Saturday, October 21, 2023

New Temples Announced in October 2023 - Part III: Latin America

Cancún México Temple

The Cancún México Temple is the Church's 24th temple in Mexico following the Mexico City Mexico Temple (dedicated in 1983), the Colonia Juárez Chihuahua Mexico Temple (dedicated in 1999), the Ciudad Juárez Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Hermosillo Sonora Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Oaxaca Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Tampico Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Villahermosa Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Mérida Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Veracruz Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Guadalajara Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2001), the Monterrey Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2002), the Tijuana Mexico Temple (dedicated in 2015), the Puebla Mexico Temple (announced in 2018), the Querétaro Mexico Temple (announced in April 2021), the Torreón Mexico Temple (announced in April 2021), the Culiacán Mexico Temple (announced in October 2021), the San Luis Potosí Mexico Temple (announced in April 2022), the Mexico City Benemérito Mexico Temple (announced in April 2022), the Cuernavaca Mexico Temple (announced October 2022), the Pachuca Mexico Temple (announced October 2022), the Toluca Mexico Temple (announced October 2022), and the Tula Mexico Temple (announced October 2022). The new temple will likely serve the five stakes in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, three of which are located in Cancún and were organized in 1995, 1998, and 2005. The newest stake in the area was organized in Playa Del Carmen in 2015. Cancún was added to my list of less likely locations to have a temple announced in September 2019. The Church organized its Mexico Cancún Mission in 2013. Slow congregational growth has occurred for the Church in Quintana Roo in recent years. Quintana Roo has the fourth highest percentage of self-identified Latter-day Saints in the population per the 2020 Mexican Census (0.43%). Moreover, Quintana Roo had the second highest percentage growth in the number of Latter-day Saints for Mexican states between 2010 and 2020 per official government census figures (21.5%). There were 1,507,720 Latter-day Saints and 1,863 congregations in Mexico as of year-end 2022. Currently, there are 228 stakes, 45 districts, and 32 missions in Mexico. Cancún is the 22nd most populous metropolitan area in Mexico with approximately 934,000 inhabitants.

Piura Peru Temple

The Piura Peru Temple is the Church's eighth temple in Peru following the Lima Peru Temple (dedicated in 1986), the Trujillo Peru Temple (dedicated in 2015), the Arequipa Peru Temple (dedicated in 2019), the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple (announced in 2016, dedication scheduled for January 2024), the Cusco Peru Temple (announced in April 2022), the Chiclayo Peru Temple (announced in October 2022), and the Iquitos Peru Temple (announced in April 2023). I added Piura as a less likely location for a future temple announcement in September 2019. The new temple will likely service six stakes and one district in Piura and Tumbes Regions - all of which are within the boundaries of the Peru Piura Mission (organized in 1993). There are three stakes in Piura which were organized in 1983, 1990, and 1996. The most recently organized stake in the area is the Paita Peru Stake which was organized in 2019. The two other stakes in the area, located in Sullana and Tumbes, were organized in 2007. The Church has reported essentially stagnant congregational growth in the Piura and Tumbes Regions. Piura is Peru's fifth most populous city with 547,100 inhabitants. The Church reported 630,099 members and 799 congregations in Peru as of year-end 2022. Currently, there are 115 stakes, 17 districts, and 14 missions in Peru.

Huancayo Peru Temple

The Huancayo Peru Temple is the Church's ninth temple in Peru. Also, the announcement of the Huancayo Peru Temple marks the first time in Church history when two temples were announced in Peru on the same day. The Church operates three stakes in the Huancayo metropolitan area which were organized in 1984, 1989, and 2018. The Peru Huancayo Mission was organized in 2013. The new temple will likely serve seven stakes and one district in the central highlands of Peru east of Lima. The Church has experienced slow growth in this area of Peru for many years. Huancayo is Peru's seventh most populous metropolitan area with approximately 451,000 inhabitants. I added Huancayo to the list of less likely locations to have a temple announcement in September 2019.

