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Friday, January 24, 2025

Elder D. Todd Christofferson Becomes the Fourth Current Apostolic Octagenarian

Hello again, everyone! In view of his birthday today, Elder D. Todd Christofferson has become the fourth current octagenarian apostle (the other three being Elders Quentin L. Cook, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and Jeffrey R. Holland, all of whom were born in 1940). As with the posts I have written for every other apostle, I will be sharing a biography herein with highlights about his life. Let's get right into all of that: David Todd Christofferson was born on this day in 1945 in American Fork, Utah (a place I proudly claim as my hometown) to Paul Vickery and Jeanne Swenson Christofferson . He spent his formative years in Pleasant Grove and Lindon, and his family subsequently relocated to Somerset New Jersey. While there, he participated in the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant, and, having been urged by his bishop to do so, he earnestly sought a personal testimony of the gospel. Although he felt for a while that his prayer at that time had not been answered, the witness he was seeking came about a month later. At around this same time, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery for it. While his father learned later that he had gathered his brothers to pray for their mom, it would be years later before Elder Christofferson learned about his father's personal sacrifices to supply what his wife needed to help her with the housework.

Young Todd Christofferson also stepped in to help his mom by making homemade bread for his family, after being taught how to do so by his grandmother. After graduating from high school, he studied for a year at BYU prior to serving full-time in the Argentina North Mission, where he had two mission presidents, Ronald V. Stone, and his future colleague in the Quorum of the Twelve, Richard G. Scott. Following the conclusion of his missionary service, Elder Christofferson returned to BYU, and there he met Kathy Jacob, whom he married in May 1968. He earned his bachelor's degree from BYU, and went on to get a doctor of law degree from the School of Law at Duke University. During his years as a young attorney, he clerked for Judge John J. Sirica at the time the Watergate hearings were occurring. When his clerkship ended, he took active duty with the US Army for a year, after which he served in the Army reserves for 8 years, by which time, he had achieved the rank of Captain. His professional career took his family to Washington DC, Nashville Tennesee, and Charlotte North Carolina. During that same period of time, he would serve as a bishop, stake president, and in the now-defunct calling of regional representative to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

After being called as a general authority in April 1993 (at the same time as Elder Neil L. Andersen, alongside whom he now serves in the apostleship), he served in a variety of capacities (including as a member of area presidencies outside the US) until his call to the Presidency of the Seventy in August 1998. During his service in that presidency, he first served as the executive director for the Church's Family and Church History Department (which have since been split into two departments), where he worked to negotiate with Jewish religious leaders on the matter of performing temple ordinances for Holocaust victims, which in turn shaped the policy of Church members only being allowed to perform such ordinances for direct-line family members.

In 2004, the First Presidency announced that the Presidency of the Seventy would be relieved of responsibility for the Church Departments and would instead oversee areas in the United States and Canada. Elder Christofferson was given responsibility for the North America Southeast Area of the Church from August 2004-August 2007, at which time he was reassigned to oversee the North America Northwest and North America West Areas. He continued that assignment for 8 months, then, as we know, he was the first apostle called by President Thomas S. Monson in April 2008. At the time of his release from the Presidency of the Seventy, which came in conjunction with his call as an apostle, he had become the second-most senior member thereof.

During his first seven years as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as noted, Elder Christofferson served alongside his former mission president, Richard G. Scott. Since his ordination as an apostle, Elder Christofferson has filled a wide variety of assignments, and he was serving as the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve assigned to oversee the Church Public Affairs Committee when he was asked by President Nelson to introduce the new First Presidency in a worldwide broadcast on January 16, 2018. He has given 40 addresses in General Conference so far, 1 of which was given in the conference following his call as a General Authority, with 5 others given during his near decade in the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 34 as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Christofferson currently ranks as the fifth most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and as the fourth oldest. He is now the eighth in overall apostolic seniority and the seventh oldest among all of the apostles.

I am grateful for the life and ministry of Elder Christofferson. I had a couple of choice opportunities to meet him. His niece and her family lived in my parent's ward, so when their newest baby was blessed, Elder Christofferson presided at our Sacrament Meeting. A few years later, our paths crossed again while I was a temple worker, and he was the speaker at our yearly devotional. As one who has had the opportunity to chat informally with him on these two occasions, I testify that his call as one of the Savior's special witnesses is divinely inspired.

