Today, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans to construct 20 more temples in the following locations:
- Savai’i, Samoa
- Kahului, Hawaii
- Fairbanks, Alaska
- Vancouver, Washington
- Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Roanoke, Virginia
- Cancún, Mexico
- Piura, Peru
- Huancayo, Peru
- Viña del Mar, Chile
- Goiânia, Brazil
- João Pessoa, Brazil
- Cape Coast, Ghana
- Calabar, Nigeria
- Luanda, Angola
- Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Laoag, Philippines
- Osaka, Japan
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
With today's announcement, there are now 335 temples that are announced, under construction, or dedicated.
In the coming 1-2 weeks, I will be publishing posts that provide more information about these temple announcements.
52 comments:
Congratulations on the Colorado Springs temple Matt! Very happy for you and the Saints there
I thought of Matt too. Congratulations on Colorado Springs. We got one for my wife's native land of Mongolia.
Seconded on the congrats on Colorado Springs.
Very pleased with the list announced. This will fill a number of important holes in the world and cut down significantly on distances for nearly every temple announced. Ulaanbaatar is a huge announcement, though we've been predicting it for such a long time. Angola took me by surprise. 7 were on my list for this conference, which is better than I've done recently, but still proves the Lord knows His time and His ways better than I ever will haha.
Congrats to her and the people of Mongolia as well!
All 20 were on my comprehensive list of 563 temple locations (if you consider Roanoke close enough to Buena Vista to count)! I think my biggest surprise was announcing Calabar instead of Abuja for Nigeria, considering the long distances the Saints in northern Nigeria have to travel to attend the temple in Aba.
Ulaanbataar is such good news for the Mongolian Saints, I can only imagine the celebrations going on there as we speak (type?) knowing that they soon will no longer have to travel all the way to Hong Kong. I'm very excited for the Tulsa Oklahoma temple as well - the area just barely got two new stakes back in May and currently they have to travel two hours to the nearest temples in Bentonville and Oklahoma City.
Many people are going to be extremely blessed from these new temples!
I had the island of Maui on my list, but I had thoughts that the wildfire disaster would have postponed it for a few more years due to the need to use resources from tue cleanup, recovery efforts and rebuilding.
But we also known that according to "The Standard of Truth that nothing can stop the progress and work of the Lord.
The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.
My LDS Temple predictions for the end of Sunday Afternoon Session of April 2024 general conference.
1. Santa Ana, El Salvador
2. La Ceiba, Honduras
3. Neuquén, Argentina
4. Puerto Princesa, Philippines
5. Hyde Park, London, England
6. Rio Branco, Brazil
7. Fortaleza South, Brazil
8. Maracaibo, Venezuela
9. Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
10. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
11. Rigby, Idaho
12. Bend, Oregon
13. Sierra Vista, Arizona
14. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
15. Pasadena, California
16. Fort Wayne, Indiana
My wife and I attended the Sunday afternoon GC session. When President Nelson said he was announcing 20 temples, there were audible gasps of joy. From the list, the location that got the most gasps (and a few claps) was Vina del Mar Chile. The spirit was strong and the atmosphere was electric!
Wow! What a geographic spread!
(If anyone had any doubts about the Restored Church of Jesus Christ being a global church, chuck 'em out!)
5 Continents Covered (counting the Pacific Islands as part of Oceania).
Notable exceptions:
Europe
Central Asia/Middle East
Utah/Idaho
Australia/New Zealand
Minor Exceptions:
Extremely Far South Patagonia
Extremely Far Southern Africa
Very Central USA
Very Far South-Eastern USA
Canada
Everywhere else seems to have gotten something at least in the vicinity.
Any spots I missed?
We have to rethink some prediction methods.
this is because of today. Future US temples will be 'drop-in' locations. Think of places between temples, is there a concentration of members between any two temples? This seems to be one of the factors behind Tulsa and Roanoke.
I wasn't certain it was going to happen this Conference, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear a temple announced for Fairbanks. I figured we weren't going to hold the title of northernmost temple forever. My brother is already interested on doing a road trip up there once the temple is completed.