Viña del Mar Chile Temple

The Viña del Mar Chile Temple is the Church's fifth temple in Chile following the Santiago Chile Temple (dedicated in 1983), the Concepción Chile Temple (dedicated in 2018), Antofagasta Chile Temple (announced in 2019), and the Santiago Chile West Temple (announced in October 2021). Viña del Mar Chile Temple has been on my list of more likely temples to be announced for many years because of the large number of stakes in the Viña del Mar area (eight stakes). The Church organized its first stake in Viña del Mar in 1974, and the Chile Viña del Mar Mission was organized in 1979. The Church used to operate an additional five more stakes in Viña del Mar/Valparaíso between the 1990s and early 2000s when these stakes were discontinued. The newest stake organized in the region is the Valparaíso Chile West Stake (created in 2015) which was a reinstatement of one of the original six stakes that were discontinued between 2002-2003. Aside from the one stake reinstatement, there have been no significant church growth developments in the Viña del Mar area in recent years. The number of congregations and stakes has remained unchanged for many years. The new temple will likely service 12 stakes and 2 districts in the Viña del Mar area and in areas north of Santiago. The Church reported 604,302 members and 572 congregations as of year-end 2022. Currently, there are 76 stakes, 13 districts, and 10 missions in Chile, with another district planned to become a stake this month (Linares). The Viña del Mar/Valparaíso metropolitan area is the second most populous metropolitan area in Chile with approximately one million inhabitants.

Goiânia Brazil Temple

The Goiânia Brazil Temple is the Church's 21st temple in Brazil following the São Paulo Brazil Temple (dedicated in 1978), the Recife Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Porto Alegre Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2000), the Campinas Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2002), the Curitiba Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2008), the Manaus Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2012), the Fortaleza Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2019), the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2022), the Belem Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2022), the Brasília Brazil Temple (dedicated in 2023), the Salvador Brazil Temple (announced in 2018), the São Paulo Brazil East Temple (announced in 2020), the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple (announced in April 2021), the Vitória Brazil Temple (announced in October 2021), the Maceió Brazil Temple (announced in April 2022), the Santos Brazil Temple (announced in April 2022), the Londrina Brazil Temple (announced in October 2022), the Riberão Prêto Brazil Temple (announced in October 2022), the Teresina Brazil Temple (announced in April 2023), and the Natal Brazil Temple (announced in April 2023). I added Goiânia to the list of less likely locations for a temple announcement in September 2022. The new temple announcement came less than one month after the dedication of the Brasília Brazil Temple. The Goiânia Brazil Temple will likely include seven stakes and two districts in its temple district. There are three stakes in Goiânia (organized in 1987, 1996, and 2014). The Rio Verde Brazil Stake is the newest stake to be organized in the area (organized in 2016). The Church has generally experienced slow, but steady, growth in this area of Brazil, although there are many medium-sized cities without an official Church presence. Goiânia is the 11th most populous city in Brazil and has approximately 2.55 million inhabitants. The Church organized the Brazil Goiânia Mission in 1998. The Church reported 1,472,521 members and 2,176 congregations as of year-end 2022. Currently, there are 285 stakes, 39 districts, and 36 missions in Brazil.

João Pessoa Brazil Temple

The João Pessoa Brazil Temple is the Church's 22nd temple in Brazil. The Church has announced two temples in Brazil each General Conference since April 2022. João Pessoa Brazil Temple has long been on my list of more likely locations to have a temple announced due to steady growth and distance from the Recife Brazil Temple. There are five stakes in the João Pessoa metropolitan area that were organized in 1980, 1992, 1996, 2007, and 2016. The new temple will likely include eight stakes and two districts - all but one stake of which are located in Paraíba State. João Pessoa is the 18th most populous metropolitan area in Brazil with 1.16 million inhabitants. The Church organized the Brazil João Pessoa Mission in 1998.

15 comments:

  1. Sorry. When I said "2 apiece per conference" above, I was referring to the number of Brazilian temples announced in each for the last few times. I didn't mean to imply that two Peruvian temples had been announced per conference, which is not accurate.

