- Bengaluru, India OR Hyderabad, India, OR New Delhi, India
- Benin City, Nigeria
- Davao, Philippines OR Cagayan del Oro, Philippines
- Freetown, Sierra Leone
- Lagos, Nigeria
- Managua, Nicaragua
- Praia, Cape Verde
- Rogers, Arkansas
- Salvador, Brazil
- Tarawa, Kiribati
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Potential New Temples - March 2018 Edition
I have updated my temple prediction map in preparation for General Conference at the end of the month. Two new temple sites were added to the map of most likely locations for new temples to be announced within the foreseeable future: Missoula, Montana and Monrovia, Liberia. I think it is unlikely that new temples will be announced this conference as this conference will likely focus on the sustaining of Russell M. Nelson as president of the Church and the calling of two new apostles. If any announcements are made, my top 10 picks for the most likely temple announcements are as follows:
I'm also expecting to see few temple announcements, but I expect there will be some. My thoughts are Managua, Nicaragua and one of the Nigerian locations.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing 3 temples. Managua, Benin City and Freetown.
ReplyDeleteManagua and somewhere in the African continent.
ReplyDeleteIn order of probability (10 indicates near certainty, 0 indicates absolute dark horse)
ReplyDeleteManagua NI 9.5
Nigeria II NG 9.0
Freetown SL 7.5
Mindanao PH 7.0
Puebla MX 7.0
Queretaro MX 6.0
Salvador BR 5.5
Belo Horizonte BR 5.5
Antofagasta CL 5.0
So Argentina AR 4.5
Budapest HU 4.5
Praia CV 4.5
San Juan PR US 4.0
Kumasi GH 3.5
San Pedro Sula HN 3.0
Torreon MX 3.0
Cali CO 2.5
Ullanbattar MN 2.5
Singapre SI 2.5
India IN 2.5
Ciudad del Este PY 1.5
Cancun MX 1.5
Abu Dhabi AE 1.0
United States
No Davis UT 7.5
NW Arkansas AR 6.5
Richmond VA 5.5
Austin TX 5.0
McAllen TX 4.0
Jacksonville FL 4.0
Knoxville TN 2.5
Eugene OR 2.5
W Montana MT 2.5
Excellent choices. I too believe it's time for a Temple in India, Africa (probably Nigeria), Cape Verde possibly, Nicaragua, and South America can also use another one.
DeleteRussia could be a surprise. I know there is unrest but if the Lord wants one he'll get it!
Jacksonville, Layton, Milwaukee, Eugene, Richmond for USA. Missoula surprised me but you never know.
The one great announcement I'm waiting for is the acquisition of the Kirtland Temple. That will complete our Pioneer Trail of Temples for this moment in time.
Well I predicted all of the new temples but the one in the Philippines. Yeah.
DeleteI loved Conference and this new style of youthful leadership from our 93 year old prophet.
As to McAllen, TX, it was reported here during the Surge that they had assigned 13 sets of missionaries to the wards in that area, the issue was extensive inactivity rates in that area. So more activation efforts would be necessary to get the necessary tithe-payers and temple recommend holders needed, and some of that is so they will have enough to staff a temple there
ReplyDeleteI wonder how activity rates are in Brazil these days. If it is better than other Latin American nations, then maybe they get another temple.
ReplyDeleteI maintain that the Southern Cone Patagonia area needs at least one temple, especially as defined by the original justification for mini-temples 20 years ago: faithful Saints in remote rural locations that do not anticipate increasing greatly in population but should enjoy a local temple.
Punta Arenas certainly qualifies, as do Trelew or Neuquen, Comodoro Rivadavia.
At least central southern Chile has its newest temple to be dedicated October 28.
The 8th Region alone has tens of thousands of baptized members who fell away from activity long before temple opportunities who hopefully will be touched to attend Church again or the temple open house and be renewed and restored to their promised blessings.
Few places in the world have these types of LDS on the roles. There are streets/blocks of the Pedro de Valdivia neighborhood along the Bio Bio River where every house has a baptized member or more in the home. They will be easy walking distance to the Concepcion Temple.
Members from 2-3 hours away will be happy to go to Concepcion rather than Santiago.
Further south, the 9th and 10th Regions deserve a temple as well.
This is true of northern Chile, too.
Great to see the second installed finally since 1983.