Several years ago, I read an article stating how the Church bought some land in western Fairbanks, not too far from the Institute building. I had initially thought it might have been for a new chapel (still might) before the North Pole stake was actually created. I forgot about the site until I was updating my map to add the new temples. As far as I know, the Church hasn't built anything on this plot (haven't been to Fairbanks in years). I found the article:
https://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/new-mormon-church-planned-for-site-on-geist-road/article_8740362c-ef0a-11e4-b8f1-e3bc7c8e2f53.html
Unfortunately, you can't read much without buying a subscription, but what can be read states it is a 7.6 acre site, which should be plenty of room for both a chapel and a temple (for reference, our Anchorage temple is only 5.8-or so acres and has both). The site in question is located on the south side of Geist Rd between the Parks Highway interchange and Loftus Road. It should be the property to the west of a coffee shop, since the property between the coffee shop and the Napa Auto Parts store looks way too small to be it.
Two of these temples Mongolia and angola, are the first temple in their country. . Others will will fill significant gaps. A couple in the United States I was not expecting yet such as Tulsa OK and Roanoke VA' (although I was hoping for one in Buena Vista).
Very great that 20 more temples are announced. I knew a Pedro Miala from Luanda in the late 90s, learning English in the States to work for his petroleum-rich family. I hope he is part of the growth in Angola! So coo!
Nigeria continues, I assume Calabar is Igbo-speaking?
Ghana is impressive, always.
I hope thousands of Chileans are "poniendo las pilas" for this new temple. More temples will go down south soon enough. Peru seems to have more active membership, really cool to see the growth going on inland.
Virginia getting its third? Wow.
Hurrah for Alaska! Let's all schedule to go more often, Saints of the last times.
L. Chris, it's interesting that with Roanoke and Winchester we've had two temple announcements in eastern Virginia this year, but neither were in Buena Vista. I would've thought a single more central temple would make more sense than two peripheral ones.
Religlang: Buena Vista is a very small town and Southern Virginia University is a very small college - yes it's LDS focused but it's not LDS owned and barely has a thousand students, smaller than a typical suburban high school. I think the Roanoke temple will put to rest the possibility of a BV temple for the foreseeable future.
Craig Shuler
Congratulations to Eric. I think he is tbe best predictor. Seven of his 19 predictionss were announced.
Agreed with Ohhappydane33. BYU-Idaho has around 45,000 students, SVU has about a thousand, and has stayed at about the same size since before COVID (it was growing prior to that). At this point it has pretty much a 100% acceptance rate (I think it had *six* people rejected in a recent application year).
Roanoke to BV is about an hour. That's closer together than any two currently planned temples east of the Mississippi. Also, I'm fairly sure the Roanoke Stake and the BV Stake border, as the Church formed a BV YSA Stake out of the YSA wards in BV Stake and the Roanoke YSA. I know that the number of Temples are growing, but I simply can't see getting to the point where there are temples in neighboring stakes (unless the "border" includes a lot of ocean).
Also BV isn't actually more central. All the stakes that would be in the Winchester temple district are closer to the DC temple than BV. Most of the Waynesboro Stake is the same distance or closer to Winchester or Richmond than BV. Also its almost as easy or easier for all the units in the BV Stake not near BV to go to Roanoke. There may also be concerns with Southern Virginia being a small, private, liberal arts college (expensive) that it might at some point close. Hopefully not but many similar colleges are struggling and SVU to some degree still does. If it were to close you go from 4 home wards and 6 college wards to two wards and possibly even 1.
I had one list of 75 where I think I got 10 right.
Laoag I remember a year or so ago deeply looking at the map of Northern Luzon, where the stakes are and such, and seeing Laoag as a possibility.
Colorado Springs and Ulaambatoor make sense.
Calabar surprised me. I thought Abuja or Port Harcourt would be next. Although Port Harcourt is so close to Aba it seems unlikely. But temple size and stake counts justify it.
Calabar has had a stake a while. It will also cut distances for Cameroon.
