Sunday, October 7, 2018

Twelve New Temples Announced - Largest Number of Temples Ever Announced in a Single Weekend

This afternoon, President Russell M. Nelson announced 12 new temples to be built in the following locations:
  • Mendoza, Argentina 
  • Salvador, Brazil 
  • Yuba City, California 
  • Phnom Penh, Cambodia 
  • Praia, Cape Verde 
  • Yigo, Guam 
  • Puebla, Mexico 
  • Auckland, New Zealand 
  • Lagos, Nigeria 
  • Davao, Philippines 
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  • Washington County, Utah
With these announcements, there will now be 201 temples announced, under construction, or in operation. For more information, click here.

27 comments:

Eric S. said...

Given the growth in the St. George area the past several years, I've wondered if a second temple would be necessary, but certainly not this soon! With the announcement being Washington County it may be in a different city though. I guess the coming repairs will include the St. George temple and that necessitates the second one.

Eric S. said...

Very excited for all the announced temples! What a great blessing it will be for those receiving their first temple: Puerto Rico, Cambodia, Cape Verde, and Guam. Many of these locations have been on predicted lists for quite some time, but there are some big surprises, to me at least, such as Yuba City and Yigo. Even Davao is quite the surprise with Cagayan de Oro being announced six months ago. The Lord is at the helm!

Eduardo said...

From the reaction of the New Zealand temple announcement, which seemed to be the most vocal, I recall a Kiwi hometeacher having a boisterous conversation with a roomate from Utah at my BYU apartment. It was argumentative and loud. Is this a Kiwi thing, to be so loud?
Loved the 12 announcements. Yuba City is cool! Mendoza, all of them.

James Anderson said...

The renovations forthcoming are going to be big too.

Logan was last done in the mid-70s
Manti was done by 1985 and it took longer as no floor plans existed from the original construction.
St. George was from the same time as Logan.

And Salt Lake has seen some less-extensive work, only really to refurbish fixtures and add an annex. The annex was added in 1963. That was the last time anything substantial was done there.

R.J.Phillips said...

Those temple announcements are both exciting and unbelievable. Wow. I live in Rogers AR and thought strongly we would have a temple announced. It’s been predicted many times before. For future Temple predicting I think another factor is in play. We have tremendous growth here. But it’s mostly western transplants 40 and under with growing families. Those retiring are moving away to be with family they moved away from years prior. Basically we don’t have enough able retired folk to serve and staff a temple. This factor may not affect areas where raw accessibility is a chief concern. Nonetheless, exciting to see so many temples dot the earth.

Nephi said...

All the announcements are exciting! I am now eagerly awaiting the ground breaking of many of these temples. It feels like we have had a flood of temple announcements and at the same time a famine of ground breakings.

James G. Stokes said...

I too am excited by the news of these new temples. Of the 12 locations, I correctly identified the exact location for 8 (though I had moved one of them, Phnom Penh to one of my two lists for the more distant future, I am glad the Lord verified my original impression about it). I was blown away to see an announcement for a temple in Mendoza within six months of the announcement for one in Salta. I had a temple for California on my list, but for Bakersfield instead of Yuba City. And I honestly did not see temples coming for either Guam or Washington City. But for distance and to lessen the rigors of travel and the wait time at their assigned temples, each of these 12 locations makes sense.

The Church now has a significant backlog of announced temples (30 in total). If the information I have is correct, we will see the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple have a groundbreaking on November 8, 2018, under the direction of Elder Neil L. Andersen. A construction barrier is in place and a contractor is already on-site at the Urdaneta Philippines Temple, which either means that there is a lot of work to be done before that temple has a groundbreaking, or that construction will soon commence on that temple without a groundbreaking.

Additionally, we know that the Pocatello Idaho Temple is anticipated to have a groundbreaking ceremony occur sometime next year (likely sooner rather than later). With the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple in the government approval phase, that is also fun to watch. Although the First Presidency released the artist's rendering and site location for the Bangkok Thailand Temple earlier this year, one of the office buildings the Church uses in that city has not yet been razed, and may not even have been vacated.

Within the next year, in addition to the other temples listed above, I can see the Church beginning work on the following temples as well: Lima Peru Los Olivos, Nairobi Kenya, Brasilia Brazil, Greater Manila Philippines, Harare Zimbabwe, and possibly Layton Utah.

This means that, whether or not any additional temples are announced next April (and it currently seems more likely than not that we will see another massive amount of temple announcements at that time), by the end of 2019, the current backlog of 30 temples, which have not had any hint of a groundbreaking, could be easily and quickly reduced to 19. And if all goes well, many of those same 19 could move closer to or even have a groundbreaking within that time.

