Stokes Sounds Off: Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians

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Sunday, January 27, 2019

Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians


Hello again, everyone! I am back again now with the second part of this apostolic update, in which we will move on to talk specifics regarding the long-form and decimal ages of our current apostles, which will also include updated information on the average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the 15 apostles as a group, and current and future nonagenarians.

So let’s get right into all of that. Again, all data is current as of today (Sunday January 27, 2019). Since my last update, Elder Gong has celebrated his 65th birthday (which occurred one week after my last update) and Elder Christofferson has marked his 74th (which, as noted previously, happened 3 days ago). Elder Rasband’s 68th birthday will occur 10 days from now, and the next apostolic birthday (President Henry B. Eyring’s 86th) will not occur until the last day in May. By that time, two more of these updates will have been posted on this blog, and another such update will follow 2 days after President Eyring’s birthday.

With that noted, we now move on to some exact figures about the ages (and average ages) of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and all 15 apostles as a group. In the Church’s leading Quorum, President Nelson is, as noted towards the end of my previous post, 94 years, 4 months, and 18 days old, which results in a decimal age of 94.38 years. His First Counselor, President Oaks, is now 86 years, 5 months, and 15 days old, or 86.46 years. President Eyring is now 85 years, 7 months, and 27 days old, which is 85.66 in decimal years.
 
The First Presidency thus now has a combined 266.5 years of life experience, which results in an average age for each man of 88.83 years. President Nelson remains 5.55 years older than that average, with President Oaks closest to it (as he remains 2.37 years younger than that average), which means that President Eyring remains 3.17 years below it. Unless there is something of which we are not aware in relation to the health of any of these Brethren, they will continue to set new records for the oldest-serving First Presidency in Church history for the foreseeable future.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Ballard’s long-form age now sits at 90 years, 3 months, and 19 days, or 90.30 years. Elder Holland now has a long-form age of 78 years 1 months, and 24 days, with a resulting 78.15 decimal years. Elder Uchtdorf (who is a mere 27 days older than his senior apostolic seatmate) age now stands at 78 years, 2 month, and 21 days old, which works out to 78.22 years.

Elder Bednar has now reached the full age of 66 years, 7 months, and 12 days, which works out to 66.62 decimal years. Elder Cook, the last and oldest of the 3 apostles born in 1940, has a long-form 78 years, 4 months, and 19 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 78.39 years. Elder Christofferson, whose birthday was, as previously noted, just 3 days ago, has now reached the age of 74 years and 3 days old, making his decimal age 74.01 years.

Elder Andersen, who will be marking a decade in the apostleship this April, is now 67 years, 5 months, and 18 days, and his decimal age is 67.47 years. Elder Rasband, who will be observing his birthday in 10 days, as I previously mentioned, is now 67 years, 11 months, and 21 days, or 67.97 years. Elder Stevenson, at exactly 4.5 years younger than Elder Rasband (as both were born on the 6th), has a long-form age of 63 years, 5 months, and 21 days old, or 63.48 in decimal years.

We move on now the final 3 apostles. Elder Renlund has now reached the exact age of 66 years, 2 months, and 14 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 66.21 years. Elder Gong, the one other apostle who has had his birthday since my last update, has a long-form age of 65 years, 1 month, and 4 days, which works out to 65.09 in decimal years. As for Elder Soares, he is now 60 years, 3 months, and 25 days old, which is a resulting 60.32 decimal years.
           
With those numbers in mind, the 12 Quorum members now have a cumulative 856.24 years of life experience, which is a resulting average of 71.35 years per member. Elders Christofferson and Rasband are respectively above and below that average, with the former now being 2.66 years older, and the latter remaining 3.38 years younger. Based on the information I provided earlier about the members of the First Presidency, the entire body of apostles now have a combined 1,122.74 years of life experience, which is an average of 74.85 years. Elder Holland is older than that average by 3.3 years, while Elder Christofferson remains 0.84 years younger.
           
