Okinawa Temple Construction Update 2 (December 6, 2020)--Official Groundbreaking Completed!!!

A week ago I stopped by the site for the Okinawa Japan Temple and found that the temporary office or guard shack that appeared in early November had disappeared:

Okinawa Japan Temple Site Emptied on Nov. 29, 2020

The groundbreaking ceremony for the temple was held on December 5. (The dedicatory prayer for the temple site can be found at 55:12 in the video.) Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was limited to just 30 participants--including the Asia North Area President and the Church's de-facto ambassador for sushi: Elder Takashi Wada. (A temple fireside was held on December 6, with at least 371 people joining in via Zoom...though that number probably represents well over 500 people since many of the Zoom attendees were families sharing a single account.)

Here are some pictures taken while the groundbreaking ceremony was being set up:

Okinawa Japan Temple Immediately Prior to Groundbreaking Ceremony on December 5, 2020

(Photos Courtesy of Anonymous Source...Deven J. 😀)

For additional information on the groundbreaking and some great pictures of the actual ceremony, see the article by the Church Newsroom: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/okinawa-japan-temple-groundbreaking?fbclid=IwAR0ZC8GKfqYNC6IvPUHLc5zTaNmSH-azzNEkNBm1inby0uW1DFIbn7KYEVo.