Given the confirmation that the Temple Department has hired and will continue to hire many more employees, we can almost certainly count on having a sharp and substantial increase in the number of temple events going forward. And in addition to the four pioneer temples which are most likely to be renovated soon, I would anticipate other temples will similarly have renovations announced as the need arises.

I have a feeling that by the end of this year, and through next year, we will see a sharp and substantial increase in temple developments (including new location announcements, numerous groundbreakings, renovation closures, and several more dedications. It will be great to see it all unfold. It has been previously observed by the temple department that temples generally need to be renovated every 30-40 years, which opens up a wide variety of options. According to that metric, Logan surely qualifies as the fourth of the pioneer-aged temples which will soon close for renovation. I hope this information is helpful to all who read it. Thanks again to everyone for the insights.

Eduardo said...

Between the 12 temples there are the following languages:
English, Spanish, Portuguese, Khmai, Chamorro, Cebuano, and Igbo. I guess Lagos should attract some Yoruba, too.
Maybe call that 8 languages.

Cory said...

I think it is likely that the strategy of constructing temples on existing church property next to chapels could be returning. The Announcement of Yigo, Guam is very specific and suggests they might already have a property in mind. The Chapel in Yigo has a baseball field behind it, perhaps the right size for a small temple. Yuba City also has some baseball fields beside one of the church buildings there that are likely owned by the church.

Building Temples on existing church properties was key during the Hinkley surge in temple building. Doing so cuts down on time searching for property and it is likely that the property is already zoned for religious purposes. However, we learned from Bishop Davies that the selection of temple sites is truly prophetic.

Yuba city might be a bellwether indication that could signify many more temples are coming. If Yuba city can support a temple, it opens up the possibility that a temple could be announced nearly anywhere.

Washington County was vague enough to suggest they might not have chosen a property yet. Washington City seems like the best possibility. Santa Clara or Hurricane are also possibilities. The stakes in Hurricane and La Verkin are large and could divide soon, although La Verkin recently had two wards discontinued.

L. Chris Jones said...

Cory,I agree with you that Yigo does sound very specicic. I would have thought Guam's first temple would be in Barrigada. But Yigo is only about 13-15 miles away anyway.

L. Chris Jones said...

Sorry about my spelling, I need to check before I hit publish.

John Pack Lambert said...

Lagos is a 10 hour drive from the Aba Temple. The roads are not all that good, and some have high rates of deadly accidents. Also there are parts of the road where bandits often attack. This is before one factos in the cost in time, fuel or paying for the trip and lost employment time, it is a great blessing to get the nes temple.

John Pack Lambert said...

Church policies have made it easier for younger people to staff temples, so I do not think having a lack of retires would stop the building of a temple if other factors indicate for it.

John Pack Lambert said...

Lagos will probably very heavily use Yoruba, but English also. Probably French as well due to the proximity of Benin. Also probably some other of the 40 plus languages of Nigeria. Not much Ebo, Igbo and such, although since Lagos is the main business center of Nigeria there are probably speakers of most Nigeria languages there. It will probably also take in Abuja and the rest of the north, so be a very linguistically diverse temple.

Guam will also probalby be that way, taking in the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam and maybe some other places. Yapese, Trukese, Mashallese and several other languages.

John Pack Lambert said...

In my last post, I meant to say the Guam Temple would take in the Marshall Islands. Probably Kiribati as well.

Hal Bright said...

Yuba City is really the only temple announcement that surprises me after the initial new Temple announcement euphoria. One hour from an already existing temple. I do agree that it is probably a bellweather for future smaller temples quickly coming.

Nephi said...

Why are we still throwing out the word small temple? What does that even mean? Is it 7k sq ft, 11k sq ft or 18k sq ft? After the boom in the late 90's early 00's the church reverted back to a wide range of sizes and designs. I don't recall President Nelson saying this was a mass building that would be pushed through in a few years with one design. Anyway, my point is if they are so called small temples then so be it. If they are different sizes based on the needs of the area then so be it. I suspect that we will see a wide range of temples in size and design and some will be adjacent to chapels and some may not be but it does seem like the church has been building more temples near chapels and in some cases building chapels at the same time on the same property as the new temples.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in the Yuba City and Gridley stakes and my parents and uncle still live in the Yuba City Stake. I was initially surprised at the announcement, but believe Yuba City will easily support a temple and be a great location, especially since the YC area continues to grow as the bay area and Sacramento populations continue growing northward.