My top three temple picks are Nicaragua, Nigeria, and India. I agree that we might not see any announced at this conference, and it is possible the new First Presidency may choose to announce temples outside of conference, as many have been in the past. Perhaps President Nelson will announce temples in person during his upcoming international trip?
ReplyDeleteLocal missionaries report that the eventual new temple for western Montana could be in Helena, even though land has allegedly been secured in the Missoula area.
The current mission president feels strongly that a stake should eventually be organized in Havre (HAV-er), but the area is several wards short of meeting that goal. Several sets of missionaries are assigned to the Havre Ward, which includes a dependent group on the Rocky Boys Indian Reservation (not sure if they meet in Box Elder, St. Pierre, or Agency). Furthermore, the Cut Bank Branch, on the boundary of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, includes the Browning Group.
The Haver Montana stack is one that had been long talked about.
DeleteI remember everone talking about it when I was on my misson in Haver. I think it will happen but there is a long ways to go I'm great full for the group on the Rocky Boys reservation.
Back in February of 2015 it was a idea the stake prisdent had for a group out there. But we where never able to do it when I was there.
As missanrrays we spent a lot of time but there just trying to find liesactive members.
I look forward for the day that we will see a Rocky boy branch.
But I think it is meany years away.
I remember thinking last year that there was no way we could possibly see more temples announced considering the backlog of already-announced temples and the number of temples under renovation. I guess that didn't stop things though. Therefore, I predict some temples announced but I still sense that there will be a smaller number, since the backlog has only increased and there's way more renovations going on as compared to last year. I think we will see 2 announcements:
ReplyDelete1). Nicaragua
2). India
Nicaragua would be a significant milestone in that it would complete the Spanish speaking Central American countries and thus the entire Western Hemisphere, further fulfilling the Everlasting Hills in the latter-days spoken of in the scriptures.
ReplyDeleteIndia will fill a huge gap in the human population, the country that will have the most people on the planet. The thought of an open house there for the spiritually and intellectually curious is a rare development.
A second temple for Montana seems fitting, one of the last Intermountain West states to attain a second temple. Wyoming and New Mexico remain.
The Hamilton Temple 3 year significant renovation will utilise a significant amount of resources during that time. I spoke to the Visitors Centre director last month and he advised that the form and overall design of the Temple will remain intact. Everything else is up for a drastic re-imagining with the interior being completed gutted and the foundations being redone. The exterior facade is construction brick built on site 60 years is showing significant deterioration and will probably need to be completely replaced.
ReplyDeleteI feel there are two ways a Manukau City Temple in the Auckland region could proceed:
1. Soon to take advantage of the resources and temple department staff already in the country close by or
2. Delayed even further as the resources dedicated to the CCNZ campus and Temple View re-imagining has taken resources away from other high need areas in developing countries.
Regarding Brazil, I think Belo Horizonte would have a temple long before Salvador. Of course, I might be wrong, but the church is not strong in Salvador, despite the size. Perhaps another temple in Sao paulo State before Salvador does.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don't mean this to be rude, as I have great respect for all of our leaders, but they are just tools in the Lord's work, not the focus of it. In my view they should not be the primary focus of General Conference, and the Lord's work (e.g. building temples) should not be delayed just because they're getting shuffled around a bit. The backlog and renovations seem like more compelling reasons to delay announcements.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I will second John Pack Lambert's guesses. Managua, Benin City and Freetown. I would love to see a temple in India but I don't think it will happen for quite a while because the few stakes and districts are hundreds of miles apart, so there is no significant LDS population center and I don't see how they could keep a temple staffed and used adequately. But if Winnipeg can get a temple, who knows.
I wonder if we are at a time - with modern building techniques and materials - coupled with the great need, desire for Temples globally and realistic sense of cost/resources available to us in 2018 going forward - that the Church could begin building Temples - that continue to have the presence, dignity, impact that we expect - but at dramatically less cost?
ReplyDeleteCost savings accomplished not just by scaling back the size - which the Church has already done - but by a new approach. We see the Kinshasa Temple that is nearing completion. Would Temples with this stature and dignity give us the opportunity to expand Temple opportunities?
The Kinshasa Temple design/footprint could be enlarged based on anticipated local need.
These could be placed adjacent to or as extensions to Stake Centers - to increase accessibility/use; and to enable the multiple use of existing parking lots etc.
Imagine the impact on the Church timewise/cost-wise if all of the potential Temple sites received Temples in this design. Imagine the impact on Utah if 10 Temples of this design were built. The impact of 20 more Temples there. Costs are real - how many more Temples of this design could be built vs. a larger design?
