I am just is shock that Ivory Coast has gone from 1 district and 3 stakes to 14 stakes and 15 districts in just 10 years. It truly boggles the mind how fast the Church has grown in that country.
These reports also make me expect that Benin City will have a temple announced in the very near future.
That said, I would not be surprised if 2 new temples are announced for Bolivia this year.
I know my crazy predictions and that of a few others lead others to have let down feelings when President Nelson only (yes I know an odd term) announced 8 temples in general conference. President Nelson has accelerated temple growth so much, President Monson never announced 8 temples at a time, that we are feeling let down because President Nelson is not accelarating congregation growth as much as we hoped for.
Matt, thanks for your wonderful reported summary of the growth of the Church in May 2019. It is fantastic to see the Lord moving His work forward in significant ways. And the growth that has occurred is due in large measure to faithful members who tirelessly work to both strengthen their local congregations and strive to fellowship both those who are less active in the Church and those who are friends of other faiths. We are seeing a very literal fulfillment of the promise that the Lord is hastening His work in its' time. We likewise have ample evidence that the world is experiencing more disarray than ever before, which is a clear indicator that the time when the Lord will come again is drawing ever closer.
With that noted, I did want to make a general comment about the future of the temple-building program of the Church which is presently being implemented by our prophet, President Nelson. I know that some of the apostles and those others who are in-the-know about President Nelson's plans to significantly expand the number of temples worldwide have implied that a ten-fold increase would be a major element of those plans. I fully believe that to be absolutely true. But after some additional personal research and study on my part, I have also come to the conclusion that perhaps that goal will be achieved throughout the duration of President Nelson's prophetic administration, rather than being an immediate goal that will see the ten-fold increase in a matter of a few years or a decade or so.
If we were to take reports of President Nelson's energy, vigor, stamina, and focus in a literal sense (which I certainly do, as I have no reason whatsoever to believe otherwise), then President Nelson will surely be around for the next decade or two at the barest possible minimum. With that in mind, if he does have two decades or so to act on whatever the Lord has and will yet inspire him to do, then perhaps that ten-fold overall increase may be an aim for 2040 or 2050, which would be much more reasonable.
I suggest that because President Nelson has demonstrated both a willingness to think outside the box, and a desire to reduce, simplify, and unify the work of the Church and the lives of its' members everywhere around the world. And since the Lord has reminded us to not run faster or labor harder than we have strength to do so, I fully anticipate that the ultimate ten-fold increase in the number of temples will likewise be done in wisdom and order.
But that also means that we will likely see increases of some kind in the number of temples announced each April and October. In April 2018, President Nelson planned on announcing 6 temples, but wound up being inspired to announce 7. In October 2018, he announced 12 more. And last April, he announced an additional 8. Based on these announcements, I am fully anticipating that between 12-16 new temples will be announced in October. And in the interim, the groundbreaking ceremony which will be held for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple this Saturday will mark the 8th such ceremony which the Church will have conducted thus far this year. And from what I hear, the number of temples which will have a groundbreaking from the beginning of next month to the end of this year may exceed 8.
And if the focus can be dually on announcing increasing numbers of temples ever April and October, with the focus between each General Conference on doing whatever can be done to clear the queue, that would be a very easy way for the Church to begin to see a substantial increase in the number of temples in operation every year. Continuing that approach would enable to ten-fold increase to perhaps occur over the next 2-4 decades, depending on what happens between now and then.
The more I think about it, the more that kind of approach makes sense to me. And in that respect, if I am correct in my theory that between 12 and 16 new temples will be announced during the October 2019 General Conference, then many of the locations on everyone's lists will certainly be among that number. Having noted all of this, the latest updated version of my list of potential locations for which a temple could potentially be announced in October can be found on my blog at the following web address:
My thanks to Matt for continuing to allow me to share such updates here. In the meantime, regarding the topic of which temples might potentially have a groundbreaking during the remainder of this year, at minimum,I am keeping my eyes open for news on the following temples: Brasilia Brazil, Greater Manila Philippines, Richmond Virginia, Nairobi Kenya, Harare Zimbabwe, Saratoga Springs Utah, Bengaluru India, Auckland New Zealand and Puebla Mexico. But I am not in any way overlooking the chance, however remote it may be, that other temples, including many of those announced by President Nelson within his first 3 General Conferences as Church President, could unexpectedly have groundbreaking ceremonies conducted as well.
