I chose to focus mostly on places who primarily need a temple because of distance considerations, rather than because of large numbers of members. I think only 2 of these are an exception, in Buenos Aires and Charlotte. Also I am being hopeful in suggesting a Maine temple in Portland rather than Augusta, as that would make it closer than Boston for 4 of the 6 wards in the Exeter NH stake, including my ward.
Anyway, here are my predictions, if we get 15 new temples announced:
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Jakarta, Indonesia
Naga Philippines
Kampala Uganda
Abuja Nigeria
Teresina Brazil
Florianópolis Brazil
Buenos Aires 2nd Argentina
Osorno Chile
Iquitos Peru
Portland, Maine
Charlotte, North Carolina
Evanston Wyoming
Price Utah
Fairbanks Alaska
I think Asunción Paraguay too
Johnathan Reese Whiting, the following article appears to answer your question:
https://www.templefacts.org/post/renovations-and-expansions
I would also venture to add that pretty much every Hinckley-era smaller temple that has had me a full redesign has also had its'square footage increased, which includes most of the temples rededicated in 2019 and also the Hong Kong China Temple, which had its' non-temple floors repurposed as temple worship spaces. Hope that answers your question.
Thanks, James.
The Stockholm Sweden is getting doubled in size now, too! I hope they end up doing the same to Lima, once the Los Olivos is done.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/stockholm-sweden-temple/
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