I was encouraged by Brandon Sanderson as part of my "homework" from him to continue regularly updating my blog. Other than the fact that my headaches have inexplicably increased and that my employment counselor has accepted another job elsewhere and will be replaced by someone I have only had brief contact with in the past, nothing much is new in our lives. Then I remembered that this blog's purpose was to allow me to "sound off" about things that are important to me. This month is a very significant month in Church history, so I thought I'd post about that. First of all, the Church recently announced it would be breaking ground for the temple in Meridian Idaho on August 23 at 10 am. It is unknown as yet who will preside at that groundbreaking. My guess? Well, it could be one of many individuals. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy has direct supervisory responsibility for the Idaho Area of the Church. But all members of the Presidency of the Seventy jointly supervise the areas in the United States and Canada, so it could be any one of those seven, including Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Senior President of the Seventy, who is assigned to assist in all areas of the world as needed. It could also be done by any one of the First Presidency or the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or any one of the members of the Seventy or Presiding Bishopric that are not filling other assignments. It is always interesting to me to see how groundbreaking assignments are fulfilled.
Additionally, there are potentially another 8 temples that could have their groundbreaking within this year or the next year, so that's exciting to me as well.
But by far the most exciting thing to me about the month of August is this: of the 15 currently serving apostles, 1/3 (5) of them have their birthdays this month. Today, Elder L. Tom Perry turned 92, and is keeping a schedule that reportedly even his own children can't keep up with. (Click here for an article on him). He is currently the oldest living apostle, and based on what has been reported about his health and pace, I anticipate that he may break Elder David B. Haight's record as oldest living apostle ever in this dispensation. (He will surpass that record on July 5, 2020.)
Also having a birthday this month (and no less significant) are Elder Neil L. Andersen (On August 9, he will turn 63.); Elder Dallin H. Oaks (On August 12, he will turn 82.); our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson (On August 21 he will turn 87.) and Elder Robert D. Hales (On August 24, he will turn 82.).
I am grateful for the mammoth way each of these men have contributed to the furthering of the Lord's work. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that each of these men have been called of God to be prophets, seers are revelators. I testify that we will be blessed as we follow the counsel of all who have been called of God to lead us in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times. I share this testimony and this post with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Happy Birthday to 5 great men this month!
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.