Imagine a Temple of this design in every State that doesn't currently have a Temple; in centers of Church strength around the earth that don't already have a Temple.
It's always exciting to hear new Temples announced.
@Lucas I'd think probably in Sorocaba. Apparently in Belo Horizonte the church is not growing as much as in other Brazilian cities.
ReplyDeleteHere is my list. Can't wait for conference.
ReplyDeleteLagos Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Salvadore, Brazil
Neuguen, Argentina
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Mexico City
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rogers, Arkansas
Jackson, Mississippi
Mongolia
Kazakhstan
India
Indonesia
Moscow, Russia
Lithuania
Romania
Armenia
Cape Verde
@Nephi,
ReplyDeleteJust curious how Lithuania ended up on your list. There is currently only 5 branches there, and while they will get a Temple someday, it will take some growth before that day arrives.
Layton, hopefully! Ogden is bursting at the seams.
ReplyDelete@Thomas Jay Kemp:
ReplyDeleteI like your idea for adjacent temples! It's clever. I've thought about similar things with the simple designs of the Kinshasa and the Winnipeg temples. I imagine the Brethren are going to experiment more with different types of smaller designs here in the foreseeable future.
As for Montana, I really hope they build the next one in Missoula (personal bias - that's the area where I grew up). I will definitely accept one in Helena, if that is the choice. The more Temples, the better.
ReplyDelete@Daivisas
ReplyDeleteLithuania is a long shot for sure. With the Lord all things are possible. I put that on my list for geographical reasons. It would be a good location to serve saints in Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Poland and parts of Russia.
Nephi, you will probably find this article to be interesting: http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/23051/4-European-lands-dedicated.html
DeleteSome of the temples built during the 1999-2001 ezpansion of temples were built on a rapid build relatively low cost plan. Detroit Temple was built on the plan of not only 11,000 square feet but also used the existing parking lot with no changes. The temple is smaller and shorter than the adjacent stake center.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand the purpose of temples is to lift us to God.
Sharing existing parking lots has been done.
For this website the focus on temples per General Conference is natural, as LDS growth observers such as those that frequent here over the years use data and stats to make nuanced insights and predictions about "growth".
ReplyDeleteI suppose that there are websites that treat the subjects of the inner spirituality of growing closer to God and pondering eternal doctrines, but this forum tends to concentrate on physical metrics.
I love it. Keep it up.
LDS Church growth. And sometimes attrition.
2 of the three active brethren in my ward who are natives of Mexico served their missions in southern California.
ReplyDeleteMy bishop and former high priest group leader in my Northern Virginia ward both served Spanish speaking missions in Southern California. More recently, two sisters in our ward have served Spanish speaking missions in the Bay Area and Salem Oregon.
ReplyDeleteYou would think that the Church in California would continue to progress, but do more active members move away?
I am not a California nay-sayer, because 7 temples is formidable. However, the loss of units and stakes is not a great sign. I hope things turn around there, as apparently the job rates nationally are better for many than ever.
I also am curious as to Church activity in Mexico with all the violence and mayhem. I hope the cartels and thugs leave the Saints alone. And that the members do not get involved, but I wonder how it is to be avoided sometimes, when the threats seem to be everywhere.
Parts of Brazil have gotten bad.
But, as has been said, even Civil War torn Guatemala grew in faith during those trying times.
@ John Lambert:
ReplyDeleteThe Kentucky Temple in Crestwood is a similar smaller temple to Detroit - sharing the parking lot with the adjacent church building. I don't know if they made any adjustments to the parking area when they built it, however.
Most if not all the smaller temoles from 1999-2001 were designed to fit on property already available like by stake centers. A few more since have also been done this way, or a meetinghouse was built beside the new temple.
ReplyDeleteEduardo Clinch. Maybe you can talk to people from Saint Louis, New Orleans, Baltimore and Detroit, all considered to be among the 50 most dangerous cities on the planet. They might be able to tell you how the church is doing in such terrible places. That way you would have an idea how saints cope with violence in Mexico and Brazil.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I understand the correlations to parts and neighborhoods of some tough US cities, but most police departments in the US (despite complaints about blue brutality) are not corrupted and threatened the ways that many or most Mexican and some Brazilian cities are experiencing in the 21st century. I can see that many parts of south-central LA or San Bernardino or Moreno Valley California have dangerous streets where elders and sisters have to avoid issues with gangs, but the rule of law is still in place.