Of course, how long it may be before we see the next temple groundbreaking announced may be anyone's guess. But if the Church is planning to conduct one or more groundbreakings in August following the annual July recess for the General Authorities, there could be an announcement or two relating to such arrangements within the four weeks remaining of the first half of 2019. But we have been in unprecedented territory thus far this year in a lot of ways, so I anticipate more surprises are in store in that respect.
These are just my own personal thoughts, musings, and observations, for what they may be worth to any of you who read them. My thanks again to Matt for providing this place for us to have such discusssions, and to all of you as well for contributing to my understanding of the subject matter discussed here.
I also wanted to mention here that the Church News finally published a report about the Fortaleza Brazil Temple dedication, which was held earlier today and was significant for a wide variety of reasons. You can find that article at the following web address:
More details about the changes coming to the Seminary curriculum have emerged.
Two videos are here, one is describing what is being done, what the new curriculum will be, and what it will not. The second is a panel discussion about the first. Jargon related to seminary teaching will be heard but it can be understood. Note also the names of each year will not be the book of scripture either, but that change is an exciting and major new focus.
The Church will organize a new branch in Trier, Germany, next Sunday. There was a Church presence in the city soon after WWII, but the branch was closed sometime in the early 1980s.
Trier itself has around 115,000 people, but the surrounding area is only thinly populated. Additionally, the area has been suffering from emigration and economic deprivation for several decades, which is likely the reason why a lot of member families from the original branch (a couple of which I know personally) have moved away over time.
Those there in Trier should know that Ancestry added several databases of church records to their site within the last three months, so if they had ancestors there whether in an unbroken line or not, this is god news for them. Don't know if the same records have appeared on FamilySeaarch or not, or will.
I am very excited about the new branch in Guam. Also quite exciting is the pick up in creation of new Spanish-speaking units in the US. In the last month Colorado and Idaho have each seen two new Spanish-speaking units, and Texas has gotten one.
North Carolina has on the other hand seen a progression of its Spanish-speaking branches progress into being wards.
Well, it is looking like we may have each member of the 12 and First Presidency dedicate or rededicate a temple this year, a major change from how things were before 2000, when almost every temple was dedicated by the president of the Church when he was in good health. It will take a long time till anyone beats President Hinckley's record for temple dedications, but on the other hand the person who breaks his record might never be president of the Church.
Elder Soares, the junior member of the Quorum of the 12, dedicated the Forteleza Temple. https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-ulisses-soares-dedicates-fortaleza-brazil-temple Thus like Kinshasa the person who dedicated the temple had lower seniority in Church leadership than the person who presided at the ground breaking, since the later was done by Elder Bednar if I remember correctly.
While L. Chris Jones is right that many of the temples President Hinckley dedicated were prior to his becoming president of the Church, they were all after he became a member of the First Presidency.
Considering the number of temples more than doubled during the time from 1995 when PResident Hinckley became president of the Church and the end of 2000 I am pretty sure the majority of temples dedicated by President Hinckley were during the time he was president of the Church. In fact I believe about two thirds of all the temple dedications President Hinckley did were after he became president of the Church. On the other hand when he became president of the Church he was already almost at half of all temple dedications having been presided over by him, and I think in 1985 and maybe also in 1993 President Hinckley may have hit half of all temple didcations having been done by him, just barely, to then by knowcked down when a new prophet did some more dedications.
Most of the occasions when a member of the Quorum of the Twelve presided at a temple dedication, they have had some personal connection to the place that made it a special situation. For example, Boyd K Packer dedicated the temple in his hometown of Brigham City, Utah (he previously dedicated Regina, Saskatchewan in 1999 when President Hinckley had an unexpected travel issue preventing him from doing it). Elder Bednar with the one in Star Valley Wyoming, where his wife is from, even then-Elder Oaks, a former BYU President, and Provo City Center follow this pattern. Elder Soares, the first Brazilian apostle, dedicating a temple in Brazil seems to go along with those trends.
I don't know what Elder Dale G Renlund's connection would be with Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and then-Elder Nelson dedicated Sapporo Japan back in 2016, but all the others not dedicated by a member of the First Presidency seem to have a personal connection like that. If we're now going to see all the apostles dedicating temples, only 3 of the current Quorum of the Twelve have dedicated new temples so this would be a major change. We'll have to wait until September to see what happens then (I know President Ballard just did a re-dedication, but he has never dedicated a new temple, for instance). I'm not sure that 2 such occasions happening this year is enough to predict it as a regular occurrence.
If it's true that the pace of temple building is going to pick up substantially, it might be a necessary change (having apostles dedicate most of the temples), and I would see it as a good change. But just to clarify, my only objection is that I don't think we have enough evidence yet to know if it is a change that is now happening.
