Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy today represented the Church in announcing that the 422nd mission of the Church will be created effective January 1, 2017. What is now known as the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission will next year be renamed the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission. The change was announced to missionaries currently serving in the mission. Elder Christensen was accompanied by Elder Bradley D. Foster and Elder J. Devn Cornish.
Much has been said of this mission. When I was excused from full-time missionary service, many encouraged me to consider this mission as an option for me. But as my bishop and stake president had left the determination of the manner of my service up to me, in consultation with the Lord, I determined that I needed to serve at the temple and with Welfare Services. And this proved to be an inspired choice in some ways, because it was as a result of an extension of my initial service period at the temple that I was able to meet Amy. But I can understand why the headquarters mission appeals to so many, and I have the utmost admiration and respect for those who choose to serve there. To read more about this mission, including its present functions and how naming it an official mission of the Church will extend that service, click here.
There have been many other Church news items of import, but, mostly due to my health being what it is, to say nothing of the focus on getting my life in order and in marking my mother's birthday last Wednesday (including the surprising and unexpected early return of my older sister's family), my birthday last Friday, and our 6th anniversary today, I wanted to simply highlight one other most significant Church news item. As forecast by Matthew Martinich, who maintains the LDS Church Growth, and as officially confirmed by Rick Satterfield, who maintains the LDS Church Temples website, the third stake in India, which also coincidentally has become the 100th stake created by the Church this year (marking the greatest number of stakes created by the Church in a single year since 1997) was today created in the city of Rajahmundry. It is a most unique stake, given the fact that it contains no organized wards: just five branches. But the Church must have felt it necessary to strengthen those local units in the hopes that they might someday soon become wards. I am sure Matt will focus on this landmark creation in a future post on his blog very soon.
Well, having done three most significant blog posts just today for different reasons, I think I can call it a day. Please let me know of any feedback you might have for me.
12/20/16--Late breaking news update: With my thanks to L. Chris Jones, who regularly reads and comments on my blog posts, I now am happy to report that, as part of the creation of the new stake in India, the five branches have been upgraded to wards. Click here for the names of those wards. My next post will follow in just a few minutes.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
422nd Mission of the Church Announced Today/100th Stake organized in 2016
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.
4 comments:
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I wonder if the info just has not been updated as to which units have been converted to wards yet.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite possible. I have been keeping an eye out for further information from either Rick Satterfield's Temple website or Matthew Martinich's blog, and it could be that, with the new stake in India, there has not yet been a chance to obtain the information. I am keeping my eye out for all of this information, and will post more about this subject as I am able to ascertain anything beyond what is already known. Thanks for that observation, Chris!
ReplyDeleteRick's site is now updated and shows all five units as wards.
ReplyDeleteReally? I did not know that. Let me check it out. That is awesome! I had a feeling that would happen: I just didn't know when. And that change has escaped my notice, even in looking at the website twice before just today. Thanks for letting me know! I will be sure and update this blog post with that information. As always, thanks, Chris!
ReplyDelete