At the end of July, the Church announced that it had received government recognition in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is the most populous of the three Caucasus nations with 10.6 million people - more than the combined populations of neighboring Armenia and Georgia where the Church has maintained an official presence for decades. The Azerbaijani population is homogeneously Muslim (97.3%), and there is a small number of Christians in the country (2.6%) who are concentrated in urban areas, particularly Baku. The Church operated a small branch in Azerbaijani capital city of Baku during much of the 2010s, although this branch appeared to be discontinued and a member group functioned thereafter. The news release indicated that a member group continues to functioning in the country. Back in the 2010s, the Baku Branch was comprised entirely of foreigners. It is unclear whether there are any Azerbaijani Latter-day Saints in the country today. Very few Azerbaijanis have joined the Church abroad. There are no Church materials in any of the local languages of Azerbaijan, including the official language of Azerbaijani (which is a Turkic language that is highly intelligible with Turkish). Azerbaijani has a poor record for religious freedom (especially for Christians), and it appears unlikely that full-time missionaries will be assigned to serve in the country. Azerbaijani law prohibits proselytism by foreigners. Instead, the Church in Azerbaijan will likely function as it does in the Gulf States in regard to enjoying official government recognition to rent property, have a bank account, etc., but without any formal missionary program due to religious freedom restrictions. The Church's government recognition came as a surprise, as very few religious groups are granted registration when they apply to do so, and registration requires information on the personal background of at least 50 members in the country to be submitted with the application. More information on religious freedom in Azerbaijan can be found here.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Church Receives Government Recognition in Azerbaijan
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Very cool news. The cross-over to Turkish is big since there are ever more Turkish speaking missionaries, the Church of Jesus Christ is growing among the Turks. While Islam does pose many challenges to the missionaries and many doctrines do not correspond with the beliefs and tenet, there are millions of Godly believers and practitioners of this august faith that will follow God's will. And with peace and justice and sobriety.
I see all kinds of good coming from this, with some risk, as normal. Great stuff!
I wonder how many former Turkish-speaking full time missionaries there are now?
I would always love to see databases of the numbers of each language of the missions and their languages. That would be fascinating. Facebook pages of those cultures and languages would be great, too.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a significant presence in Sierra Leome which is 77% Muslim. That country also has the most religious freedom in the world.
Islam is not a sufficient cause nor explanation for any issue that comes up.
Two general authorities, Peter M. Johnson and Ahmed Corbitt are former Muslims. To be fair thry were both part of the Nation of Islam, which some other Muslims consider heretical. Ahmad Corbitt became a Chrstian several years before he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is a photo of him being held as a child by Malcolm X.
Peter M. Johnson became a Muslim at about age 12. He considers it to have been key to his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since it taught him yo fast and fasting was key to his conversion process.
There are other Muslim areas where the Church has made in roads. I had a friend at BYU who was the son of an ethnically French mother and a father from Tunisia. He joined the Church in his late teens in French Polulymesia and his wife was Tahitian.
Lagos which is getting a temple and has I believe at least 6 stakes has a significant Muslim population. I am sure there have been Muslims baptized there.
There are many people of all faiths who marry outside their religion, thus making it more likely that their children, or they themselves, find themselves in new territory as far as what religion to practice or adhere to. I have Jewish/Christian cousins like this. Some stay Jewish, as they were raised, another converts to Christianity in college, another is unknown. He married a Persian, so... Although, many cousins and siblings are "nones", as in, are secular and do not practice any faith. This seems to be the fastest growing trend in the world, and we see it in the ranks of the Latter-Day Saints, former or sometimes nominal members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Some Muslim societies are very closed, or hostile towards others. Notice the differences between monarchies like UAE and KSA (Saudi). I would say there at least 30 hostile Muslim-led nations towards Christians or any proselytizers, perhaps that is high. Northern Nigeria may end up as such in our lifetime, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. China needs to change, we know, as obviously North Korea. Myanmar has a way to go, as likely Laos. Political reasons get in the way in those places.
Hopefully more full-time missionaries avail themselves so that we can have more people to go to these places and then finally enter into these last places that are holding up the complete saturation of the Restored Gospel across the planet. Many countries to go.
Thinking of U.S. counties alone, there are probably 250 or so that so not have LDS presence in groups or congregations. Does that seem high? Are there stats on this? What state has the most counties with no groups, branches, or wards? I would guess my home state of Indiana may have 10 or more, I am not sure.
Azerbaijan has terrorized and persecuted Armenian Christians the last two years, I would think worse than our people were treated in Missouri and later Illinois.
Matt, just a quick reminder. In your Potential New Temples website, under the current Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple details, to update the "Rio de Janeiro Brazil - 1972" Stake to the recently changed name "Duque de Caxias Brazil - 1972" Stake. It was probably changed the name in the last 4 weeks. And the name may be in reference, to the suburb Municipality (Municipio) of Duque de Caxias, in Rio de Janeiro State.
https://global.mapit.mysociety.org/area/1016841.html
Fairview city council unanimously denied the church’s plans for a temple (without prejudice). The church can resubmit plans at a reasonable height - essentially 40 feet for the building and approximately 68 feet for the spire.
The Church Temples site reported on this update this morning, including a quote from a Church spokesman that they are "keeping all [their] options open". I wouldn't be surprised if the Church opted to relocate this temple somewhere where approvals won't be such a hassle. I found your statement that the plans were denied "without prejudice" to be somewhat ironic. I hope I'm misinterpreting the tone and substance of your comments on this matter, but they come across as almost gleeful that the Church is facing this opposition. I'd advise us all to take the higher approach Elder Andersen suggested in his talk, to pray that sites will be procured and plans approved without difficulty or opposition and that temples can be built without delays. If I misread the tone and substance of your comments, my apologies.
This article shows some hope for the temple and that size is the main concern. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2024/08/07/fairview-council-denies-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-special-approval-for-temple/
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/faith/2024/08/07/fairview-council-denies-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-special-approval-for-temple/
The temple was already relocated once. The council told the church that the temple had to follow their zoning and for the church to come back with an updated proposal. The Church lowered the steple height somewhat, but not down to the the overall building height or steple height the city required, so they denied everything.
I don't see the church getting this temple built here unless the overall size is decreases by almost half, so relocating it would probably be better.
It may be best to avoid Fairview and look at McKinney or a different surrounding city.
It will be interesting to see what the church decides to do next.
For James, "without prejudice" is a legal phrase meaning the church can re-file (it's not a final judgement). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prejudice_(legal_term)#:~:text=a%20different%20jurisdiction.-,Settlement%20negotiations,considered%20a%20form%20of%20privilege.
Thanks for that information. I still find the use of that term ironic, because there does seem to be some anti-Church bias at play in this issue.
And Kenny, I agree with you that the best option may be to relocate the temple again.
Other Matt here..
The planned McKinney TX Temple is just the same size and footprint as the Burley ID Temple that's already fully built out.
How is the size of a Burley-like temple so imposing in Fairview?
A huge issue for the town was that the temple height, not including the steeple, would be the tallest building in the entire town, seen from everywhere. Then on top of that, the steeple.
The church building is already the tallest building, and the temple would have made the church look small.
The church would have a hard time saying the town is prejudice against us since the church building was allowed variances and is already tall for Fairview.
Maybe the better thing would be two small temples rather than one large one? Otherwise, the church may need to move the site again.
I'm sure the temple department deals with issues all of the time, sometimes the "issues" seem rather ridiculous and should be legally pursued, but other times, maybe not.
Another thing to think about though is if the church forces being able to build a temple where there was reasonable objection, such as this case, then it creates local hostility and a continually reminder of what happened. That would be bad for showing our standards and Christ-like attributes.
Regarding counties without an LDS presence, 64 out of the 120 total counties in Kentucky (at least by my count) do not have a physical LDS presence. Kentucky has a lot of small counties (in both size & population) though.
I remember the change in height for The Phoenix Arizona Temple. That temple ended up being larger due to adding a full basement. But the steeple was still tall and approved.
Thanks, Jeff and Kenny, for the additional info. Yes, “without prejudice” simply means they don’t have to wait a year to resubmit plans. Not that I think the church will. I think the church will try to sue the city even though it seems pretty clear if you watched the 4 hour city council meeting that this isn’t about religious bias, but rather about the size of the building in a tiny town in a residential zoning area. The temple would be the biggest in Texas, 20th tallest in the world, taller than the Statue of Liberty. For the community of Fairview those are all absurd petitions for a town of 10,000.
Given the fact that the Church is aiming to accelerate temple approvals, it's more likely that they will simply relocate the temple again to a community that will approve the temple with its' announced parameters. That would be a quicker resolution to this than trying to take legal action that may fail anyways.
I am tired of seeing rude and hateful attacks that use targeted degrading words for temples. I am tired of this comment section being used to spread such negative and downgrading words. Temples are beautiful buildings that improve and better the places they are built. The words that I have seen used to describe them by some are unfair and false and clearly come from a place of actual animus. It is highly offensive to see such false attacks.
I'd like to see a temple in Baltimore one day. Of course I'm biased I used to live in Baltimore for 15 years from (2002 to 2017)
My general authority source in the church says that the church is preparing a legal case against Fairview.
I don't know what negative, targeted, degrading words are being used for temples on here. I'm honestly lost on what you're talking about, JLP. Maybe there was a comment that has since been deleted?
For those seeking to understand the perspective of others, I believe you can find the recorded comments from the Fairview mayor during the meeting. He is absolutely livid at the church and vehemently denies that this is a religious bias issue in any way, he makes a good case for why it's being denied, and the entire council unanimously agreed. After 4 hours of comments, not a single non-member expressed support for the ordinance, although all of them supported a temple being built, and one said they were asked to provide a signature by reps from the church but she was misled by the reps on the issues and wanted to rescind her signature. Even if the church gets a temple here, it's a PR nightmare because of how this has all played out.
Other Noah here.
Regarding the Fairview temple application rejection, I had read somewhere that the same city council had approved a different church's 187ft tall "bell tower" recently this year. This, however, may not be the case, since I cannot find any other evidence of that. If true, it would definitely highlight some sort of bias against our church to build places of worship. (For me, at least).
I don't see the temple being relocated again, but I could certainly see a possibility of the church just building two smaller temples rather than a large one.
