Today, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to construct 13 more temples in the following locations:
- Kaohsiung, Taiwan
- Tacloban City, Philippines
- Monrovia, Liberia
- Kananga, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Antananarivo, Madagascar
- Culiacán, México
- Vitória, Brazil
- La Paz, Bolivia
- Santiago West, Chile
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Cody, Wyoming
- Rexburg North, Idaho
- Heber Valley, Utah
There are now 265 temples in operation, under construction, or planned.
I will provide analysis of these new temple announcements in the coming days.
109 comments:
Very excited about the new Chilean temple and all the others.
Vitória - Brasil is a surprise for us. Theo church isn't big there.
I'd love to see an interactive charts on both new and cumulative growth of temples by announcement date (also showing status) simliar to https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Graph_April_2020.png . It would be great it if was something like a public Google Chart that you could interact with and keep updated. Thanks!
Also it's interesting the he used the words "rebuild" instead of "renovate" in regards to the Provo Utah Temple. At least they are waiting until Orem is completed this time. Other renovations took place at the same time a new nearby temple is being built. (For example, currently Salt Lake with Toole and Taylorsville, or St. George and Red Cliffs and others in the past).
My mother was born and raised in Heber Utah and growing up we went there often to visit grand parents. My siblings and father are excited about a temple in the Heber Valley.
There are a lot of fascinating places, including second temples for some cities. My wife screamed when the Rexburg north temple was announced.
“Reconstruct”
Hi Mike, long time no see.
Regarding Rexburg, this is one of the few times I'll ever get to say this and not feel entirely bad about it, so here goes:
I told you so.
As to the other announcements, many important locations that have needed temples were added, and it makes me incredibly happy. I also caught that about Provo, I expect it will be something similar to what happened in Ogden.
Very excited about these temple announcements! Several have been expected for a while, but a couple are nice surprises. With a second temple now in Taiwan, I would not be surprised to see a second temple announced in Korea as well in the near future.
Cody was probably the biggest surprise for me, more so due to the fact that Casper was just recently announced. Location wise and church history, it's a great location.
Fort Worth was on my radar, but I was possibly expecting Austin and El Paso before it. I think those two will come soon though and it won't be long before Texas is alongside California, Idaho, and Arizona as states with the most temples outside of Utah.
Would be a shame to lose Emil Fetzers iconic design. Will be interesting to see what is planned. Would not be surprised if there are earthquake issues at play.
Can anyone confirm: When I was a missionary in the Mada mission ~ 13 years ago they built the current Tana Stake Center. I believe as part of the layout a floor was left unoccupied and many thought it would likely be used for a future temple.
That is what I have heard, as long as 7 or more years ago someone was waiting with me at the bus stop there, and said they were looking at renovating it, mainly because they found seismic issues with the foundation. This may take better than three years as they would have to work under the building.
They may do some things similar to Jordan River, but may also do what they did with Ogden, they will want to be sure the capacity was there for the MTC and BYU, as Orem will likely still see heavy use after the reconstruction is completed.
The temples are the most anticipated announcements, without a doubt, it is always a joy to see that the temples continue to approach the saints, hopefully this helps them to be built soon, and they dedicate themselves to find joy in the work.
Being a Chilean happy with a new temple, I wanted to hear Viña del Mar, Osorno and Punta arenas, the best thing is that several countries are happy, it is a reason for joy.
I know the church had some land not far from the Texas Motor Speedway in North Fort Worth that they initially planned to build a chapel on but then held off (surprising as we definitely need more chapels) Maybe a possible location. I thought they were maybe holding off until the Alliance stake split as a site for the new stake center.
My bro in law told me today that he talked to a farmer that sold his 100 acres to the Church in North Rexburg across from Walmart. And supposedly for the temple and talks of a MTC there. I live in Idaho Falls. Rexburg desperately needed another one. Even when the first Rexburg temple was dedicated the GA's speculated of a second.
I have to admit Cody was not on any of my lists. My geographical ideas did not play out.
Monrovia, Antanarivo and La Paz as well as Heber City had been on my lists.
Vitoria I am still not good enough at distances in Brazil to judge.
I may have included Culiacan. That makes sense with the distances I have read of in Mexico.
Tacloban just looking at a map of the Philippines males sense, although North Luzon and South Luzon seem still good candidates.
Fort Worth reinforces my point that Dallas and Las Vegas are covering the same number of stakes but Las Vegas is twice as big.
Kaosung does not surprise me. Having done an indepth analysis on Kananga and Mabuji-Mayi yesterday, Kananga does not surprise me.
@Curious Reader
I agree. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I'm a fan of Bro. Fetzers' modernist work and the variety it adds to our temples' designs.
My initial guess is a complete rebuild like they did with Ogden, but I hope they can pay homage in some way to the original.
@L. Chris Jones
Perhaps a new modus operandi of the Temple Dept. is to (where possible) wait and construct another temple(s) nearby before doing a big update (or announce another nearby, as they did with Ephraim and Manti). I think they're taking more consideration now for spillover of attendees and trying to give them closer reasonable options.
My guess is that Logan's renovation won't be announced until Smithfield is well under way or completed. I (and others here have commented to the same effect) that an upgrade for Lima might not happen until Los Olivos is finished and possibly not until a third Lima metro area temple is announced.
