BREAKING NEWS: 12 Additional New Hymns Released

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news from the Church was reported a short time ago: the release of 12 new hymns that will be included in Hymns—For Home and Church. The selections are as follows: 

“Joyfully Bound” 

“My Covenants”

“When I Am Baptized” (current children's song with updated lyrics

“The Power of the Holy Ghost”

“Elijah and the Still, Small Voice”

“Jesus Is My Shepherd”

“My Song in the Night”

“This Is My Father’s World”

“Build an Ark”

“Love Will Bless Our Home”

“Lord, Accept Our Humble Fast”

“Long Ago, Within a Garden”

The new releases in Hymns—For Home and Church now total 72 in English, French, Spanish, and  Portuguese, with some of those hymns already being released in other languages. Aside from "When I Am Baptized", I am only familiar with "My Song in the Night" and "This Is My Father's World", courtesy of the many times those songs have been performed by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square during "Music & the Spoken Word". But I look forward to learning these newest selections.

And speaking thereof, since many of the new selections are based on Old Testament stories, the new release of hymns includes comments from Sunday School General President Paul V. Johnson, in addition to comments from Primary General President Susan H. Porter. President Johnson offered the folllowing suggestions for implementing these newhymns in our daily lives:

Memorize the lyrics.

Listen to the prerecorded songs throughout the day.

Teach from and sing together as a family.

Sing enthusiastically at home and church.

Invite someone to play or sing as part of a lesson at church.

Aside from these notes, I will let the new releases speak for themselves otherwise. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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 to receive the applicable updates. 

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Announces Major Updates on Six Temples

Hello again, everyone! On this Monday afternoon, the First Presidency has announced updates for 6 temples. There's a lot to cover, so let's get started: We begin with the Teresina Brazil Temple, for which a groundbreaking has been officially set. Elder Ciro Schmeil, First Counselor in the Brazil Area Presidency, will preside at the temple's groundbreaking on Saturday, April 18, 2026. 

This announcement follows that temple's April 2023 announcement by President Nelson, the confirmation of its' location in August 2023, and the release of its exterior rendering in February 2024. As things currently stand, the Teresina Brazil Temple will be the fifth temple to have a groundbreaking this year. The fifth temple groundbreaking laast year occurred on April 26, so that puts us 8 days ahead this year vs. last year. And there will likely be more groundbreakings coming down the pike.

We now move on to the 3 temples in the Philippines for which we received news today: Naga, Santiago, and Iloilo. That news included site confirmations and exterior renderings. We start with Naga. A single-story edifice of approximately 18,850 square feet, with an adjacent chapel and ancillary building, will rise on a 9.11-acre site on Lot 1045-A-1-A Barangay Concepcion Grande, Naga, Bicol, Philippines. Today's double announcement follows the October 2022 announcement of that temple.

The Santiago Philippines Temple, also announced in October 2022, will be a single-story edifice of 18,850 square feet and will rise on a 14.47-acre site east of Camella Isabella Main Road in Barangay Malvar, Santiago City, Province of Isabela, Philippines. The temple project will also include a meetinghouse, patron housing, and a distribution center. 

Meanwhile, the Iloilo Philippines Temple, announced in April 2023, will rise on a 7.7-acre site at Circumferential Road 1, Green Meadows, in Barangay Tacas, Jaro District, Province of Iloilo, Philippines, That temple will be the same size as the Santiago Temple, and the project will also include all 3 things mentioned in relation to the Santiago Temple, in addition to an arrival facility.

We now move on to the official details for the Rapid City South Dakota Temple. Announced in April 2025, the 11,800 square foot edifice will rise on a 4.86-acre site at the northeast corner of Mount Rushmore Road and Moon Meadows Drive in Rapid City, South Dakota. NO exterior rendering or gorundbreaking information has been released at this time. Thesquare footage is slightly larger than the standard for modular temples, but I'm hoping it will be modular. My dad served in the South Dakota Rpaid City Mission, so I'm particularly grateful for this announcement today.

And finally, the Houston Texas South Temple has been renamed the Fort Bend Texas Temple. The temple's location and rendering were released in October of last year.  I am grateful for the announcements about these six temples. In view of the release of the official details for the 3 Philippines temples and the first temple in South Dakota, the number oft temples without any official information now sits at 50. I am grateful for today's announcements and for the chance Ihad to share this analysis here.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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 to receive the applicable updates. 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.

UPDATED: April 2026 General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! In view of the November 17 announcement to discontinue the Saturday Evening Session of General Conference,the November 6 call of Elder Gérald Caussé, and the February 12 call of Elder Clark G. Gilbert to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I have made major revisions to my April 2026 General Conference predictions. So I now present my revised projections for the speaker lineup, my predictions for changes in general Church leadership (which also includes my estimates for the data in the Statistical Report for 2025)  and my masterlist of potential locations in which a temple could be announced.

As previously mentioned, during an interview in conjunction with the Burley Idaho Temple dedication, President Oaks said the following about the announcement of new temples: "It has occurred to me for a long time that the best place to announce a temple is in that temple district. And the best person to announce it is the file leader in that area, which can be an Apostle on assignment to a stake conference or another meeting, or it can be the area president if there’s no Apostle in the district when a decision is made by the First Presidency to have a temple there."

He further stated: "It’s a pattern that we will follow as long as I have influence in determining those things. This does not change the pattern of decision-making or gathering facts and determining the agreeable timing and the need. And all those things will continue to be analyzed. But when it comes to making a decision from all those facts, the First Presidency will continue to make the decisions. But they’ll assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built."

With that in mind, I don't think there will be any new temples announced in any General Conference at all under President Oaks' prophetic administration. But Iwanted to include mymasterlist anyways, though I would be  shocked if the Easter-centric General Conference included temple announcements. We may or may not see somethingelse announced, but that is harder to project. And with just 4 sessions instead of the 5, there may be fewer speakers, or the non-apostolic speakers may have shorter allotments of time.

Whatevermight happen during General Conference weekend, I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest 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 to receive the applicable updates. 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.