ReplyDeleteMexico has over 50 homicides per day, in a country with a third the US population. This number does not even take in the numbers of everyday citizens cowed and extorted, plus law enforcement intimidated and coerced.
Poverty is one thing, but out right rule of law oppression or gang/cartel standard is another: can a policeman pay his tithing if he already is being extorted?
It is good to know about the safety patterns in any part of the world, but I think Mexico and some Brazilian places are under unique strains at the moment. Power to them to continue with Church activity and growth.
Yes, the conditions in some countries are unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteHonduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have terrifying murder rates.
Other countries are overall dangerous like Colombia, Nigeria, D.R.C., Philipines and South Africa.
On the other hand, the safest countries are in Western and Central Europe, plus Japan, Canada, and New Zealand.
It seems that the worst the conditions, the better the church does. Although some of the worst places don't even allow the preaching of the gospel so those contradict my statement.
I'm not including countries that are in some kind of war at the moment.
What I know of Brazil and Mexico is that they have entire cities run by drug lords. At the same time, there are places that are absolutely peaceful, even full states.
Well Detroit has over 1 homicide a day, and Chicago more than that. Compton's muder rate is several times that in Detroit but it has a much smaller population.
ReplyDeleteThe Church could be doing better in Detroit but it is,moving forward. One issue is that there are very few married couples where both are members in Detroit. Lots of part member families and even more so single adults, many single parents.
I also have a feeling that the YSA branch in my stake needs to step up its outreach to Detroiters. I know that some Detroiters do not show up to YSA events because of travel time.
I think I will see if my Self Reliance Services Find a Better Job partner for this week wants to go to YSA events. He is 20 so it would be good for him.
Incidentally, I have been to many Mexican cities, including Matamoros, Ciudad Acuna, Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali, Tijuana, La Paz, Hermosillo, Guasave, Mazatlan, Acapulco, Mexico City...
ReplyDeleteThey are wonderful places and people.
I have also been to New Orleans, St. Louis, Detroit, and Baltimore.
They are not terrible places.
There is some high amounts of crime in some sectors of them, but the cities themselves are pretty cool. And I would submit that by and large it is very tenable to have missionaries posted safely in all of them. I suppose it is the same for Latin America writ large, minus Venezuela?
I heard it from a friend that a district was created in Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar (also known as Tolanaro) today. I do not know any details.
ReplyDeleteNigeria is, apart from the north-east, actually fairly safe. My company does quite a bit of business in Lagos and while I have not traveled there myself, my colleagues who have say that it's a surprisingly clean, safe and relatively affluent city. This probably doesn't apply everywhere in Nigeria.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, the Versailles Ward in the Paris West Stake will split next Sunday, creating the first new ward in France this year, per my records. I think it might actually be the first new ward in the Europe Area in 2018.
On topic, I would not be surprised to see no new temples announced. The backlog is quite substantial and there likely won't be that many first-time dedications in 2018.
The thing with dangerous places is that there are always some areas that feel or even are pretty safe. The important thing is what statistics say so we can make any kind of measure.
ReplyDeleteOnce in Saint Louis, I saw about 6 cops keeping a 50 something black man outside of his car for about 20 minutes, in freezing temperature, and he was wearing just a t-shirt. The cops, on the other hand, had their coats on and some of them were even drinking coffee. Thay is inhumane.
I know that one of the most dangerous areas in Nigeria is the delta region.
Murder rates are not the only measure of crime or insecurity.
Remember Flint, Michigan. Authorities there were so corrupt that they were willing to gamble with people's lives, using contaminated water.
Things don't need to look like Soviet Russia of sub-Saharan Africa to be terrible.
Now one interesting thing is, the church can still flourish in terrible places, and not surprisingly enough, in many cases, those places are not bad at all after a few years.
I think we will have 1 or 2 announcements with Pres Monson having been ill for the past year.
ReplyDeleteWest Africa is my #1 bet.
Phenomenal article about the Church in Kenya. Looks like it faces even more stigma and misconceptions there than in the US. I knew that African nations used to have misconceptions like this about the Church but didn't imagine they would still be so strong in 2018. (Interesting about their priorities, too - the article says nothing about Kenyans criticizing the priesthood ban.) https://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2001273471/mormons-a-look-at-church-kenyans-crucify-for-devil-worshipping
ReplyDeleteOn the whole I liked that article. I wish they had better described what Elder Sitati's position was because the explanation in the article didnt say anything.
