Hello again, everyone! Some additional Church news has been reported in recent days. Although this escaped my notice before now, it appears that yesterday, the Church updated its' statement on pageants, and the updates note officially which pageants will be discontinued and which will remain. So what has been decided in that regard? Let's talk about that.
The Nauvoo Pageant will continue with official support from Church headquarters. Following the completion of the renovation process for the Mesa Arizona Temple, the Mesa Pageant will continue under the direction of the North America Southwest Area Presidency. The British Pageant (which commemorates the arrival of the first missionaries to England in 1837) will now be held every 4 years (with the next one scheduled to be held in 2021) under the direction of the Europe Area Presidency.
Meanwhile, the Castle Valley and Clarkston pageants are now discontinued, and, as previously announced, the Manti Pageant will end next year. while the Hill Cumorah Pageant will have its' final run in 2020. I hope this clarification and additional information is helpful to you all. There were a couple of additional Church news stories as well, so we will conclude by discussing those.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently returned from a visit to the Church's Caribbean Area, where he was able to reiterate to the Saints in that area some of the things President Nelson had said during his recent visit. Elder Christofferson also talked about how the construction process for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple and the October announcement of a temple for San Juan Puerto Rico are a manifestation of the resilience whereby Church members in that area continue to recover from the aftermath and impact of recent hurricanes.
And finally, on the campus of Brigham Young University-Provo, Elder David A. Bednar was the featured speaker at the weekly devotional, and he focused his remarks on how to find happiness amidst troubled times. This was a timely message. It was reported on the news yesterday that a student at BYU-Provo had plummeted from one of the campus buildings.
It has since been determined that the cause of death was suicide. BYU President and area seventy Elder Kevin J. Worthen made reference to this tragedy in brief remarks at the beginning of the devotional, and indicated that counseling and other resources are available for any student who needs that in light of this tragic occurrence.
In all scenarios, it is comforting to know that the general Church leadership are well aware of what's going on in the Church and throughout the world, and are taking steps to ameliorate such situations as best they can. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will keep doing my level best to bring word of those to you all here as I receive it.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments conform to the established guidelines. 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.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Additional Church News Reported
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.
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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.
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Hello again, everyone! It appears that earlier today, Elder Bednar was pulling double-duty. In addition to speaking at the BYU-Provo Devotional to which I referred above, he also filled an assignment (in his capacity as both a member of the Church Board of Education and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board) to dedicate a new building on that campus, which will house the Engineering program and Faculty. More details on this development may be found at the address below:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2018-12-05/new-dollar85-million-byu-engineering-building-is-high-tech-with-research-labs-project-space-here-are-highlights-from-the-dedication-48573
I should also mention here that I am hard at work on my updated specific estimates for known temple events, and hope to have that posted here on this blog before this week is out. I will then be focusing on finalizing my predictions for next April's General Conference and getting those posted here as well. I will also continue to post major Church news and temple developments, either as comments on existing posts or (where it would be more practical practical) in new posts. My thanks again to you all for your patience and understanding as I do my best to manage my reports of all of those things while still giving myself time to recover from my recent hospitalization. I appreciate you all!
Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has released their annual Christmas message, which (unless I am mistaken) was published on the English edition of the Church's Newsroom website for the first time this year. The web address at which that message can be found follows below. My thanks again to you all.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/first-presidency-christmas-message
The Church News reported around two hours ago that another full-time missionary has passed away. A Peruvian elder serving in Bolivia since August 2017 was being treated for an unknown sudden illness, and died while being transported by emergency services to the hospital. More details are shared in the article below. Thanks again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2018-12-06/full-time-peruvian-missionary-dies-from-illness-while-serving-in-bolivia-48576
And just a few days after reporting on Elder Gong's first solo trip as an apostle, we have a report on the first solo trip for our junior apostle, Elder Soares. He recently returned from a visit to several nations in the Central America Area. The Church News shares the following report on that trip. Enjoy, and thank you all again.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-12-06/elder-soares-visits-central-america-during-first-solo-trip-as-an-apostle-48578
Two other items of Church news have been reported, both related to this Christmas season. The Church has released a new kid-friendly animated video which reportedly provides a fresh, new, and entirely different perspective on Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy about the birth of the Savior. More details are available at the address below:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2018-12-07/animated-kid-friendly-video-puts-book-of-mormon-story-about-christs-birth-in-a-whole-new-light-48585
And the other news item is that transcripts are now available for the addresses given this weekend at the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. You can find those transcripts at the address below:
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/christmas-devotional/2018/12?lang=eng
I should also mention that there has been no official confirmation (at least insofar as I have been able to ascertain) as to which Church leaders will preside at the dedication of the Barranquilla Colombia Temple this weekend. I would assume that whoever will be at that event has headed to Colombia by now, or will be doing so later today. It appears that Colombia is two hours ahead of Utah time, so it is almost 4:00 PM there now. If any of you have any information on this, please feel free to let the rest of us know here. Thanks.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News just published its' newest edition of "This Week on Social". That edition features posts by Church President Russell M. Nelson, Elders David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, and Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham, her Second Counselor, Reyna I. Aburto, Primary General President Joy D. Jones, her First Counselor, Lisa L. Harkness, and Becky Craven, who serves as Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency.
ReplyDeleteA couple of things stuck out to me about this: First of all, this latest edition, more posts were featured from the female leaders of the Church. Second, the posts covered a wide variety of subjects, from Christmas to the ongoing ministry of our apostles to the vital role the women of the Church play in their own right ministering around the world, and particularly those who support their husbands, the apostles, in their roles to be special witnesses of the Savior to all the world.
The Lord is very much aware of the vast and significant contributions of the women of the Church. President Nelson even mentioned last General Conference during the Women's Session that the restructured Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums and the implementation of ministering last April were a direct result of the observation of the strength of Relief Societies Church-wide, and how those sisters were so united in their efforts to uplift, inspire, encourage, and better those around them. Clearly the Brethren are paying attention to and are fully aware of the influence and impact of the women in their lives, and it is nice to see that more reflected now than it ever has been.
That said, the web address at which this article can be found follows below. I will continue to bring you all updates on such developments as I become aware of them. Thanks again, everyone!
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2018-12-07/this-week-on-social-what-president-nelson-church-leaders-suggest-for-getting-the-most-out-of-christmas-this-year-48586
From the News & Events page on lds.org, we have an inspiring story of a Temple Square Missionary who realized her companion didn't get many packages from home. Wanting to ensure no missionary felt left out on Christmas Day, this sister missionary coordinated with her mother to arrange a gift for each of the 200 Temple Square missionaries currently serving. This is a heartwarming story that is well worthy of your attention. It can be found at the web address below. Thanks again, everyone!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lds.org/church/news/holiday-service-project-brings-christmas-gifts-to-temple-square-missionaries?lang=eng