Stokes Sounds Off: 07/19/18

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Thursday, July 19, 2018

Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! While I do not wish to overshadow the temple developments I reported earlier today, I did want to note that some additional Church news stories have been reported. Let's get right into what those are and why they are significant.

Joseph Fielding Smith, as most of you are probably aware, was the 10th President of the Church in this dispensation. Today would have marked the 142nd birthday of that prophet, and the Church News published this article highlighting his accomplishments. Among the interesting mentions are the fact that he was one of the Church presidents that was acquainted with all of his predecessors (except for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young) and all of his prophetic successors down to President Thomas S. Monson. There were a lot of other, very interesting facts in that article. and it is well worthy of your attention.

Next, more news from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with the organization reporting that their annual Pioneer Day Concert will feature a a Broadway-themed program. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the featured guests for the concerts will be Matthew Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly, both of whom are Broadway stars who were recently featured in a production of "Finding Neverland". The other guest of the Choir for the concert will be Oscar "Andy" Hammerstein III, grandson of the legendary Oscar Hammerstein II, who teamed up with Richard Rogers to put together some of the greatest musicals of all time. You can find the Church News's most recent report leading up to this year's concert here.

And today marked another significant Church history milestone: the first Church missionaries sent to England in this dispensation arrived in England on this day in 1837. At a time when the gospel message was not widely circulated, and during a period of time when the Saints in Kirtland were struck with a crisis that shook the very foundations of the young Church, the Prophet Joseph Smith responded to an impression from the Lord to send Heber C. Kimball (one of his staunchest defenders) and fellow apostle Orson Hyde to preach the gospel to the people of England.

Accompanying the senior leaders on that first mission to the British Isles were individuals that had converted to the Church through the mission of Parley P. Pratt to Canada. The success that these Brethren found with the people of England saved the Church both by virtue of the faith of the converts they baptized and also by the sheer volume of people whose hearts were touched as a result of their efforts, many of whom crossed the ocean to join with the Saints as they subsequently moved to Missouri, then to Illinois, and across the plains here to Utah.. You can read a more complete account of that landmark mission and its' success here.

I continue to monitor all ongoing Church news and temple developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you as I receive it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to do so, please feel free to subscribe to stay informed of new content. 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.

Temple Updates Noted

Hello again, everyone! There are two surprising temple updates I have found which are certainly significant to me. First, the LDS Church Temples Facebook page reported around three hours ago that plans had been submitted to the local government for a special project in Saratoga Springs. While at the moment the purpose of those plans is undisclosed, some have speculated that the plans may be for the temple in that city.

The last update I found on that temple indicated that designs were underway, so it is possible that those plans are for the temple. However, I want to be very clear on this point: Until the Church or the city confirms that the plans in question are for the temple, it may only be speculation. But I will say this: Temples in Utah generally and in Utah County specifically have been known to get started well in advance of their international counterparts. So this development will be one to watch over the next few weeks, and, depending on what happens, there may be a possibility that this temple could be another that has a groundbreaking before the end of this year. I will have more on that as I learn of it.

In another surprise development, the Church News reported today that the first president had been called for the Durban South Africa Temple. Though I originally had six temples anticipated to be dedicated next year on my personal list of those that might have a president called soon, the Durban temple was not one of them. It was my understanding (as I noted in my post a day or two ago) that that temple was only going to be dedicated sometime during mid-to-late 2019. This development may mean that the dedication of that temple may be more imminent than many (myself included) have been led to believe.

The new president served as a mission president in Ghana, and he was born and raised in Cape Town, where he still resides. His experience as a South African native definitely makes him a good choice well suited to the task.  I will be watching this development with great interest to learn more about whether this changes the timing of this temple's anticipated dedication. If it does, I will also need to change my more specific estimate. I also know from previous comments on other posts on this blog that the Church has sometimes announced such calls in advance so the new president has time to assemble his staff, which may mean there is no change anticipated or necessary for its' general or more specific completion estimates. Stay tuned for more on that as I figure it all out.

In the meantime, I again will share my list of temple presidents that have been or may yet be called. That list includes 62 new temple presidents whose calls have already been announced, along with 2 other operating temples (Veracruz Mexico and Washington D. C., with the latter potentially not having a new president announced until it is rededicated sometime during 2020). There is also a more than likely prospect that the first temple presidents will almost certainly be announced for the Fortaleza Brazil and Port-au-Prince Haiti Temples. And today's announcement also opens up the prospect that the First Presidency could additionally announce the first president for the Lisbon Portugal Temple in the near future.

The updated list follows below. I continue to monitor all temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of them along to you as I learn of 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of new 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.


New presidents have been called for the following temples:
1.      Manaus Brazil
2.      Boise Idaho
3.      Denver Colorado
4.      The Hague Netherlands
5.      Oquirrh Mountain Utah
6.      Helsinki Finland
7.      The Gila Valley Arizona
8.      Brigham City Utah
9.      Stockholm Sweden
10.  Palmyra New York
11.  Accra Ghana
12.  Papeete Tahiti
13.  Sao Paulo Brazil
14.  San Jose Costa Rica
15.  Albuquerque New Mexico
16.  Provo City Center
17.  Recife Brazil
18.  Cardston Alberta
19.  Payson Utah
20.  Porto Alegre Brazil
21.  Brisbane Australia
22.  Kansas City Missouri
23.  Oaxaca Mexico
24.  Regina Saskatchewan
25.  Cebu City Philippines
26.  Boston Massachusetts
27.  Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Mexico
28.  Billings Montana
29.  Houston Texas
30.  Sydney Australia
31.  Guatemala City Guatemala
32.  Hermosillo Sonora Mexico
33.  Montevideo Uruguay
34.  Indianapolis Indiana
35.  Laie Hawaii Temple (the new president of this temple is the older brother of General Authority Seventy Elder Donald L. Hallstrom)
36.  Las Vegas Nevada
37.  Atlanta Georgia
38.  Buenos Aires Argentina
39.  Redlands California
40.  Draper Utah
41.  Tijuana Mexico
42.  Sacramento California
43.  Monticello Utah
44.  Bountiful Utah
45.  Freiberg Germany
46.  Oakland California
47.  Villahermosa Mexico
48.  Manti Utah
49.  Suva Fiji
50.  Vancouver British Columbia
51.  Tegucigalpa Honduras
52.  Fukuoka Japan
53.  St. Louis Missouri
54.  Trujillo Peru
55.  Asuncion Paraguay (not anticipated)
56.  Cordoba Argentina
57.  Taipei Taiwan
58.  Kinshasa DR Congo (first president)
59.  Concepcion Chile (first president)
60.  Barranquilla Colombia (first president)
61.  Rome Italy (first president)
62.  Durban South Africa (first president; not anticipated)

The first presidents will likely be announced for the following new temples:
1.      Fortaleza Brazil
2.      Port-au-Prince Haiti

New presidents may also be announced for the following temples:
1.      Veracruz Mexico
2.      Washington D. C. Temple (Note: The Church may opt to wait on calling a new president for this temple until 2020 when it is rededicated)