It will be interesting to see if Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse goes to the dedication in Haiti, since it is a French-speaking country I wouldn't be surprised.
Correction to my previous post - Elder Uchtdorf dedicated 10 temples during his time in the First Presidency. There are now 8 apostles who have never dedicated a new temple (though I'm sure they've all accompanied a member of the First Presidency at one or more dedications). Several of them have presided at groundbreakings however. It's not that surprising, since 10 of the 12 members of the Quorum of the Twelve have been serving for 15 years or less. I am a bit astonished that President Ballard and Elder Holland have not, however, in their 33+ years and 25 years, respectively.
It occurred to me as I was writing the previous comment that I should start tracking who presides at temple re-dedications, but I do not know a quick and easy way to look this up, which is why I did not get into that much in the previous posts. Has anyone been tracking this?
Elder Jeffrey R Holland rededicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple last month, President Ballard will rededicate the Raleigh North Carolina Temple in October, and Elder Quentin L Cook will rededicate the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple in December. The Oakland California, Frankfurt Germany, and Asuncion Paraguay Temples also have rededications this year but the Apostles presiding at those dedications have not been announced. President Eyring just did a rededication as well, in Oklahoma City Oklahoma.
According to this link https://www.facebook.com/287877772098976/posts/294242351462518/ the 114th stake will be created from the Orion Philippines District on June 22-23, 2019. Considering there are currently 109 stakes, I wonder if we have information about the 4 stakes to be created.
Since the temple that was announced for Yuba City will apparently be called the Feather River California Temple, I wonder if they might move the temple location to Gridley as a more central location.
The land where the Stake Center for Yuba City has enough room for a small temple, but if moved to Gridley, the Church owns the entire block where the chapel on French Avenue is located. These are 2 very easy locations for them to build the Temple on property the Church already owns. All of the other chapels in Oroville, Gridley, Yuba City, and Linda do not appear to have any room for both a temple and a chapel.
It has been 6 months and almost 2 months, respectively, since the 162nd "Barranquilla Colombia" and 164th "Kinshasa Democratic Rep. of the Congo" Temples have been Operating (in production), but still are not placed on either of the official Church Maps sites, i.e.
Sorry, I got the Number orders mixed. The Barranquilla Colombia is #161, not #162. And the Rome Italy is #162, not #163. Lastly, the Kinshasa Dem. Rep. of the Congo is #163, not #164. As i had stated in previous post.
Brycen (and anyone else who may be curious), I went ahead and created a list of all temples that have been rededicated and who rededicated them. I didn't include Oakland, Frankfurt, or Asunción as we do not know who will be rededicating them yet. "Addition" means that a temple addition was rededicated. Hope I got them all.
1962 (July) - Cardston Alberta (addition) - Hugh B. Brown
1975 (April) - Mesa Arizona - President Kimball 1975 (November) - St. George Utah - President Kimball 1978 (June) - Laie Hawaii - President Kimball 1979 (March) - Logan Utah - President Kimball
1985 (June) - Manti Utah - President Hinckley 1987 (May) - Boise Idaho (addition) - President Faust 1989 (March) - Dallas Texas (addition) - President Hinckley 1989 (October) - Chicago Illinois (addition) - President Hinckley
1991 (June) - Cardston Alberta - President Hinckley 1991 (November) - Sydney Australia (addition) - Elder Nelson 1992 (October) - London England - President Hinckley 1992 (October) - Bern Switzerland - President Hinckley 1997 (November) - Atlanta Georgia (Baptistry) - President Hinckley
2002 (September) - Freiburg Germany - President Hinckley 2002 (November) - Monticello Utah - President Hinckley
2004 (February) - Anchorage Alaska - President Hinckley 2004 (February) - São Paulo Brazil - President Hinckley
2005 (September) - Apia Samoa - President Hinckley
2006 (March) - Santiago Chile - President Hinckley 2006 (November) - Papeete Tahiti - Elder Perry
2007 (November) - Nuku’alofa Tonga - Elder Nelson 2008 (November) - Mexico City Mexico - President Monson
2010 (November) - Laie Hawaii - President Monson
2011 (May) - Atlanta Georgia - President Monson
2012 (September) - Buenos Aires Argentina - President Eyring 2012 (November) - Boise Idaho - President Monson
2014 (September) - Ogden Utah - President Monson
2015 (September) - Mexico City Mexico - President Eyring 2015 (November) - Montreal Quebec - President Eyring
2016 (February) - Suva Fiji - President Eyring 2016 (September) - Freiburg Germany - President Uchtdorf
2017 (June) - Idaho Falls Idaho - President Eyring
2018 (April) - Houston Texas - President Ballard 2018 (May) - Jordan River Utah - President Eyring
2019 (May) - Memphis Tennessee - Elder Holland 2019 (May) - Oklahoma City Oklahoma - President Eyring 2019 (October) - Raleigh North Carolina - President Ballard 2019 (November) - Baton Rouge Louisiana - Elder Cook
You don't need to go through every temple page to look at the person who presided at the dedication. If you just go to the list of temples and sort the list to chronological, you can view the complete list with the the dedicator. You can also expand the list to include rededication information if you press the +Show rededications link.