I'm thinking some of the other slope-roofed temples from the 1980s temple boom (like Guatemala City 1st) might receive the same treatment, and possibly some of the smaller Hinckleyan temples as well.
@Mike Johnson
My sister screamed, too! :)
Nice to see you back on here uncle Mike. Heber temple is exciting news.
For the Vitória Brazil Temple District, my best guess would be 4 Stakes (Campos, Cariacica, Vila Velha and Vitória), plus 2 Districts (Colatina and Nanuque) that fall within the 200 mi radius limit and not closer to Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte Temples. All but Campos Stake and Nanuque District are within Espiritu Santo (Holy Ghost) State. Campos Stake is inside Rio de Janeiro State. And Nanuque District is inside Minas Gerais State.
I’ve heard from people in the area about a potential MTC across from the walmart, near the new temple.
I believe in that too
Vitoria, Brazil certainly wasn't anywhere near my list of predictions, but I am thrilled they are getting a temple. I served in Vila Velha (Victoria's next door neighbor) on my mission, and I thought the members were awesome there. When it opens Vitoria will probably been the smallest temple in Brazil, or at least the temple with the small district.
I believe that to make the international districts more regular, both in the number of units and distance, the countries/regions still need the following number of temples:
Brazil: 9
Argentina: 2
Chile: 3
Peru: 3
Venezuela: 1
Mexico: 3
Canada: 2
Caribbean: 3
Philippines: 4
Europe: 4
Africa: 6
Asia: 5
Oceania: 5
US: 20+
I believe that, with the current rate of announcements, these 70 temples can be reached in the next 3 years, bringing the number of buildings to a value close to 350.
I am certain the Provo Temple needs to be reconstructed because of earthquake issues. The building is constructed like a chandelier: the central tower is strong, and the rest of the building sort of dangles from it. In an earthquake, it would pancake pretty easily.
That said, I hope they keep its character. The Ogden Temple was a cultural loss, taking a unique piece of midcentury architecture and turning it into 2010s expensive-but-soulless nightmare.
@ Matt S:
You're welcome to your opinion, but I daresay it's a minority one. Provo and Ogden certainly were unique, but I don't think they succeeded at what the architect was trying to convey regarding clouds and pillars of fire. Both buildings scream, "Hi, I'm a product of the 60s and happen to look like a birthday cake with a big candle, yay!" And that's not a good statement from a temple. Styles and designs from the 1960s are best left in the past, as far as I'm concerned.
When I was in the BYU marching band, our section leader got married in the Provo Temple between semesters. By her report, the temple workers treated her like royalty, because almost nobody gets sealed in Provo. Most Utah temples, you have to schedule a sealing weeks or months in advance, but at Provo she could name her day and time, and only one other couple got sealed there that day.
My wife's mom got sealed in the Ogden Temple, but in their case it was a second marriage for both of them, after having been married civilly a few years earlier. As far as I know, there were no pictures. My wife picked Bountiful for our marriage, because she was adamant about not getting sealed in Ogden despite it being her hometown. We didn't hear the birthday cake comparisons until we were engaged, but what has been heard cannot be unheard.
While I don't have access to any numbers, Ogden has enjoyed much more busyness since the rebuild, and I often see wedding parties outside taking pictures when I drive by, which was hardly the case before the rebuild. Given the choice between a "soulless nightmare" from the 2010s versus one from the 1960s, I'll take the 2010s version every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
@Mike Johnson
I used to chauffer a man I worked for from Provo to Heber to visit his parents once a month (and to Midway to see his sister).
I also got to visit the Heber Valley a few other times as a BYU student: once for a service project to build a bench at the docks of the girl's camp (where I caught a tiger salamander), and another memorable time I got to help film a student film project on the Heber Creeper (it was a Vampire Western!).
I grew a fondness for the valley. It reminds me a lot of the Bitterroot Valley in Montana where I grew up.
Rexburg was the only one I felt for sure was going to happen this time (particularly because of certain comments on the last post).
Several of my family members chose that one as the winner on our temple brackets (thanks again, Cory), and La Paz was the other big winner chosen by multiple people this time around.
I suspect that the Provo Temple will be redesigned. Some people think it looks ugly.
If kept with a similar design they will probably remove the statue of the angel Moroni. I also suspect they will add a second baptistry.
Provo is one of the proportionately busiest temples there is even. It is said to be the busiest temple period. It was designed to be used by very large numbers of people. Having a second temple in the city does not solve the demand issues. I really suspect Springville/Spanish Fork/Mapleton will have a temple announced long before Provo is rebuilt. In fact I would not be surprised if it happens before the rebuild happens.
I think technically Taylorsville is taking from Jordan River and not Salt Lake, although it may end up with some stakes that were Salt Lake.
New Zealand is another example of announcing a new temple after renovation has begun.
That would shock me. I am not sure it would make sense at this point to start a second MTC in the US.
It is telling that not even having a second temple in the city makes things ready to renovate Provo Temple.
I have to admit I would be unsurprised if no new temples are announced for Canada for over a decade. I could see some announcements, but none seem very high priorities.
My guess for the Provo Temple is they'll do the same thing they did with the Ogden Temple.
I have to admit that I do not understand turning down marrying a temple based on its looks.