I am happy about the recognition of the church's status in Azerbaijan.
There was a proposal for a bell tower being created by the other church, but they never formally request the city for the approval. The bell tower is being used by the LDS church as an example of height, but using it as an agreement to allow the temple height is actually flawed, because the city never officially approved, therefore it hasn't been built.
Calm down, JPL. No one is personally attacking you here, and you seem to be taking things personally on behalf of the Church in general (which should be the job of those working through the relevant issues, who have opted for a higher and holier road). And Matt, as the owner of this blog, will delete any comments he finds problematic. Why are you taking such offense to them on his behalf?
Other Noah here.
Thanks Kenny for the info. Do you have any source where I can read more? Since I haven't been able to find anything else.
Other Noah, I'm not Kenny, but a good resource for you would be the Church of Jesus Christ Temples' News page for the temple in question. It gathers information from a variety of cited sources on this matter.
Texas is full of water towers. Several water towers in each town. Are people really trying to argue that a spire obstructs their view more than a water tower?
A scary thought: what if crypto-funded AI bots corrupted and polluted all our blogs and computers? And we could not stop them, or we had to pay exorbitant fees to combat or mitigate them?
Speaking of opposition, which we know is scripturally based or backed, the push back on our temples and other efforts are part and parcel of the way things have always been. The Nauvoo Temple was ransacked and eventually destroyed by a tornado, if I am not mistaken.
I know city councils in northern Virginia have fought chapels of modest build, so I imagine our temples can face even more kicking against the pricks, as mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph dealt with huge opposition, and some of us get to deal with such things. Of course the Lord and hundreds of prophets have fought for their beliefs and causes, which all deals for our good, which belongs to God.
Texas will turn into eventual good, after all the back and forth. God (Israel), will prevail, as President Nelson assures us.
Will Jimmy Carter outlive Russell M. Nelson? Remarkable lives, if we could all live so long and so well.
New service missionary opportunities teaching institute online to BYU-Pathway students. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/service-missionaries-needed-teach-institute-online-byu-pathway-worldwide
Would this increase opportunities for older single elders? I have only seen opportunities for older sisters or couples.
I found this page that giv es more clarification: I guess that any temple worthy member over age 26 regardless of marital status can serve a senior service mission. https://seniormissionary.churchofjesuschrist.org/srsite/as/faq-brightspot?lang=eng.
Hi Noah, you can find the entire City Council meeting on Youtube if you search for Fairview temple city council. The lawyer reps for the church make their case, the council gave some comments, then they opened it up for comments from the public and the city council voted. The bell tower was never built or formally approved by the city council, as Kenny mentioned. As for the water tower issue, the church's proposed temple would be 50 feet taller than the water tower in the town, so yes, citizens are arguing that it would obstruct their view more. It seems the issue really is the height/size of the building in the area it is being proposed. I feel like the church could easily accommodate with a smaller building or moving the site.
The Libreville Gabon District was recently organized.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/multimedia/file/PresidentNelsonBirthdayBroadcast.pdf
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-russell-m-nelson-100th-birthday-commemoration-announced
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/08/09/president-russell-m-nelson-100th-birthday-broadcast-commemoration/
My thanks once again to you all.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2272067
I actually found out a lot by searching about it on YouTube. I know the sites are not always LDS friendly, but the information collaborated with other things I could find. No one site had all of the information, it was an investigation of information, but mostly from youtube videos.
Here is an interesting article in the Newsroom site about an interfaith event in the Roseville California Stake, near the new Feather River California Temple.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/sikhs-saints-yuba-city-california-youth
@L. Chris Jones
Interesting. I didn't know older single brethren could serve as service missionaries. Anyone know how recent this change is?
Is Gabon the first country to get its first district this year?
JPL, to answer your question. Both the Sofia Bulgaria and Reykjavik Iceland Districts were REINSTATED this year after several years being dissolved. So I would say, from the list Matt has supplied on Districts organized in 2024. Gabon would indeed be the first country this year to get it's first District organized. Unless, someone can find another that Matt has not listed here.
Other Matt here...
Here in Orange County, California, more growth to report. Irvine California Stake just organized a new Korean speaking branch, the second Korean branch in Orange County. Reports are a couple more Korean speaking units in the works in Orange County.
Beacon Park Branch (Korean), Irvine California Stake
Irvine Stake also recently created a Russian speaking branch, and has a booming Mandarin speaking Ward with weekly baptisms.
My impression is that outreach in the US in languages other than English has picked up a lot recently. Here in Detroit we do a Spanish-language endowment session every 5th Saturday. My own stake has recently formed Spanish-language and Arabic-language groups. The fact that these are groups makes them harder to trave but things are looking up.
To Matt (the author of this blog), did you see this report from the Church News? I thought it had some Church Growth analysis that might be of interest to you and others on this blog.
To "Other Matt", thanks for the updates about foreign language units in your area. That's wonderful and amazing news!
Cool link, other James. Surprised at how close Mexico is to Brazil. I wonder what active membership looks like in that ranking. Given the Mexican census data, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mexico dropped to 3rd or 4th on the list, although I’m not sure if activity rates are similar in Brazil and Philippines.
If I had to guess, I assume Filipino activity rates are quite high, as that was one of many things then-Elder Oaks fixed when he was sent to the Philippines between 2002-2004. I assume that Brazilian activity rates are quite high as well Which is higher could be debatable. Mexican activity rates may or may not have been impacted by the migrant crisis at the US border (which is as far as I'll go into political commentary here).
When I worked in the Provo Temple a couple years ago, we had a weekly Spanish session, a Portuguese session every other week, and alternating Tongan and Samoan sessions. We also had monthly French, German, and Mandarin sessions. Plenty of RM demand, but we also regularly had plenty of native speakers.
Hello! anyone notice that the stakes in Russia are not assigned to any temple district? (or if they are, I haven't found which)
I just did some extensive travel in Latin America and can report just a little on activity rates, even though my samples are not super large.
Mexican activity rates are low. I was attending a ward in the CDMX area for the first half of this year and we had 90 attendance with 1200 on the records. Most of the wards on the SW side of Mexico City are probably like that, (I've only attended 2 though and only 1 extensively). I heard the activity rate is better in Puebla and surrounding areas. At best Mexican activity could be around 10-15% but from what I saw it should be around 7.5%.
I was only in Brazil 3 Sundays to go to church, (a ward with attendance 45 in Belo Horizonte the Sunday after Junina, a ward in Rio with some 60-70, and a stake conference in Sao Paulo that surprised some of the members by how full it was.) From Brazil's 4,900 members per stake, 748 members per ward (counting districts and branches as .5 stakes/wards) Brazil does seem a little stronger than Mexico's 6,017 and 927 for the same number. (assuming that wards with smaller numbers of members mean that more members are active in each ward. These numbers should show that while Mexico has an activity rate of circa 7.5-10% the church in Brazil has an activity rate of 10-12.5%.
However, these numbers don't offer a wholistic picture. Chile famously has way less stakes than Argentina, even considering Argentina's smaller number of members, (meaning Argentina should be more active per member than Chile), but the three wards I attended in Argentina (over 4 attendances) had no more than 80 members in each meeting, trending towards 50, while the single ward I attended in Antofagasta, Chile had recently split, and still filled the chapel all the way to the back of the gym, with an attendance of around 120-130. According to a member there (recently released stake president) many units in Chile are of similar size, and are eager to split, even though the southern half of Santiago still famously struggles with attendance.
I was impressed particularly with the YSA's of Tucuman, Argentina, who filled the cultural hall for the city's institute class. There are 2 stakes in the city and there were 50-60 at institute.
Daniel, I went to Brasilia and will comment on the temple's architecture sometime soon.
Brazil:
The 2010 Brazilian census reported 226,509 self-identifying specifically as LDS Church
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_in_Brazil
Mexico:
In the 2010 Mexican census, 314,932 individuals self-identified most closely to the LDS Church
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_in_Mexico
I copied the sentences from wikipedia. So self-identification in 2010 was still a lot higher in Mexico thatn in Brazil. This would lead me to believe that there are still way more acitve members of The Church Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Mexico than in Brazil. Mabe Brazil caucht up a bit in the past 14 years.
Activity rates in the Phillipines improved in the past 20 years, but they are still bad. I think i remeber to have read somewhere (propably on this blog), that sacrament meeting attendance grew from 100000 to 140000.
But this still a bad activity rate of less than 20%
This census number is not very reliable from 2010. In my city at the time of the census, they said there were a little over 500 church members. The city had 8 wards, my ward had an average attendance of 150 people and had 200 members who were active in the ward. Another ward had an average attendance of 190 people and over 260 active. The other wards had an average attendance of 100. But my calculations show that we had twice what the census showed. What I see is that many members, because they do not know, declare themselves as evangelical Christians.
If the 2020 Mexican Census should run into the same problems as the 2010 Census, then those factors should be held constant and properly show a trend in membership (which is stagnant/negative). I don't know enough about Brazil, but it seems that at least official membership (baptisms) have grown at a greater pace in the past decade.
Having served in Mexico, I can confirm what Hank said about activity rates there. Our Mexico City ward had about 900 on the rolls and 70 in attendance (8% activity rate). Our ward in Cuernavaca had 700 on rolls and 70 in attendance (10%). And our Zihuatanejo ward on the coast was the worst - over 800 on the rolls and about 35 in attendance. That ward was a disaster - we'd start 15 minutes late every week because "X large family and Y large family are on their way and we'll start when they get here." To be fair, those two large families did make up half of the ward's attendance.
Based on my anecdotal observations, the census for 2020 isn't far off in terms of activity rates vs official membership. And James, I do think the border issue has always been a problem for Mexico activity. Finding good Melchizedek priesthood leadership was a particular obstacle.
The Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple opened up for media tours today, followed this week by VIP tours and the public tours will occur between August 16-31, excluding Sundays:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/12/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-temple-media-day-interior-exterior-images/
.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-temple-opens-for-tours
I do not believe this will be the only major temple construction announcement today. Stay tuned for the 2:00 PM MDT hour for the next anticipated major temple construction announcement.
Coincidentally, it is also President Oaks' 92nd birthday today:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/08/12/president-dallin-h-oaks-92nd-birthday-9-quotes/
President Oaks' is the third and final apostle to have his birthday in August. My thanks once again to you all.