A while ago on this blog there was a discussion on the topic of the first letter of the names of the temples. At the time the only letters that didn't have temples were X,Y,and Z. In the October 2018 Conference both Yuba City and Yigo were announced. Now there is just one Y temple. Although Yigo seems to be pronounced like a G in English. I do wonder if there will ever be a temple that begins with X or Z. The Hague Temple is located in Zoetermeer and the Guadalajara Temple is located in Zapopan. There are Stakes in Zamora and Zacatecas, Mexico, Zapala Argentina, Zamboanga Philipines, and Zürich Switzerland. There are two stakes in Xalapa, Mexico.
Cory, I did look at the chronology page, but I didn't see the "+ show rededications" link. Thanks for pointing that out! Not sure why I missed that, makes sense that it would be there. Guess I didn't have to make that list, oh well. :)
Quetzaltengo Guatemala is also known as Xela in one of the native languages in Guatemala. In fact, most Guatemalans call it Xela rather than Quetzaltengo.
Elder Oaks largely grew up in Provo, is a Provo High grad, aso his roots there are much deeper than just BYU president. I think Elder Oaks mother was on the Prvo School board for many years as well.
Elder Renlund was Africa Souther-east Area President and his dedication of the Kinshasa Temple was about his 40th trip to the Congo.
I qouls not be surprised if one of Elder Nelson's daughters was the mission president's companion in Supporo, but I think for these theories we can chalk that up to Elder Nelson being president of the Quorum of the 12 at the time and this representing another exception to general rules.
However I think since the Rome Dedication past rules have been scrapped and we have entered a whole new world. All the more so since Elder Soares is a native of the Sao Paulo Area so if the rules justifying him dedicating the temple in Forteleza would justify any American apostle dedicating a temple anywhere in the US.
39 comments:
Very good news about growth.
I am just is shock that Ivory Coast has gone from 1 district and 3 stakes to 14 stakes and 15 districts in just 10 years. It truly boggles the mind how fast the Church has grown in that country.
These reports also make me expect that Benin City will have a temple announced in the very near future.
That said, I would not be surprised if 2 new temples are announced for Bolivia this year.
I know my crazy predictions and that of a few others lead others to have let down feelings when President Nelson only (yes I know an odd term) announced 8 temples in general conference. President Nelson has accelerated temple growth so much, President Monson never announced 8 temples at a time, that we are feeling let down because President Nelson is not accelarating congregation growth as much as we hoped for.
How is Cuba growing? Member missionaries?
I wouldn't be surprised if the Cuba Havana Mission is organized in the near future.
Wards Opened
169 Jun 01, 2019 Rio Vista Ward (Spanish) Edmonton, Canada
Wards Closed
68 Jun 01, 2019 Zacamil Ward Mejicanos, El Salvador
69 Jun 01, 2019 Jardim América Ward Paranagua, Brazil
Matt, thanks for your wonderful reported summary of the growth of the Church in May 2019. It is fantastic to see the Lord moving His work forward in significant ways. And the growth that has occurred is due in large measure to faithful members who tirelessly work to both strengthen their local congregations and strive to fellowship both those who are less active in the Church and those who are friends of other faiths. We are seeing a very literal fulfillment of the promise that the Lord is hastening His work in its' time. We likewise have ample evidence that the world is experiencing more disarray than ever before, which is a clear indicator that the time when the Lord will come again is drawing ever closer.
With that noted, I did want to make a general comment about the future of the temple-building program of the Church which is presently being implemented by our prophet, President Nelson. I know that some of the apostles and those others who are in-the-know about President Nelson's plans to significantly expand the number of temples worldwide have implied that a ten-fold increase would be a major element of those plans. I fully believe that to be absolutely true. But after some additional personal research and study on my part, I have also come to the conclusion that perhaps that goal will be achieved throughout the duration of President Nelson's prophetic administration, rather than being an immediate goal that will see the ten-fold increase in a matter of a few years or a decade or so.