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  2. Bryansb1984, unless I am mistaken, isn't the Colonia Juarez Mexico Temple in Chihuahua state? Are you predicting a second one there?

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  3. Both Colonia Juarez (which I believe is the smallest current temple) and Ciudad Juarez are in both in Chihuahua state. However I believe the reference above is to Chihuahua City. We have state/city duplication in the US, although I think Oregon City is the only one I can think of that lacks a temple. Oregon City is within metro Portland though. I doubt it will get a temple any time soon.

    I still think Lima is a candidate for multiple additional temples along the lines of Mexico City. The Lima Temple is under 10,000 square feet, although I believe I read that one can rent clothing in an adjacent auxiliary building, which occurs inside some temples, so size comparison may not be exact.

    I learned today that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has decided to hire full time employee rltemple recorders for all temples. Under President Hinckley's small temple plan the 1st counselor in the temple presidency was designated as the recorder. Just a few months ago I read a job announcement for a temple recorder that mentioned that in some cases a recorder would oversee recording functions at up to 4 temples.

    The Detroit Temple just had the counselor recorder for its first 10 years. Then for about 10 years it had just one assistant recorder helping the counselor recorder. The full time recorder in Indianapolis assisted on some issues. I am not sure what happened before Indianapolis was dedicated. Then in about 2019 they went from 1 to 5 assistant recorders. We got a full time recorder in late August, but we retained the same number of assistant recorders, well maybe we lost one. Our current temple president was assistant recorder until the end of August, and I do not know that they called someone yo replace him.

    Our current recorder evidently previously worked on the temple maintenance side in Montana.

    I also noticed today that wears before it seemed Our temple file names were mainly from the US and less often western or Central Europe, today we had several from China or Korea.

    Our temple president served his mission in Taiwan. He was on his mission at the same time as Elder Gong. I was in sealing today and he mentioned he would do better with Chinese names than the Dutch names he was actually doing the sealing for.

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  4. Colonia Juarez and Ciudad Juarez are both in Chihuahua state. His prediction, just like mine, is for the city of Chihuahua in the same state, which would be the state's third.

    I have spent a lot of time revising my prediction list, trying to be rather critical of my choices as to not have it become too bloated. My list is still pretty large, but after looking at my map all day yesterday, I cannot seem to justify moving any of these locations to my Less Likely list.

    ~Daloa, Ivory Coast - more central to the region's stakes and districts than Yamoussoukro.
    ~Enugu, Nigeria
    ~Lome, Togo
    ~Port Harcourt

    ~Olongapo, Philippines - I think it's more likely than Angeles.

    ~Chihuahua, Mexico
    ~Poza Rica, Mexico - In my opinion, the most likely of the 3 in Mexico.
    ~Reynosa, Mexico
    ~Santa Ana, El Salvador
    ~Santiago, Dominican Republic

    ~Edinburgh, Scotland
    ~Milan, Italy

    ~Camarillo, California - Mostly wishful thinking (I served my mission in Ventura). The Camarillo stake center is right off the 101 freeway and has enough room that wouldn't necessitate razing the stake center. I'm very hesitant to suggest temples that would further take away from the Los Angeles temple, (like Yorba Linda probably will and Bakersfield definitely will), since it is very large and the 2 times I went there on my mission (granted that was now more than 10 years ago), the sessions were probably attended by only 20 people, and those rooms could probably fit over 100. For Camarillo (and possibly one in San Fernando Valley), it's more so with traffic, because once getting into the San Fernando Valley, it's still an hour or two to the temple in heavy traffic. The only thing really going against this is the sheer number of wards dissolved in this area since I came home from my mission (San Luis Obispo - at least 3 wards; Santa Maria - at least 1 ward, possibly two; Santa Barbara - at least 2 wards; Ventura - at least 1 ward; Camarillo - 4 wards; and Simi Valley - 2 wards; Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park I think still have the same amount of wards). Still, places like Osaka got a temple announced even with lots of consolidations, so that shouldn't dim the possibility of Camarillo getting one too much.
    ~Cincinnati, Ohio
    ~El Paso, Texas
    ~Evanston, Wyoming
    ~Everett, Washington - could be built in Marysville.
    ~Fairfield, California
    ~Flagstaff, Arizona
    ~Henderson, Nevada
    ~Lehi, Utah
    ~Manchester, New Hampshire
    ~Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    ~Mobile, Alabama
    ~Nampa, Idaho
    ~Pleasant View, Utah
    ~Price, Utah
    ~Queen Creek, Arizona
    ~Spanish Fork, Utah

