Interesting Temple Tidbits from Rick Satterfield

Brother Rick Satterfield, webmaster of the LDS Church temples site, yesterday sent me a lovely e-mail sharing some interesting temple tidbits. Among what he shared are these facts, which I hope he doesn't mind me sharing with you all:

1. It was a news article on the Tucson Arizona temple that led to his pushing up the completion date of the Tucson Arizona temple.
2. He revised his estimation (a very educated guess) for the completion of the Paris France Temple, pushing it back to mid-2017.
3. He has placed Durban, Fortaleza, and Kinshasa in the order they are because they seem to be prime for completion in that order. However, he says that, from the information he has, Durban is going to be a smaller temple like Star Valley Wyoming, so there is a great likelihood Durban might be finished before Fortaleza and Kinshasa.
4. He placed Barranquilla ahead of Lisbon because he doesn't know what's happening in Lisbon. It doesn't appear that the Lisbon temple has progressed much beyond the groundbreaking it had in December. So it is very likely that Barranquilla could be finished ahead of Lisbon. Once he obtains any information about that, he'll update it on the website, and I will let you know as soon as I can after that happens.
5. He based his description for the Barranquilla temple on a small corner of a photograph submitted from when Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited the site recently.

On an additional temple-related note, he gave me some feedback on my temple list, saying it is getting better and better. I thank him for that and got the message loud and clear: I need to work on fine-tuning it some more. I will likely have to winnow the list down to get to specific predictions for the October General Conference, and I will rely on information posted on Matthew Martinich's blog in order to do so. Hope you have enjoyed this post.

Missionary news: Russian Law Effect and All Missionaries Serving in Turkey are safe

KSL's news today at 6 featured a story on changes that are being made to the status of missionaries and missionary work in Russia. I will be posting a link to that story as soon as it is available.

In the meantime, the Church reports that missionaries serving in Turkey are safe following the governmental coup. Click here for details. Thanks for your readership, friendship, and interest.

Church News Conglomeration

This will be a conglomeration of Church news. First of all, the Church is seeking several more nurse missionaries to serve as mission nurses. Apparently they are really desperate for individuals to help in that assignment. For more on how to apply and what the requirements are, please see this link.

FamilySearch held a worldwide indexing event from July 15-17. Many names were added to the Church's database and are being made ready for the temple work to be done. For more details, please see this link.

Three new videos have been added to the Church's "Meet the Mormons" series. To learn more about this, please click here.

The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square completed their 2016 European tour recently. For an overview of all that the tour involved, click here.

Lots going on in the Church. What an exciting time to be alive!

Temple Progress Update

Since a lot has been happening on the temple-news front, I am posting with my updated list of temple construction progress. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 7/18/16)

Current Temple Status: 150 operating, 16 under construction (5 scheduled for dedication), 11 announced (2 groundbreakings anticipated to be announced soon), 4 undergoing renovation (1 scheduled for rededication).

Dedication scheduled:

151. Sapporo Japan Temple: Public open house tours underway; dedication scheduled on Sunday August 21, 2016.

152. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple: Accepting free reservations for public open house; dedication scheduled on Sunday September 18, 2016.

153. Fort Collins Colorado Temple: Accepting free reservations for public open house; dedication scheduled on Sunday October 16, 2016.

154. Star Valley Wyoming Temple: Laying sod and planting trees; installing art glass windows; dedication scheduled on Sunday October 30, 2016.

155. Hartford Connecticut Temple: Granite being attached to front façade; building entrance plaza and temple president’s residence; dedication scheduled on Sunday November 20, 2016.

Under Construction:

156. Paris France Temple: Planting trees, shrubs, and flowers; installing some art glass; completion estimated sometime in early 2017.

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Stained glass windows being installed; pouring parking lot curbing and installing light poles; completion estimated sometime in late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Pouring parking lot curbing and installing light poles; completion estimated sometime in late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Scaffolding removed from dome; completion estimated sometime in late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work underway including some material replacement and rework; completion estimated sometime in 2018.

161. Concepcion Chile Temple: Exterior walls poured; completion estimated sometime during 2018.

162. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Site grading and clearing underway; completion estimated sometime in either 2018 or 2019.

163. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Site grading and clearing underway; building permit sign posted; completion estimated sometime in either 2018 or 2019.

164. Durban South Africa Temple: Site grading and clearing underway; completion estimated sometime in either 2018 or 2019.

165. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Building the substructure; completion estimated sometime in 2019.

166. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Ground broken on Saturday December 5, 2015; completion estimated sometime in 2019.