That said, if the general consensus is against a design than change is good.
In the case of Provo I suspect a second Baptiste no matter what else is done.
I have never seen a temple I did not think was unpleasant.
I also find it odd that some of the same people complain that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spends too much on temples and that the buildings of the Church are too uniform. Uniform buildings are cheaper.
I’ve got to agree with Matt. I hope the Provo Temple design stays. I looked at that temple from my bedroom window for three years and loved it.
The Ogden Temple was getting lost in its location. But at the mouth of the canyon, Provo’s design works amazingly well, if you ask me.
And church architects are showing no inclination toward abandoning classic 1960s design. Take a look at the interior design of the Oakland Temple.
Maybe if Rexburg gets a major airport upgrade.
I also think that most of Taylorsville will be taken from Jordan River, but a a few stakes from Salt Lake. As the announcement for Provo was "reconstruction" and Not "renovate" I feel it will be a big change. But I hope it retains some of its current design elements. I anticipate it will have changes to make it much more efficient even though it was already designed as w high efficiency temple. Probably add a second baptistry. Maybe remove cafeteria, clothing rental, and laundry (except for the baptistry) to use space for more ordinance work.
Depending on where the Ft Worth Temple is located, the Temple by the time it is built, will serve approximately 13 states, and Dallas will keep approximately 18 Stakes-(I am accounting for a few Stake splits). Far Northern Ft Worth, or Southlake areas are my top two picks for location of the FTW Temple.
This will have Ft Worth serve Tarrant, Denton counties, and counties to the South and West. Dallas maintains Dallas, Collin Counties, and Counties to the East and South of the metro. With 7.5 million in the metro, a second Temple is needed!
My thoughts on Fort Worth Texas Temple District, would be the following 10 Stakes (9 from the current Texas Fort Worth Mission, plus 1 from the Texas Austin Mission).
Alliance Texas
Arlington Texas
Burleson Texas
Colleyville Texas
Denton Texas
Fort Worth Texas
Fort Worth Texas North
Hurst Texas
Waco Texas
Weatherford Texas
With an additional possibility of the Abilene Texas Stake from the Lubbock Texas Temple. It is located about equidistant from Lubbock to Fort Worth. So it is hard to guess which way it will go. Or if interstate tolls have any sway in the matter on I20.
I would expect the Provo Temple gets a new design. Considering Provo is the busiest temple in the world, no one at BYU seems to want to get married there. I had two sister's in law, one that got sealed in Salt Lake, the other in Provo. The Salt Lake couple was super rushed and barely got to enjoy it. The Provo couple had a ton of temples workers talking while she was getting ready, no rush, and it was a very pleasant experience. My SIL joked that it was so pleasant because she got all the attention due to no one wanting to get married there. Most everyone I talk to think the Provo temple is ugly, it wasn't even in the Top 3 of places my wife wanted to get married at even though we both spent years in Provo. If the ceremony is the same on the inside and there are 20 temples to choose from, you will choose the one that makes for the best wedding photos. Most don't consider Provo to be that.
Not to be rude but not getting sealed in a certain temple due to its look is the height of first world problems!
The Idaho Falls Airport, 40 minutes from north Rexburg, is serviced by 5 major Airlines: https://www.idahofallsidaho.gov/199/Airlines
The Idaho Falls Airport is undergoing a massive expansion project:
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/06/more-flights-launch-from-idaho-falls-airport-as-expansion-project-continues/
An MTC in Rexburg could be staffed by an abundant supply of BYU-Idaho students. Given BYU-Idaho’s three track system, it has classes year around, meaning plenty of staffing during the summer months when lots of missionaries begin their service.
I think it could be a great location, especially for U.S. missionaries called to serve within the U.S.
Rezburg did have a portion of the forerunner to the MTC, it was the Language Training Mission. That ended when the Provo MTC was built.
Story about Allegiant, one of the airlines in Idaho Falls. Someone took a flight, was a round trip, and when they got on the return flight, same plane, same seat--same nose booger on the window. You can't win the all when even taking care of the cabin in an airplane.
Provo has a legend about two baptistries, this was over ten years ago. They wanted to put two baptistries in, but the plans, when submitted, to put the second one in they were told no. The Provo Tabernacle burned three days after that. But that was then, now three other temples will have two baptistries as part of whatever design they come up with. Provo will likwly lose the cafeteria, one chef there made parmesan trout, it was to die for it was that good, and after sessions people would eat there if they saw it on the menu, posted on an easel when entering the dressing room.
@EP -- You sure were correct!!! Talk about good Intel. Thank you very much for commenting on the last post and giving us early insight into Rexburg. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to reply to that, but I was very intrigued and happy to see that all your sources were correct. That was fun! I laughed when I read your comment here! I'll be looking forward to your next predictions -- you've got the inside scoop! 😃
Well, the Lehi one did not drop this time, usually it is only one new per conference for Utah, with a renovation/reconstruction elsewhere in the state and so now no Utah temple will have a new date earlier than the mid-90s, just Logan, redone in 1975-77, will be left.
So which other possible new site will go next? I am thinking Lehi, then Herriman, then that mid-valley eastside possibility.
