- Bahia Blanca, Argentina
- Tallahassee, Florida
- Lubumbashi, DR Congo
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Benin City, Nigeria
- Syracuse, Utah
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Shanghai, China
Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple
The Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple will be the Church's fifth temple to be announced for Argentina, and the first temple to be built in southern Argentina. Previous temples were dedicated in Buenos Aires (1986) and Cordoba (2015), whereas the Church has announced temples for Salta (April 2018) and Mendoza (October 2018). The new temple will likely include 14 stakes and five districts in southern Argentina. Due to few stakes in the nearby area around Bahia Blanca, the size of the temple building will likely be small (under 20,000 square feet). The Church in Argentina has experienced slow membership growth for many years albeit annual membership growth rates have slightly accelerated for the past few years. However, the number of congregations (i.e. wards and branches) continues to slightly decrease year to year as units with few active members are consolidated into neighboring congregations. For more Church statistical data for Argentina, click here.
Tallahassee Florida Temple
The Tallahassee Florida Temple will be the Church's third temple in Florida. The Church previously dedicated temples in Orlando (1994) and Fort Lauderdale (2014). The new temple will likely include approximately 10 stakes in the Florida Panhandle, Jacksonville metropolitan area, southern Georgia, and southeastern Alabama. The size of the temple building will likely be small (under 20,000 square feet). The first and only stake in Tallahassee was organized in 1973. The Florida Tallahassee Mission was organized in 1971 and merged with the Florida Jacksonville Mission in 2019. For Church growth statistics in Florida, click here.
Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple
The Lubumbashi Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple will be the Church's second temple in the DR Congo after the dedication of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple in 2019. The new temple will likely be built from local construction teams trained by the Church and utilized in the construction of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple and meetinghouse construction elsewhere in the country. The Church has experienced rapid growth in Lubumbashi and other cities in southern areas of the country. The first stake in Lubumbashi was organized in 1997 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lubumbashi Mission was organized in 2010 from a division of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Kinshasa Mission. The new temple will likely service at least the six stakes in the southern DR Congo, and may also serve an additional six stakes and one district in the Kasai Region in the central area of the country (where the first stake was organized in 2011). As of year-end 2018, there were 62,563 members in the DR Congo, whereas at year-end 2008 there were only 20,883 Latter-day Saints in the country. The size of the temple building will likely be small (under 20,000 square feet). For more statistical data on Church growth in the DR Congo, click here.
Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple
The Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple will be the Church's second temple in Pennsylvania after the dedication of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple in 2016. The new temple will likely include nine stakes in western Pennsylvania, northeastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia. There are three stakes in the Pittsburgh area, and the first stake in Pittsburgh was organized in 1969. The Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission was organized in 1975. The size of the temple building will likely be small or medium-sized (under 25,000 square feet) given the size of the likely temple district. Slow growth has occurred for the Church in the area likely to be covered by the temple district, although the most recently organized stake was created in 2014. For Church growth statistics in Pennsylvania, click here.
Benin City Nigeria Temple
One of the most likely locations to have a new temple announced for a number of years, Benin City has been a major powerhouse for Church growth in Nigeria. No other city in Nigeria has as many stakes as Benin City. The first stake was organized in Benin City in 1993 followed by two additional stakes created in 1997 and 2007. Since then, the Church has organized five additional stakes for a total of eight stakes in the city - two of which appear likely to divide in the immediate future. Benin City has one of the highest percentage of Latter-day Saints of any African city with one million or more inhabitants. There are 82 wards and branches in the metropolitan area - more than twice as many as one decade earlier. The average ward or branch in the city has 20,122 people within its geographical boundaries, indicating more penetrating outreach than any other city. The new temple will likely service at least 11 stakes and four districts in Edo State and surrounding areas. The new temple will be the third temple in Nigeria after the Aba Nigeria Temple (dedicated in 2005) and Lagos (announced in October 2018). The temple is likely to be a small or medium-sized temple of less than 30,000 square feet. For statistics regarding Church growth in Nigeria, click here.
Syracuse Utah Temple
The Syracuse Utah Temple is the 24th temple to be announced in Utah. The new temple will likely service approximately 25 stakes in Syracuse, Clearfield, and West Point. The first stake in Syracuse was organized in 1915. The Church in Utah has appeared to focus on temple districts having between 20-40 stakes rather than 40-80 stakes. The new temple is likely to be a large temple between 50,000-80,000 square feet. The Church in Utah experiences some of the highest temple attendance in the world as evidenced by the consistent announcement of new temples in the state. For example, two new temples were announced in Utah just last October (Orem and Taylorsville). For more information about Church growth in Utah, click here.
Dubai United Arab Emirates Temple
The Church has already posted an article about its plans to build the Dubai United Arab Emirates Temple. The Church in the Middle East and North Africa has two stakes in the Gulf States (Abu Dhabi and Manama Bahrain) as well as three districts headquartered in Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. The Church organized its first stake in the region in 1983 and created a second stake in 2014. The new temple is likely to be a small temple under 20,000 square feet. Latter-day Saints in the Gulf States are overwhelmingly Europeans, North Americans, Filipinos, and South Asians. The temple will be the Church's first temple to be built in the Middle East. Membership growth rates have slowed dramatically in the United Arab Emirates in recent years. Click here to obtain more information about Church growth trends in the United Arab Emirates.