If we were to take reports of President Nelson's energy, vigor, stamina, and focus in a literal sense (which I certainly do, as I have no reason whatsoever to believe otherwise), then President Nelson will surely be around for the next decade or two at the barest possible minimum. With that in mind, if he does have two decades or so to act on whatever the Lord has and will yet inspire him to do, then perhaps that ten-fold overall increase may be an aim for 2040 or 2050, which would be much more reasonable.
I suggest that because President Nelson has demonstrated both a willingness to think outside the box, and a desire to reduce, simplify, and unify the work of the Church and the lives of its' members everywhere around the world. And since the Lord has reminded us to not run faster or labor harder than we have strength to do so, I fully anticipate that the ultimate ten-fold increase in the number of temples will likewise be done in wisdom and order.
But that also means that we will likely see increases of some kind in the number of temples announced each April and October. In April 2018, President Nelson planned on announcing 6 temples, but wound up being inspired to announce 7. In October 2018, he announced 12 more. And last April, he announced an additional 8. Based on these announcements, I am fully anticipating that between 12-16 new temples will be announced in October. And in the interim, the groundbreaking ceremony which will be held for the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple this Saturday will mark the 8th such ceremony which the Church will have conducted thus far this year. And from what I hear, the number of temples which will have a groundbreaking from the beginning of next month to the end of this year may exceed 8.
And if the focus can be dually on announcing increasing numbers of temples ever April and October, with the focus between each General Conference on doing whatever can be done to clear the queue, that would be a very easy way for the Church to begin to see a substantial increase in the number of temples in operation every year. Continuing that approach would enable to ten-fold increase to perhaps occur over the next 2-4 decades, depending on what happens between now and then.
The more I think about it, the more that kind of approach makes sense to me. And in that respect, if I am correct in my theory that between 12 and 16 new temples will be announced during the October 2019 General Conference, then many of the locations on everyone's lists will certainly be among that number. Having noted all of this, the latest updated version of my list of potential locations for which a temple could potentially be announced in October can be found on my blog at the following web address:
http://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2019/05/revised-predictions-for-october-2019_30.html
My thanks to Matt for continuing to allow me to share such updates here. In the meantime, regarding the topic of which temples might potentially have a groundbreaking during the remainder of this year, at minimum,I am keeping my eyes open for news on the following temples: Brasilia Brazil, Greater Manila Philippines, Richmond Virginia, Nairobi Kenya, Harare Zimbabwe, Saratoga Springs Utah, Bengaluru India, Auckland New Zealand and Puebla Mexico. But I am not in any way overlooking the chance, however remote it may be, that other temples, including many of those announced by President Nelson within his first 3 General Conferences as Church President, could unexpectedly have groundbreaking ceremonies conducted as well.
Of course, how long it may be before we see the next temple groundbreaking announced may be anyone's guess. But if the Church is planning to conduct one or more groundbreakings in August following the annual July recess for the General Authorities, there could be an announcement or two relating to such arrangements within the four weeks remaining of the first half of 2019. But we have been in unprecedented territory thus far this year in a lot of ways, so I anticipate more surprises are in store in that respect.
These are just my own personal thoughts, musings, and observations, for what they may be worth to any of you who read them. My thanks again to Matt for providing this place for us to have such discusssions, and to all of you as well for contributing to my understanding of the subject matter discussed here.
I also wanted to mention here that the Church News finally published a report about the Fortaleza Brazil Temple dedication, which was held earlier today and was significant for a wide variety of reasons. You can find that article at the following web address:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-06-02/how-the-dedication-of-the-fortaleza-brazil-temple-by-elder-soares-became-a-historic-event-50047
More details about the changes coming to the Seminary curriculum have emerged.
Two videos are here, one is describing what is being done, what the new curriculum will be, and what it will not. The second is a panel discussion about the first. Jargon related to seminary teaching will be heard but it can be understood. Note also the names of each year will not be the book of scripture either, but that change is an exciting and major new focus.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/si/seminary/2019-global-faculty-meeting?lang=eng&cid=email_03_06_2019_SAI_LTA_2&fbclid=IwAR3tgWC_1VXF-bbAmk2VF_XzdvyBye8YF0orlqB4lOWIk63GH6z-BdRknPc
The Church will organize a new branch in Trier, Germany, next Sunday. There was a Church presence in the city soon after WWII, but the branch was closed sometime in the early 1980s.