Long time lurker here, but I've never posted much. I graduated from BYU-Idaho almost ten years ago and as such Rexburg is very close to my heart. I'm thrilled at the news of a second Temple there! I remember the baptistry was always overcrowded from the day it opened. I'm talking standing room only in the baptistry chapel, with people longing the isles. Endowment sessions also tended to be very full and they would often have to bring in folding chairs to accommodate everyone in a session. To me, Rexburg would be the perfect place to have one if the newer dual-baptistry designs, but that doesn't make sense unless it were built near campus, which is on the south end of town. I'm very interested to see how they divide up the temple districts. They could build the new one on the north end of town to mostly accomodate local people, with the existing temple primarily being used by students. That wouldn't really eliminate overcrowding at the existing temple, and many students don't have cars and will likely attend the existing temple anyway as it is within walking distance for most students. Very interested to see how it shakes out. Huge blessing for that community.
The trend under President Nelson has been consolidating MTCs. Also, it appears they may keep online training indefinitely. I really do not see any reason to create another MTC in the US ever. If it were done, doing so in a different region of the US would make more sense.
Actually I think your analysis of what is driving baptistries is outdated.
With the shift if missionary age to 18 for men and 19 for women and with the strong push to involve youth in all phases of baptisms and also the push for family baptism time, high schoolers especially going to do baptisms on a regular basis has become a reality.
So I do not think a temple needs to be close to a campus to need lots of baptistry use.
After FamilySearch introduced the precursor to Family Tree in 2009 to Provo, baptistry attendance in Provo exploded. Went to a meetinghouse near me for a funeral and found a letter, I am thinking 2010 or just after, and it came from the temple. Said baptistry use had gone up fourfold. It was also about then the story about the second baptistry proposal in the present Provo Temple surfaced as the fire happened in late 2010 that destroyed the Provo Tabernacle.
This time around only North America Central had more than 1 temple announced. In the spring North America west had 2 announced, as did Africa South, and North Ameica Southwest. North America Central had 3 announced in the Spring.
If I am counting right this is the temple breakdown by area.
Pacific Islands - I think 10 operational and 6 announced for 16, unless Kiribati is in Asia North Area.
Philippines - 2 operational, 6 announced, 8 total.
Asia North - 4 operational and 2 announced.
Asia - 2 operational, although 1 being renovated. 6 announced. 8 total.
Middle East/North Africa - 1 announced
Europe East- 1 operational 1 announced.
Europe- 13 operational, 5 announced, 18 total.
Africa West - 2 operational, 6 announced, 8 total.
Africa Central - 1 operational, 3 announced, 4 total.
Africa South- 2 operational, 4 announced, 6 total.
South America South- 6 operational, 5 announced, 11 total.
South America Northwest - 8 operational, 5 announced, 13 total.
Brazil- 7 operational, 7 announced, 14 total.
Central America - 6 operational, 4 announced, 10 total.
Caribbean - 2 operational, 1 announced, 3 total.
North America Southeast - 9 operational, 2 announced, 11 total. I believe Bentonville, Arkansas is now in this area.
North America Northeast - 13 operational, 2 announced, 15 total.
North America Central - 20 operational, 2 in open house, 6 more announced, 28 total. This might be the biggest of any area.
North America Southwest - 15 operational, 4 announced, 19 total.
Mexico - 13 operational, 4 announced, 17 total.
Utah - 16 operational, 11 announced, 27 total.
North America West - 16 operational. 4 announced 20 total.
Utah has the most announced, and is second only to North America Central overall. I suspect though Utah Area has more members than North America Central. The Saskachewan and Manitoba Temples have very few stakes. The top 4 are in North America, followed by Europe. 3 are at 2 current with 6 more announced. North America Central is the only one with over 20 operational.
I can remember when almost half of areas lacked an operating temple, it is now just 1. To be fair there were more areas back then, both Mexico North and Brazil North existed without a temple, but Middle East/North Africa is the only area ever that would currently not have a temple. North America Central would be at only 15 if the Idaho Area still existed.
If I calculated correctly after Utah North America Central has the most announced not dedicated but this will shift to Brazil once Rio de Jainero is dedicated.
That's a good point. I left Rexburg right before the age change announcement, so that very well might have changed.
I have shared this before, but driving into Provo Valley and approaching Provo along Orem and the freeway, I saw the Provo Temple with the symbolism of Moses, a shadow by day and a pillar by night.
Beautiful.
It inspires me, anyway. Got my endowments there, its peculiar design reflects a Biblical peculiar people.
Jesus was no ordinary man. Neither are His temples.
I also don't see a need to have the North Rexburg temple close to campus. I did a Google maps search on the distance from the current temple to Walmart (across from the suspected North Rexburg Temple site. It calculated to be about 3.3 miles in distance. If they walk at a steady pace of 20 minute miles. It's just over an hour walk. (66 minutes). Depending on heat and how I feel, I can walk a mile in under 15 minutes. Those with cars and bikes it will much quicker. Noth will accommodate students and fulltime residents and reduce wait times.
