This morning, President Monson announced the construction of five new temples in the following locations:
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Hartfort, Connecticut
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Tijuana, Mexico
- Urdaneta, Philippines
Prior to the temple announcement this morning, Portugal was the country with the second most members without a temple and in the past year has experienced increased convert baptisms and member activity in the Portugal Lisbon Mission. The Madrid Spain Temple appears among the most used in Europe as indicated by endowment sessions scheduled hourly morning though evening from Tuesday through Saturday. Temples in Hartfort, Connecticut and Indianapolis, Indiana will likely have small temple districts of fewer than 10 stakes. The Philippines will receive its third temple in Urdaneta, located in central Luzon island north of Manila and Mexico will receive its 13th temple. New temples in Mexico, Philippines, and Portugal may indicate increased temple attendance and member activity, which is a welcome sign as these nations have historically demonstrated some of the lowest member activity and convert retention rates.
Some of the temples announced today may be found in the below map of potential temple sites, which also includes potential temple districts. Stakes or districts to be included in future temple districts will be officially announced at a later date.
View Potential New Temples in a larger map
14 comments:
Good news all around,
It was great to know that your prior prediction on in regards to temple in portugal being announced came correct. I think that will be a massive step forwards for that nation. I was hoping however, that a Paris temple would be announced. Sadly not.
Also despite membership activity concerns about Mexico and the Phillipines, I have still not the slightest doubt that the church is growing fast in these countries. I believe Retention has clearly improved over the past 5 years or so and nonetheless the number of temples continue to rise.
For me, each new temple announced, constructed then dedicated represents another step forward and leap for Zion and a massive thorn in the side of the Church's haters and apostates
It has been interesting that each of the 3 October conferences since Pres Monson has been president, there have been five temples announced. There have been an additional 5 anounced to leaders localy not during conference. It can be safe to say that in the coming weeks and months before April, that the posibility of more temples being announced is possible.
Looks like you correctly predicted 4 of the 5 new temples among your potential temples list. Still, I was disappointed not to see any of your top ten. It seems like the temples announced one at a time and not during Conference have a better rate of matching your list than the ones announced in Conference in groups of 5.
Interesting how small the district is for the one you didn't predict, in Hartford (I count 4-5 stakes that would attend there - this makes me wonder if Manchester NH or Augusta ME is more likely than what you thought. It seems like there is a real push to bring more temples to the northeast, disproportionate to the number of members there - it is the most unreligious region of the country). Also the Hartford and Philadelphia temples will provide more opportunities for some of the big media organizations to see the inside of a temple, and feel its Spirit, that may have missed the ones in Boston and Manhattan. Maybe this will lessen some of the criticism of the Church. Not that I think that is why the temple was chosen there. I'm sure the members of Connecticut are very excited and relieved after their disappointment a while back.
Urdaneta is pretty close to where you predicted, and seems likely to serve northern Luzon island well. I could still see several more fairly soon in the Philippines including one in the southern Luzon peninsula. I only wish my father were still here to see the Philippines' best year for temples, he served 1 year there of his mission back in the 60's but passed away 3 years ago. He did get to hear about the Cebu announcement. I'm sure he is rejoicing up there.
I'm very glad for Portugal too - they have really been needing this. From some of the other comments it sounds like the temple in Kentucky was really busy too, so Indianapolis will be much welcomed as well. Tijuana - I don't know if it was needed but now a bunch of people will be spared the hassle of trying to cross the border to get to San Diego.
Oops - my mistake - the one in the Philippines was on your top ten list just in a different city. I didn't have the list in front of me when I posted that.
Also the Payson temple previously announced was also in the top ten. 2 down, 8 to go.
I was very surprised that a temple was announced in Hartford, Connecticut due to the small potential temple district. Together with the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple, temples will now be placed intermittently along the New England coast.
I'm sure additional temples will be announced soon, especially in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Puebla Mexico, and Arequipa Peru.
Yes, each set of 5 has had at least 1 surprise - Rome 2 years ago, Sapporo and Brigham City last year, and now Hartford.
I agree with those 3 you said are likely but isn't Brasilia scored higher than Rio?
I think that Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro are both highly likely to have temples announced soon, but there has been more talk among members and missionaries of a future temple in Brasilia. Other Brazilian cities which may have temples in the near future include Salvador and Belem. The greatest congregational growth in Brazil over the past couple years continues to occur in Sao Paulo State and the Fortaleza area.
good news to the Portuguese saints! Much closer than a 9 hour bus ride to Madrid. Or maybe some of the Spanish saints will attend in Lisbon, as well?
I, too, am excited for the saints in Portugal. Judging from the reaction of my Spanish friends, they also rejoice in the announcement of the 2nd temple on the Iberian Peninsula. I lived at the MTC in Madrid on the temple square and then later near Madrid on study abroad. The Portuguese and Cape Verdeans are faithful temple attenders very often overtaking the number of Spaniards.
As for the possibility of Spanish stakes/district being placed in the Lisbon Portugal Temple district, I think it's remote. It was suggested on this site that the Canary Islands would, but travel between Madrid and Canary Islands is easiest (which is why it now pertains to the Madrid Mission versus Malaga).
Madrid is essentially at the center of the peninsula, which is why it has been an ideal location the past 11 years. The only possibility is the Galicia District, where it is faster (but not by huge amounts) to travel from A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Pontevedra and Ourense to Lisbon. Gallegos are also culturally and linguistically close the Portuguese. However, the AVE high speed train already links up with the southwestern portion of Spain which makes it undoubtedly faster to travel to Madrid from down there. When it links up with northwestern Spain as projected Madrid would be faster.
I project that the 10 stakes/6 districts in Spain plus the Bordeaux France Stake will remain in Madrid. The 6 stakes/4 districts in Portugal plus the 3 districts in Cape Verde will be assigned to the Lisbon Portugal Temple when it is dedicated. I assume that Sardegna Italy District will eventually be assigned to the Rome Italy Temple when dedicated.
I was pleased to hear the announcement of the Hartford temple.The Boston temple, is not extremely busy, but on certain nights it is. Theres plenty of people form the NH stakes that come here, and ME, VT and parts of NY, RI & CT. Although most CT go to the Manhattan temple. But a fair share attend the Boston Temple. Hopefully more temples and members will reach the New England states
I'm waiting for more temple announcements in the southeast, namely Virginia. I think Richmond should have a temple - perfectly located and it's the one state that the most stakes without a temple.
I agree and hope that in the near future a temple will be announced for Richmond.
Thank you for this analysis. We’ve been hoping for a temple in Puerto Rico, but this report shows the greater needs in other places. It was hard to get to the DR, but with JetBlue it is somewhat easy to get from San Juan to Fort Lauderdale.
I am wondering; what is the most populated region in the USA without a temple? I assume it used to be South Florida.
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