Rededication scheduled:

33. Freiberg Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication scheduled on Sunday September 4, 2016.

Undergoing Renovation:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; installing marble trim; repainting fence; rededication estimated sometime in early 2017.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication estimated sometime in mid-2017.

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication estimated sometime in late 2017.

Announced:

167. Arequipa Peru Temple: General contractor selected; construction anticipated to begin in October 2016.

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Construction preparation phase; plans approved by local government; groundbreaking may be announced soon and scheduled sometime after the summer Olympics.

169. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

170. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

173. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:

Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose number already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.

Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose number may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose number may change based on the order in which their future groundbreakings are announced.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress update.

Health Update

Just posting to report that I saw my neurologist on Friday. She authorized the increase of my dose of the medications that I felt I needed. In the meantime, she talked about other things that might help me. So now we just wait to see the neurosurgeon and get my shunt turned up. I am also sleeping better as a result of using the CPAP machine. As a matter of fact, I have been able to wake up the last few mornings well in advance of my alarms feeling well rested. This almost blew us away. It's been a while since that last happened.

In the meantime, I may have found a new job. It is full-time with benefits. The pay would be $1.50 per hour than I was getting at ROI and might include a better insurance option for Amy. The job is with Rocky Mountain Oils, and I'd be doing the same type of thing as I did on loan to Yong Living; I would just be also doing support and orders in person and by e-mail. The headquarters is right here in Orem. I applied for the job early Saturday morning and am hoping to hear back anytime now. I will keep you posted.

Thanks to you all for your interest, readership, and support. Your continued prayers would be appreciated.

My little sister is a mommy!

Just blogging to report that my little sister gave birth to the newest addition to our family this morning. Millen Dan Atwood was born after almost 40 hours of labor. Both Elizabeth and Millen are doing well, just very tired. Much to my extreme relief, the doctors are keeping both in the hospital for a few more days. I am so proud of my little sister and so anxious to meet my newest nephew. I am so happy that she met Jon Atwood and that both are healthy and well. Well done, baby sister! I love you all and look forward to seeing you both and to meet Millen! Rest up, and take good care of yourself!

Temple developments

Further temple developments have happened.  Since I last posted, art glass is being installed in the Paris France temple, and site grading and clearing have begun for the Durban South Africa temple.  Also, a general contractor has been selected and construction is anticipated to begin in October 2016 for the Arequipa Peru temple.

I know I may have posted about some of the developments already, but I wanted to make sure that they are on the blog. Thanks to all of you for your interest, support, and readership.

Site grading and clearing underway for Durban South Africa temple

As this blog title suggests, site grading and clearing is underway at the Durban South Africa temple site. More stride may be made in the next few days, and you can depend on hearing about them here once I learn of them. Thanks.

I passed the 200 blog post mark/My employment has been terminated

Hello, all! A couple of reasons for this post. First of all, the biggest reason: As of tomorrow @ 10  PM MDT, I will no  longer be employed. We got word earlier this week that Young Living was terminating their contract with ROI (primarily because our agents are too good), and all of us were caught in the windfall. Most of my coworkers have been reassigned to other campaigns. My team leader, John Thomas, will be working on a campaign overseen by my former TL Trent Ginnett; In my case, I was told that "ROI regrettably doesn't have any positions matching your  unique skills and abilities." I could read the writing on the wall. So I will be without work until further notice. It won't be all bad. I will be able to start looking for work on Monday. In the meantime, I can work on getting better and on my writing. I have a couple of easy writing projects in mind for pieces I can send to the Church magazines, and I can work on my book. Both Amy and I have the overwhelming feeling that all things will be all right and will work out the way we need them to.

In other news, I am sleeping better with the CPAP machine, and I see Dr. Weinstein (my neurologist) tomorrow.

I also just realized that I have passed the 200 blog-post mark. Some bloggers have been known to celebrate such milestones. For me, this is a time for reflection, introspection, and prayer. I will keep you all updated on our life events as they happen, though, as has  been my custom, Church-related posts will always trump personal updates.

Thanks to you all for your readership, interest, and prayers. I greatly appreciate each of you.

Conglomeration of Church News

This post will be a conglomeration of Church News. as reported on the Church News website.

For an article on how Church service missionaries shuttle people to Temple Square, please see this link.

To read how the Tabernacle Choir's tour went, please see  this article and this article.

For a report regarding the King's Singers joining the Choir for their annual Pioneer Day Concert, please see this article.

To read about the commencement of the Sapporo Japan Temple Open House, please see this article.

That does it for this post. Thanks for your readership.