I greatly appreciate the chance to share these thoughts with you. Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe for the applicable updates.If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are always welcome and appreciated but never required. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Tacloban City Philippines Temple Groundbreaking Confirmed; Birmingham England Temple Groundbreaking Set; Site Location Confirmed and Preliminary Details Released for the Huntsville Alabama Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, in a single news release, the First Presidency confirmed the groundbreaking for the Tacloban City Philippines Temple, set groundbreaking arrangements for the Birmingham England Temple, and confirmed the location and preliminary details about the Huntsville Alabama Temple. The confirmed groundbreaking for the Philippines' newest temple speaks for itself, so let's break down the details for the other two temples named above.

The Birmingham England Temple's groundbreaking will take place on Saturday, March 22, 2025, under the direction of Europe North Area President Elder Scott D. Whiting. Three weeks after the last announced groundbreaking (for the Cali Colombia Temple), the third temple groundbreaking for 2025 will occur roughly 2.5 months ahead of the third groundbreaking the previous year. So, 2025 will far outpace 2024 in terms of temple groundbreakings alone, though that is expected to also be true for temple dedications in 2025 vs. 2024.

I say that because there are several temples likely to have a groundbreaking announced soon. Those include the Singapore, Lone Mountain Nevada, Lethbridge Alberta; Bakersfield California; Tampa Florida, McKinney Texas; and Cape Town South Africa Temples. If all of these temples have groundbreakings announced within the next 3-4 months or less, they could easily all have groundbreakings before the end of June of this year.

That brings me to the initial details announced for the Huntsville Alabama Temple. It is the first temple announced in October 2024 to have initial details officially confirmed. A 21-acre site at the southeast corner of Gillespie and Browns Ferry Road, Madison, Madison County, Alabama, will serve as the location of the single-story, 30,000-square-foot edifice.

 It occurred to me to wonder why this temple is so much bigger than its' counterpart in Birmingham Alabama. But I think that may be because the Church is planning to renovate and expand the Birmingham Temple, during which time the temple patrons in Birmingham's district could easily be accommodated in Huntsville.

So that brings us to some final thoughts on today's announcements. I'm glad we got another groundbreaking and the preliminary information for one more temple. In the coming weeks, on Mondays, I anticipate we will get more dedication announcements. The Antofagasta Chile Temple has been completed for a while now, so I'm not sure what (if anything) may be preventing the Church from setting dedication arrangements for that temple. Major construction is also now completed on the Grand Junction Colorado Temple, marking another temple for which we could soon see opening arrangements confirmed.

And with 2 other temples (Farmington New Mexico and Burley Idaho) nearly completed, 2 others (Syracuse Utah and Bahia Blanca Argentina) nearing completion, and 5 more (Alabang Philippines, Elko Nevada, Harare Zimbabwe, Lindon Utah, and Davao Philippines) approaching completion, we could see dedications announced for most of these temples within the next.2-6 months, if not sooner. And, as noted above, there are 7 temples that could have groundbreakings announced soon, most of which could be announced in the next 2-6 weeks, if not sooner.

So lots of temple news may be coming down the pike in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe for the applicable updates. If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are always welcome and appreciated but never required. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Monday, January 13, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Nariobi Kenya Temple; Exterior Rendering Released for the Brussels Belgium Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the opening arrangements for the Nairobi Kenya Temple and released an official exterior rendering for the Brussels Belgium Temple. Here are the details: Kenya's first temple will welcome the media on Monday, April 14, 2025, followed by two days of VIP tours. 

The public open house spans from Thursday, April 17-Saturday May 3, except for the Sundays of April 20 and 27. The temple will be dedicated on Sunday, May 18, 2025, under the direction of Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who will preside over the single dedicatory session, which will be carried to all units in the Nairobi Kenya Temple district. 

The dedication is coming 4 months earlier than I had projected it might, which is a good sign for other temples. I forgot to account for the smaller size of the Nairobi Kenya Temple when I made my estimates for its dedication. I should also note that this dedication will occur a week ahead of the previously announced dedication of the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple.

We now turn to the rendering for the Brussels Belgium Temple. An existing building at Avenue des Arts 52, in Brussels, Belgium, will be home to an arrival facility and a meetinghouse, in addition to the multistory temple of 25,000 square feet.. The site location was announced on June 17 of last year. 

At a glance, the temple rendering released today reminded me of the redesigned exterior of the Manhattan New York Temple. The Church is currently seeking permits for the conversion of that existing building into the spaces I described, so the release of an exterior rendering for this temple gives me hope that construction may be able to begin soon.

I am grateful to have learned of this news and for the opportunity to share it with you today. Stay tuned here for updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 

In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 

If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe for the applicable updates. If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are always welcome and appreciated but never required. 

Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.