Cape Coast is the oldest stake in Africa outside of South Africa without a temple in its city.
Luanda really did surprise me. Temples for one stake have been rare. Mbuji-Mayi I did not expect so soon.
Goiania also surprised me a little. Joao Pessoa, Vina del Mar and Huancayo were basically expected. Piara I wondered if it would be this soon.
Cancun I have expected a while.
Roanoke I was a little surprised by, but I think Vancover a little more. Tulsa I very expected.
When the wildfires happened I fully expected a temple would be announced for Maui in the next conference or 2. I had expected it to be more Lahaina and not the city actually announced.
I also had expected Fairbanks, even with Anchorage getting a bigger temple. Basically since Fairbanks got a second stake I have expected it.
I have a friend who is of Alaska Native descent. I expect she is very excited to have a temple in Fairbanks.
My temple prediction results: I correctly predicted temples in Savaii Samoa, Fairbanks Alaska, Colorado Springs Colorado, Cancun Mexico, Viña del Mar Chile, Goiânia and João Pessoa Brazil, Cape Coast Ghana, Calabar Nigeria, Mbuji-Mayi DR Congo, Osaka Japan, and Ulaanbaatar Mongolia (12 of the 20) to the exact location. I had the right general area but the wrong specific one for the newest temples in Hawaii (I had prioritized Honolulu instead), Peru (I had projected a temple for Lima South), and the Philippines (I had prioritized Angeles/Olongapo/Quezon City). Angola had been on my list, but I had removed it, which was also the case for Tulsa. OOPS! I was blindsided by Roanoke Virginia, Vancouver Washington, Piura and Huancayo, and Laoag. I had thought the first West Virginia Temple was more likely, as were temples in other states in the Western US than another for Washington, and I overlooked the likelihood of additional temples for both Peru and the Philippines. All in all, though, not bad results.
It looks to be like Roanoke will be a better temple location for Charleston, West Virginia and Huntington, West Virginia than Buena Vista would have been.
Charleston might get a temple eventually, but unless one prioritizes trying to give all US states temples, I think there is a long list of most likely categories. I do not think there is any reason to prioritize a state getting a temple over a temple in a neighboring state as long as you are close. So Winchester Virginia serves the eastern panhandle of West Virginia well.
There was a time a Roanoke Virginia Mission, it was later split between I believe Charleston and Richmond.
US States still without a temple and their most likely future temples
South Dakota - Rapid City/Sioux Falls
Iowa - Des Moines
Mississippi - Jackson
Wisconsin - Milwaukee/Green Bay
West Virginia - Charleston
Delaware - Dover
New Jersey - Newark/Elizabeth
Rhode Island - Providence
Vermont - Montpelier/Sharon
New Hampshire - Concord/Manchester
Maine - Augusta
Of the 11 States without a temple, I think the most likely to get one soon will be:
1. Wisconsin
2. Iowa
3. West Virginia
4. Mississippi
5. South Dakota
(In that order)
Also, am I the only one that noticed something unusual? The order in which President Nelson announced the temples yesterday is not the order in which the Newsroom, the Church News, my blog post, and Matt's here list them. I am not sure why the sources wouldn't list them in announcement order, so I thought that was odd.
On another note, I was impressed by President Ballard's extemporaneous remarks. But as he was speaking, my wife, my mother, and myself all had the feeling that maybe President Ballard is on his way out. If that's the case, I assume that, whenever he passes away, the Church will call another direct descendent of Joseph or Hyrum Smith to the apostleship. To my knowledge, the only current general Church leader who is a direct descendent of Hyrum Smith is Brother Jan E. Newman, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, who will likely be released from that assignment in April.
Just some additional observations, for what they're worth. My thanks once again to you all.
I still think Appleton or even Fon du lac would be a much better temple location than Green Bay.
Iowa might get a temple first in Iowa City or Cedar Rapids.