Here's a question: between 2002-2005, 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were sent to preside over 3 of the Church's areas. Based on what you said about Mexico, James, do you think the Church sending an apostle to oversee the Mexico area for a couple of years could change things for the better there? Or could the many new temples announced in Mexico mitigate these issues?
Just 2 comments on todays announement of the site location for the new Tulsa Oklahoma Temple :
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/site-released-for-tulsa-oklahoma-temple
Firstly, 3 of the 5 potential Stakes I believe that will be assigned to the Tulsa OK Temple, are currrently all sharing the same Stake Center in Tulsa.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/503282 (Tulsa Oklahoma Stake)
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/510718 (Broken Arrow Oklahoma Stake)
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2221608 (Owasso Oklahoma Stake)
The new Tulsa Oklahoma Temple site chosen is just a few blocks outside of the City of Broken Arrow borders, in the Tulsa boundary if i'm reading the Google Map correctly.
Which leads us to my second point, for those SciFi fans out there. The City of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was mentioned in a prequel Star Trek series in early 2000's, called "Enterprise" in the first episode also called "Broken Arrow". Where Captain Jonathon Archer of the new Starship "Enterprise" met 2 aliens later known as Klingons that were killed in a farm in Broken Arrow. And the crew had to return their bodies to deescalate a war with Earth, to their home world in the Klingon Empire. It's just a curiosity. And if the story became real in a hundred years or so.
I was correct: the site for the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple was announced during this 2:00 PM hour:
For details, see the Newsroom and the Church News. For my analysis, see this post on my blog. My thanks once again to you all.
Interesting pop culture connection for sure, Chris! Thanks for passing that along. I certainly enjoyed it.
The Church News also shared the inspiring story of how Olympic Silver Steeplechase Medalist Kenneth Rooks received a personal congratulatory call from Acting President Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. My thanks once again to you all.
To clarify my above comment, the other 2 Stakes that I believe may be assigned to the Tulsa Temple are the :
Bartlesville Oklahoma Stake
Gore Oklahoma Stake
Both about 50-60 miles from the site. Compared to the above 3 sharing a Stake Center about 5.3 miles driving from the Stake Center to the Temple site.
I do not expect as apostle to be assigned as area president in Mexico anytime soon. My general impression is that overall things are looking up under the capable leadership of Hugo Montoya.
It should also be kept in mind that there is no longer a laelrge scale flow of undoubted migrants from Mexico to the US. The migration is now much more coming from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, with others coming from further away.
A place that looks like it might be facing some similar issues to the Philippines in 2002 id actually the Dominican Republic, although probably not quite as bad. The Dominican Republic has the most Church members of any country with just 1 temple announced. There are 20,000 more church members in the Domincan Republic than Japan with 5 temple announced, although distance plays a role there., 22 thousand more than in New Zealand with 3 temples, 35,000 more than in DR Congo with 4 temples announced. To be fair DR Congo has one of the highest church activity rates, and is just plain bigger area wise than the Dominican Republic. Still when Oklahoma with just over 50,000 members is getting a 2nd temple the Dominican Republic not having one with 150,000 members seems odd. I can't say too much beyond this, but there are potential issues.
You're correct about Russia--a spot check shows that Russian stakes don't have a temple listed in CDOL. That's not hugely surprising, considering that it's excessively difficult and even dangerous for Russian citizens (especially any men even remotely close to fighting age) to leave Russia right now. Additionally, Russian units were largely being served by the Kyiv Ukraine Temple (now in an active war zone and manifestly unfriendly to Russians) and the Helsinki Finland Temple (in a country that's now VERY unfriendly toward Russia). It may be some time before it's practical for Russian members to attend the temple, which is heartbreaking. Hopefully, the end of the Putin regime will allow for the construction of the temple that was announced back in 2018.
Of course Pennsylvania and Oklahoma are both just over 50,000 members yet Pennsylvania has 3 planned temples. To be fair Philadelphia Temple takes in parts of New Jersey and Delaware, Pittsburgh Temple will after Clebeland is done still take in parts of West Virginia and also some areas in south-east Ohio, and I not sure about how things will sort out to be assigned to Harrisburg. On the other hand Oklahoma I believe has some area assigned to Dallas Temple and some assigned to Nrntonville, although not much to the later once Tulsa is done.
This does seem to suggest at least a Santiago Dominican Republic Temple would be a high priority.
I would think that if there is a decision to assign an apostle to oversee a transition in the Caribbean Elder Soares or Elder Uchtdorf would be the best choices. You want someone who is not American, and a Brit is probably too close to American. I could be wrong, but I still think the only assigning that is likely is Elder Soares as Caribbean Area President.
Here is a significant Church growth update. My thanks once again to you all.
Any mention about the second Spanish stake in Utah created last Sunday?
Hey James, I think a structural shift in missionary work in Mexico is needed to recalibrate. I know that more senior missionaries were being sent there a few years back to work on cleaning up records, but the church has two possible solutions IMO:
1. The church can work on getting the 1 million + members back to the pews in Mexico. Obstacles here include that many of these people were baptized after attending church once, never really converted, and also many areas have awful address systems and would be hard to find. I remember making up addresses in their records when baptizing members. "Green door 3 houses down from dirt road that goes off of Chapultepec near the top of the second hill." Not kidding. That kind of thing.
2. Treat those who no longer attend as sunk costs and move on, but being much more careful about baptizing. Require them to go to church for 2 months, take baptism interviews seriously, make sure the Bishop and other leaders at least know them before they get baptized.
Some combination of the two approaches could work, too. I don't know that an Apostle needs to come down to do it, but a directive from up top would help. As much as I like Elder Christensen, his and others' approach in the Mexico area were motivated by baptism numbers, and baptism numbers alone, without building a soft landing for people who did get baptized.
Hey, Chris! I shared that update in a link yesterday at 5:12 PM above. Thanks for making sure everyone sees it.
Other Matt here...
I would also add a much more vibrant YSA and SA program with more YSA, MSA, and SA Wards. I think there is only one YSA Ward in all of Mexico. If singles constitute 60% of the adult membership of the church, a lot more needs to be done to better reach out to demographic.
I wonder how Russians will be welcome when the Mongolian temple is built and dedicated. I know we have a temple announced for "a year to be announced city" in Russia. But I suspect that is delay e by the ongoing conflict.
a group is trying to stop the temple in las vegas from being built
Considering the temple got unanimous approval from the city council, it is going to be a very hard process to stop the temple. While judges have not always been quick to override city councils and greenlight refused religious buildings, they have virtually never overturned a city council allowing a religious building.
Or are the people trying to force it to a referendum as was done in Phoenix. This would be a hard move, and I am not sure it would be possible at all.
The number of YSA units in an area is not a good measure of YSA outreach. There are lots of other ways to engage in YSA outreach. My very limited impression from my very limited in Ciudad Obrefon just over 20 years ago was they had a funtional YSA program. This leads me to the Church News publishing an article on the first sister mission from Gambia. It mentions she regularly attended YSA activities on Saturday. In Gambia's one and only branch.
My initial reading of the Provo Utah East Bay (Spanish) stake is that it is completely in Provo. That it takes in no units in Springville nor in Orem. Does it even cover all of Provo?
The city of Fairview, Texas did in the past approve a Methodist Church building a 154-foot-high bell tower. Contrary to what has been said by others the approval of this plan is the legal issue, not whether it was ever actually built.
James and Matt, thanks for your observations. James, I take comfort in the knowledge that none of us are perfect. So, thank you for your expressions regarding Elder Christensen. As my dad often says, "Hindsight's 20/20". Elders Perry, Oaks, and Holland were all sent out to fix issues with their respectively assigned areas of the Church. No apostle has presided over an area on-site since 2005. And with the additional roles the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are now filling to assist the First Presidency, I don't think we'll see any member of that Quorum sent in that same way again.
That being said, the Church now has its' first member of the Presidency of the Seventy from Mexico, so Elder Valenzuela might be able to provide some perspective on the issues you mentioned, James, especially if they still exist.
Other Matt, I also believe we will see many new YSA, MSA, and SA congregations in the foreseeable future. Based on what I know on my end, I'm sure the Church is not unaware of the retention predicament with those age groups. After all, President Eyring didn't get married until he was 29, so he brings that experience to bear on questions relating to YSAs, MSAs, and SAs.
My understanding of the change in YSA designations and congregational changes is that they will be implemented first in North America and then rolled out to the rest of the Church. What that means for Mexico isn't clear, at least not to me. I would certainly hope that with the extensive travels of the apostles being what it is they are not entirely ignorant of most issues facing the Church at this time, including youth and adults of all ages and designations. With that in mind, hopefully many of these issues either have been or will soon be resolved. Thanks again to you both.
@Chris D.
Glad to find some other Trekkies follow this site, too!
Though Deep Space Nine and TNG are my favorite series (with TOS not far behind). ;)
The temple site in Fairview, Texas is adjacent to 2 existing religious buildings. With another religious building planned on the other side. The city has no areas that are zoned for religious byluildimgs forcing them to be built through planned unit development applications. Across the astreet from this location there are various retail businesses.
Within the zip code where the temple is planned there is an existing church that is 170 feet tall.
The planned temple is a reasonable plan. It is an authentically pleasing building that will beautify the surrounding area.
I'm an architect and deal with all kinds of city zoning/land use codes all over the country. The Church knew what the town's zoning code allowed and decided to push a non-compliant design forward anyway, which is their right since the zoning code allows for an approval process for that kind of thing.
Very true, Matt. I know the younger members were devastated by the closure of Benemerito because it fostered a lot of connections among younger members that stayed for years after their graduation. The issue with the YSA and SA programs in Mexico is that most units would be so geographically spaced out that they would not be productive (a few cities would prove the exception, including DF, of course). At the very least, though, unofficial organizations of YSA and SA groups that don't meet every Sunday, but every month, along with traveling arrangements to a central location for activities, would be a huge benefit to retention in the area.
I really do love Elder Christensen. I just think his focus would not work in rectifying the issues of inactivity today. And I only focus on him because I know him best, but there are decades of leadership before him that took a similar approach. I also don't think we'll see an Apostle assigned to Mexico, nor do I find it necessary. I agree with JPL about Elder Montoya. It isn't as much the person assigned there as the strategy governing the area from up top.