ReplyDeleteI also am wondering if the mentioned number 1 and number 3 men in the Church are the stake president and his second counselor and they are just ignoring Kenya has 2 stakes and 3 districts.
On the note about a new ward being formed from the Versailles Ward. Isnt that where the Paris Temple is? I wonder if that is a factor in the ward split.
The Denmark Copenhagen Mission did just get a new branch but 5hat may be in Greenland so not clearly in Europe.
I was just about to say growth seems slower in Nigeria this year. However just today we get reports of a new district formed in the Benin City Mission and the Agwu branch formed in Enugu State. Agwu is the headquarters of a Catholic diocese. About 360,000 of the 600,000 who live in the diocese are Catholics. It has 42 parishes which illustrates to me that atakes and dioceses are nothing alike.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we are going to see any changes made to the format of Hometeaching this General Conference with the recent change in First Presidency Messages being printed in the Ensign & Liahona magazines?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/04/as-we-go-forward-together?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/liahona/2018/04/as-we-go-forward-together?lang=eng
The Versailles ward was already easily divisible before the temple’s construction, though I’m sure that it has strengthened the members and leadership there
ReplyDelete@ Deivisas They already changed it in my stake. We had Elder Perkins from the seventy for stake conference and he said the brand "home teaching" is dead. They have focused on changing the emphasis to ministering rather than formal teaching. Makes sense since that concept is what the church has been pushing for quite a while--to really help and serve those you teach; but now they've rebranded it to families we are assigned to minister to each month. I think by eliminating the first presidency message they are taking away the crutch that many of us have relied on for years to say we have done our duty. I think it also helps with those who don't want to let you in their home for a formal lesson that you have more flexibility to assess whether you have ministered to that person during the month through service or friendship.
ReplyDeleteAn artistic rendering of the Bangkok Thailand Temple was released today: https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/bangkok-thailand-mormon-temple-rendering
ReplyDeleteI was mistaken in my previous announcement. The Fort-Dauphin District was announced but not yet created. Upon creation, it appears that at least one new branch will also be formed.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the Bangkok Temple rendering, the temple and adjacent structure look very impressive! What an exciting day for saints in Southeast Asia!
The branch formed in the Copenhagen mission is located on the Northeast side of Iceland
ReplyDeleteNortheast side of Iceland? There are people there? Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI love these predictions and I think the author has some pretty good guesses.
ReplyDeleteMy top 10 guesses are largely similar, but a bit different:
1. Lagos, Nigeria
2. New Delhi, India
3. Richmond, Virginia
4. Auckland, New Zealand
5. Puebla, Mexico OR Mexico City, Mexico (2nd Temple)
6. Salvador, Brazil
7. Layton, Utah
8. Kao Suing City, Taiwan
9. Davao, Philippines
10. San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Lots of good guesses for new temples. India is a great choice, but I think Hyderabad or Bangaluru might be better choices. There are three stakes and three districts in mission. The Colombo Sri Lanka District is also relatively close. So, either Hyderabad or Bangaluru seem to me to be more centrally located when it comes to the membership in India.
ReplyDeleteNigeria needs a 2nd temple. It has grown and can be expect to grow substantially by the time a temple can be dedicated.
Auckland, New Zealand, is a great choice. We have had some discussion about Wellington. In time, maybe, but Auckland, I think, is the better choice. It is cheaper to fly from the South Island to Auckland than to Wellington and there are a lot of stakes in the northern part of the North Island as well as New Caledonia currently in the Hamilton temple district.
I think that there should be a temple somewhere among the 12 stakes across southern Virginia where there are plenty of wards and branches 4-5 hours from the temple. Richmond is closer than to the east or west, but a great choice and people were I live hope it happens.
I keep seeing predictions of a temple on Mindanao, the Philippines, either Davao or Cagayan de Oro, and I have a question about that. I seem to recall that there were major violence/instability issues there that were affecting the members' ability to travel. Does anyone know any details, or if those issues have been resolved? If they have not, how would that impact the likelihood of having a temple built there? Related to this point, I have heard that Ciudad Juarez, Mexico is a dangerous city now but I don't know if those issues existed when the temple was built.