Trier itself has around 115,000 people, but the surrounding area is only thinly populated. Additionally, the area has been suffering from emigration and economic deprivation for several decades, which is likely the reason why a lot of member families from the original branch (a couple of which I know personally) have moved away over time.
Those there in Trier should know that Ancestry added several databases of church records to their site within the last three months, so if they had ancestors there whether in an unbroken line or not, this is god news for them. Don't know if the same records have appeared on FamilySeaarch or not, or will.
Wards Opened
170 Jun 04, 2019 Newton 3rd Ward Amalga, Utah
171 Jun 04, 2019 Crossroads YSA Ward Lehi, Utah
Branches Opened
131 Jun 04, 2019 Alvin Branch (Spanish) Friendswood, Texas
132 Jun 04, 2019 Hailey 3rd Branch (Spanish) Carey, Idaho
133 Jun 04, 2019 Talofofo Branch Barrigada, Guam
Wards Reorganized from Branches
82 Jun 04, 2019 Durham 5th Ward (Spanish) Durham, North Carolina
I am very excited about the new branch in Guam. Also quite exciting is the pick up in creation of new Spanish-speaking units in the US. In the last month Colorado and Idaho have each seen two new Spanish-speaking units, and Texas has gotten one.
North Carolina has on the other hand seen a progression of its Spanish-speaking branches progress into being wards.
Well, it is looking like we may have each member of the 12 and First Presidency dedicate or rededicate a temple this year, a major change from how things were before 2000, when almost every temple was dedicated by the president of the Church when he was in good health. It will take a long time till anyone beats President Hinckley's record for temple dedications, but on the other hand the person who breaks his record might never be president of the Church.
Elder Soares, the junior member of the Quorum of the 12, dedicated the Forteleza Temple. https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/elder-ulisses-soares-dedicates-fortaleza-brazil-temple Thus like Kinshasa the person who dedicated the temple had lower seniority in Church leadership than the person who presided at the ground breaking, since the later was done by Elder Bednar if I remember correctly.
A huge number of the temples Gordon B. Hinkley dedicated were before he was president.
While L. Chris Jones is right that many of the temples President Hinckley dedicated were prior to his becoming president of the Church, they were all after he became a member of the First Presidency.
Considering the number of temples more than doubled during the time from 1995 when PResident Hinckley became president of the Church and the end of 2000 I am pretty sure the majority of temples dedicated by President Hinckley were during the time he was president of the Church. In fact I believe about two thirds of all the temple dedications President Hinckley did were after he became president of the Church. On the other hand when he became president of the Church he was already almost at half of all temple dedications having been presided over by him, and I think in 1985 and maybe also in 1993 President Hinckley may have hit half of all temple didcations having been done by him, just barely, to then by knowcked down when a new prophet did some more dedications.
Most of the occasions when a member of the Quorum of the Twelve presided at a temple dedication, they have had some personal connection to the place that made it a special situation. For example, Boyd K Packer dedicated the temple in his hometown of Brigham City, Utah (he previously dedicated Regina, Saskatchewan in 1999 when President Hinckley had an unexpected travel issue preventing him from doing it). Elder Bednar with the one in Star Valley Wyoming, where his wife is from, even then-Elder Oaks, a former BYU President, and Provo City Center follow this pattern. Elder Soares, the first Brazilian apostle, dedicating a temple in Brazil seems to go along with those trends.
I don't know what Elder Dale G Renlund's connection would be with Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and then-Elder Nelson dedicated Sapporo Japan back in 2016, but all the others not dedicated by a member of the First Presidency seem to have a personal connection like that. If we're now going to see all the apostles dedicating temples, only 3 of the current Quorum of the Twelve have dedicated new temples so this would be a major change. We'll have to wait until September to see what happens then (I know President Ballard just did a re-dedication, but he has never dedicated a new temple, for instance). I'm not sure that 2 such occasions happening this year is enough to predict it as a regular occurrence.
If it's true that the pace of temple building is going to pick up substantially, it might be a necessary change (having apostles dedicate most of the temples), and I would see it as a good change. But just to clarify, my only objection is that I don't think we have enough evidence yet to know if it is a change that is now happening.
It will be interesting to see if Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse goes to the dedication in Haiti, since it is a French-speaking country I wouldn't be surprised.