According to the Fairview city council, it was never officially approved by the council or even brought to a vote. They specifically said this in their meeting last week.
The city may or may not have a legal case for this, but I'm just pointing out that the city council explicitly said that the bell tower was never approved or taken up for a vote.
The official city minutes show the bell tower was approved.
Hello all, just wanted to put out a small list of people that I am either related to or am close to and where they are serving full-time right now:
Saratoga Springs, Utah. Spanish. (Was in Orem at first).
Gilbert, Arizona. English.
Recife, Brazil. Portuguese.
Guatemala City, GT. Spanish.
Buenos Aires South, ARG. Spanish.
La Serena, Chile. Spanish.
Pusan, South Korea. Korean.
Frankfort, Germany. Turkish.
Frankfort, DEU. Deutsch.
Those are the main ones I am tracking. Things are looking good for all of them. Exciting times. Any reports on single men serving as service missionaries?
Great time to be alive.
Do you have a link? I have a very hard time believing the city council would simply lie about it in a public, recorded council meeting (all 7 of them) without anyone correcting them.
I haven't had the chance to read this fully, but wanted to pass along this article from Dialogue regarding leadership and retention in Europe and Latin America for anyone that might be interested: https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/leadership-retention-and-us-culture-in-the-lds-church-in-latin-america-and-europe/
My youngest cousin just received his mission call today. I was thinking about everywhere my cousins, siblings, and I on that side of the family have served over the years (we cover a wide age range -- the oldest is 47, the youngest 18). English speaking unless indicated otherwise, with specific missions listed where I remember them.
+USA (I don't recall where the first cousin to serve went, just that it was somewhere in the USA)
+California Sacramento (Hmong speaking)
+Montana Billings
+Minnesota (These days it is called Minnestoa Minneapolis, but I think at the time it was St Paul -- that was about 20 years ago)
+California Newport Beach (Spanish speaking)
+Honduras San Pedro Sula (Spanish speaking)
+Dominican Republic Santo Domingo (not sure if east or west) (Spanish speaking)
+India New Delhi (This was me!)
+Pennsylvania Pittsburgh
+Germany Berlin (German speaking)
+Italy Rome (Italian speaking)
+Mexico Puebla (not sure which among north, south, etc.) (Spanish speaking)
+Colorado Fort Collins
+Frankfurt, Germany (Turkish speaking) (@Eduardo, if your relative is a sister missionary there is a very good chance she will be companions with my cousin, who is currently serving right now, since from what I understand there are only a few sister missionaries with that unique assignment)
+Uganda Kampala (not actually out yet, received his call today)
+Brazil Sao Paulo South (Portuguese speaking)
Regarding single men serving as service missionaries, I do know of a married man serving alone as a service missionary. He is retired, but his wife is not yet retired, so he serves as a service missionary during the day a few days a week while she is at work.
--Felix
The suit against the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple is based on false premises. Temples and other buildings are not commercial or industrial uses. So building a temple is not and cannot be a violation of an agreement to limit commercial and industrial development. For this and many other reasons the suit is inherently flawed.
JPL, I checked online myself. The water tower thing has been debunked, unless you have a source to the contrary. Seems to be a false equivalency. Please provide a source to verify your claim.
Nice !!! I was born and live in Recife !!!
What do you mean the water tower thing has been debunked? There are water towers in Fairview Texas in the residential zone and they really are in the 150 foot high range. The city really did approve the planned unit development for the Methodist Church to built a 154 high clock tower. It exists in the notes. There really is a 170-foot tall church in the same zip code as the proposed McKinney Texas Temple. The temple is really a beautiful buildings g and the building plan will increase the number of trees on the lot. Now the reality is that water towers are a poor analogy to the temple spire, since they are huge and bulked but the temple spire is narrow and hardly noticeable. The basic fact is not all heights are created equal.
Some stats on smallest and largest countries by population related to various forms of church presence (or absence) that I thought may be of interest to some on here. If you think you spot an error, please let me know.
• Smallest country/territory contained within the boundaries of a branch which is not located within the country/territory itself: Montserrat (UK overseas territory, included in the St John’s Branch located in Antigua and Barbuda) (Tokelau is smaller and is part of the Apia Samoa Mission Branch but I did not count it for this category because a) The branch appears to be an administrative branch rather than a “true” branch and b) In spite of its name, the only country contained in the Apia Samoa Mission Branch is Tokelau)
• Smallest fully independent country contained within the boundaries of a branch which is not located within the country itself: Liechtenstein (included in both the Landquart Branch and the Zurich Branch (English))
• Smallest country/dependent territory with a branch: Niue (a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand)
• Because some may quibble with counting Niue as a country (under international law the quibblers are wrong, but nonetheless), smallest indisputably independent country with a branch: Tuvalu (has 2 branches)
• Smallest country/territory within the boundaries of a district: Montserrat (UK overseas territory, within the boundaries of the Lesser Antilles North District)
• Smallest fully independent country within the boundaries of a district not primarily located in the country itself: St Kitts and Nevis (within the boundaries of the Lesser Antilles North District headquartered in the US Virgin Islands)
• Smallest country/territory with a branch that is part of a district not primarily located in the country itself: British Virgin Islands (UK Overseas Territory, contains the Tortola Branch, part of the Lesser Antilles North District)
• Smallest fully independent country with a branch that is part of a district not primarily located in the country itself: St Kitts and Nevis (has the St Kitts Branch, part of the Lesser Antilles North District)
• Smallest country/territory with a district primarily located within it: Cook Islands (a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand)
• For quibblers who think free association means Cook Islands is not fully independent, smallest indisputably independent country with a district primarily located in it: Tonga
• Smallest country/territory with a branch that is part of a stake not primarily located in the country itself: Palau (in free association with the United States, contains the Koror Branch within the Barrigada Guam Stake)
• For quibblers who think free association means Palau is not truly independent, smallest indisputably independent country with a branch that is part of a stake not primarily located in the country itself: Possibly Kuwait (unclear if it is a ward or branch that it contains, probably within the Bahrain Stake), otherwise Oman (contains the Oman Branch that is part of the Abu Dhabi Stake)
• Smallest country/territory within the boundaries of a ward which is not located in the country/territory itself (and therefore also the smallest within the boundaries of a stake not primarily located in the country itself): Vatican City (included within the Roma 1st Ward)
• For quibblers who will note that Vatican City is technically a territory of the Holy See, the smallest indisputably independent country within the boundaries of a ward which is not located in the country/territory itself (and therefore also the smallest within the boundaries of a stake not primarily located within the country itself): San Marino (included within the boundaries of the Rimini Ward)
• Smallest country/territory with a ward: Marshall Islands (a country in free association with the United States)
• For quibblers who think free association means the Marshall Islands is not truly independent, smallest indisputably independent country with a ward: Tonga
--Felix
--Felix
Continuing,
• Smallest country/territory with a ward that is part of a stake not primarily located in the country/territory itself: Northern Mariana Islands (US territory, contains the Saipan Ward within the Barrigada Guam Stake)
• Smallest fully independent country with a ward that is part of a stake not primarily located in the country/territory itself: Luxembourg (contains the Luxembourg 1st and 2nd Wards, within the Nancy France Stake)
• Smallest country/territory with a stake primarily located within it: Marshall Islands (a country in free association with the United States)
• For quibblers who think free association means the Marshall Islands is not truly independent, smallest indisputably independent country with a stake primarily located within it: Tonga
• Largest country/territory neither containing nor contained within any congregation (excluding home groups): Iran
• Largest country/territory neither containing nor contained within any ward: China if you ignore the fiction that it and Taiwan are one and if you ignore the increasingly fictional status of Hong Kong as distinct from mainland China
• If Taiwan and/or Hong Kong are included as part of China, then the largest country/territory neither containing nor contained within any ward: Pakistan
• Largest country/territory contained in part or in whole within a branch (excluding administrative branches) but not containing a ward or branch: Depending on what borders you choose to count, and what you count as a country, potentially Palestine (meaning the West Bank and Gaza) (within the Jerusalem Branch and Nile River Branch) or Gaza (within the Nile River Branch) or Transnistria (within the Chisinau 1st and 2nd Branches)
• Largest undisputed country/territory contained in part or in whole within a branch (excluding administrative branches) but not containing a ward or branch: Andorra (contained with the Andorra Branch, which, in spite of its name, is located in Spain)
• Largest country/territory contained in part or in whole within a ward but not containing a ward: Monaco (contained within the Nice Ward located in Nice, France)
• Largest country/territory that is neither containing nor contained within the boundaries of a district, whether in part or in whole: Bangladesh
• Largest country/territory contained within the boundaries of a district not primarily located in the country itself: Morocco (within the boundaries of the Cairo Egypt District)
• Largest country/territory that is neither containing nor contained within the boundaries of a stake, whether in part or in whole: Pakistan
• Largest country/territory contained within the boundaries of a stake not primarily located in the country itself: possibly Saudi Arabia (wards/branches in Saudi Arabia at one time were the majority of the wards in what is now the Manama Bahrain Stake, and presumably still are), but otherwise Belarus (contained within the Moscow Russia Stake)
To add to this discussion on the Fairview temple, the Church submitted a document to the City showing what the temple would look like from various perspectives around town and it is hardly noticeable at any of the perspectives. The idea that the temple will dominate the city's skyline just simply is not true.
I would not quibble that Palau or the Marshall Islands are part of the US. Marshall Islands the free movement results of free association have lead to several Marshall's Church units in the US mainland. OK, a few,, several might be overstating things. With Palau, I am unaware of any Palau language (see I do not even know how to name it) units on the mainland.
I am hoping the Marshall Islands have a temple announced this year. To be fair my hoped gor temple list runs yo about 100. Although I would live to see President Nelson announce 100 temples to match his age of 100 at next general conference, I think it has a low likelihood to occur. Not impossible, just not very likely. Slightly less likely than my crazy early 2022 idea of announcing 3 more temples gor Mexico City, which was responded to as the most ludicrous idea that would absolutely not happen.
Tuvalu has only one branch.
