At General Conference yesterday, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the church will be building temples in Fort Collins, Colorado; Meridian, Idaho; and Winnipeg, Canada. I was glad to hear about these temples, although a little surprised at the announcement as President Monson had been developing a pattern of announcing 5 temples each year in the October General Conference and none in April. So it was a pleasant surprise. Meridian Idaho is really close to Boise, so the temple will only be minutes from the Boise Temple. The Boise Temple was overcrowded the day it opened and almost immediately closed for an expansion project. So it is not surprising that they need another temple so close. Colorado only had one temple and a lot of members so a second temple is needed and not too surprising. The Winnepeg Canada Temple will be the ninth in Canada and is a long distance from other temples. I'm sure it is needed and appreciated.
I had expected that if we got a temple announcement, it would have been about a remodel. I'm sure those announcements will come in the coming years.
I was going to have a post predicting likely places that temples would be announced before conference and hoped to get a lively discussion going. I decided to hold off until October. Perhaps I'll still do a post like that then. For now, I am just thrilled that we are getting three more temples!
The Hamilton Temple is in major need of an overhaul. The interior is the last from that generation with one single large ordinance room seating at least 200 patrons in a two level room(there is a mezzanine level at the back for overflow) and the celestial room is a grand two level space. This means that New Zealand (there is only one temple) is restricted in it's capacity for endowments compared to other countries with more efficiently designed temples. My parents were here on a visit recently from Melbourne Australia and attended an early morning session and said that it was full...and was told by the temple workers that this is a regular situation. The Temple is open till midnight on some evenings and was even open on Good Friday as my cousin was married on that day this year. So the need for a either an additional temple or a overhaul to allow more sessions is obviously needed.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to this the exterior is very tired at the moment as the exterior did not receive the same treatment as the London, Bern and LA temples. It is only basic and in my opinion visually unappealing painted construction block. The entrance had a marble facade put in place during the 1993 refurbishment. It looks amazing and I would love to see a granite or marble facade added to provide the temple with a lift similar to the Odgen Temple.
I know that there were plans drawn up and I think planning consent already granted for a Temple in the South Auckland city of Manukau in between a new stake centre and missionary training centre completed last year on a hill overlooking the Manukau CBD. However, there have been no announcements so far.