Hello again, everyone! As some of you may be aware, President Donald Trump had a brief trip to Utah today to announce changes to two national monuments here in Utah. The visit, arranged by Senior Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (who is a Church member and third in the presidential line of succession), included a visit to Welfare Square and a meeting with President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse, and Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham. Among the topics discussed were the importance of religious freedom, and how the Church cares for the needs of its members and their friends of other faiths. President Trump seemed very impressed and touched, both by the time these Church leaders gave him, and with the opportunity to gain a more complete understanding of all the Church does to help not only its own members, but also friends of other faiths. I attempted to write a summary of all that transpired, but found that nothing I put together does it justice, so I refer anyone who would like more details on this to the Church News article, which can be found here.
In other news, I mentioned on this blog a while ago that the January 10 and February 1 dates for the renovation closures of the Raleigh North Carolina and Baton Rouge Louisiana Temples were likely subject to change. While I am still waiting for word on the correct date for the Raleigh closure, it appears that the Church has identified Sunday January 28 as a more exact date for the Baton Rouge renovation closure. That makes sense in light of the fact that we have generally seen such closures begin between Friday and Monday. I am keeping an eye out for the exact dates of both the Raleigh North Carolina and Mesa Arizona closures and will post those as soon as I have them.
That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Monday, December 4, 2017
President Trump Visits With LDS Church Leaders during his Utah trip/Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple Renovation Closure Corrected
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.
5 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 do know the last sessions for the Raleigh Temple are on Saturday, January 6, 2018. I was told by a temple worker that they will spend the following week packing up things and removing furniture.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Justin. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Justin. Thanks for that information. It would also appear that the date for the Mesa Arizona Temple closure has been confirmed for May 20 of next year, the same day on which the rededication will be held for the Jordan River Utah Temple. There have also been uother developments relating to temple progress, which I will blog about shortly. Thanks to you, Justin, and to you, Rick, for taking time to comment here. Your insights are greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWe have never had more temples up for renovation then ever in the history of the church. In addition, there are so many temples announced and being built. This is an amazing time in history. I remember in the June 1997 Ensign the entire issue was on temples. That month the St. Louis MO temple was dedicated as the fiftieth temple. Within three years we doubled that number. Just four months after that dedication at Oct conference a smaller plan was announced. Then in April 1998 the program was expanded. Pres Hinkley said we will build 30 temples immidietly.Then said let's make that 32 to have 100 temples by the end of the year 2000 to celebrate the 2000 years of the birth of the Lord( or something like that) At the end of the year 2000 there were 102 dedicated temples and we have continued to grow since.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this additional comment as well, Chris. It has been amazing to see the process of temple building (including scheduled renovations) unfold. And while the Church may not ever again double the number of temples in operation, we have Elder Wilson's statement to the effect that 80 potential locations are on a list of those that could go on to be announced between now and late April 2032 (which will mark the 15 years since his statement was made). While not all of those will go on to an announcement, that is sobering and awe-inspiring to consider. If all 80 are announced by April 2032, that would mean the Church will have a minimum of 262 in various phases. This is why I think it will be very easy for the Church to have 200 of those in operation by April 6, 2030. I ran the figures again today, and with 18 that would need to be announced and the 25 that are currently in various stages (under construction or with a groundbreaking or site announcement pending), that's a total of 42 temples. Since there are 12.33 years between now and then, if the Church were to dedicate a minimum of 3.5 temples during every full year, the 200 operating temples would be reached. I also know that we could see 2-4 temples dedicated next year, and that 2019 will see 6-8 others dedicated as well. So the average 3.5 temples will be met (and perhaps even doubled) between now and the end of 2019. When we factor in the Winnipeg temple, which will begin full-scale construction early next year, and any other announced temples that might have a groundbreaking between January 2018-December 2019, that average could continue to be maintained for the foreseeable future. And to the best of my ability, I will bring any and all such developments to you and to other readers here ASAP. Thanks again for your comment, Chris!
ReplyDelete