Additional Temple Developments and Church News Stories Reported

Hello again, everyone! Although I am more than 24 hours later than I'd hoped or intended to be in starting this post, I wanted to pass along, as promised, some additional temple developments and Church news stories. There are quite a few significant developments to report, so let's get right into all of that. We will start with the temple updates, then turn in conclusion to the additional Church news.

Two significant temple developments have been reported. On Thursday, the new artist's rendering for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple was released. You can see the significant differences as follows: The Church's report on the groundbreaking for that temple (which occurred on December 3, 2016) shows the initial exterior look for that temple (which you can find in the second-to-last image accompanying that report.)

Then yesterday, the subpage for that temple on the Church of Jesus Christ Temples website provided a look at the new design for that temple. Although Tyndall stone was incorporated in both of those designs for that temple, most of the exterior of the temple in the newly-released design will utilize brick, rather than stone. I am not entirely sure as to why that redesign was necessary, but if the changes have enabled the Church to begin full-scale construction on this project, the process of changing the design will have been well worth it in the long run. I am not sure whether copyright law in relation to these two images would allow me to post them here, so to err on the side of caution, I hope it is sufficient enough for me to post the information on where those images can be viewed.

The second temple development on which I wanted to focus relates to one of the announced temples. I mentioned previously that the process of preparing the final building for its' demolishment on the grounds of the Bangkok Thailand Temple site was underway. Earlier today, it was reported that debris netting has now been placed around the building. I am not quite sure how long the actual demolition process is anticipated to take. But given the fact that it is now just past 6:40 AM on Sunday morning in Thailand, it will likely be another 24 hours before we hear anything more on that process.

I still think it would be awesome if the Church could break ground for this temple and if construction can get underway on it before the end of this year, but it may be a while before we know whether or not that can feasibly happen. Other than these developments, nothing else has changed in terms of temple developments. But I hope we will hear more news about the Bangkok Thailand Temple and the Urdaneta Philippines Temple in the coming weeks. I am similarly anticipating that we might hopefully hear soon that the dedication of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple and the rededications of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma and Memphis Tennessee Temples have been set.

In the meantime, let's turn our attention to Church news updates.  First, from the Church's official Newsroom website, we have a report shared from the Pacific edition of that site on how Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon and Primary General President Joy D. Jones are taking time to get to know and minister to many Latter-day Saints in the Pacific Area of the Church.

Other Church news stories describe how 8 couples have been called by the First Presidency to oversee and direct tours for Church members and friends of other faiths who are visiting prominent Church history sites, and also a wide-ranging conversation with former Relief Society General President and Young Women General Presidency member Julie B. Beck as she prepares to publish a new book.

The Church News has also shared this account of how 3 apostles (Elders Holland, Bednar and Cook), along with Elder Robert C. Gay of the Presidency of the Seventy, Relief Society General President Sister Jean B. Bingham, Elder Kim B. Clark, the Commissioner of Church Education, BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Clark S. Glibert and his wife Sister Christine Gilbert were all featured in a devotional broadcast held for students involved in the BYU-Pathway Worldwide program.  With the exception of President and Sister Gilbert and Elder Clark, all other participants in that broadcast serve as members of the Executive Committee of the Boards for the Church Educational System.

Finally, from the News & Events page on the Church's official website, Latter-day Saints living in southern Texas are anxiously anticipating the visit of Church President Russell M. & Sister Wendy W. Nelson, Elder David A. and Sister Susan K. Bednar, and Elder Adrian and Sister Nancy Ochoa, who are set to speak to Saints in a devotional scheduled tomorrow which will be held at the Alamodrome.

Also, Sister Vicki G. Jackman, who serves as a member of the Young Women General Board, shares some thoughts on her most influential teacher, someone whose life and example demonstrated a life woven with threads of testimony. And in the wake of the wildfire and campfires that decimated Paradise, California, local bishops continue to minister to members of their congregations whose homes were destroyed. What a wonderful time in which we live, where the latest Church news and temple developments are so consistently available to us on such a significant scale.

I continue to monitor all such reports and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all as I receive it. I also continue to work on my initial predictions for the April 2019 General Conference and hope to bring those to you for discussion here at some point next week, if all goes well. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time.

Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.