ReplyDeleteMy first two picks for new temples are Managua, Nicaragua and a 2nd Nigeria temple. Also, now that we're seeing movement on Bangkok, I hope to see the same on Urdaneta, Abidjan and Winnipeg. Actually, I'm surprised Abidjan hasn't been a little faster developing considering the faithful example of the Ivorian saints in family history work.
I still think a temple in Bakersfield California is not out of the question.
ReplyDeleteThese are only tangentially related, but someday I hope to see a temple announced for Lexington, KY (as my mission president predicted at a stake conference when I served there). Of course, I wouldn't expect that to actually happen for another 30 years or so (unless some drastic unexpected growth occurred in that area).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Kentucky, I wonder how long it will be before they upgrade the mini temple there, as they are currently doing in Oklahoma, Memphis, Baton Rouge and Raleigh.
Hello, everyone! I would like to thank Matt for his analysis of where potential temples might be announced. While I fully respect the opinion of those who, justifiably, have said temples may not be announced this conference because of the shuffling that will likely occur in Church leadership due to the reorganization of the First Presidency, the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and any subsequent shuffles in Church leadership, my personal feeling on that subject is that temples will be announced for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1. President Nelson, though now at the age of 93, may be said to be far healthier right now than President Monson likely was for the last 5-7 years of his life, and right out of the starting gate, he has demonstrated that his administration will be getting right to work, as they began with the end in mind by broadcasting the announcement of the reorganization from a temple.
2. Connected with that, I am sure we all remember that the shuffles that occurred in Church leadership following the 2015 calls to the apostleship of Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund were made in the week following General Conference, likely because President Monson did not have sufficient strength to preside at conference, call the new apostles, and take care of the subsequent adjustments in the week before conference. That is not true of President Nelson, so I am sure any needed shuffling will be presented in General Conference in April.
2. I ran the numbers, and the number of days between President Monson's February 3 ordination in 2008 and the first temple announcements of his prophetic administration are only slightly more than the number of days that will have passed between January 14 of this year when President Nelson was ordained and his first General Conference. When we add that to the above fact that he is healthier and more vigorous right now than President Monson was in the last 5-7 years of his life, we have a compelling reason to believe that he (President Nelson) will not delay making temple announcements a high priority of his presidency.
3. We also have the statement Elder Wilson made in late April last year about the 80 temples that were under consideration for an announcement within the 15 years following that statement, which was made in late April after President Monson announced five new temples in General Conference. This leads me to conclude that the only reason no new temples were announced last October is that President Monson was not well enough to discern the Lord's will on such locations or to give the approval for such announcements to be made. With a considerably more healthy man as Church president, that should not be an issue.
These points aside, I can see the merits in the argument that the Church leadership changes need to be a strong priority, but for a Church president who clearly wants members to focus on temple worthiness and frequent worship there, I am not in any way convinced that he will not make time to determine new temple locations, since he may see that as a far more important and vital priority.
So for that reason, I opened up a dialogue on my blog about near future and more distant temple locations. I recently posted my personal list that, barring anything unexpected, will be final for the upcoming conference. That said, for the next few days, I continue to accept feedback on that list. And while I could reproduce it here, it is extensive enough that I would prefer to keep it and comments about it on my own blog. With my thanks to Matt for being gracious enough to allow me to do so, I pass along a link to that list below. And for any that would like to do so, there have been a number of other topics I have written about in recent days that I welcome feedback on as well. I look forward to the feedback.
http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2018/02/april-2018-general-conference_25.html
As much as each president (prophet) has personal influence over temple and planning matters, I believe the Lord and overall membership has more to do with building and announcements of new edifaces.
ReplyDeleteWith the exception of Jerusalem, this upcoming world tour of Pres. Nelson and Elder Holland, they are visiting cities with Temples except for India, so I am predicting a Temple in India. I live in the Winnipeg, Canada Temple district, they had to change the floor plans somewhat so that was the delay for construction. They are anticipating building sometime in April.
ReplyDeleteI could see a temple announced for India either in conference or while President Nelson, Elder Holland and their wives are in that country. On the other hand I alsoexpected that President Monson would announce a temple for Brasilia when he went there on his way back from dedicating the Curitibia Brazil Temple, and the Brasilia Temple was not announced for another 9 years.
ReplyDeleteBusia, Uganda just got a second branch. With the branch in Busia, Kenya, just across the border, having been shifted to the Uganda Kampala Mission, I would not be surprised if A Busia District is formed in the next few months if not weeks.