OK, just because one crazy idea basically happened does not mean another will. I do wonder though, if these a point where it is decided that the list of new temples is too long to read all at once so they do one of two things. A-say we will publish it, like the list of new area seventies. Possible, but I think unlikely. 2-split it up at different times in conference. I guess this could be done, but it seems hard. President Oaks on Sunday morning announces some temples. Does he say "President Nelson will announced more in the afternoon" or does he just announce however any new locations and leave it for President Nelson to announce another set at the end? There is no reason these cannot be done. President Hincklry essentially did the first with the 32 te.ples, only the actual announcement was done over a year. If there were 45 temples published that day it would be different. If the temples were pre-announced like new area seventies. This would not be unprecedented. From reading the old conference issue from May 1980 for the April 1980 general conference I think this is what President Kimball did then.
Cool little article on interfaith cooperation:
"In a small rural town, Latter-day Saints and Methodists share a church. The arrangement keeps it from closing
When Latter-day Saints in Colebrook, New Hampshire, needed a place to worship, the Methodists shared their church"
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/08/14/church-renting-latter-day-saints-methodists-new-hampshire/
JTB, I just finished reading the whole thing. That was fantastic. It was hard to find one argument I didn't agree with.
I would even argue that the corporate western culture that is preferred in leadership in the US is incongruent with the needs and culture of many within the US - not just abroad. The incongruence is stark when members feel the need to go to leadership for personal advice, scriptural insights, or examples of faith and then get a monolithic response.
The Church News has two articles today that are quite interesting. One on Elder Renlund attending the 50th meeting of a YSA conference for Scandanavia, this year in Goteborg. He reflected on this veing a homecoming. I n9w have slightly higher hope Goteborg will get a temple. Yes, Sweden's existing temple is expanding. Still both Alaska and Hawaii have had new temples announced since plans to expand an existing temple were announced. So there is some home for Sweden. Scandinavia has one of the highest counts of temple per stake in the world, so I am not sure this is highly likely.
The other article was on a gathering of deaf saints in Rochester and Palmyra. Besides the Rochester 3rd ward deaf group it involved Saints from the deaf unit in New York City, some of whom had never left the city, the deaf unit in DC, and some from Utah. We have a recently baptized deaf man in my branch in Detroit, it would have been nice if this had been pre-publicized more.
The Church also released the following commentary:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/commentary-when-media-distorts-faithful-lives
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2024/08/16/church-statement-media-portrayals-when-entertainment-media-distorts-faith/
My thanks once again to you all
What is the cause of this? Still the old musical?
I can imagine at least 3 different things lately that this can apply to. Number 2 is the most likely focus:
1. The number of LDS members engaging in soaking (they claim it doesn't violate the law of chastity, except it absolutely does) with people that like to misrepresent it as Church doctrine.
2. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives show being released next month that apparently wants to showcase many stories of unfaithful LDS couples.
3. The upcoming movie - Heretic, which is a horror film that depicts a man psychologically tormenting 2 sister missionaries.
There are things out there that are really tormenting, and some of them I had no idea even existed as a discussion linked to the LDS community. But I confess that these things have rekindled the alert about something that has worried me a lot, and that seems to occur more frequently recently, despite having existed for many, many years: moral and sexual harassment against missionary sisters. Cases of stalking against sisters are not rare, and this needs to be better monitored because these are young women separated from their entire circle of protection and in situations that can be quite dangerous. Sometimes members are not available and the mission headquarters is too far away, which can leave young women completely unprotected. Honestly, I would not like my daughter to be called to missions in certain cities in my country or even abroad.
We have/had a stalker of the Sister missionaries here in our area. I actually helped teach the guy together with them but I could tell something was off. What is interesting is that no one in the ward was informed; there was simply an emergency transfer and a couple of brothers (including myself) were told to man the door and keep the stalker out. I feel like it would have been much better to be transparent and let everyone know about the situation, also as a means to allow others to protect themselves.
Where can I see these pictures?
I think the movie about kidnapping sister missionaries was clearly one of the reasons for this release. The comedy that was planned and hopefully never came to fruition about the kidnapping and sexual assault of a male missionary may have also been a factor, but I am hoping that project has died, but do not know and do not want to look to see.
While the other stuff is not good I suspect the thing about kidnapping a missionary is what caused actual action even if other materials were on the minds of the church leaders who created the statement.
I don't understand how anyone can find sexual assault as funny. I didn't realize a lot of sister missionaries had to deal with stalking, which is definitely concerning. With this new information, I agree that the Heretic movie is the more obvious reason for the statement.
I thought it might be that new Hulu show that according to its title seems to depict The secret lives of current members. But most likely they are former members.
Hey guys I noticed that the Makemo Tuamotu and Taiohae Marquesas Islands Districts in French Polynesia/Tahiti have disappeared from Meetinghouse Locator and the Branches have been reassigned amongst the stakes on the main island. Could anyone confirm/indicate when this change occurred?
Doesn’t matter, the Church isn’t complying with the zoning code so the town is fully within its rights to reject the proposal.
It was announced in Sacrament Meeting today that the McAllen Texas and McAllen Texas West Stakes are to be divided into a third stake on 15 September 2024 by Elder Edward Dube. It will be called the Weslaco Texas Stake. Weslaco is located between McAllen and Harlingen, where there has been a stake since 1981.
And the McAllen Texas West Stake will be renamed the Mission Texas Stake.
Contrary to what was said above, no the town is not within its right to reject the McKinney Texas Temple just because it is higher than the existing residential building standard. The city of Fairview has to demonstrate that the temple is out of line with what is allied under the planned unit development guidelines. These speak to the general character of the neighborhood. So things like there being a 170-foot tall church in that zip code matter a lot. Beyond this local ordinances are superseded by state and federal laws. The Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the federal Religious Land Une and Institutionalized persons act mean that cities need to show a compelling interest to stop the building of Religious buildings. Keeping a plot of land within the residential zoning where both its neighboring plots of land are being used for Religious purposes does not meet any compelling interests test. Cities do not get to hide behind arbitrary and capricious zoning rules to stop Religious groups from building buildings to met their religious needs. This becomes even more suspect when a city has failed to create any zones where Religious buildings can be built without a special approval of the city council.
Makemo Tuamotu District was discontinued 07/28/2024.
Taiohae Marquesas Islands District was discontinued 07/07/2024
The Church News has begun a series of articles on the path to 200 temples.
I thought this Newsroom release was interesting:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-bednar-sweep-the-earth-ten-years
And for those who want to follow along with the 10-week series of articles to which JPL alluded, an introduction and the first article are found at the links below:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/18/path-to-200-temple-house-of-the-lord-introduction-and-compilation/
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/18/path-to-200-houses-of-the-lord-temples-1-to-20-st-george-salt-lake-logan-manti/
My thanks once again to you all.
I would also like to note here that the groundbreakings occurred yesterday for the Londrina Brazil, Austin Texas, and Santiago West Chile Temples. Additionally, the open houses for the Mendoza Argentina and Salvador Brazil Temples get underway this week, with media days for both temples planned to occur tomorrow. As a result of the developments related to these 5 temples, the Church may or may not announce anything else tomorrow at 2:00 PM. My thanks once again to you all.
Zach, I was provided the document that the Church sent to the Fairview City council. I'm not quite sure how to share that on here as it is a pdf.
I wish everyone here, particularly JPL, would stop with the legal commentaries on temples. Last I checked nobody here is a lawyer or even close to being one, so quit acting like your opinions matter on that subject. They do not.
Legal commentaries on temples, chapels, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, proselytizing may not be one's cup or tea or interesting to some, but all of it is pertinent to LDS Church growth. All of us are part of the country or church to which we are part of. Boards are run by elected officials, which means they may be a lawyer and have a Juris Doctorate, or not. All of them influence how temples, that we as Latter-Day Saints cherish and build, are designed, zoned, planned, executed and eventually attend, sustain, pay tithes to, park at, visit, and use as bulwarks of our devotion and aspirations.
Again, these topics may be boring to some readers. But it is a part of LDS growth. The Church of Jesus Christ. So many other aspects, social, ethical, practical, economical. Aesthetics and artistic.
While this thread or subject started as discussing Azerbaijan, all the subjects broached touch on issues regarding how the faith is growing or waning.
All opinions count, even less valid ones. We do not have to be a politician or a lawyer or a scholar to have valid thoughts and arguments. As a matter of fact, our Constitution provides for all of us to have a voice. Our government ensures that, and millions have died to defend those principles.
Vivre la liberte.
Any more news on Azerbaijan? Do we know how many Christians have vacated Nagorno-Karabakh?
Well said, Eduardo! IMHO, no one needs to be an expert per se in any field to comment on matters relating to that field anywhere. In this information and data age, it is possible to be well-informed on a subject and able to impart that knowledge without being an expert. Our own Matthew Martinich, who owns and operates this blog, was surely not an expert in Church Growth when he started it. Now he is well recognized in many circles as a Church Growth expert. I had been fascinated with a lot of different data relating to Church history and had several files with compiled data long before I started a blog that is, in its' own small way, cataloging the day-to-day Church history developments, and now I'm told my blog ranks high in most search engines for the subjects I cover.
I always go back to the second verse of "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" as a good way to measure a response to anything in any public forum. I'll be the first to admit that I've had my own moments where I've been less than civil in my online dialogue. So thank you again, Eduardo, for how well you put that.
I would just add that it's always a better policy to comment on issues rather than individuals. On another note, regarding the ongoing comments about the Fairview temple matter, the "other" James indicated that the Church intends to take the matter to the courts. It occurred to me to wonder what would happen if we spent as much time praying for the best outcome possible regarding the matter as we do pontificating about it here. That may be the very reason Elder Andersen suggested what he did at the end of his remarks last General Conference.
Let me go back to what he said then: "Let us pray for the temples that have been announced, that properties can be purchased, that governments will approve plans, that talented workers will see their gifts magnified, and that the sacred dedications will bring the approval of heaven and the visit of angels."
I personally believe that if we spend as much or more time following Elder Andersen's apostolic counsel as we do discussing obstacles to temple construction here or anywhere else, the Lord will move the mountains needed and provide the miracles necessary for temple construction to be unhindered.
So if we're not doing that, now is surely a good time to start. I believe that will be more helpful for the situations in Cody Wyoming, Las Vegas Nevada, and even Fairview Texas than anything else. And for those already praying for such obstacles to be moved, they can surely redouble their prayers.