Shanghai China Temple
The Church's announcement of a temple in Shanghai, People's Republic of China (PRC) was a major surprise given that the Church operates under significant legal restrictions in the PRC, and there remains no stakes in the PRC at present. As noted by President Nelson's comments, difficulties with travel for PRC to the Hong Kong China Temple, combined with its current closure amid major renovations, appeared to in part prompt this announcement. The Church organized its first branches for PRC members in 2004 and today has a presence in most of the major cities. There appear to be at least 10,000 Latter-day Saints in the PRC, the vast majority of whom are likely PRC citizens. Shanghai is one of the three major Church centers in the PRC for both foreign and PRC citizens, the others being Beijing and Guangzhou. There are eight member districts in the PRC for PRC citizens, and four member districts in the PRC for foreign members.
104 comments:
There is a lot of new construction in West Davis and West Weber counties that will be served by the Syracuse Utah Temple.
This means North Orem, Herriman (48th West), North Weber County, and Heber City may have one in the next few go-rounds too. Spacing of temple may be being shortened to make them more quickly accessible than they were in the past. It was early 1970 before the metro had more than one temple in it.
The Syracuse Temple will do to Layton and Ogden what Orem will do with Provo: split temple districts to growing areas on opposite sides of freeways or major highways. It's just amazing that they are being announced so quickly.
Is the consolidation of units in Argentina based on building wards larger numerically, or declining church activity? Where can I learn more about this?
Just a minor point of clarification, but President Nelson did not cite difficulties traveling to Hong Kong as a prompt for this announcement. Mainland PRC visitors can easily travel there in a matter of hours, for the many in Southern China, even less.
Is it possible that Pakistan will be assigned to the UAE temple. Issues with India might make travel to that country difficult.
I am thinking a 2nd Cache Valley Temple may be in order. Also Hurricane or Kanab.
I also am still rooting for both Morgan and Price.
Beiing down is some major distance. A Thai Youtuber filmed the whole trip down the tolled freeways, took a couple of days and he began his trip at 3am the first day from Beijing. Took many hours to reach the next major city and that was not even close to Shanghai
The announcement of the Dubai Temple has similarities to the story behind the Freiburg Temple where the temple came at the request of the country itself.
I think President Nelson's ties with China are a lot deeper than any of us realize.
It will be fascinating to learn the story behind both of these temple announcements one day.
Sorry for repeated comments, but I am still buzzing with excitement from these temple announcements. :)
I meant to mention this with my previous comment, but Elder Bednar visited the UAE early last year following the dedication of the Rome Temple. I wonder how much of that visit (which included stops in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai) played a role in today's announcement.
Is there a district in Egypt?
So Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo each got their 1st native General Authority 70, and in the same conference got their 2nd (DRC) and 3rd (Nigeria) temple.
Elder Bednar said in conference that "this year we will break ground and start construction on 18 temples." I wonder which ones will break ground. The churchofjesuschristtemples.org website shows dates scheduled for groundbreakings of 4 temples: Alabang Philippines, Richmond Virginia, Layton Utah, and Auckland New Zealand. If there are to be 14 others breaking ground it seems like work is going to pick up and things are going to start moving along quickly.
Yamil, As of 12/31/2019, there were 530 Districts officialy reported on the Classic Maps website. And the Church during this conference reported the 2019 Statistics Report, giving a total of 542 Districts (both Sensitive and Non-Sensitive).
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-04-04/statistical-report-general-conference-april-2020-179868
Giving a difference of 12 "sensitive" Districts, not located on the Classic Maps site officially.
In previous posts here in past years, it has been mentioned there are 8 or 9 Districts in the P.R.C., + 3 Districts in Pakistan, and there could be 1 District in Egypt also as a mostly Muslim faith country with no official Church recognition. All of these would be considered "sensitive" units as no official church recognition in these countries.
I hope this helps clear up your confusion about Matt's post here about the Dubai UAE Temple announcement.
Do we know, for sure, that there are 8 districts for PRC citizens? Is it possible that there is at least one stake that has been organized, and it just hasn't been reported? (perhaps in Shanghai?)
I'm guessing these temples whose sites have already been announced will be among the 18 breaking ground this year. That still leaves 3 (after the 4 I mentioned previously) that I'm not sure about.
Bengaluru India
Brasilia Brazil
Washington Co. Utah
Feather River California
Phnom Penh Cambodia
Moses Lake Washington
Tooele Valley Utah
Orem Utah
McAllen Texas
Taylorsville Utah
Lagos Nigeria?
It has been my habit to read this temple analysis after each temple announcement. I'm a bit surprised for you to have it this quick. Such an amazing job. Thank you, your effort is greatly appreciated.
My guess is that a stake will be organized in Shanghai by the time the temple is dedicated (even if the typical stake criteria is not met). Either that or an arrangement consistent with the unique circumstances in China.
How many countries now have at least 3 temples in any form of operation/ construction? How many have 2?
How many countries have multiple just in construction or planning phases?