Stakes Closed
1 Jun 04, 2019 Pingtung Taiwan Stake
Wards Closed
70 Jun 04, 2019 Riverside Ward Portland, Oregon
71 Jun 04, 2019 Shihchung Ward Kaohsiung, Taiwan
72 Jun 04, 2019 Tungkang Ward Taiwan
73 Jun 04, 2019 Yuanshan Ward Kaohsiung, Taiwan
74 Jun 04, 2019 Fengshan Ward Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Branches Opened
131 Jun 04, 2019 Alvin Branch (Spanish) Friendswood, Texas
132 Jun 04, 2019 Hailey 3rd Branch (Spanish) Carey, Idaho
133 Jun 04, 2019 Talofofo Branch Barrigada, Guam
134 Jun 04, 2019 Dos Rios Branch (Spanish) Montrose, Colorado
135 Jun 04, 2019 Lago Lindo Branch (Spanish) Edmonton, Canada
Branches Reorganized from Wards
3 Jun 05, 2019 Chishan Branch Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Correction to my previous post - Elder Uchtdorf dedicated 10 temples during his time in the First Presidency. There are now 8 apostles who have never dedicated a new temple (though I'm sure they've all accompanied a member of the First Presidency at one or more dedications). Several of them have presided at groundbreakings however. It's not that surprising, since 10 of the 12 members of the Quorum of the Twelve have been serving for 15 years or less. I am a bit astonished that President Ballard and Elder Holland have not, however, in their 33+ years and 25 years, respectively.
It occurred to me as I was writing the previous comment that I should start tracking who presides at temple re-dedications, but I do not know a quick and easy way to look this up, which is why I did not get into that much in the previous posts. Has anyone been tracking this?
Elder Jeffrey R Holland rededicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple last month, President Ballard will rededicate the Raleigh North Carolina Temple in October, and Elder Quentin L Cook will rededicate the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple in December. The Oakland California, Frankfurt Germany, and Asuncion Paraguay Temples also have rededications this year but the Apostles presiding at those dedications have not been announced. President Eyring just did a rededication as well, in Oklahoma City Oklahoma.
According to this link https://www.facebook.com/287877772098976/posts/294242351462518/ the 114th stake will be created from the Orion Philippines District on June 22-23, 2019. Considering there are currently 109 stakes, I wonder if we have information about the 4 stakes to be created.
Since the temple that was announced for Yuba City will apparently be called the Feather River California Temple, I wonder if they might move the temple location to Gridley as a more central location.
The land where the Stake Center for Yuba City has enough room for a small temple, but if moved to Gridley, the Church owns the entire block where the chapel on French Avenue is located. These are 2 very easy locations for them to build the Temple on property the Church already owns. All of the other chapels in Oroville, Gridley, Yuba City, and Linda do not appear to have any room for both a temple and a chapel.
Two new stakes reported today:
Puebla México Ometoxtla
Nibley Utah West
@brycen, can't find a list, but you can find all the temples that have been rededicated by looking through all the temple pages:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/temples/
It has been 6 months and almost 2 months, respectively, since the 162nd "Barranquilla Colombia" and 164th "Kinshasa Democratic Rep. of the Congo" Temples have been Operating (in production), but still are not placed on either of the official Church Maps sites, i.e.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/map?lang=eng
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=9.769398,-77.287558&z=8&m=google.road&layers=temple&q=Barranquilla%20Colombia%20Temple&find=temple:1795015
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-4.335585,15.331315&z=12&m=google.road&layers=temple&q=Kinshasa%20Democratic%20Republic%20of%20the%20Congo%20Temple&find=Temple:1795171
But the 163rd "Rome Italy" Temple was located on both maps the week after dedication.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=41.969548,12.545497&z=18&m=google.road&layers=temple&q=Rome%20Italy%20Temple&find=temple:1016059
I thought the Church was an equal opportunity. No distinctions between 1st and 3rd World Countries.
Sorry, I got the Number orders mixed. The Barranquilla Colombia is #161, not #162. And the Rome Italy is #162, not #163. Lastly, the Kinshasa Dem. Rep. of the Congo is #163, not #164. As i had stated in previous post.
To Error is Human....
Fe de Errata.
Brycen (and anyone else who may be curious), I went ahead and created a list of all temples that have been rededicated and who rededicated them. I didn't include Oakland, Frankfurt, or Asunción as we do not know who will be rededicating them yet. "Addition" means that a temple addition was rededicated. Hope I got them all.