I also think New Jersey is about as likely to get a temple as Iowa or Wisconsin. With Roanoke getting a temple I think West Virginia is not super likely to get a temple soon. I could be wrong, but New Jersey seems to me a strong candidate. Basically because of the size and traffic congestion of New York City. I suspect the temple will be further west than Newark, but not as far as Trenton. I also suspect it will be named after the city it is placed in, but I could be wrong.
I am not sure if Mbuji-Mayi or Luanda surprises me more. After Katanga was announced I figured it would be probably after Katanga was done that Mbuji-Mayi would get a temple.
Even though 6 temples have been announced for places with no stakes and another at least 4, including Luanda, foe places with 1 stake, I expected Luanda to not get a temple until at least after it stake split.
The no stake temples were Laie, Bern, London, Hamilton, Kyiv and Shanghai. The one stake are Winnipeg, Osaka and Tahiti. Guam may also have been one stake when announced. Tahiti gmhad 2 stakes when completed. Singapore when finished might only serve one stake, unless Malaysia gets a stake first, but that is because a temple was since announced for Jakarta.
Luanda does make sense due to distance and travel issues.
I think that the Manhattan New York temple district could justifiably be divided into four temple districts (well, 3 + Manhattan), based on travel distance and difficulty.
New Jersey: I don’t think that it would be Newark or Elizabeth, not that far east. Newark and Elizabeth are still more public transportation friendly than further out in the suburbs (the New Jersey Transit light rail and PATH trains do a good job of serving them), so they probably take transit into the city. Meanwhile, a place like Trenton can just go to Philadelphia (a lot of New Jersey people I know, including temple workers, prefer Philadelphia because the parking garage is owned by the church and free to temple patrons). Places like Morristown (which has a mission and Bishop’s Storehouse) and New Brunswick seem pretty likely to me, and a New Jersey temple is near the top of my list.
Long Island: Less likely than a temple in New Jersey, but Long Island has similar travel issues. Most people I know who come to the temple from Long Island typically come to the city by rail, so we’re talking a minimum of two and a half or three hours. Plus, there are two or three likely stakes (two out in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and possibly one of the two Queens stakes, Queens Woodside would probably remain in Manhattan’s district because of subway connections). Most people out in the suburban counties of Long Island (and outer Queens) use cars, so a Long Island temple that’s more easily accessible via car would be beneficial. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me for it to be in a city that’s easy to reach via the LIRR (like Hicksville or Ronkonkoma, perhaps).
Southwest Connecticut or Harrison New York: The least likely of the three. The Harrison lot would be easily accessible via car from parts of upstate, as well as southwest Connecticut, so it makes sense for the same reasons it did back in the late 90s. But a southwest Connecticut site (maybe Stamford) would put it closer to two of the three stakes it would most likely serve (unless some upstate stake gets assigned to it, as well). Additionally, members in the Bronx (Westchester stake) without cars would probably use the subway to get to Manhattan instead of visiting Harrison.
This would leave Manhattan with 3 or 4 stakes that it would serve (Brooklyn, Queens Woodside, Manhattan, and most of the New York NY YSA Stake, which supplies quite a few temple workers currently). The YSA stake has only two wards outside of the five boroughs, so most of its strength is in the city proper. (It consists of three YSA wards in Manhattan - Lincoln Square YSA, Manhattan YSA, and Harlem YSA - Harlem also covers the Bronx, but word is that they’re trying to organize a Bronx YSA branch; the Single Adult Ward - meets in Manhattan and most active membership lives in the five boroughs, mostly Manhattan; Brooklyn YSA - which also covers Staten Island; Queens YSA. Outside of the five boroughs, Newark/Hoboken has a ward, Stamford CT has a ward, and Plainview and Princeton have YSA branches.) So, for all intents and purposes, the New York NY YSA Stake would continue to be in the Manhattan temple district, even with these three new temples. The only unit that would be impacted (ie that isn’t already closer to another temple than Manhattan) is the Plainview YSA Branch.
JPL and Daniel, I was advised a while ago that if/when New Jersey has its' first temple announced, there was land set aside for such a prospect in East Brunswick. Since I haven't heard anything different, I assume that's still the case. Therefore, I think we can consider East Brunswick as the foremost prospect for New Jersey's first temple. Hope this information is helpful.