For the possible stake, would they combine it with the English/foreign/expat districts? For the sake of leadership numbers I was thinking they could do that.
Hello again, everyone! With 18 total temples for which a groundbreaking will be held this year, and 4 already scheduled, that leaves a total of 14 that we don't have solid confirmation about at this point. As to which 14 temples could be included, I am anticipating some action being taken on the following ones for sure: Orem, Taylorsville, Tooele Valley, and Washington County Utah; Brasilia Brazil; Nairobi Kenya; Harare Zimbabwe; Feather River California; the 3 Central Aaerican Temples (San Pedro Sula, Coban Guatemala, and Managua Nicaragua); Moses Lake Washington; McAllen Texas; and, finally, either Phnom Pehn Cambodia, Bengaluru India, or one more announced temple for which more information may soon be released.
Either way, I anticipate that between now and the October 2020 General COnference, there will be no shortage of temple-related announcements to which we can look forward. I hope any of you will feel free to let me know if you have any questions on this. Thanks.
With the hint of a multi functional building is Shanghai going to be more akin to an endowment house than a temple as we are used to?
@tyler:
Perhaps Matt was referring to the current unrest in Hong Kong, what with protesters blocking airports and such. Aren't PRC citizens avoiding visiting Hong Kong due to the protests?
@Noel
I had thought it might be more like Manhattan or Hong Kong - including a meetinghouse and church offices. But you may be right.
11 countries have at least 3 temples. Depending on how you count it 16 or 17 have two temples. This is because I am unsure if French Polynesia counts as France. If it was Martinique or some other overseas department I would say yes for sure. Some would also argue with Hong Kong being part of China we should count 18 countries.
In Canada 1 province has 3 temples. In Brazil oil ne state has 2 temples which is also true of one state of Mexico. In the US 6 states have 3 or more temples. Of those only Utah has multiple under construction.
The US also has 7 states with 2 temples. 11 states have no announced temple. I believe New Jersey has the most members among them but Kansas is probably not far hehind.
I would not be surprised if the next temple announced for a templeless state is Wichita Kansas but I could be wrong.
Other than the US with 15 temples at some stage of being built the countries with multiple temples in progress are Beazil with 4, Argentina with 3, the Philippines with 5 and Nigeria with 2. Another 7 countries are in process of getting an additional temple. I think I forgot to include Tonga is my multi-temple country count. I did not include China in the getting an additional temple count.
A total of 56 countries and either 5 or 6 territories have temples at least announced. I am not sure if I should count Okinawa as a territory or not, probably not so only 5 of those for 61 total.
No combining the expat and Chinese units would not work at all. Law prevents cross use of leadership.
What is the number of temples per church area? Current or other
I don't think it will be akin to an endowment house. The original endowment house in Salt Lake was for living ordanance only. The prophet stated that the Chinese saints will be able to participate in ordinances for "them and thier ancestors".
Keaton, Total temples 225 divided by 21 or 22 (after August 1st). gives average. obviosly some more/some less but about 10 average.
Natives and expats could use the temple during alternating weeks to comply with the law.
In principle, there are very few structures within a temple that would really need to be permanent. A regular font could be used in lieu of the baptistry. Water and consecrated oil for initiatories could come from bottles or other similar containers that need not to be installed. Foldable chairs, a portable altar, and a curtain are enough for a combined endowment and sealing space. In principle, temples don't need a celestial room, since no actual ordinances are performed there -- the ordinance part of the endowment ends in the moment of passing the veil.
It's probably even possible to use the same space for Sunday meetings.
Ranging from Utah Area the most with 23 Temples within area. And Middle East/ Africa North with now 1.
I wouldn't be surprised if President Nelson waited until the planning and approval phase of the Shanghai temple was just about complete before daring to announce it. I wouldn't be surprised if ground is broken for it this year.
I agree that assigning Pakistan to the UAE temple makes more sense given how much Pakistan and India hate each other. We're talking "occasional threats of nuclear war" levels of hatred.
As has been touched on above, 18 groundbreakings this year as mentioned by Elder Bednar is quite incredible. Prior to the miraculous announcement of the temples in Dubai and Shanghai, this was the most remarkable announcement to me, and I feel like it might have been overlooked with the other conference announcements. 18 in a year is nearly unprecedented. I don't have a list of all groundbreaking dates on hand, but is 1999 the only year that would have had more?
I would think its like Hong Kong and Manhattan as well... more details to come I suppose. It should have (at least) rooms that could be used for endowments and sealings. It makes the most sense as these are the higher ordinances.
On a different note, I had a mission companion from Mainland China, and their patriarchal blessing stated that they would be sealed in the Shanghai temple. Prophesy fulfilled!
Alex, you are right. I have consulted my temple spreadsheet, and find the following: There were 32 groundbreakings in 1999, the next highest was 1998 with 17. This is definitely picking up the pace from the 11 in 2019, the 3rd highest in church history (those 11 include all but 3 of the ones currently under construction, Rio de Janeiro, Winnipeg and Abidjan).
Other than these 3 years the greatest number of temples to have ground broken in a single year was 7, which occurred in 1982 and again in 2011.
