Stokes Sounds Off: 05/14/15

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Cordoba Argentina Temple to be dedicated this Sunday/BYU-Haiwaii gets new president

Just a reminder to those who may have forgotten: The Cordoba Argentina Temple will be dedicated this Sunday after a cultural celebration the night before, which follows a 15 day open house. The big question now: Who will be sent to dedicate this temple? President Monson may be struggling with some health issues, so he may not feel up to the trip to Argentina. President Eyring might be sent to do it. He's the most likely choice. He's only dedicated one temple, the San Salvador El Salvador Temple. President Uchtdorf might be asked to do it. He has dedicated four temples: the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple, the Quetzeltenango Guatemala Temple, the Manaus Brazil Temple, and the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple. Typically, members of the Twelve only rededicate temples. The obvious exceptions to this are the Regina Saskatchewan and Brigham City Utah Temples, which were dedicated by President Boyd K. Packer as Acting President and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. So my vote's with President Eyring or President Uchtdorf. Of all the apostles, it is most likely that Elder D. Todd Christofferson will accompany whomever dedicates the temple. This is because Elder Christofferson served as a missionary there. Elder Richard G. Scott, who served as Elder Christofferson's mission president in Argentina, will more than likely not be there, as he is dealing with some health and memory issues. Another possibility for the accompanying apostle is Elder Neil L. Andersen, who presided at the temple's groundbreaking in 2010. These are the top two candidates to accompany whoever will preside at the dedication.

This seems to be a season for dedicating temples. Sunday's dedication in Cordoba will be followed three weeks later by the Payson Utah Temple dedication, which precedes the dedication of the Trujillo Peru Temple by two weeks. After that, the next temple dedication is in August. More to come on each of these dedications as information becomes available,

In other news, Elder Russell M. Nelson, who chairs the Executive Committee of the Church Board of Education, announced on May 12 that John Sears Tanner, currently serving as First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, will become the 10th President of  BYU—Hawaii. It is unclear whether or not he will be released from his Sunday School Presidency assignment, but it is more than likely, since he'd have to otherwise split his time between Hawaii and Utah. While that would not be unheard of,it makes more sense to me to allow him to focus his entire energy on the assignment as a university president. But I will keep my eye on developments in that regard, and you can be sure to find the updates here.

Still need to write that update I've been promising for a month now, but time and circumstances have left me unable to do more than quick updates. Perhaps this weekend, without the stress of work, I can finally take care of that. Until I write to you again, all the best!