JPL, I think you meant Okinawa as a one stake temple, not Osaka. Osaka will likely serve 6 or so stakes
Also, I got similar feedback indicating that Wisconsin's first temple will most likely be built in Green Bay, where the Church has land set aside as well. That would be the choice instead of Appleton or anywhere else. I haven't had any reason to doubt that feedback.
I realize we may won't know the exact location for these newly announced temples for at a year or two given the progress on other announced temples, but I think the most likely location for the Osaka temple is Hirakata City. As the second largest urban area in Japan, there isn't that much free space available in the Osaka area, so purchasing an empty lot or tearing down an existing structure not currently owned by the Church would be expensive unless the temple were built farther away from the city, such as in the Nara or Wakayama prefectures, which would make it inaccessible to a lot of the members it is meant to serve. However, the church building for the Hirakata Ward is on the same parcel of land as the old Osaka Mission Home, which is still owned by the Church. Hirakata City is about halfway between Osaka and Kyoto (it's technically in the Osaka prefecture) and easily accessible by train, though the specific plot is a good hike uphill from the train station. It's also in a densely populated residential area, which may cause other problems with the neighbors, but the ward building has been there awhile so they might not see a temple as significantly different in terms of usage. Other good candidates for a location could be the old Suita Ward building (assuming the Church still owns it), the Ibaraki Ward building, the Abeno Ward Building, or the Sakai Ward Building. The Suita building is vacant which makes it a good candidate for that reason alone. Abeno and Ibaraki are probably the most accessible buildings to public transit, which is important since many Japanese members don't have cars and rely heavily on the train system, but both of these locations are smaller and probably couldn't accommodate a regular chapel and a temple unless a vertical mixed-use facility was built like in the Manhattan and Hong Kong temples. The Sakai building has an adjoining lot which serves as overflow parking (it used to be a small apartment building that the Church tore down to make room for more parking), so there's more land to build stuff there, but it is not as central or easily accessible. That's why the Hirakata facility is my most likely candidate. It's also worth noting that both the Tokyo and Fukuoka temples were built on the sites of former mission homes, so there is precedent for this kind of a move as well.
Actually, MLewis, the confirmations of site locations are coming much more quickly now. Yes, on the one hand, we only got site confirmations for Lagos and Benin City last month. But in other cases, it's much faster.
If you look at the 38 temples with sites announced, you'll find that a good majority of those 38 had sites confirmed within a year or less of their announcement.
A Church News podcast episode in January of this year featured the Presiding Bishopric, who spoke about temple construction and stated that most announced temples will have their sites identified within a year or less of their announcements:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2023/1/17/23496298/what-does-the-presiding-bishopric-do-temporal-affairs-inside-church-headquarters
It is unlikely that they would tear down the stake center in Ibaraki with its full size gym and adjacent Institute building. The lot for the Kōbe stake center and adjacent mission home, presidents home, and stake offices is large enough, but again, I do not think they would tear those down. Plus the temple location was announced as Ōsaka, not Kōbe. I agree with MLewis that a possible location is Hirakata. Other candidates include somewhere between Takatsuki and southern Kyōto along the Hankyū train line, northern Suita near Kita Senri, or an urban, vertical temple in central Ōsaka city similar to Tōkyō, Hong Kong and Manhattan.
I do not know where the former building in Suita is located. When I seved in Suita in 1989, it was part of the Ibaraki Ward and we commuted by train. In 2001, Suita was a separate ward meeting in small building which I believe was rented.
I did mean Okinawa as a one stake temple above. Sorry about that mistake.
Having more senior missionaries may allow for building some temples that otherwise would be delayed. While the history of the Aba Nigeria Temple shows that an over reliance on senior missionaries from other countries is not good, they still have vital roles, especially when a temple opens. My understanding is that when Kinshasa Temple opened there were several senior couple missionaries serving in that temple, but now they either have none, or at least significantly reduced numbers.
Savai'i is an island, not a specific community. Any guesses as to what community on Savai'i will be the temple location.