Went to the temple in Mexico city today (Sat 24 Mar). After the earthquake that happened there back in September, as well as a few more recent tremors that have been pretty strong (mag 7 range), we have had more than a few scares about what has happened there.
ReplyDeleteThe temple was very busy today. Had to wait nearly an hour for the session and they were playing the older shorter films today in order to ease up the traffic that was approx one fourth local (Mexico State and Mexico City) and one half Puebla and Tlaxcala stakes (though there was significant numbers of brothers and sisters that had come in from Cuernavaca and Queretaro).
The temple president didn't mince words with us today...there will be more earthquakes, but the reason why the second renovation was done after the first one, was not so much to fix or replace furniture inside the temple (in fact, very little was done inside the temple building itself) but on refurbishing everything below the temple grounds. The temple is now protected against a 12.0 quake should one ever happen. To put it simply, he said, "If this temple collapses for one reason or another, it will be because every other building in the country, has been destroyed."
Based off of the traffic for the temple today, I am hereby predicting that Puebla will be announced before 2020 is done, and Queretaro before 2023. Modifying my predictor on Puebla from 7 to 8 and Queretaro from 6 to 6.5.
I could see a temple being announced for Yakima, Washington. The Columbia River Temple in Richland is one of the small ones and currently serves 14 stakes. In a recent Stake Conference in Kennewick, a general authority said that it was ranked something like 15th or 16th globally for ordinances being performed.
ReplyDeleteI think that despite the solemn assembly and new general authority callings, we will hear new temples announced at conference (I guess 2-3). The new first presidency has already been hard at work, and I believe they're ready to announce temples. My top 5 list:
ReplyDeleteLagos, Nigeria
Managua, Nicaragua
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Layton, UT
Bangaluru, India - I think that recent church growth in India, the planned visit by the prophet, and the distance from other temples are good indicators for this.
I think temples will be announced for NW Arkansas and Richmond, VA in the near future, but they aren't quite ready. The closing for renovation of the Oklahoma City and D.C. temples will give church HQ an opportunity to study the use of other temples by people in those districts.
Also, what about a temple in Tooele or W. Valley City, UT?
I'm excited about what may lie ahead for the church with Pres. Nelson at the helm. I hope that his Chinese contacts and Mandarin language skills will help open doors in the PRC to the preaching of the gospel. Just imagine!
It is wonderful to hear so many of you share your thoughts about potential temple locations. However, if I may, I have a minor quibble about things said here. First, unless the internet search results I ran are in error, I believe you will find that the city in India under discussion is spelled with an "e" after the "B" rather than an "a", ie "Bengaluru" not "Bangaluru."
ReplyDeleteAnd while I would love to see a temple in India sooner rather than later (I appreciate the fact that Elder Maxwell proposed a temple in New Delhi India in June 1992), I also trust what I have read between my own research on the Church in india and that done on this blog by Matt. For that reason, while I believe there will be a temple in India in the not-too-terribly-distant future, unless some political and cultural things change to allow it to happen sooner, a temple for India may perhaps be as far as 15-30 years down the line. If the Lord porves me wrong on that, it is obvious He has considered things I have not.
Next, while the growth of the Church in the US is, according to Matt's own words, stagnating somewhat, except in the Mormon corridor, three cities I feel are strong temple contenders within the US are Bentonville Arkansas, Missoula Montana, and Richmond Virginia. Sites have reportedly been held in reserve for years for the first two, and with Richmond being a prominent US city, a temple there seems to be just a matter of time.
And Church growth and membership do have more to do with temples being announced in certain areas than any other factors. I am convinced that we will see a great many temples announced within the next 5-10 years, many in locations that have been widely talked about, and even quite a few others for locations we have not considered. The Lord is very much in control of the timing of such announcements, and, as we saw in Winnipeg, with how soon obstacles are removed. It is a wonderfully humbling process to observe.
I believe a temple in Missoula (likely next to Missoula on Church property in Frenchtown, MT) will be announced in the next 5 years. The Missoula Stake recently split, President Ballard was just at Stake Conference and had a great glimpse of the Church/property in the area and it would save many members from hazardous winter trips over mountain passes as they attend the temple. I am also curious about a potential Eugene, OR temple.
ReplyDeleteMember from Norway here. I was curious about what data you have that makes you view Norway as a potential place for a new temple in Europe. For me it is a 10 hour journey to the Stockholm Temple, and that becomes quite the ordeal when you want to bring the whole family. And we are much closer to the temple than many others in Norway.
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