A comment from my Mother-in-Law who works at the Jordan River Temple...
There is difficulty in maintaining reverence at the three super-large temples in Utah...Ogden, Jordan River and Provo. These were built to handle a large capacity of patrons because that is what the Church needed to do at the time. Now that the church has financial resources; Layton, Taylorsville, Orem and now Syracuse are being built To reduce the patron load at the other temples to help.
If this is true, expect that some other temples in Utah to be built in the near future...such as Riverton/Herriman/Bluffdale and perhaps Lindon/PLeasant Grove.
Another reason for these temples now is to complete them before acquiring the land to build them becomes much more difficult to obtain.
In many Utah cases temples are built on large tracts of land The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has owned for a long time.
I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement in Lehi in the next year or so. Lehi, SS, and Eagle Mountain are some of the fastest growing cities in Utah and even with the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple under construction, there is going to be a need for another one. If the First Presidency sees the need for a temple in Syracuse which is only 11 miles north of Layton, I can see the same need for another temple of the Lord in Lehi presenting itself in the future.
Here's a suggestion regarding the newly-announced Dubai UAE Temple:
Since the temple will be built on property utilized for Expo 2020, and since the opening of that world's fair most likely will be postponed a year to October 2021, let's build the full temple now and utilize it both as a pavilion and pre-dedicated temple with a nine-month open house. Millions of people from all over the world will be introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ who would not otherwise learn about it, particularly in person.
My family booked hotel rooms months ago to attend Expo 2020 this November. I received an email from the organizing committee in February that they were proposing a one-year delay. I am 95-98% sure that the delay will be approved by a majority of stakeholders.
Eighteen months should be enough time to construct a temple and have it ready for the October 2021 expo opening. At the close of the event in May 2022, while the remainder of pavilions are razed, the temple can be refurbished and prepared for an additional, short open house before dedication.
One of the issues at large temples and reverence has been because of so many bringing their own names now, either the cards are printed at home or by the recorder's office on arrival or at some other time.
The Utah Valley temples are fairly large and two can be quite busy. So the reccorder gets a load from an endowment session with as many as 80 people in it, then while recording that they get a stack from the sealing office, or baptistry, etc.
So, patrons are left hanging waiting for the recorder's office to bring them out, in some cases the wait was 90 minutes. Lots of talking, etc.
In July of last year they started just having the member print what ordinance they were going to do that trip, then the worker would take the card and record it, the member would get a message in FamilySearch. Everyone has a folder for recorded ordinance messages. The upshot is things were much quieter, the recorders office was more accurate as they now rescan everything at least twice, and Ron Tanner says they are working on something else that will allow you to have a virtual stack of completed cards, no timeline given yet.
I'm not familiar with many other temples but I know in my home temple in Fort Lauderdale the baptistry became quite irreverent at times and even somewhat disorganized. I don't blame the person in charge though as they are usually the only temple worker present and have quite a lot on their hands.
Hello
Although I think it's good news, for places where there were no temples, I thought the list would be longer.
I did not think that ARGENTINA again with a temple, even more thinking that the level of inactivity may not be as marked as in Chile, however, I thought that Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and perhaps Venezuela, would obtain a temple.
I know that many factors must play to build a temple, in the case of my Chile, the distances are long, it is true that there are many INACTIVE and problems, but the few faithful there are worth it for their effort and dedication.
Hopefully soon there will be more announcements for the temple to reach everywhere
A hug from Santiago de Chile
Look at @bookofmormon on Facebook, around a week ago they posted a video showing when each nation got the book in its main language.
There ae still holes in Africa and below Russia just east of the main Mideast area.
About 80 percent of the world has the Book of Mormon in at least one official language of that nation.
According to this 2017 Mission Presidents biography posted online :
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/new-2017-mission-presidents-called-to-serve-in-germany-brazil-chile-and-more?lang=eng
Pres. Jeffrey Demarr Meservy was assigned to the Chile Santiago Mission (2017-2020). The mission was not listed as being replaced this years' 2020 New presidents assignments.
Today's biography list states he was serving in California Santa Rosa Mission instead.
"Lex L. Puffer, 64, and Sharon Puffer, three children, Clinton 1st Ward, Clinton Utah Stake: California Santa Rosa Mission, succeeding President JEFFREY D. MESERVY and Sister Lorinda Meservy. Brother Puffer is a stake president and former stake presidency counselor, high councilor, branch president, elders quorum presidency counselor, assistant ward clerk, gospel doctrine teacher, institute teacher and missionary in the Perú Lima Mission. He was born in Ogden, Utah, to Clark Leroy Puffer and Clara Rae Bateman Puffer."
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-04-06/lds-new-mission-leaders-2020-178587
Any thoughts?
Chris,
I was curious about your question in light of the fact that my bishop's daughter returned from the California Santa Rosa mission in January 2019 (I think she had just arrived at the time of the Napa/Santa Rosa wildfires in the fall of 2017, but was in an area not directly impacted by the fires). I looked for articles about those fires but did not see any that gave the name of the mission president at the time.
A google search on "Meservy Santa Rosa" led to a facebook group that shows the service of Pres. and Sis. Meservy in that mission as June 2018-June 2020. My guess is that they were in Chile for 1 year.