    ~Curico, Chile - more central to the region's stakes and districts than Talca, might even have Rancagua assigned here.
    ~Florianopolis, Brazil - likely built in Sao Jose.
    ~Rosario, Argentina
    ~Tacna, Peru
    ~Temuco, Chile - originally had Osorno on my list for a while, but this location seems more likely to be announced before Osorno.

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    1. I also anticipate that the Los Angeles California Temple would soon be up for a major renovation. It is the oldest temple in the church that has not undergone a renovation sufficient to require a rededication. It was dedicated in 1956. The next oldest without a renovation/rededication is Seattle Washington (1980), but that may wait for Tacoma to be completed. I wonder what predictions some of you may have for other renovations. Many predict Logan Utah is due again, which had a rededication in 1979. And there are 9 temples that were dedicated in the 1980s that not had a major renovation, about half of them have another temple currently announced or under construction in their metro area .

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    2. On the Possibility of a temple constructed at the Caramillo California Stake Center, I would think most of the parking would have to underground, unless the existing stake center parking can accommodate.

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  5. It looks like, as I predicted earlier, there are some (possibly quite significant) changes coming in the Friedrichsdorf Germany Stake. We've now had back-to-back high counselors tell our ward that there will be some changes made affecting our ward directly, but also other units in the stake. My best guess is that multiple new units will be created in November. The extent of this is probably somewhere between 2 and 5, depending on how ambitious stake leaders are.

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  6. The stakes in Chihuahua Mexico seem to be part of the Ciudad Juarez Mexico Temple which is near El Paso, Texas. Adding a small temple in Chihuahua could serve the 4 stakes in the area (3 in Chihuahua and 1 in Delicas) and save on travel time. Though it makes me wonder why those stakes are part of the Ciudad Juarez Temple district and not the Colonia Juarez Temple district when the latter seems closer

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  7. Having served as a missionary in Cancun, I am excited by the temple announcement; I always thought Chihuahua City would be announced first due to the distance that they have to travel.

    When I was a BYU student, I maintained a website about information on the mission, including the unit changes and meetinghouse changes:

    https://www.et.byu.edu/~corykw/cancun/Crecimiento.html

    I was there in 2015 when they reorganized the Cancun stakes to form the Playa Del Carmen stake. There was hope for lots of future growth at that time. But as pointed out in the post, the congregation growth has slowed. I would have expected more before a temple announcement. After a new president took over in 2016, I heard that baptism numbers had increased from the past president's time. I was uneasy to learn that the Sundays attended before baptism was decreased from 5 to 3, and that there was some kind of baptismal requirement for missionaries to visit the Mayan ruins. I thought baptism rewards were a thing of the past; I can't imagine that retention has been that great since then.

    The temple in Merida doesn't have available endowment appointments on Saturdays on the online portal. This indicates to me that Saturdays are primarily reserved for ward and stake groups that are traveling from outside the city. So I assume that Cancun will be able to staff a temple okay and Saturdays in Merida will be more available for local residents.

    Since 2015, a branch was formed in Puerto Adventuras and the Puerto Morelos branch became a ward. A new branch was created in the outer area of Chetumal called Calderites. I served in the area when it was part of a ward. I'm curious to know how large the branch is today.

    In the Tizimin Stake, the Chemax branch was reorganized despite being closed for many years. There was also an attempt to create a branch in Piste, the town next to the Chichén Itzá Alcohological site. However, it appears that missionaries are no longer assigned there and the group is no longer functioning. I would not be surprised if the stake is assigned to Cancun. Parts of the Stake are closer to Merida and other parts to Cancun.

