Elder Cook Visits Saints in Belo Horizonte Brazil; Some Musings About Temple Progress & Future Announcements

Hello again, everyone! It has been a big day for updates on the worldwide ministry of our apostles, and I have found yet another one. Elder Quentin L. Cook spent some time in Brazil recently. More specifically, he visited and held meetings with the Saints and missionaries in the city of Belo Horizonte. LDS Church News has shared this account of what he did during that trip. The article also features quotes from the members of the Brazil Area presidency, as well as Elder Cook's fellow apostle Elder Ulisses Soares, who served his mission  in the Belo Horizonte region.

With this report in mind, that brings up an interesting question. First, the background for why it came to mind: As some of you may recall my mentioning, Elder Ronald A. Rasband visited the Philippines Area of the Church earlier this year before General Conference. And while I would have to double check my facts in this regard, he may have spent some of that time in Cagayan de Oro, and, as we know, a temple was announced for that city during the April General Conference.

While writing the above paragraph, more than one question came to mind, so here they all are: Is it possible that, as part of Elder Cook's time in Belo Horizonte, he may have spent time scouting out potential locations for a temple there? Would the fact that a temple in that city would be significant and personal to his fellow apostle Elder Soares have any impact on how soon a temple might be built there?

And finally, does Elder Cook's visit and Elder Soares's connection to this city indicate in any way that a temple may be more imminent for Belo Horizonte than Salvador? As I mentioned, I am in the very preliminary stages of trying to gather data for my next series of posts on potential future temples, which I hope to start before the end of this month.

In preparing this post and the questions above, I looked back into the history of my posts on this blog, and it appears that I have had Belo Horizonte on my list of potential future temple locations for just about as long as I have been sharing my thoughts on future temple prospects. As we also know, temples have been announced between now and then for both Belem and Brasilia.\

One other thought about all of this: President Nelson has shown a willingness to be very proactive about moving the Church forward. We saw many things happen in his first General Conference as our Church president. In one weekend, he was able to call two new apostles, make the other changes in Church leadership, announce the combination of all Melchizedek Priesthood bearers into one Elders' Quorum, retire home and visiting teaching and implement ministering, and announce 7 temples, 1 of which he was prompted to announce the night before General Conference began.

All of thisdemonstrates that he knows how to get and receive revelation. He also is impressing on us as members the importance of the temple, since his first address as Church president to Church membership was made from a temple.

With that in mind, and coupled with the statement I have previously referenced from Elder Larry Y. Wilson (who said in late April 2017 that there was a list of 80 potential temple locations that were under consideration for an official announcement within the 15 years after he made that statement, this suggests that, for as long as President Nelson presides over the Church, one of his main priorities will be bringing temples to the people.

That said, I also know that there are now 19 temples that have not gone beyond being announced, and we have seen times in the past when temple announcements were temporarily suspended to allow the Church to clear the backlog. So it may be that no temples will be announced during the October 2018 General Conference.

But it is also true that within the next two years, all temples currently under construction are anticipated to be dedicated. And although getting to the mid-point of any given year without a temple groundbreaking is rare for the Church, I would anticipate that we will hear of at least one temple groundbreaking (for the Bangkok Thailand Temple) at some point in the near future, and that that groundbreaking will occur prior to the end of the year, whether or not any other groundbreakings are announced or take place by the end of this year. But whatever happens in that regard, 2019 and the years following may be full of temple groundbreakings.

So I imagine President Nelson will also do what he can to clear the backlog of announced temples, and that by the time all temples currently under construction are dedicated, others that currently have a groundbreaking pending will have had that occur and will be under construction. I am likewise confident that President Nelson continues to seek the Lord's will regarding temple locations and the timing within which those might be announced, which is why I include temple possibilities in every one of my General Conference predictions.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of them to you as I find out about them. That does it for this post. Any and all 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.