Stokes Sounds Off: 09/03/18

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Monday, September 3, 2018

President Nelson in the Dominican Republic

Hello again, everyone! On this Labor Day 2018, I am posting for a very significant reason. Although technically, President Nelson visited the Saints in the Dominican Republic on Saturday before visiting the Saints in Puerto Rico yesterday, the Church News did not publish an account of his remarks from the first visit until earlier today.

In this article, the devotional held in the Dominican Republic (which was also broadcast by satellite to other islands in the Caribbean Area, is highlighted. And that article specifically mentioned that the remarks President Nelson gave at that devotional are believed to mark the first time a Church president has spoken to a congregation in their native language. It was nice to have that confirmed.

I also wanted to post a correction and clarification to something I reported earlier. When I originally detailed President Nelson's plans to visit the Caribbean, I was almost certain I had read that his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, was coming along on the trip this weekend. But the article above specifically noted that Sister Nelson opted to stay home for this trip. I apologize for the misinformation I unintentionally provided.

In the meantime, as President Nelson follows in the tradition previously set by President Hinckley of just stopping between trips long enough to rest briefly and to pick up a new apostolic companion for the next destination, it makes sense that at times, the wife of the Church president would opt to sit out at least a few of those trips. While President Nelson reportedly has great energy (and continues to appear as though he is 20-30 years younger than his actual age of almost 94), the rigors of constant travel might take their toll on both his apostolic companion and on his wife.

I have not heard that this was the reason, but I make what seems to be a logical assumption. It is interesting to me that President Nelson would plan a weekend trip to the Caribbean Area around a month before General Conference, especially since he noted during his recent Canadian trips that his staff felt those would be brief stops he could make to continue his worldwide ministry tour while that would not interfere with his preparation for General Conference.

Anyways, getting back to the article cited earlier in this post, President Nelson's remarks, along with another address (in English) from Elder Dale G. Renlund and brief remarks from Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Caribbean Area President and General Authority Seventy Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, and his wife, Sister Zulma Gonzalez, comprised the layout of the devotional. You can read highlights of what was said by each in that article.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will, to the best of my ability, pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such updates. 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 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.