On the other hand, the only Santiago mission that was announced as getting a new president in 2018 was the East mission; however, lifey.com lists a Pres. Marty Morgan as serving there 2015-2018, see links below. (That site also says Meservy was the president of the Santiago North mission 2017-2020. Apparently there are 4 Santiago missions and they all have a direction as part of the name.)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/church-announces-new-mission-presidents-for-2018?lang=eng
http://lifey.org/chile-lds-missions/
This doesn't really answer the question but I don't see anything else online.
The DRC now has 2 temples announced or operational. Is this the fastest a second temple had been announced after the first temple in the country was dedicated? It was less than a year! Incredible!
I would love to see your spreadsheet. How can I do so if you are willing?
There are many that comment on here that have speakers of temples and church units. I would love to see them if any are willing to share. I have wanted to build my own, but haven't had much chance.
Something interesting is on the Church's Temple List the Shanghai Temple isn't listed, maybe an oversight?
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/list?lang=eng
How many Temples were announced by President Hinckley? 50+? 70+?
How many has President Nelson announced? 43?
If he keeps up the pace, he's likely to surpass his predecessor.
@Ben H
I agree that the Ogden Temple gets extremely crowded and that the reverence factor could be an issue.
That's why I'm hoping for a second Weber County temple (possibly in North Ogden, West Weber County, or Ogden Valley) to relieve additional numbers as the Layton and Syracuse Temples already will.
@David Tilton
I like the Dubai Temple Expo idea. It will be interesting to see if something like that plays out, or what other promotion strategies the Church implements.
@Johnathan Whiting,
Before General Conference, I had a dream that a temple would be built right across the street from Fremont HS.
@Coachodeeps, for any other interested, for recreational purposes only, I have here links to my Temple Districts Maps (in .kml format, Google Earth only). I have compiled using as a guide both Matt's Potential Future Temples map as a template, and Rick's Church Units .kml download file. Using Rick's temples website Districts lists as a guide. I also took the liberty of expanding from Rick's current 168 dedicated temples to also include approximate locations within the announced cities and temples under construction, and educated guess of which Stakes/Districts to be assigned to each new temple. With road/air routes to each.
Read only links by Continent :
1) Africa : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19EkOyC45BS451_OTKXiQszT7UGGbcOE7?usp=sharing
2) Asia : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gmDzSvffwkw8Eu1gnmkdZsC-8XQBTmgO?usp=sharing
3) Europe : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kfVqTz9fkXTmSr1EzkylduWVWAR7R1w6?usp=sharing
4) Latin America + Caribbean : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yEtZSYv3lxR79dBiydBF8_XLO-icO6L7?usp=sharing
5) Oceania : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sct9lWm4xshd5LQGL5oIBOD4AW07-vsA?usp=sharing
6) USA + Canada : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Jgh7qQhIFs7xCl9P3nu7CH5RSxma2mUV?usp=sharing
In the USA + Canada folder, I have placed a copy of my LDS Stakes (MS Excel spreadsheet also). Any questions, let me know?
I have not completed reshuffling the future 8 Temples announced Sunday afternoon. But you can copy the maps into the Google Earth app.
Again, these maps and spreadsheet of possible Temple Districts is my best guess using Matt's map as a guide.
Your welcome.
@whizzbang
Given that the proposed Shanghai temple will only cater to PRC citizens and that by appointment, and due to the sensitive nature of the Church there, there probably won't be anything published concerning that temple at least not on the main Church website.
Even on the Chinese website, it is referred to repeatedly as a "meeting house."
@James Anderson
Handing out Family Name Cards to friends/ward members down in the baptistry/locker room/sealing office can be slightly irreverent, too. It's something I do nearly every visit to get my family names done, and you're sometimes competing with other ward members who've brought their own stacks (a friendly competition, of course). ;)
@James Anderson:
I found that Book of Mormon Languages Time-line Video you mentioned for those interested:
https://www.facebook.com/245823945473508/posts/2793748900680987/
@Ben H
That'd be really cool if it ends up happening and we see one someday in Plain City!
Acts 2:17
Joel 2:28
Isaiah 44:3
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;"
https://www.openbible.info/labs/cross-references/search?q=Isaiah+44%3A3
My file does not have any information about temple districts, only the temples themselves including locations and important events, in a spreadsheet using free software similar to Excel, called OpenOffice.
I tried to make it available in my public dropbox file but it appears the file cannot be sorted or edited in any way once I post it (and sorting for different types of information is what I find it useful for)- I will have to figure out another way to make it available.
79 temples were announced while Pres. Hinckley was the prophet. This includes the temple announced for White Plains New York (later re-named the Harrison New York temple), which was never built. That is not counting any he may have announced as a counselor to the 3 previous prophets, Kimball, Benson and Hunter. So it could take Pres. Nelson a couple years to match that.
@Chris & twinnumerouno
I had the same problem (does not have any information about temple districts, only the temples themselves including locations and important events) with the Temple Districts Maps. I tried it in Google Earth, though. Would like to figure out how to get it working, as I could add it to my Utah Temples by County Analysis, and give you credit.