I'll chime in on Fort Worth locations. Having lived in the north (20+ years ago) and now in the southern part of Fort Worth for 9+ years, I have a somewhat educated view of the landscape. Of course, I would love it close to Burleson, where we live, but I'm not going to even consider that one as I'm too biased in favor. (We are on I-35 just south of Fort Worth) The next best location would be close to the intersection of I-20 (no tolls on I-20) and the Chisolm Trail Parkway (there are tolls on here.) The only downside is the tolls. There is a lot of available land, hills, and some nice upscale developments already there or being built further down the parkway. It's easy access to the west, those on the north could take I-820 west and avoid a lot of the I-35 traffic (which is horrendous in the north part of Fort Worth and not much better as you go south) and it's about 20-30 minutes from us in the east. It's also close to the center of the mission and very close to Fort Worth. (I've noticed that with a few exceptions they seem to be trying to build one temple in each mission. I could be wrong)
Southlake is a good 45 minutes from us and they can get to the Dallas temple much quicker than that. But I'm not going to discount any location. It will go where it needs to and I'll be glad not to have to deal with Dallas traffic anymore. :-) I'm happy for whichever lucky stake gets to have it in their boundaries.
Also the church has land next to the Weatherford Stake Center. That would be farther away than I would prefer, but I wouldn't count it out. I could not find any land by the Alliance Airport that the church owned, but maybe it's listed under another name I didn't search for.
Outside the US Kananga,Temple would be the 2nd temple announced closest to when the 1st Temple in a country was dedicated, if Lubumbashi did not already hold that record.
Germany does not count because it was 2 countries when it got its temples.
It is only 2.5 years since Kinshasa Temple was dedicated. I believe the next lowest record is Mexico at 11 years.
On the other extreme I believe Canada holds the record with 61 years from the first temple dedicated until the second announced, although New Zealand is not far behind at 60 years.
Of course Switzerland holds the absolute record of any country, 66+ years with just one temple in operation or announced.
For US states if we look beyond Utah there is no clear winner. Tennessee had its first two temple in progress at once. The longest delay is for Hawai'i at 79 years, followed by Arizona at I believe 72 years.
Maryland comes in 3rd I believe at 47+ years.
Now that Salt Lake got a second baptistry I am fairly certain Provo will as well.
Especially if any students live closer to it than campus, which is almost certainly the case.
Maybe as many as 10 missions have multiple temples in operation or announced, 2 temples exist outside any mission, yet there are almost twice as many missions as temples.
I believe outside the US all 4 cities that have multiple temples announced are headquarters to at least 3 missions.
Mexico City has at least 5 but 1 temple. On the other hand are Ciudad Juarez and Colonia Juarez in the same of different missions?
In Canada 50% of missions based in the country have multiple temples. No mission lacks a temple which has been the case sine the 2 Toronto missions were merged.
I believe 2 missions in Europe have multiple temples.
The Samoan and Hawai'ian missions do as well.
That would be interesting to know, what temple covers the most missions. Nairobi Kenya will cover 4, which is also what Kinshasa will cover when other temples are completed. What is Mexico City at?
I should look into this more.
In the US Houston and DC will be at 3 when temples in progress are complete. Does anywhere exceed that number?
Agreed about Fort Worth and how it should go south, 35W after the toll lanes were put in is no better off, a trucker livestreamed coming in from the northwest one morning and the southbound regular lanes were backed up so bad he used the toll lanes to get ahead of it including using 820's toll lanes too, an earlier trip had some slowing, but as soon as he passed the Mixmaster downtown it was smooth sailing past TCU, etc.
Another reason would be Dallas is just off LBJ in north Dallas, even with the toll lanes it is still bad there too, and a south Fort Worth location would put it in the opposite corner of the Metroplex.
The growth though is more north, even with CTP and 360 Toll 20 us a clean shot and not much going in south of it unless I am missing something.
JPL, no offense intended here, and I hope none is taken. The Madagascar capital city is not "Antanarivo", but is actually "Antananarivo", which is the spelling used on the official temple list, the news release about the newest temple, on the Church of Jesus Christ temples page, and in this very post. Thought you'd like to know you have somehow been omitting a syllable on that.
The Concepcion Temple in Chile may cover parts of 4 missions if some in Argentina end up going there. Maybe 5?
Bahia Blanca may be easiest for countrymen in southern Patagonia to attend, or even Buenos Aires. If flying, what is easier? Staying in country would make more sense, but I am not sure.
Both sides of Cape Horn more temples.
There is a lot of grown in the south and west of Fort Worth. A large percentage of it is focused around Chisolm Trail. (Burleson just announced a 1000 acre planned development going in off of Chisolm Trail.) There is also a lot of growth in the Aledo area and Bonds Ranch. Both of these areas have a lot of open space and planning is in the works for large housing developments.
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/10/rexburg-homeowners-honored-to-have-their-property-become-site-for-new-temple/
My bro in law, from my previous comment, was indeed correct.
December groundbreaking announced for the Bacolod Philippines Temple:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/groundbreaking-date-set-for-the-bacolod-philippines-temple
Virtually no students will be closer to a temple by the Rexburg Walmart, and the vast majority significantly closer to the current temple. Very few would walk up to that area either (although I could see the Walmart shuttle getting overrun by temple patrons).
The stakes of Sugar City, St. Anthony, Driggs, Aston, etc. would all be assigned to Rexburg North.
