Stokes Sounds Off: 08/19/17

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Saturday, August 19, 2017

No change reported in Church magazine editors/advisers

Hello, everyone! Earlier today, I stumbled across the PDF version of the September 2017 Ensign. There were a couple of surprises there. First of all, the First Presidency message for the month was done by our beloved prophet, who will be 90 on Monday. This suggests to me that there is a very high likelihood President Monson will speak at least once during General Conference, even if that address is only a few minutes long, and even if that is his only talk. It wouldn't surprise me if he gives two shorter talks, though, as he has in the last few general conferences. As I learn more on this, I will pass it along.

In the meantime, I expected that the September magazines would show any changes that have been made in the editors and advisers of the Church magazines as a result of the changes that were made in area leadership. Primarily, I was sure that Elders Christoffel Golden (who is now serving as First Counselor in the Europe Area Presidency) and Larry R. Lawrence (who will celebrate his 70th birthday on August 25 and may thus be granted emeritus status during the October General Conference) would be released from their assignment as advisers. But it could just be that whatever changes were made in the editor and advisers of the Church magazines will only show up in the October magazines. There has at times been a lag of one or two months for such changes, which we have seen before. As always, I will pass more along as I learn of it.

In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Minor but significant update reported on the Frankfurt Germany Temple Renovation Process

Hello, all! As you may be aware, there have not been all that many significant milestones in temple construction to be reported lately. However, one significant development, which I learned of earlier today, warrants mentioning: The Frankfurt Germany Temple renovation process has seen a roof slab poured for the basement addition. The last time progress was reported on this temple, the basement addition was merely underway.

So the question now becomes, what might this progress indicate about its potential future completion time frame? I have before ventured my thoughts that the Jordan River Utah Temple rededication would be among the first temple-related events of 2018, and we have seen that be the case with the announcement that a rededication will take place on the third Sunday in May.

It makes sense that the Rome Italy Temple dedication may be scheduled next, and that dedication might be scheduled in June. We could then see the rededication for the temple in Frankfurt sometime in August, following the annual July recess for the General Authorities (though the open house could be held in June, as was the case for the Tucson Arizona Temple this year).

While I have my own thoughts about when other temple-related events might happen during the year (including other dedications and groundbreakings), I am waiting for more information before I post more exact estimates for those. But if what I know about temples is any indication, by all appearances, I would not be surprised if next year is a big year for dedications and groundbreakings.

As always, I will post updates to this line of thought as I find out more. In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.