@twinnumerouno
Thanks for giving me the number of temples announced by Pres. Hinckley. You're right, if Pres. Nelson keeps up the same pace he'll surpass 79 in about 2 & 1/2 years:
19 in 2018 = 19
16 in 2019 = 35
8 (so far) in 2020 = 43
8-11? in Oct 2020 = 51-54
16-19? in 2021 = 67-73
16-19? in 2022 = 83-92
In fact, if we go back to Pres. Hinkley's tenure as a Counselor in the First Presidency, and count all the ones he could have potentially announced (and several that were dedicated by him - that would be from mid 1981 to early 1995), then that makes 27 more temples. If Pres. Nelson keeps up the same pace, then let's see when he would surpass Pres. Hinckley:
79 + 27 = 106
16-19? in 2023 = 99-111
So, it would potentially take just take one more year!
If Pres. Nelson ends up being as long-lived as many have speculated, and if he keeps up the same pace of temple announcements as he has, then it will only take 3 & 1/2 more years and he'll surpass the previous Prophet who held the title of "Temple Builder."
Now, let's see how long it would take Pres. Nelson to surpass the total number of temples announced by ANY Prophet during Gordon B. Hinckley's entire lifetime:
June 1910 - Jan 2008 = 133
16-19? in 2024 = 115-130
16-19? in 2025 = 131-149
So, about another year and a half to two years.
And what about All the other temples of the Latter Days (announced by ANY OTHER Prophet but Pres. Nelson)? Including the Temples of the Joseph Smith Era and suspended announcements?
All Temples announced before Russell M. Nelson = 189
16-19? in 2026 = 147-168
16-19? in 2027 = 163-187
16-19? in 2028 = 179-206
16-19? in 2029 = 195-225
So, if he keeps up the same pace, we could potentially see President Nelson become the Most Prolific Temple Builder of these Latter Days in time for the Church's 200th Anniversary.
Here's hoping he lives 10 more years and the Lord has him keep on announcing those temples! :)
Jonathon, I posted the link to each continent folder. choose the link and it should take you to the church areas kml google earth files. choose area desired and download copy to your pc. open downloaded file in google earth. and save your copy from temp locations to My Places. Let me know if you still have difficulty opening maps.
Sorry, Johnathan Whiting, for misspell your name.
I'm not sure I see the point of being secretive about the Shanghai temple after President Nelson just told the whole world about it.
Renderings released for Moses Lake, Tooele Valley, and Washington County temples!
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/renderings-released-three-temples-western-united-states
Exterior renderings released for the Tooele Valley, Washington County and Moses Lake temples:
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/4/7/21208938/tooele-valley-temple-washington-county-temple-moses-lake-temple-renderings-church-mormon-lds
Eric and I overlapped there a bit.
No prob about the misspelling, Chris. Thanks for the instructions. I'll try again with Google Earth.
My son is currently serving in the California Santa Rosa Mission and his mission president is Jeffrey Meservy. I don't know what his history prior to this assignment was, however.
* High five :)
@twinnumerouno
By the mouth of two witnesses...
Thanks, Eric and Johnathan.
So now all of the temples with sites announced have also had exterior renderings released, other than the 3 that were announced in October and had sites announced in December, Orem, Taylorsville and McAllen.
Coachodeeps, I think you are right about the DRC, if we don't count the US. (Whether we do or do not count the restoration temples of the Joseph Smith era, there were multiple temple projects at the same time, though the ones in Missouri were never built.) I am also not including Germany, where the two temples almost overlapped in their actual construction, since it was two different countries at the time. The closest other example I can find is Honduras where less than 6 years elapsed from the dedication of the 1st temple to the announcement of the second.
Only one of those 3 Temples has an Angel Moroni. Seems to be the trend these days.
I do like the copper top on the Tooele, though. Wonder if they can do something to keep it from turning green?
So is there just a "You must be this big to get a Moroni" rule now, or what?
>"I'm not sure I see the point of being secretive about the Shanghai temple after President Nelson just told the whole world about it."
The church currently agrees to not do any proselyting -- even going as far as not allowing non-members to be baptized (unless it is a family member), even going as far as saying to not email church related materials to non-members.
I could easily see the chinese government saying, ok you can build a modest meetinghouse, but no foreigners it must be a house of worship not a tourist destination, and don't list it on your big list of temples.
I will continue to pray for hearts to change and that china will allow full freedom of worship and proselyting. I am praying for my own country too.
Johnathan Whiting, indeed it will be interesting to see how the Church utilizes the opportunities in Dubai.
Does anyone know when full-time missionaries will get their domestic reassignments? And whether or not they will travel to the field or stay at home remotely until coronavirus clears up a bit?
70,000 sq ft Tooele Valley Utah and 44,405 sq ft Bangkok Thailand aren't going to have a Moroni, but 19,860 sq ft Durban South Africa and 16,100 sq ft Winnepeg Manitoba did get them, so I don't see evidence of a "you must be this big to get a Moroni." I think a lot of it is the style. The traditional big spire temples (e.g., Abidjan Cote de Ivorie, Rio de Janeiro) seem to be getting Moronis, while the small dome tops (e.g., Praia Cabo Verde, Tooele Valley), Eastern religion inspired (India, Cambodia, and Thailand) and spireless (Paris, new Lima) temples are the ones not getting Moronis. Africa I think hasn't gotten them consistently but they're experimenting with the fiberglass for Abidjan, so that may be a trend if spires are a thing in that batch of temple designs.
