getting hard to keep track of any more !

*

President Nelson announces 15 new temples to close conference (2 Apr 2023)

Retalhuleu, Guatemala
Iquitos, Peru
Teresina, Brazil
Natal, Brazil
Tuguegarao, Philippines
Iloilo, Philippines
Jakarta, Indonesia
Hamburg, Germany
Lethbridge, Alberta
San Jose, California
Bakersfield, California
Springfield, Missouri
Winchester, Virginia
Charlotte, North Carolina
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania


With the temples announced Sunday, the church’s current grand total in 2023 is 315 temples that have been announced, are under construction or are in operation.


https://www.deseret.com/general-conference/2023/4/2/23660304/new-temples-announced-general-conference-april-2023

FWIW, it's been rumored that the goal is to get to 500 temples in time for the 200th anniversary of the church in 2030 which at this point would require about 28 new announcements per year

I hate to admit it, but that pretty much makes sense, and if they need to announce 28 a year to reach that goal, then 15 per GC is just about perfect.

I still think it is primarily about tithing receipts from local members and advertising to the wider population, but I could totally believe it is also about ego, and looking good for their 200th birthday.

As I pointed out in a previous thread, Winchester, Virginia seems like a truly odd choice. Winchester is in the far north of Virginia, close to western Maryland and West Virginia. The last population count in 2020 gave it about 28,000 residents. People who live there say that the area has low activity. The Washington, D.C. temple is a two hour drive from there.

IMO Winchester is too far away from Washington to ever be a bedroom community for the District. I don't see it growing. People around here will tolerate a one hour commute, and in some cases 1.5 hours each way. Not many people will do a two hour commute.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania makes somewhat more sense. It has a population of about 50K, and is some distance from the nearest temples (Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and NYC.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2023 02:48PM by summer.

With work from home being more of a thing now I could see it growing. I would do that commute once ever two weeks, or if I had to go into the office every once in a while. The closer to DC counties in MD and VA are becoming unaffordable not that Winchester is that much more affordable.

Frederick County in Maryland has become a thing for District commuters. Perhaps people could commute from Winchester into the Reston area.

Has ChurchCo (recently) lost any buildings to tornadoes or earthquakes?

I am surprised that they would open a third temple in Germany because Germany only has 30000 members but only 10k of them are active. There is also a temple in Copenhagen, which is a hop skip and jump for a lot of Germans. 3 temples would mean a temple for every 3k active mormons.

The temple announcements often don't seem to be related to population numbers or activity levels anymore. I'm not sure about the church's rationale for why they are putting the temples where they are going.

Many of the average members have got to be noticing that temples are being built where they really are not needed. They've got to be wondering why.

Can't believe they failed to announce the Tonopah Nevada temple.

I guess that I will have to mail them some more donuts to get' er done :)

How about next to the Kwik Mart in Winnemucca?

The next Nevada temple should be next to Area 51.

It can be shaped like a flying saucer. The staff can be dressed up like aliens or Moon Quakers. The temple's gift shop would be out of this world.

If they can't manage that, then Pahrump.

I lived in Bako for a while, and knew exactly 2 mormon families: one was a local and the other came into town for a temporary job.

I've been in Bako for a while. The City Manager here is LDS so I am wondering how much of an effect that had, and will have if this project gets going.

I actually lived in Oildale, so my joke every GC the last few years was a temple announced for Bakersfield and Oxnard, because, well....it sounds so ridiculous! I bet a TBM wet dream would be to put a temple on the bluffs by the college, but it would just overlook a bunch of oil wells and coyotes. :-) :-) :-)

So I'm halfway to being a prophet now!

I suspect that the temple construction has more to do with the leadership siphoning off money for the projects than serving the members.

It would seem a better was to serve the members would be to forgo all of the new construction and give the money back to the tithepayers.

The church used to say, "Every member a missionary!"

Now it can say, "Every member gets a temple! YOU get a temple and YOU get a temple! Look under your seats, everyone! Those are the melkookazet priesthood keys to your VERY OWN TEMPLE!"

...to watch a crappy film about fatuous, inaccurate beliefs.

San Jose...lol

The Oakland temple is woefully underused.

Three stakes have closed in the bay area since 2021, and the Morgan Hill stake is on life support.

Fremont has two "double chapels" that only have one ward meet at them.

This really is proof that there is some really shady things going on...

It's like buying hotels in Monopoly.

Couldn't even consider building 15 nice low income apartment buildings and maybe even make a REAL difference.

15? When I served my mission (76-78), there were only 16 temples in the entire world. Temples have become as “special” as a Wal Mart.

I suppose with all that money, they feel compelled to do something that gives the illusion of growth.