That being said, Eduardo, I don't have the answers to your questions, but hopefully someone here does.
It appears that the double media days and open houses took up all the temple announcement for today. Salvador which will be the 200th temple had its open house start.
The Church Aldo updated the general handbook. It now specifically enallowsyoung women class leaders to organizing the ministry of greeting people at sacrament meeting. Such could be done before but was not specifically allowed. It is not actually mandated now per se.
The age change for YSA to going to 35 is included. Also only sacrament meeting in Easter. Same for 1 Sunday near Christmas. The line allowing for only sacrament meetings on other significant holidays falling on Sunday is also is also New I believe. I do not know if it would apply to July 4th on a Sunday. I have doubts. I can not think of any other possibilities in the US.
There is now encouragement for 5-10 minutes of counseling at the start of EQ and RS meetings. Also you can do joint EQ and RS meetings occasionally. This would be different than a 5th Sunday meeting.
The nature of the trangender policy had commanded. but I am not sure how. I seem to recall in the past the policy was more clearly against physical transition. The current policy says that ordinances are received based on birth sex. It also makes it clear that those who de-transit8on are nit under restrictions any more.
The seaking policy has been changed. The big one is emphasis no one will be forced to stay in a sealing thry do not want in the next life. I do not have the old policy memorized, bymut I think the only major changes is that sealing of lineal Descendants to parents can be authorized to be done by a sealer for his Descendants at a different temple the same as with sealing of husband and wife. It is not all that clear if it is the child of the parent who needs to be a descendant. Most of the time both would be. Clearly if a sealers granddaughter is having an adopted child sealed to her and her husband he can request permission to do it in another temple. The one oddity might be his biological Great grandson veing sealed to adopted parents. I think you can request permission, but it might be turned down, but it would probably be considered case by case.
The last and one of the biggest changes is it is now possible to seal a man or women to a deceased person of the opposite sex thry cohabitation with but did not legally marry. You are allowed yo do such for people whoare both dead, although on paper you are supposed yo limit it to cases were it was essentially fimunctionally close to marriage. There are some sealing done in those cases that do not meet that guidelines, but sometimes records on what happened are very unclear.
With the case of a still living spouse there is required review and by bishop and stake president and then request for first Presidency permission.
Aside from the open houses, the Church also broke ground for 3 temples on Saturday: Londrina Brazil, Santiago West Chile a, and Austin Texas. Those groundbreakings were also covered as new temple construction news today.
Elder Soares was at the Salvador Brazil Temple media day. Both that and the Mendoza Argentina Temple are truly beautiful buildings.
I was especially in love with the photos of the Salvador temple. The window cornices are very appropriately inspired by the frames of colonial mansions and whitewashed townhouses from old mills and farms. The stained glass windows evoking Mandacaru, the desert flower. Classic Portuguese tiles (whose ancient production technique always uses blue pigments) decorate the edge of the baptismal font... I think the church finally got it right and managed to produce a temple in Brazil that captures the essence of our architecture, something it failed to do when building BrasÃlia. The other temples in Brazil could be anywhere else in the world because they don't have elements typical of the country, but I'm afraid that in BrasÃlia they tried to make this link with the city's modernist architecture and failed. Now, with Salvador, it seems that this objective has finally been perfectly achieved. In fact, it is quite emblematic that the Salvador temple is milestone number 200: for those here who are not yet familiar with Latin languages, Salvador means Savior. It is our Master's name that will be at this special milestone, and this will certainly be remembered during the dedication of the temple.
I agree with you on the beauty of the Salvador Temple, it tastefully adds elements of traditional Brazilian / Portuguese architecture. This is a wonderful adaptation the church has been adding to temples more and more. Similar efforts were made in the Red Cliffs Temple here in St. George, and I saw this as well when they reconstructed the Montreal Temple. '
I also agree with you about the Brasilia Temple. I've never been a fan of the modernist architecture of the Capitol. I would have preferred a more traditional appearance. Nonetheless, seeing temples multiply in Brasil makes my heart happy.
I love the resources available on https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/ - I wonder if a similar site based on Latter-day Saints leaders would be useful.
Yes, it is wonderful to see the temple reach the people, especially for the brothers from the northeast, the most impoverished region and where travel costs were higher.
I actually like Niemeyer's architecture in BrasÃlia, it's wonderful. But the temple's squat, characterless tower could have been eliminated from the design in favor of other elements, as the city has many public palaces with flat roofs that could have been considered as inspiration. A separate tower like in Frankfurt or Copenhagen would have been a fantastic element. The parabolic arches could also be more inspired by the Itamaraty Palace, with more rounded ends similar to those on BYU's Jerusalem campus. Internally, however, the temple is very beautiful.
Positive article about the Church from an Australian newspaper:
https://news-pacific.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/-the-australian-newspaper-looks-into-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints
I bet they are counted among the 17 million members the church officially lists.
I can envision that now, the BYU Jerusalem Center is a good benchmark. I do appreciate the effort made by the church architects to honor the overall aesthetic of the city though.
My grandmother has roots in Sao Paulo, and I served in Joao Pessoa. I was almost brought to tears when temples were announced in Natal and later Joao Pessoa, two of the cities I served in. When I served the second temples in Brasil (Recife) was preparing for dedication, now I count over twenty. I love seeing the church in Brasil grow and become more established.
When will the church stop bullying cities and towns all over the country to build their temples because they will not conform to local laws this is not the Lord's way it is not God's way it is the church's way and that is not Christ like. I don't believe it's the leaders of the church but those who are Architects and Builders of temples who are building monuments and to themselves with the temples that they build to God Joseph Smith once said we believe in obeying and sustaining the laws of the land if that is the case then follow the laws and ordinances the cities have sent out for all people to obey the church is not special this is caused Great harm to missionary work in those areas where the church has tried to bully their way in building their temples now they're buildings are not
Thanks for sharing. Good article.
You're welcome, Ray. :)
Thanks mate, appreaciate it!
Something that might seem a minor note to some, but I was looking at LDS Maps, and I noticed that all congregations in the Kharkiv Ukraine Stake now register as Ukrainian-speaking congregations instead of Russian. I wonder if they are going to update some of the congregation names to reflect the Ukrainian names over the Russian names (i.e. Dnepr Ward vs Dnipro Ward).
That just leaves the congregations in the Donetsk and Odessa Ukraine Districts and the branches in Crimea as Russian-speaking.
Tab Walch ran an article on a presentation at BYU education week by a leading figure in the acquisition of the Kirtland Temple. He worked closely with the First Presidency and the Presiding Bishopric and Church historian Kyle S. McKay and others with the historians department in this matter. https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/08/22/kirtland-temple-transfer-details/
I have to admit thus article leaves me wishing we had more details.
I just had a crazy idea. Would it be possible to close Saints Vol. 4 with the requisition of the Kirtland Temple. I say this is crazy because that just seems too recent to cover. However with how central Cincinatti was to Vil. 3, I could see closing it out with the requisition of the Kirtland Temple, the announcement of the Cincinatti Temple the following month, a second temple for a temple in Frrnch Polynesia, essentially the only non-English speaking area to get fully missionary outreach during the life of Joseph Smith. Scotland, which plays such a key role in the life of President McKay and Honolulu, such a key place in so much Church history 8n Hawaii and where President Grant confirmed more Japanese people than he ever did in Japan , and then of course Lehi and West Jordan Temples showing continued growth in areas first settled by the pioneers in the 19th-century.
I know the original plan called for stopping Saints in about 2016, but that was back in 2018 when thry talked of maybe completing it in 2021 or 2022. We are looking to be at over 6 years, Vol. 1 came out in September 2018, but the first release was actually in the January 2018 Liahona where we got the fast paved opening chapter starting with a volcano exploding in the East Indies.
The more I think about it the more I think the Kirtland Temple purchase is so big you need it in, and if you are going to do March 2024 you can close out with April 2024 and tie back to the past. Although maybe you end most things with the Spring 2019 dedications of Rome Italy and Kinshasa DR Congo Temples, and then leave anything after that in an afterward, where you also tie in central Mexico getting 4 new temples announced in October 2022 and other key temple announcements during these years, but leave things like Covid, the rolling out of Come Follow Me and other significant posymy-spring 2019 developments to be covered in a future volume or work.
I can't comment on how Saints 4 will end (that would spoil the fun surprise), but having read the ending, I can confirm it will not end in any of the ways you are currently thinking. But it should be published within about 3 months!
John, I am one of the General Editors of Saints. It will be released in late October. You can read a bit more about it here: https://www.ldsdaily.com/world/heres-the-release-date-for-saints-volume-4/
I am speaking at BYU Education Week today about the volume.
I mostly lurk on here, but I think many of the regular commenters will be interested in what is contained in this final volume.
Here is an article that has some of the same details as the LDS Daily article, but it also suggests future volumes may be published in the future:
https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/08/23/saints-volume-4-release-date-church-of-jesus-christ/
Don't be too hard on John, his analysis is right on the money. The position he has described is a valid point of view. Local zoning regulations are often the basis of battles when a community doesn't want a particular development to go in, whether it is a store, or a prison, or a church. The developer, in this case the church, has the right to request, revisit, plead, and possibly even sue. The White Plains temple was eventually cancelled after local resistance could not be overcome, and the Boston temple was built but left without a steeple for a time while appeals went forward. The gridlock in Heber City is a good example of this that is further along than the resistance in McAllen.
I have been very curious about how our fellow saints in Ukraine have fared. With so many Ukrainians leaving the country or dislocated within the country, are those congregations still functioning, or are they just on paper? This is especially valid for the ones in places that have been in midst of the fighting like Kharkiv, or in occupied areas like Donetsk.
One thing the Texas Temple in question is McKinney. The McAllen Texas Temple was dedicated earlier this year by Elder Uchtdorf.
Considering that the official ending of Saints Vol. 4 seems to have been stated as 2020, and that none of my ending ideas were in 2020, I was quite obviously wrong. I have some new ideas on how to end it in 2020, but I think I will keep them to myself. Although I do hope the Durvan South Africa Temple and its dedication gets mentioned. With the number of temples dedicated of late that is not guaranteed, and even though it is the only 2020 Temple dedication, it might not work with the actual flow of the narrative.