1962 (July) - Cardston Alberta (addition) - Hugh B. Brown
1975 (April) - Mesa Arizona - President Kimball
1975 (November) - St. George Utah - President Kimball
1978 (June) - Laie Hawaii - President Kimball
1979 (March) - Logan Utah - President Kimball
1985 (June) - Manti Utah - President Hinckley
1987 (May) - Boise Idaho (addition) - President Faust
1989 (March) - Dallas Texas (addition) - President Hinckley
1989 (October) - Chicago Illinois (addition) - President Hinckley
1991 (June) - Cardston Alberta - President Hinckley
1991 (November) - Sydney Australia (addition) - Elder Nelson
1992 (October) - London England - President Hinckley
1992 (October) - Bern Switzerland - President Hinckley
1997 (November) - Atlanta Georgia (Baptistry) - President Hinckley
2002 (September) - Freiburg Germany - President Hinckley
2002 (November) - Monticello Utah - President Hinckley
2004 (February) - Anchorage Alaska - President Hinckley
2004 (February) - São Paulo Brazil - President Hinckley
2005 (September) - Apia Samoa - President Hinckley
2006 (March) - Santiago Chile - President Hinckley
2006 (November) - Papeete Tahiti - Elder Perry
2007 (November) - Nuku’alofa Tonga - Elder Nelson
2008 (November) - Mexico City Mexico - President Monson
2010 (November) - Laie Hawaii - President Monson
2011 (May) - Atlanta Georgia - President Monson
2012 (September) - Buenos Aires Argentina - President Eyring
2012 (November) - Boise Idaho - President Monson
2014 (September) - Ogden Utah - President Monson
2015 (September) - Mexico City Mexico - President Eyring
2015 (November) - Montreal Quebec - President Eyring
2016 (February) - Suva Fiji - President Eyring
2016 (September) - Freiburg Germany - President Uchtdorf
2017 (June) - Idaho Falls Idaho - President Eyring
2018 (April) - Houston Texas - President Ballard
2018 (May) - Jordan River Utah - President Eyring
2019 (May) - Memphis Tennessee - Elder Holland
2019 (May) - Oklahoma City Oklahoma - President Eyring
2019 (October) - Raleigh North Carolina - President Ballard
2019 (November) - Baton Rouge Louisiana - Elder Cook
For all interested :
When Pingtung Taiwan Stake was consolidated recently, the "Kaohsiung Taiwan West Stake - 514853" was renamed "Kaohsiung Taiwan South Stake"
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=22.3064,120.599067&z=9&m=google.road&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:514853
Brycen and Erin,
You don't need to go through every temple page to look at the person who presided at the dedication. If you just go to the list of temples and sort the list to chronological, you can view the complete list with the the dedicator. You can also expand the list to include rededication information if you press the +Show rededications link.
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/temples/chronology/
A while ago on this blog there was a discussion on the topic of the first letter of the names of the temples. At the time the only letters that didn't have temples were X,Y,and Z. In the October 2018 Conference both Yuba City and Yigo were announced. Now there is just one Y temple. Although Yigo seems to be pronounced like a G in English. I do wonder if there will ever be a temple that begins with X or Z. The Hague Temple is located in Zoetermeer and the Guadalajara Temple is located in Zapopan. There are Stakes in Zamora and Zacatecas, Mexico, Zapala Argentina, Zamboanga Philipines, and Zürich Switzerland. There are two stakes in Xalapa, Mexico.
Cory, I did look at the chronology page, but I didn't see the "+ show rededications" link. Thanks for pointing that out! Not sure why I missed that, makes sense that it would be there. Guess I didn't have to make that list, oh well. :)
Wards Closed
75 Jun 05, 2019 Lone Peak YSA Ward Highland, Utah
76 Jun 05, 2019 Las Heras Ward Rosario, Argentina
Branches Closed
57 Jun 05, 2019 Wagner Branch Wagner, South Dakota
The Bern, Switzerland Temple is located in Zollikofen:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/bern-switzerland-temple/
Quetzaltengo Guatemala is also known as Xela in one of the native languages in Guatemala. In fact, most Guatemalans call it Xela rather than Quetzaltengo.
Elder Oaks largely grew up in Provo, is a Provo High grad, aso his roots there are much deeper than just BYU president. I think Elder Oaks mother was on the Prvo School board for many years as well.
Elder Renlund was Africa Souther-east Area President and his dedication of the Kinshasa Temple was about his 40th trip to the Congo.
I qouls not be surprised if one of Elder Nelson's daughters was the mission president's companion in Supporo, but I think for these theories we can chalk that up to Elder Nelson being president of the Quorum of the 12 at the time and this representing another exception to general rules.
However I think since the Rome Dedication past rules have been scrapped and we have entered a whole new world. All the more so since Elder Soares is a native of the Sao Paulo Area so if the rules justifying him dedicating the temple in Forteleza would justify any American apostle dedicating a temple anywhere in the US.
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