    This year, a new ward was created in Cancun, the Jardines Ward. I would say that this was mostly a results of all the new housing developments that are sprouting up in the south of the city. So the Kukulkan ward probably spilt due to members moving into the area. Just this week they opened up a new meetinghouse that they built directly across from the Kukulkan ward meetinghouse, to house both wards. They will probably end up demolishing the old meetinghouse across the street.

    As pointed out in an old blog post, Quintana Roo has a high percentage of members for a state in Mexico. It was also pointed out that despite increasing in membership, the percentage of members statewide fell by a little bit from 2010 to 2020 on the census. For me, this indicates that population is growing at a faster rate than membership.

    With many new homes being built in large developments, I can imagine that inactive members may relocate from out of state and don't end up arriving into a new ward. From my experience, it is also difficult for missionaries to provide outreach to these areas. Missionaries tend to stick to where they live and where existing members are located. When I was serving, the president regularly assigned who he considered his "best missionaries" to a new part of Playa Del Carmen called Villas del Sol. Four of the six missionaries in the Zacil Ha Ward were assigned to proselyte in this new housing area. There was hope that the area could become a new ward. However, no new units have been created in Playa del Carmen since then.

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  8. It appears that the Bangkok Temple will, at least for the short-term, be taking over responsibility for a lot of the Stakes and Districts in SE Asia from the Temple in Hong Kong.

    Craig H

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  9. L. Chris Jones, Renovations are harder to predict than general announcements. The need for renovations will depend on how well it's been built and kept up as well as technology and current ordinance demands.

    However, I think renovations for large temples may also occur based on baptismal font capacity. Never have the youth been so engaged in temple work which created demand for these added fonts. Baptismal fonts may be booked out way in advance while there's a struggle to fill an endowment session. I think there's 5-6 large temples that are currently under construction/renovation that are getting a second baptismal font. All of these so far have been along the Wasatch Front. Prior to this, all temples had one baptismal font.

    If Los Angeles gets a major renovation, being the second largest temple in the church, I see it likely in part to get a second baptismal font.

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  10. Correction: 4 temples under construction/renovation have a 2nd baptismal font announced at this time (Lindon, Salt Lake, Smithfield, Syracuse), all located along the Wasatch Front to allow increase in baptistry capacity. Currently, all temples in operation only has one. I'm sure more will come for large temples with 80,000+ sqft.

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  11. The changes to who can be the baptized in the temple announced about 6 years ago made it much easier for youth to participate more in temple baptisms. The later changes to who can be a witness in some ways made things even easier. There has also been a decision that only one person needs to be involved in a conformation in the temple.

    This means that you only need 1 adult to do baptisms and only 2 for confirmations. The one confirming does not even need to be endowed.

    This means youth can be more self sufficient, and that adults who may drive youth to the temple, can focus on other Ordinances. It also means that a couple could bring their children to the temple, if they have a son who will be 16 this year they will only need 1 other person to help with confirmations, and if they have a son who is an elder even if not yet endowed they can do everything.

    In the past my ward got assignments to help staff the baptistry during times that were available for walk ins, because they figured walking might not bring enough people. Now we basically let anyone schedule any time, and things work, although sometimes we need to put more temple workers in the baptistry.

    At the same time all cafeterias are closed. So any temple that had a cafeteria now has space that can be repurchased for domething else. Some of these repurpisings may be doable without a full closer. At Detroit Temple they rebuilt the front space, separating out the non-patron waiting room from the temple workers changing and break area, as well as some other changes, all with temple recommend holding staff.

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  12. I truly feel that the following temples will be announced for Mexico in the near future:
    Morelia Mexico Temple
    Acapulco Mexico Temple
    Zacatecas Mexico Temple
    Leon Mexico Temple
    Posa Rica Mexico Temple
    Orizaba Mexico Temple

    In the not so near future but will be announced too eventually:
    Durango Mexico Temple
    Coatzacoalcos Mexico Temple
    Tepic Mexico Temple
    La Paz Mexico Temple

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