My birthday is October 27 (since I have previously said I was born the day the Tokyo Temple was dedicated, I think this is known). So it will come out about my birthday. I am very excited.
I believe James Perry above was one of the hosts of the Saints podcast for Vol. 3. I really enjoyed those. Even if I still think the martyrs of 2015 interview with Elder Montoya, whose maternal great grandfather was killed and paternal grandfather retrieved the bodies would have been even more interesting if done after the temple next door in Tula was announced, but I know why waiting that long after the release of the book to do the podcast would not have worked, and anyway no one knew that Tula Mexico Temple was about to be announced. I think it was the only one of the 4 that was not even on Matt's less likely list, which I think alone runs over 300 locations.
I may start rereading Vol. 1 to 3 soon to prep for the release of Vol. 4. I am very excited.
Interesting take. I guess I have a different view on the church's motives and methods for building temples. However, to each his own.
I've observed this and made some progress towards finding peace on it. When I lived in Vermont it seemed that wherever possible the leadership of the stake would be western transplants, men of means who wore suits. Ward leaders too. Local grass-fed members never got called to leadership if there was a professional man from the west available.
And now I live in the west, and the tendency here is similar. However, I've seen something else too. The church is really big, and really complicated. We need management talent and business talent to keep the gears turning. We have so many properties, so many members, so many interests, and we are determined to really on 'volun-told' labor for the vast majority of this work. We have gotten really good at keeping the ship steady and plodding forward - and I give a lot of credit for that to the preference for calling men with professional experience and talents into leadership. Perhaps the greatest miracle in the church today is that it seems to work!
That said, it can often lead to problems when our manager-leaders are overly used as counselor-leaders. Some may have a talent to that effect, but many don't.
I wonder how that compares to retention and activity rates in places like Europe.
If it were approved decades ago or by another process the records might be hard to find or even nonexistent. That said, the fact that it does exist gives the church an angle to use in a potential appeal. Of course, changing the temple design is also a good option. Some temples (like Paris) were built without steeples altogether.
Aaron, I'm posting a rather late reply to this. There actually is such a site that has a comprehensive collection of various facts about our leaders, temples, Church Growth, and much more. The site in question can be found at the following web address:
https://church-of-jesus-christ-facts.net/
Hope this information is helpful.
When I was born our stake president here in Detroit was a native of Canada. That was in 1980. He was released shortly thereafter and I do not remember all the details.
Our next stake president was a native of Windsor, Canada who had converted to the Church. He converted young enough to serve a mission, I think his mom joined the Church at the same time. He was the first branch president of the Windsor branch when it was in the Detroit stake, so when he moved to the US he did not cross stake boundaries. By the time he was our stake president we no longer had any area in Canada.
The next two stake presidents were not local, although I cannot say much beyond that. One of my bishop's was born in Virginia, where he attended church with his grandparents in the country side in a dinky branch. This was south-west Virginia. He was born in the 1930s. When I was 15 he became a counselor in the stake Presidency and later was in the temple Presidency.
At one point his counselors were a man from Sakt Lake City and a man who was born in either Michigan or Indiana and joined the church as a young adult. That guy had a master's degree from BYU and had been involved in creating the new edition of the scriptures in the late 1960s, but he was mid-west origin and a convert.
The first elders quorum president I remember was a convert, from Ohio of German and English descent with a wife of Italian and Polish descent.
What I noticed most was we had far fewer people of Slavic and Italian ancestry in my ward that in school. Although my seminary teacher was a Brazilian born convert of mainly Italian descent, and when I was about 14 a Michigan-born but Cakufornia raised man of Italian descent who had joined the Church as a young adult was but in the bishopric.
In 2003 when rather stake Presidency was reorganized and we had a new stake president who grew up in our stake and joined the Church in Vietnam with a counselor who had grown up in the stake as a member and another counselor who I think was a convert, I knew we had reached a new phase.
Both my scout masters had grown up in the Detroit area. One was born in Utah, but had lived in Detroit since he was a child. The other was a convert in his early 20s after meeting his Uruguayan wife.
Even my current branch which does have issues I think in not often enough giving African-American males leadership roles, we had 2 of our 2 branch Presidency members raised in the Eastetn US, in Tennessee and New Hampshire.
The most under represented group among Church members in Metro Detrout in leadership is probably Appalachian whites. We have 2 African-Americans on the high council and 1 Afro-Brazilian. The number of Apalachian white members in my ward when I was young was high. Most were inactive. However as I said we had an Appachian white bishop. True he was an engineer, but he was very vocal about being a native hilly billy.
@JPL
My mom's birthday is right next to yours, on October 28th. :)
According to the rescheduled dedication of the Casper Wyoming Temple from October to November, from this post from the Church News staff this morning, August 26th. It states the Deseret Peak Utah Temple will have the honor now to become the "200th dedicated Temple", not the Salvador Brazil Temple, as we had calculated here in this blog.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/26/rescheduled-casper-temple-dedication-date-reorders-deseret-peak-utah-200/
Also posted this morning the new schedule for the Casper Wyoming Tepmple open house and updated Dedication dates.
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/26/casper-wyoming-temple-dedication-update-media-day-photos/
I wonder if there will be any new Temple announcements (for example, Groundbreaking, or Dedication dates or official site locations or artists rendering for the announced temples), later today at about 2pm local time here in Utah?
The Casper Wyoming Temple open house began today:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/casper-wyoming-temple-open-house-commences
The dedication has been rescheduled from October 13 to November 24, with one session instead of the previously announced two. As a result, the Deseret Peak Utah Temple is now projected to be the 200th dedicated temple of the Church instead of Salvador Brazil.
For more information, check out the following additional links:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2024/08/26/casper-wyoming-temple-dedication-update-media-day-photos/
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2024/08/breaking-temple-news-casper-wyoming.html
My thanks once again to you all.
A new branch was created this past Sunday in Kribi, Cameroon, marking the first branch in the country outside of the major cities of Douala and Yaounde. Additionally, for those interested the meetinghouse locator has recently shown many newly created branches in previously unreached cities across the Central DR Congo (within the Kananga Mission) as well as quite a few branches in previously unreached cities in Uganda, Burundi, and the Eastern DR Congo.
Thank you, Cfunk for the information. Great news. Mission presidents have visited Kribi for many years and have eyed it as a city to create a branch in. Do we know if Limbe is close to becoming a branch too?
Yes, I am aware of the many new branches in the DR Congo. I was hoping to make a post about it yesterday, but I did not have enough time. We have new branches and member groups being created at an unprecedented pace in previously unreached areas. Two branches were just created in Tshikapa, and one branch each were just created in Demba and Tshimbundu. A member group was just created in Lodja. Branches were created earlier this year in Mbandaka, Kalemie, Kamina, Tshabebo, Menkao, Baraka, Bukavu, and Kavumu. Many new branches also created in Uganda in the past few months in cities and villages that have never had a branch organized.
I'm not sure about Limbe. I know there have been baptisms in the city this year, so the group is obviously still functioning, but not sure about how close it is to becoming a branch.
It's certainly exciting to see the rate at which the Church is expanding throughout Central and Eastern Africa!
Elder Kearon recently met with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.
https://news-ph.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-kearon-meets-with-philippine-president-marcos-jr
Not that this is really relevant, but it seemed too much for the Church to allow this important milestone to be left to a country on the periphery of the world. Obviously, such a significant moment must be reserved for the faithful members of the world headquarters. Just a little sarcasm to provoke some else.
Hey, Chris! Just a quick clarification: there are no changes to the originally-announced open house dates. The only thing that has changed is the dedication date.
All the above mentioned new branches fall into the Africa Central Area now under the able leadership of Elder Thierry Mutombo, who has been in the area Presidency since it was formed and been area president since August 1st.
While new branches in outlying cities are not usually the tipping point for a new temple, I really do hope that Kampala, Uganda gets a temple announced in Ictober. With 3 stakes in Uganda and 4 in Kenya and growing membership in both a temple for Uganda is doable. Of course I have thought that for several years.
I am also hoping Lome, Togo gets a temple.
In DR Congo I would love to see both Kolwezi and Luputa have temples announced, plus a 2nd for Kinshasa. I am not sure any will happen this conference, but I have hope.
In Nigeria both a Port Harcourt and an Abuja Temple are needed. Although groundbreaking for Lagos and Benin City, as well as the still lacking sites Etinan and Calabar Temples would also be awesome.
I was hoping we would have site and gr8undbreaking announcements yoday, but they seem not to have happened.
There was however this article https://news-ph.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-kearon-meets-with-philippine-president-marcos-jr about Elder Kearon and area president Elder Revillo meeting with the president of the Phillippines. Elder Kearon invited him to come to the Alabang Phillippines Temple open house in 2025. This is close to an announcement for that open house, bulut the exact dates are probably not even know to Elder Kerron.
I noticed they have not announced who will dedicate the Deseret Peak Utah Temple which will now be temple 290. I hope it is President Nelson. I suspect that is the tentative plan. but at President Nelson's age planning things out over 2 months in advance is hard. They did not even announce his birthday broadcast until about the start of August.
Daniel, it seems more likely that this was due to an issue related to preparing the Casper Wyoming Temple for its' dedication following the open house or perhaps a change in Elder Cook's availability to dedicate this temple. For example, if Elder Cook is being sent out on a ministry trip in October that needed to be the priority, that could have been the reason for this adjustment. He is also at an age where health concerns could have factored into the rescheduling. In all seriousness, I don't think the Lord cares which temple is the 200th temple. It's merely a milestone, not the summit.
Elder Bednar recently went to Huancayo, Peru. This is evidently the first time an apostle has been to that city. He spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday there. This was along with Elder Beccerra, the Utah-born president of the South America North West Area, and both their wives.
Elder Bednar met with the top administrator of Huancayo and explained a lot about the temple including it being the house of the Lord. I am hoping we will see a site announcement for the Huancayo Temple before general conference.
The Bednars and the Beccerras also did a youth deface yo face event broadcasted from Huancayo to all of the South America Northwest Area. They did other meetings including meeting with missionaries in the Peru Huancayo mission and doing a joint stage conference for all 3 Huancayo stakes.