I'm excited about the groundbreaking for Bacolod. My dad served there sometime in 1967-1968, and said he and 3 other missionaries covered the entire island. Now there are 3 stakes in Bacolod itself, with 6 more (plus 4 districts) elsewhere on the island, and several more stakes and districts on a couple other islands to the west that will be part of that temple district when it is completed.
Definitely exciting about Bacolod, served there in 2009-2010. Glad they have finally announced the groundbreaking date after two years of wondering where it would go.
The Pea Ridge Branch, located in the Rogers Arkansas Stake, was upgraded to a ward the week before general conference. Among the four stakes in NWA there are now no English speaking branches besides the YSA branch.
Also found during search for Stake/District name changes, the "Santa Teresita Argentina District - 445355" has been renamed "La Costa Argentina District - 445355". I'm not sure when this happened.
https://classic.churchofjesuschrist.org/maps/#ll=-36.907192,-57.128957&z=8&m=google.hybrid&layers=stakecenter&find=stake:445355
@Jim Anderson & JPL
I certainly hope Provo gets a second baptistry. Lots of limited use recommend-holding coeds would do baptisms while I was a student there from '05-'09 (including several of my friends), plus the use by the missionaries when they're not doing sessions.
The temple president while I lived in Ogden wanted a second baptistry there due to extremely high use (a little before the pandemic), but that was after the 2014 remodel, of course. Pity they couldn't have included one with the renovation.
Whizzbang, I don't think that is rude at all. A short time ago, our ward EQ discussed President Eyring's talk "I Love to See the Temple". I made the observation that COVID-19 and the resulting closure of all temples had hopefully instilled a Churchwide appreciation that temples are being consistently made closer to a higher percentage of the Church. I also mentioned that my mom's family in South Africa in the 1960s or so had to sell just about everything they owned to be able to afford a single family trip to the temple in London England.
So I understand why you've expressed frustration about a cosmetic feature of any temple being presented as a reason to avoid being married therein. I couldn't agree with that out more.
I am not sure if anyone mention this, but here is a good article on the progress of temples. https://www.deseret.com/2021/10/7/22712932/churchbeat-newsletter-president-nelson-has-announced-a-record-83-temples
President Nelson is now 5 ahead of President Hinckley in total temples announced. We are currently just under 100,000 members per temple, but may get down to below 70,000. Still higher than we were in 1893 though.
Well, with the drop of mission age for females, the number of female students at BYU who hold only limited use recommends is probably down. However the various policies changes of the last year of President Monson's administration and under President Nelson, have greatly encouraged and facilitated youth going to the temple more often than was the case in the past. I think I have read that some youth in areas close to a temple where they have seminary on a release time basis try to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead multiple times a week. As a BYU freshman I went almost every Friday, but that was still only once a week. Way better than the two times I year I went as a youth. Even there, my ward had only gone once a year until about the time I turned 12.
Earlier I indicated that I had seen a letter on a bulletin board from the Provo Temple that said attendance at the baptistry had increased fourfold, that was about 2010, and the main reason is the forerunner to Family Tree was at last made available to Utah, Arizona had crashed it when introduced to them in early 2008 so they wanted to gradually scale things up until things were built enough to accomodate the heavy use expected when that was opened to Utah.
In November 2009m they did release it to Utah, and that is what led to it.
Since the pandemic began and the figure I have is the first 17 months. 120 million names were added to Family Tree. While the total user base of FamilySearch exceeds the total membership of the church, a lot of that increase may well be members finding many names and thus preparing names for the temples.
So even when we do get to phase 4 on temples being fully reopened, it may take years to work through what was found and submitted. But with an about 40 percent increase in total temple capacity in Utah alone, it will still take some time even with increased attendance, to work through this new matter. Utah alone is said to account for more than half the temple work currently done in the church and that was before the pandemic.
@JPL
"I think I have read that some youth in areas close to a temple where they have seminary on a release time basis try to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead multiple times a week."
That was the case for high schoolers in the Ogden area before the pandemic. The temple president told us they were being swamped by students doing baptisms before school throughout the week.
"As a BYU freshman I went almost every Friday, but that was still only once a week."
That was my experience as a BYU freshman as well, but I attended after my mission, so I'd do endowments or initiatories.
We would only go once a year (during the summer) as well when I was a youth in Montana, but that was because the temples were 4 hours away in Idaho Falls or 5 hours away in Billings. Spokane's announcement cut the time down by a little bit, so we were eventually assigned there, and could attend more often after I returned from my mission.
Thought occurred to me for the future. So Oquirrh and Draper are both about the same size (60,000 sf) and capacity (4/5/1) as Rexburg, and serve more stakes (40 and 29 vs 26, respectively). With Rexburg having its second temple announced, temples to divide Oquirrh (Herriman) and Draper (Cottonwood?) cannot be far behind.
Good thing we will still have the millennium to complete the backlog.
Herriman is currently behind Lehi in population, 50k vs. Lehi's 75k and some of Lehi will go to Saratoga Springs as a public works building east of the Jordan River that Saratoga Springs owns is in Saratoga Springs.
So even with that difference, Lehi could be considered to go first, Herriman maybe the conference after that, then Cottonwood Heights/north Sandy depending on property availability/owned property.
Herriman we have a rumored and likely site. But another there could be up their sleeve.