Copper used in building materials oxidizes, ao it goes green fairly quickly, by the time they dedicated Las Vegas, that one's roof, which is copper, had alrady turned greenm so the design allows for that here.
Layton and Syracuse are adjacent cities, so it points to putting temples every few miles. North Orem or Lindon/Pleasant Grove, Cottonwood or close to that to the south in Salt Lake County, Herriman, near North Ogden, those four at least could see one down the line.
I think for Syracuse, the Church had increased attendance at Ogden. Expanding to the north wouldn't work because Brigham City isn't very busy, so expanding south was the way to go since Bountiful was also busy. Layton was a good midline, but my aunt who lives in Clinton was bummed when it was announced, since she uses public transportation, and the public transit across I-15 is apparently terrible. Syracuse is good for those who can't get across I-15 to Ogden or Layton very well.
I don't remember who said it, possibly Matt, but it seems like the Church is happy to facilitate Utah temple attendance by cutting the size of temple districts down to 20-40 stakes per temple, in an effort to get more Utahns to go regularly. I know right now, in places like Oquirrh Mountain, there are limits on how many names one person can do, and more temples can let youth get baptized more than twice and adults do sealings more than once a quarter, for example. I'm excited to see if we can sustain that, and get more people attending the House of the Lord regularly in Utah.
The Logan temple parking lot is usually full with additional cars around the block, but I've never had to wait for a session or been in a full one. I sometimes had to wait an hour or more when I did baptisms.
In some cases, a Moroni statue makes the difference between "attractive but generic little church building that nobody will look twice at" and "interesting building that will make people stop and be curious". I really hope they're not being gradually phased out.
@Alex
Ogden is always packed, and they've had the three name limit on baptismal names for the last few years (plus a two+ hour wait to even get into the font most weeks at busy times). Sealings and Endowments are usually full, too. The only ordinance I rarely have to wait for there are Initiatories (so I tend to do those a lot). Layton and Syracuse will do a good job of reducing the crowding.
Brigham is getting busier as the years go by, according to my friend who lives up there and my own occasional trips there when I want to avoid Ogden crowds.
It'll be nice to have two other Temples as options close by.
I've even gone with my nephew down to Bountiful to avoid Ogden baptismal wait times - still full there but not as long of a wait.
@Christopher Nicholson
I wonder if, due to Pres. Nelson's focus on getting the most out of "the widow's mite," they're leaving some of the Moronis off to save a bit of money.
There's also the possibility of the Brethren wanting to emphasize that we don't worship Moroni, and that his symbol is only one of many for our Church (with more emphasis on Christ, especially with the new logo).
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Liahona put on a few more Temples, as right now it's only on one, Cardston (and Liahona High School in Tonga).
They might also figure that leaving the Angel off will save a slight amount of time to fast-track some of these new ones, and they can always add the statue later as they did to several Temples back in the early 2000s.
Thoughts?
Germany had its first two temples built simultaneously, but to be fair it was not one country until several years after they were completed. Thus Canada was the first nation with 2 temples since Germany did not reunite until just over a month after Canada got its second temple in Toronto.
If we ignore the US then DR Congo may be the country to move to its second temple the fastest. Canada is on the order of 65 years, Mexico and Brazil about 20 years, a bit more for Guatemala and the United Kingdom about 40 years. Honduras may be the next fastest but it was still several years from Tegucigalpa's dedication to the announcement of a second temple in Honduras. Colombia and Ecuador both have over a decade, and Peru it is I believe over 30 years from the dedication of the Lima Temple to the announcement of Trujillo. Even Nigeria is was over 10 years from Aba's dedication to the announcement of Lagos.
In the US Tennessee had its first two temples in process simultaneously, as did New York.
Another issue to consider is that President Hinckley did not really start announcing temples in a real fast way until after he had been president of the Church for longer than President Nelson has been president. There is always a possibility that President Nelson will increase the pace at which he announces temples.
Prior to the building of temples in the 1980s I believe under half of temples had a statue of the angle Moroni. There are complex issues involved in putting up the statue. On the other hand the old chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington, D. C. in the 1930s had a statue of the angle Moroni on top of it.
I can see not having it for cost saving reasons. However in the case of the Paris France Temple that was clearly not the reason. They built a visitors center there which included a Christus statue. The rreasons to not have a spire or Angel Moroni have to do with asthetics, and are probably better understood than some because Bishop Causse was so involved in the matter.
I always like to point out that in the early days the statue was not so much conceptualized as Moroni, but as the angle in John's book of revelation, understood to be Moroni.
On my last point, the Book of Revelation link is why Moroni has a trumpet. Joseph Smith never mentions seeing Moroni with a trumpet, having the trumpet comes from the Book of Revelation passage.
As far as I can see the virus will be present in the southern hemisphere until at least September, at least in Chile and some neighbors. In Chile now everyone using public transportation must wear a mask at all times.