It is interesting that Anchorage is getting a bigger temple and Fairbanks is getting a temple. The bigger Anchorage Temple may include study space. We have no designated study space in Detroit Temple. I was shocked yo see designated study rooms when I went to Toronto but it makes sense.
Well, I guess Detroit Temple we have one side of the recorders office. That nly comfortably seats one person.
What's the history with senior missionaries and the Aba Nigeria temple? I know the temple was closed for a while some years ago due to security issues and community violence.
There's been 10 groundbreakings in the past year and 35 temples being announced annually. I'm sure the pace is going to pick up over the next year, but even with that, announcements are starting to look like a wish list...at least until groundbreakings match announcements.
As for my predictions,
9 came from my list of top 20 (although two of my predictions were quite vague - Nigeria and Luzon Island)
7 came from my next 41 list (although my prediction just stating DRC was quite vague)
4 waere not on either list (Hawaii, Vancouver Washington, Goiânia, Angola)
Even though I was vague on some of them, this was much better than I expected.
My biggest surprise...No Utah temples have been announced since 2021.
Roanoke was not on my list but I hoped for one on Virginia. Tulsa was not on my list. I had more generic phaces for the Philippines and Brazil. I had the island of Maui but not a specific city on my list, although I thought the wildfire cleanup efforts might delay an announcement for a few years. Most of these temples were on my longterm list for the next few years not necessarily for just this year.
Now I also wonder which U.S. states will get a second temple. We had two this conference. Tulsa OK, and Fairbanks AK. Also 2 U.S. states got their 3rd temples announced (Hawaii and Virginia. Washington got a 6th and Colorado it's 4th. The country of Samoa it's 2nd. Two countries their first (Mongolia and Angola). Other countries added increasingly new numbers.
JPL, unless both I and the Church Temples site are incorrect, the third DR Congo Temple is Kananga, not Katanga, which is the name of a now-defunct province in the DR Congo:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/kananga-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-temple/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katanga_Province
It takes a lot of approvals and planning to get a temple to be ready for Groundbreaking. I am sure we will see a major increase in the number of Groundbreaking soon.
With the Prime Minister of Samoa meeting with several senior members of the Church, what might that mean for the recently announced Temple on Savai'i?
Craig H
Craig H., to what meeting are you referring? To my knowledge, neither the Church News nor the Newsroom have covered the Samoan prime minister meeting with anyone. And I don't see how the prime minster of Samoa meeting with "senior members" of the Church would impact the timing on the Savai'i Samoa Temple, unless you meant "senior leaders" rather than "senior members". Sorry about my confusion, but I'm honestly not sure what you're referencing.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2023/10/3/23900683/first-presidency-dallin-oaks-henry-eyring-meet-prime-minister-samoa-fiame-naomi-mataafa
Craig H
Oh, that. I forgot about that report. There's been so much Church News and Newsroom content lately, it all kind of bleeds together. The visit of the prime minister from Samoa occurred before the General Conference in which a temple was announced for Savai'i. Somewhere, someone mentioned that Samoa has both a president and a prime minister, and that the prime minister may not have much sway when it comes to things like getting approvals for the temple. It may have been more of a goodwill visit to collaborate on projects that are under the prime minister's purview. I could be mistaken in that regard, but that's what I recall.
Samoa has a head of government, the Prime Minister, and the O le Ao o le Malo, which is the head of state, essentially an equivalent of the role of President in many other nations.
Samoa's government is parliamentary in nature meaning that the Prime Minister is the one that ultimately governs the nation.
This visit, just before the announcement of the Savai'i temple prompted my inquiry as the visit by the President of Hungary, who is the head of state for her country and thus somewhat a ceremonial official, was soon followed by the announcement of the location for the Temple in Budapest.
I hope this clarifies my reason for posting.
Craig H
Thanks for that. In that case, maybe the prime minister's visit will speed up things for the Savai'i Samoa Temple. A number of temples have had details confirmed in a matter of weeks after their announcements. Savai'i could be one of those.
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