On the issue of temples, every temple dedication is important. I do not believe there is specific planning as to which will fill which number. Considering the 300th stake, something where you can more easily control milestones, was in Freetown, Sierra Leone I do not thinkbthere is a desire to keep these things close to Church headquarters.
There were lots of wonderful points about Salvador being the 1l200th temple. This is a temple where 1 aisle lead the media day and another one will dedicate. Most media days do not rate an apostle. They did not even send Elder Gong to Taylorsville media day and that sirmte is very closely connected yo his family, his father in law oversaw the building of the chaple that used yo be there.
I am assuming that the dedication of the Casper Temple was delayed by factors that make dedicating it sooner not practice.
My guess is the change in Caper Wyoming dedication date is a Casper Wyoming related change. Changing who dedicates a temple can be done. Elder Soares dedicated Arequipa because President Nelson was not able to go at the last minute and President Oaks dedicated the Rivhmond Virginia Temple because Elder Holland was unable to. So I think Casper almost certainly was pushed back because it was felt the original dedication date would not work because if factors relating in some way to Casper.
JPL, again, there is no Etinan Nigeria Temple. I assume you meant Eket Nigeria, where a temple was announced in October 2022. The Alabang Philippines Temple is not close to an announcement of its' open house and dedication. The Church Temples site indicates it is only estimated to be completed in early 2025, and that the open house and dedication of any temple occurs months after its' completion, and the Antofagasta Chile, Auckland New Zealand, Abidjan Ivory Coast, Nairobi Kenya, Burley Idaho, Farmington New Mexico, Syracuse Utah, and Grand Junction Colorado Temples are all ahead of Alabang in the construction queue.
Were you thinking of Antofagasta, Auckland, or Abidjan? Antofagasta is getting its' finishing touches added and has been turned back over to the Church, while Auckland and Abidjan are estimated to be completed in mid-to-late 2024. And you are correct that they have not announced who is going to dedicate the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, which will be the 200th temple of the Church. I have also wondered if President Nelson will dedicate that one.
I wouldn't say it's correct that at President Nelson's age planning things out 2 months in advance is hard. And I wouldn't read too much into the fact that President Nelson's birthday broadcast was only announced one month before it occurred. It's likely been planned for months. And it's likely a broadcast rather than a live event primarily in consideration of President Nelson's ongoing recovery from his back injury and in view of the Tabernacle Choir being on tour on the day of the broadcast in question.
Elder Bednar attended yesterday, August 25th, a Multi-Stake Conference in the City of Huancayo Peru. Where a temple was announced last October 2023 General Conference. I wonder if he was visiting the candidate sites for the new Temple to get approval and later announce the official site in the Newsroom?
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/08/26/huancayo-peru-elder-david-a-bednar-ministry-message-of-faith-repentance/
That said, I was also somewhat disappointed (but not altogether surprised) that we didn't get another major temple construction announcement during the 2:00 PM hour today. The Church sometimes announces other things on weeks of a temple open house, but sometimes they don't. That being said, there is no temple open house scheduled to start next Monday with media tours, so I would say count on a regular announcement next week (but likely not on the following Monday, which will be the day of President Nelson's 100th birthday).
As far as what we can expect next week, I have a few theories: The Antofagasta Chile Temple is, as I observed in my previous comment, just about completed and may be close enough for an announcement. Failing that, groundbreakings are always a possibility, and based on what I've been able to gather from various sources, the top candidates are Singapore, Grand Rapids Michigan, Lone Mountain Nevada, Cali Colombia, Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Vitoria Brazil, although it is also possible that any of the temples that had a rendering released earlier this year could have a groundbreaking, or that the Church could simultaneously release a rendering and announce a groundbreaking.
We may also see official site locations announced. There are 9 US temples originally announced in in April and October 2022, October 2023, and April 2024 that could see official details announced soon. I also think site announcements may be imminent for the Dubai UAE, Beira Mozambique, and Pachuca Mexico Temples, among others, also based on information I have received recently. So there are options for next week's announcements.
A couple of experiences along those lines:
When Ezra Taft Benson became stake president in Washington, DC, he found that many units tried to balance leadership between natives and transplants. They called it an "East-West" balancing. He did away with that.
Then there was my BYU stake president in 1990. I was there for an interview to be ordained an elder. He gave a spiel that the Church where I came from (Delaware) was underdeveloped, that they used just anybody for leadership. (By contrast he said that in Utah, only the best get called.) He said that, as such, he didn't recognize my Aaronic Priesthood ordinations, that I'd just "walked through them". He then said that my bishop had approved of the ordination, and that I seemed worthy, so he would too.
Along the way since, I've heard many a member refer to the East Coast, or even the entire United States each of the Rockies, as "the mission field". It's even been referred to that way in General Conference. I know no one here has made that reference at least recently, but I know it just has to stop.
JPL, there is no Etinan Nigeria Temple yet. Were you thinking of the Eket Nigeria Temple? Also, the Alabang temple is nowhere close to an announcement, as its' estimated completion is in early 2025 and there are 8 temples ahead of it in the construction queue. Were you thinking of the Antofagasta Chile, Auckland New Zealand, or Abidjan Ivory Coast Temples? Antofagasta has major construction completed, and Auckland and Abidjan are estimated to be completed in mid-to-late 2024.
I wouldn't read too much into President Nelson's birthday broadcast being announced only one month before it occurs. By all accounts, the prophet is still highly functioning despite his recent back injury. The broadcast has likely been planned for a while but announced just recently
So I think he might be the one who dedicated the Deseret Peak Utah Temple. And I'd count on groundbreakings and site locations being announced every week starting next week.
Bold prediction: Every metro area with a district (or stake) in the DRC today will have a temple announced by 2030.
Also other news from the Church Newsroom site, posted yesterday, August 26th, 2024.
The Logan Tabernacle was dedicated on Sunday, August 25th, by Elder Cook.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/logan-tabernacle-rededicated-by-elder-cook-in-city-where-he-grew-up
I like the symbolism of having President Nelson dedicate the 200th temple, if he does, but I kind of doubt that was the reason to push the Casper dedication back a month. I will admit to being disappointed though, I also liked the symbolism of having the 200th temple in a city whose name means Savior.
Matt, once again, Thank you for the update on the new stake in Calabar Nigeria Etta Agbor, that you added as new Stake number 30 for 2024. From August 18th, 2024. With the Stake Center reported located at the Yellow Duke Ward address. With 6 Wards and 1 Branch.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2268515
P.S. Don't forget to add the "Provo Utah East Bay Stake (Spanish) (2237792)". That was organized the week before on August 11th, 2024.
https://maps.churchofjesuschrist.org/stakes/2237792
In the realignment of the Calabar Nigeria Stakes, the "Calabar Nigeria North Stake (2108658)" has been renamed the "Calabar Nigeria Tinapa Stake (2108658).
This article https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2024/08/28/refugee-walks-728-miles-to-be-baptized-after-reading-book-of-mormon/ in the Church News pulls together two things. First we have a refugee walking over 700 miles to br baptized. That was 10 years ago. With how the Church has expanded in Tanzania in the last 3 years hopefully no one has to go that far.
Then there is what is happening in Buffalo, New York. It looks like they are on the brink og getting a Swahili-language branch. I know there is already a Swahil-language branch in Aalt Lake City. Are there others in the US?
The tentative plan is that President Nelson will dedicate the Deseret Peak temple as long as he's feeling strong enough to do so as told to the members by Elder Andersen at a recent Stake conference.
Oddly enough, the new Calabar Nigeria Etta Agbor Stake, recently organized that was reported here by Matt. It has been misassigned to the old "Nigeria Uyo Mission" instead of the new "Nigeria Calabar Mission" in the CDOL. If anyone who has access that wants to report the error?
"Nigeria Calabar Mission (2245795)
- Akamkpa Nigeria Stake (528978)
- Calabar Nigeria South Stake (2046415)
- Calabar Nigeria Stake (410888)
- Calabar Nigeria Tinapa Stake (2108658)
- Nigeria Calabar Mission Branch (2246961)
Nigeria Uyo Mission (369659)
- Calabar Nigeria Etta Agbor Stake (2268515)
- Eket Nigeria Stake (525472)
- Etinan Nigeria North Stake (2065428)
- Etinan Nigeria Stake (525707)
- Ibesikpo Nigeria Stake (1362771)
- Ibiono Nigeria Stake (1012363)
- Nsit Ubium Nigeria Stake (2232502)
- Ukat Aran Nigeria Stake (273759)
- Uyo Nigeria Central Stake (2233460)
- Uyo Nigeria Stake (373680)
- Oron Nigeria District (1053094)
- Nigeria Uyo Mission Branch (555835)"
The more I read on Fairview, Texas the more obvious that those who oppose the McKinney Texas Temple are being disingenuous and false. Some of this is likely motivated by animus. Another part probably comes from reeling from the gity having explored over the last 20 years.
In 2000 there were only about 2,000 people in Fairview. Today the population is over 10,000. The city has a 900,000 square foot mall.
Allen directly south of the temple site is a city of now 111,000 people. McKinney itself, which comes yo within 2 miles of the site to the north is at almost 200,000 people. Colin County has 1.19 million more than Salt Lake counties 1.18 million. This despite that fact that the wasyltern and especially north eastern portion of Colin County has not been built up much.
The temple itself would be built on a state road with 4 lanes (2 going each way) and a speed limit of 50 miles per hour. There is a sonic directly across the street.
The Church News just posted an article on a Latter-day Saint women being made an Air Force chaplain. https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2024/08/31/woman-promoted-chaplain-air-force-reserve-florida-elder-bednar-president-eyring-lds/ It has only been a few years since Latter-day Saint women were first appointed chaplains. She may be the first African-American Latter-day Saint woman chaplain. She grew up a member of the Church at least partially in Chicago. Her husband is in the military and they have 3 children. She is a returned missionary and currently stake relief society President. At some level it feels She is still an rare person, a life-ling African-American member. I know a few. Yet in my branch my wife is the African-American member over 22 who has been a member since the youngest age. She was baptized at age 14. All other members of the branch who are active and over age 22 were baptized at older ages than that. We do have 2 20-year-olds who are lifelong members. Come to think of itcI am not sure how young our high council member was when he joined. He served a mission, but I am not sure of he was in his late teens when baptized, and I have no clue if he has arrests and siblings in the church.
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