A few highways go through Yuba City that make it easily accessible from CA stakes that are north of Sacramento. Recall that the Sacramento Temple was originally planned as a 50,000 sq/ft temple but ended up at 19,500.

I’m guessing the Yuba City, CA Temple District will include these 7 Stakes:

From the Sacramento, CA Temple District:
Anderson, CA Stake
Chico, CA Stake
Gridley, CA Stake
Yuba City, CA Stake

From the Medford, OR Temple District:
Redding, CA Stake

From the Oakland, CA Temple District:
Ukiah, CA Stake

I think it’s unlikely these stakes will be assigned to the Yuba City, CA Temple district, but some members of these stakes are closer to Yuba City than their respective stakes’ assigned temple so will likley attend In YC some of the time:

Quincy, CA Stake (especially during winter?)
Lincoln, CA Stake
Auburn, CA Stake (especially during winter?)
Members from other stakes as well, especially during Sac Temple semi-annual maintenance closures.

Anonymous said...

I meant, “these 6 stakes”

Anonymous said...

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yuba City Stake is split in 4-6 years to create a Marysville, CA stake.

Eduardo said...

Nephi: the reason the size of a temple is a big deal for practical reasons is the rate of how many sessions are available for the patrons and the users. For example, on a normal Friday at Washington DC (Kensington MD) one can attend almost every half hour or at least hour: 6 pm, 7 pm, 8pm...
At Philadelphia currently, sesions are at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Philly is mid-sized, I suppose.
Temple size matters. How many temples are 7k square feet?

Lagos Temple: I guess about half of Yoruba speakers are Christian, therefore Church of Jesus Christ members have their share among them. Igbo and Ebo is usually the language versus the people, I think. I get them mixed up. The variations within the language can be great, I know that. Think Valencian to Catalan to Spanish.

André Freire said...

James,

I wish we had a post showing all the top ten temple predictions you have post and how many temples were announced in deed. That would be great to see how successful your predictions are

John Pack Lambert said...

I suspect that Lagos Nigeria will be a bigger temple then the one in Aba. I would not be surprised if Guam is under 15,000 square feet, and maybe Cambodia, although larger would surprise me for neither. I have no clear predictions on the remaining 9.

James G. Stokes said...

Andre, in conjunction with my semiannual predictions for General Conference every six months, following each General Conference, I post on my blog an analysis of how my predictions for the recent conference compares with what actually occurred, which includes an analysis of the temples which were announced vs. the list of locations I put together. Given the vast number of breaking news developments which have occurred in recent days due to General Conference, in addition to other Church and temple news which has been reported, I generally take a week or two after each General Conference to analysis those predictions and post the results on my blog. For those like you, who would be interested in that analysis, I again post the address of my blog so that when I am able to post that analysis, it will be easy to find.

With my thanks to Matt for continuing to allow me to do so, I include the address of my blog below. Stay tuned for the analysis of those predictions within the next week or so as I am able to make that happen. Thanks again to you all.

http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com

James G. Stokes said...

In the meantime, I can say this: I had the exact locations for the Salvador Brazil, Praia Cape Verde, Puebla Mexico, Auckland New Zealand, Lagos Nigeria, Davao Philippines, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples (7 of the 12). Particularly, many people had suggested a temple in Benin City Nigeria was more likely than one for Lagos, but my study showed Lagos to be the more likely candidate. I am grateful the Lord proved that my reasoning was justified on that.

For the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple, that one was on an earlier version of my list for this last General Conference, but when I updated it, I substituted Ulaanbaatar Mongolia for the Cambodian capital city (since the Mongolian Saints have a more arduous journey to Hong Kong, Bangkok, or India than the Cambodian Saints do). I count that as half-right.

Also half-right was my prediction for a temple in Bakersfield California (correct general location, wrong specific one, as one was announced for Yuba City). I did not see another temple for Argentina coming after one was announced last April, and I was also blindsided by the announcement of one for Yigo Guam. and the one for Washington County Utah. That Utah would have another temple announced was not surprising, but I had prioritized other Utah cities on my personal list.

All told (if I have my math right) that works out to roughly 8/12, which is 2/3 correct, or roughly 67%. In general, when I put together my predictions in advance of each General Conference, I am finding that those have an accuracy in the 60-80% range, within which my predictions for the temple locations fell. I will need to work out the percentages of the other predictions (including for speaking order and the changes in general Church leadership), but I hope that gives you some idea of what I got right and wrong. Thanks again to you all.

Aritz Lizarraga Olascoaga said...

Igbo & Ebo are the same. EDO is another ethnic group.

André Freire said...

Thank you. I'll follow your blog, too.