I was thinking that there will be a limit of 50 or 100 for meetings for a while. I wonder how will the Church operate in such conditions. Splitting sacrament meetings or perhaps asking people to attend on different weeks.
Just a few months ago I was talking to some friends about the Church transmitting Sunday meetings online, at least on a per stake level or so. Mostly for those who can't attend, but little did I suspect this pandemic would strike.
What is an acceleration of temple announcements is a matter of perspective. We are use to what President Hinckley did in the late 1990s with the goal to have 100 operating temples by 2000. But in 1980, under the administration of Spencer W. Kimball, they announced an acceleration of temple building and building smaller temples that was viewed as being just as significant.
With only 20 temples operating, they were suddenly announcing 4, 6, 8 temples a year and pretty much doubled number of temples in just 10 years. That was unthinkable at the time. In the 1970s began to see at least one temple proposed or under construction all the time.
Hwllo again, everyone! I became aware of some new informatoin late last night point to the idea that President Nelson's more immediate goal could be for the Church to have at least 300 temples announced by sometime in 2025. So I ran some calculations as a result of that, and if President Nelson continues to announce 8 temples every six months, there will be over 300 temples in various phases directly following the announcement of new temples in October 2024. And a gradual and steady increase in that manner will easily result in a significant increase in the total number of temples if, as anticipated to be the case, President Nelson serves as Church President for the next decade or two.
Navajo Reservation Receives Food and Supplies From Bishops' Central StorehouseDonations assist the elderly during COVID-19 outbreak
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/navajo-reservation-receives-food-supplies-bishops-central-storehouse
A lot of other things are in play that relate to temples, and some of it is family history work.
They need more who can go on missions to film records, we saw the cinderblock room with Sierra Leone's 2010 Census which has been preserved for he future when it can be released, but for every one of those there are hundreds more places like that which will rot away before we get to them.
Then there is activation, that would mean many more worthy to attend and if they go fequently enough that would necessitate even more, especially in Utah. A general authority said a year ago in my stake that 1/3 of the Wasatch Front is active member, 1/3 less-active, and 1/3 not a member. If we activated even a percentage of the less active, along with missionary baptisms, that definitely would call for more.
A general authority visiting a stake for its conference walked into a family history center and there were boxes and boxes filled with the 'My Family' booklet waiting to be keyed in, in some places the Family Tree app can't do its job until we get a good core database of deceased persons in the Family Tree. This had not been done due to the generally crappy Internet speeds and service. In some places they have smartphones but no data so they just use the phone as a phone only.
That may be about to change. SpaceX's Starlink, a similar plan by Amazon and others, will have low-orbit satellite flotillas, speeds will be way up, and there will be multiple birds the size of half your refrigerator over you and within range, with response times good enough for gaming. Right now if you were playing a shooting game, you would be shot before your shot hit the enemy shooter. The redundancy of birds means that if one craps out, gets hit by a meteoroid, or even space junk hits and ruins it, you will still be able to use it.
That has monumental implications for everything. And not just family history although that will be one of the bigger impacts.
Where I heard that I also heard Kevin Wong, a general authority seventy from Hong Kong, say that his family just did the baptism for an ancestor born in 2000 BC, the worker thought there had been a mistake until they sa 'BC' after the year, that was in the Hong Kong Temple, built in 1997. He asked his nonmember father if he had anything, and his father gave it all to him--150+ generations.
@James Anderson
That's a pretty cool story about the Chinese member's genealogy going back so far.
James A., I've been trying to remember where I heard a similar story, though this family's records didn't go as far back- finally I realized it was in Elder Stevenson's presentation for RootsTech (scroll down to the section titled "Pass down family names):
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-02-29/rootstech-elder-stevenson-family-discovery-day-spirit-of-elijah-175754
Look also at the 'Free 2020 Archives' in the dropdown under Archives on rootstech.org, another location for the two already known is 'Sessions for Latter-day Saints', and the Managing Directors Roundtable is the one where I got much of this from save for the emerging tech part which will help with what is heard in this.
I live in Brigham City and the temple is becoming busier over time. Several times endowments have been full, sealings have been busy at times and I understand the youth are filling up the font.
Elder Mutombo was the coordinator for Family History in Congo before he became a mission president. They were employing 18 teams including one lead by the first Congolese area seventy who is a school teacher by trade sending them deep into the bush where no missionaries have gone, places you have to walk a footpath to get to interview village elders to record oral histories before they are lost. There are lots of angles to preserve records that need to be undertaken.
Those oral histories, along with the family trees generated from them later after the recordings get to a place where they can be listened to, are placed in the 'Genealogies' area in FamilySearch. The trees are there with the recording once input.
I have heard over 16 million names may come out of this but someone else said at least triple that.
This is an area also with little reliable Internet access in even the cities, so the new low-earth-orbit satellites are going to be a major help to the Church and its members, both for family history and for other Church purposes. Will be as good or better than wired connections. Coastal and island areas that get hit by hurricanes will benefit as if you are connected that way you still will have Internet when all the ground-based stuff is out.
@James Anderson
Good to know about the new more reliable internet connections coming. Will be cool to see all the benefits it does to family history.
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