They added another ward in Lehi Jordan River stake in the last few weeks, found the meeting and the stake presidency member speaking said that one of the wards had 877 members, and the week or two before it was reported that 750 were in attendance at sacrament meeting for the ward that was divided and had other adjustments made, unsure on what was done outside of the new ward.
Kiribati is in the Pacific Area, JPL, but Yigo Guam is under Asia North. Simarly, Praia Cabo Verde might be geographically closer to Africa, but it is within the boundaries of the Church's Europe Area. I am not entirely sure how area boundaries are drawn, but I could see a scenario sooner than later that would involve a global realignment of Church areas that could also impact the boundaries of missions, temple districts, stakes, districts, wards and branches. Aside from consolidating the 10 North America Areas into 6, and creating the Africa Central Area, the only other area adjustment thus far has been to transfer Mongolia from the Asia to the Asia North Area, so I could see something being done with regards to area realignments.
It was a 3.5 hour drive one way to the temple when I was a youth. Across an international border. I had a bishop who told us growing up in Colorado he only did baptisms for the dead once. I havecgotten the impression that in the 1990s getting youth to go to the temple and do baptisms was a higher priority than in the 1960s and 1970s.
When I was in the MTC my district president, a man in some ways such a blast from the past he served his first mission as a married young adult leaving his wife behind, gave a talk where he pushed getting recent converts to do baptisms, but in my mission this was not something highly pushed. Here in Detroit my branch was constantly pushing this. Once we even ordained a man to the Aaronic priesthood before we could publicly sustain him to get him to do baptisms sooner.
Well, not all stakes create the same temple use levels. However Oquirrh looks likely to see Herriman built soon. Draper I am not as convinced on, but you may be right there too.
In regards to Draper, east of the freeway is well-developed and has largely been for many years so not much additional growth within the temple district. But the west side of the freeway is seeing the most growth, a very large and politically controversial development is set for Herriman, potentially over 6k housing units, not to mention the growth elsewhere in Bluffdale, as well as parts of South Jordan and Riverton, any temple will be either at the rumored site or some other place nearby.
Draper would definitely be use-driven as the reason to announce a new temple to help with that district and maybe with Jordan River, since growth on the east side is basically impossible. But I'd imagine increased use could cause a need for an additional temple.
I do agree Herriman is first, and will likely be announced next conference, if not the conference after. I think Cottonwood would be a few to several years down the road after some of the crazy growth areas (Lehi, Spanish Fork, etc) are addressed.
Might this article ( https://interpreterfoundation.org/book-of-moses-essays-076/ } be a reason to hope and expect President Nelson to announce a floating, ie cruise ship, temple in a coming Conference? The idea has appealed to me in the past; perhaps it's time has come!
I know a lot of folks on here expect another temple on the east side of the Salt Lake valley. I am not so sure that will happen. Most places in Utah where new temples are being built have experienced explosive growth over the past couple of decades, and are likely to continue to for the foreseeable future -- I think a lot of the temples being built are intended not just to meet current needs, but to accommodate likely future demand. In contrast, the east side of the Salt Lake valley (at least north of Draper) is not growing much in terms of total population, and in terms of active Latter-day Saint population is in fact shrinking in parts. This trend seems likely to continue (and accelerate -- I expect we will see a massive wave of stake consolidations on the east part of the valley in the late 2020s and 2030s). This means that, unlike the rest of Utah, the membership base for a hypothetical east bench temple would decline in the foreseeable future, rather than increase, which is why I think most new temples in the Salt Lake valley will continue to be on the west and south sides (for instance, I predict a Herriman temple a few years from now).
I remember a temple president (OKC) commenting at a stake conference that we currently don't perform enough proxy baptisms to keep up with the death rate much less catch up on those long passed. More temples is part of the hastening of the work, not only for the living but also for the dead. Temples need to be more accessible so that people can attend more frequently for the dead.
He's right, they have been saying that for at least 40 years, we lose more each day than all the temples now could do if every rea of every temple were full every hour of every day. This was mentioned in general conference once.
I am inclined to agree, especially given that the Salt Lake Temple renovation is more than doubling its capacity.
Jim, I did not quite understand your comment about losing people. Church members leaving Salt Lake City proper? Productivity of temple worship at capacity? Not tracking.
Speaking of concentrations of mermbership, I know that this blog and the participating commenters talk a lot about temple growth and expansion, but I wish we had more statistics about numbers of new members per mission.
I have understood that Utah missions usually have the best conversion rates in the country.
I would love to see the year to year results of convert baptisms in all the 400 some missions in the world, to get a more global vision of Church development.
Having access to the DC South Mission numbers for many years in the 2010s, the four counties of Northern Virginia would generally baptize between 300 to 400 people per year. 500 was a big goal for some iterations, I am not sure if that was ever achieved.
Perhaps Clarke County falls under DC South auspices, but with no LDS (Church of Jesus Christ) units, the counties are Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William. The latter two have very high dynamic population growth, new neighborhoods all the time.
That is more people die every day than we can do the work for even if we had everything going at full capacity all the time
Oh, interesting. However, some of those who die have all their temple ordinances, at least. With the growth of the Church more living can reach out and effect the ordinances of their kindred dead in the temple. Interesting thoughts of saving the dead. If we did a better job with the living, it would fall into place more.
Technology has helped de-confliction and overlapping efforts, which is a big thing. No more doing the same ordinances for the same person over decades, as it used to happen.
That number problem is a good one to think about.
@Jim Anderson
I wonder if the hullabaloo about the housing developments in Herriman is one reason the Restored Church of Jesus Christ has held off on announcing that one for so long.
Possibly waiting until things settle down there? Maybe want to avoid the possibility of announcing a site, and then having local backlash and having to move it to a different location like they did in Tooele Valley?
I suppose the sheer number of Ordinances we have to do is why the work will continue into the Millennium...and beyond!
Cody was a pleasant shock to me. With the Big Horn Basin having 3 stakes and being relatively close to Billings, I was not considering it. However, it now makes sense.
Gillette, Casper East, Casper, Riverton and Worland stakes are currently assigned to the Casper Temple. Worland makes more sense to go to Cody now. So I added up the current ward and district numbers for the two Temples.
Casper (excluding Worland stake) would serve about 26 wards and 2 districts.
Cody including Cody, Lovell, and Worland stakes would serve about 28 wards and 3 districts.
These numbers lead me to belive the Cody and Casper temples will be similar serving a similar amount of people.
It also makes me believe the Big Horn Basin could have another stake organized (making the Cody Temple serve 4 stakes like Casper). A new stake could be organized in Burlington, or Powell, or even Byron... I don't know, but I believe another one will be organized in the near future.
This also lead me to think about SW Wyoming where I expected the next Wyoming Temple to be announced. Evanston makes sense with two stakes, but I'm going to stick with my thought of Lyman and it being called the Bridger Valley Temple.
IF a Temple were announced for Lyman it could serve 6 stakes: 2 in Evanston, Kemmerer, Lyman, Green River, and Rock Springs.(If it were announced for Evanston I think these same 6 stakes would still apply to it.)
The approximate numbers I got for this area are 44 wards and 6 districts. With these numbers in comparison to Cody and Casper Temples I believe SW Wyoming could get a larger Temple at 20-25,000 sq feet rather than 10. The lot behind the Lyman Stake center at 400 by 300 feet could accommodate such a larger size Temple I belive (sharing parking with the stake center) and be a beautiful location.
The Bridger Valley has 10 wards and maybe in time could get another stake and a new stake center where a Temple could be built next to in a different location.
Eduardo, Clarke County Virginia is part of the Maryland Baltimore Mission which stretches as far west as the Romney Branch in West Virginia. Clarke County also is part of the Berryville Ward of the Winchester Virginia Stake and its members meet in the Winchester Virginia Stake Center in Frederick County, Virginia. Some members in the eastern part of Frederick County are currently part of the Berryville Ward. There are two meetinghouses in Frederick County Virginia - the Winchester Virginia Stake Center which houses the Winchester and Berryville Wards and a smaller chapel in the southern part of Frederick County where the Shenandoah Valley Ward (our ward) meets.
Taylorsville area has not seen much growth of late, so I do not think having growth in a prerequisite to getting a temple in Utah. As pointed out elsewhere, the Draper Utah Temple has more assigned stakes than the Rexburg idaho Temple.
while the Salt Lake Temple is doubling its capacity, it is also for the first time going to be able to offer the endowment in languages other than English. This will probably even more than in the past make it a destination temple for international travelers.
It may be hard to predict demand in the future, but I fully expect a need to create more temples from the Salt Lake Temple district in the not too distant future.
Bob, thanks for the update regarding Clarke and Frederick counties. Which way is best to go to the Philly and DC temples?
How long a drive for those? Can you avoid Baltimore to get to Philadelphia?
There is a ring freeway around at least the west side of Baltimore that connects at both ends into I-95, then 95 into 676 in Philadelphia and the temple is right on that but because of the cantilevered frontage road the temple is not that visible to those using the freeway main lanes.
I tried posting a comment about urban, suburban, and rural temples. Philadelphia, SLC, Hong Kong, Manhattan, Jecife strike me as the most urban temples. LA and Santiago seem to be less downtown ones, even Mexico City. Most seem to be suburban.
More a spiritual note about temples: the Lord would have us unite with Him and the Father, lift up the poor and needy and be exalted, This is more implemented through the higher ordinances experienced at the holy temple.
We are blessed to live in the last days when these events and plans transpire. For us, God’s children.
Thanks for sharing about all the expansion and growth. God is good and He sustains. He prevails.
São Paulo and Tokyo are very urban too. London os the most rural in my opinion.
Haven't been to the Washington DC Temple for so long I'm not sure what would be the best route from here to there. We spend a lot of time with our youngest daughter and her family in Arizona and attend the Tucson Temple with her. The Tucson Temple is like a precious jewel with the Catalina Hills in the background.
I tried sending a comment about rural desert temples in many places of the West, which would seem to fulfill visions and prophecies of Brigham Young, and others.
I used to drive the back roads from Frederick County VA through Clarke County to the Washington DC temple... through Charles Town and Harpers Ferry VA, up to Frederick Maryland and down I-270 to the beltway and the temple. Took about 2 hours 15 minutes going against the main flow of traffic. Folks who rode in our 15 passenger van were treated to some exciting hills and turns. I apologize for any past gree-around-the-gills trips as I efficiently drove to meet our planned session times.
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