We now move on to the nonagenarians. President Nelson remains the seventh oldest apostle in Church history, and is set to move up to the seventh spot on July 5 of next year. In the meantime, President Ballard’s next nonagenarian milestone will not be observed until after my next update. The exact date on which that will occur is Wednesday February 20, 2019. For the other apostles, President Oaks will join that list 3 years, 6 months, and 15 days from today, while Elder Soares will do so in 29 years, 8 months, and 5 days, with the other apostles doing so at other various intervals, which will be detailed more fully as they approach.

I hope that many of you found this information to be interesting, informative, and accurate. 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 feedback is in accordance with 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.


7 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The Church News published an article earlier today that features more details about the groundbreaking ceremony that was held for the Urdaneta Philippines Temple on January 16. The article included thoughts from Elder Holland (who presided at this event), the Philippines Area Presidency, and local members and friends of other faiths who shared their reactions to this temple. The one thing I'd like to note about that article is that it mentions that construction is anticipated to take 3-5 years to complete, and that seems to be a direct contradiction of the official Newsroom release which noted that a period of 2-3 years would be the time-frame for this temple's construction. I am assuming the Church News writer who authored the article is estimating a worst-case scenario, but my personal hope is that both the Urdaneta Philippines and Bangkok Thailand Temple could have full-scale construction begin within the next 2 weeks, if not sooner than that. I continue to keep my eyes open for temple updates and any additional Church news and will keep passing word of those along to you all here as I receive it. The web address for that article follows below. Thanks again, everyone!

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-01-27/it-will-be-majestic-filipino-latter-day-saints-celebrate-groundbreaking-of-new-temple-48859

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    Replies
    1. Various sources indicate the area of Pangasinan Province where the temple will be located, apparently off a major road going south of Urdaneta, has major groundwater issues, and I seem to have heard this site they are going to build on was not the first site, they had to possibly abandon plans at that earlier one and it is possible others for the same reason.

      The extra time may be needed to deal with whatever the issues at the site they will build on have been or are found.

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    2. James Anderson, thanks for reminding me of that. I seem to recall hearing that extensive preparation was needed to ready the site for a groundbreaking (due to its' swampy nature), and that may indeed be hindering construction from beginning. That said, I also know that it is not uncommon for any temple to have a two-week period minimum, but sometimes longer, between the time of the groundbreaking and whenever formal construction can begin. I assume that is because it is easier to ready a site for a groundbreaking than it is to begin construction on that site following a groundbreaking. As we saw with the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, sometimes it can take a year or longer for a temple to begin its' construction process. And we can't forget how the Fortaleza Brazil Temple experienced a five-year wait between its' groundbreaking and when construction was able to begin. I am hoping that most (if not all) of the temples announced during the last 3 sets of temple announcements will be able to have work begin soon after their groundbreakings. For some of those locations, the Church seems to be allowing more time for pre-planning prior to a groundbreaking. I still remain optimistic that 2019 will be a record year for temple groundbreakings, and it will be interesting to see if that occurs, and for which temples. The 3 groundbreakings which have already taken place or been set to occur by the end of the first half of this year are on par with the total number of temple groundbreakings held in the entirety of 2017, and will be a 300% improvement on what we saw during the entirety of last year. And if what I have heard from many of my sources is any indication, this year is more likely than not to be record-breaking in that regard by comparison to other years. Thanks again, James Anderson, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you./

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  2. And the Church News also recently shared a report from its' editor, Sarah Jane Weaver, who detailed what she learned from watching the victims of the Paradise Campfire being ministered to by and ministering in turn to President Nelson, who came to personally assess the situation merely two days following the death of his daughter Wendy. That article is well worthy of your time, and can be found at the following web address:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-01-27/what-i-know-now-that-i-didnt-know-before-camp-fire-48870

    My ongoing thanks to you all.

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  3. And here I am again. Just by way of reminder, the public open house for the Rome Italy Temple begins tomorrow, and is set to run through February 16. The dedication of that temple will follow between Sunday March 10 and Tuesday March 12. And the last day of that temple's dedication will coincide with the beginning of the open house for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple. Still no word on any additional temples which will have a groundbreaking this year, and I would assume no other temple dedication or rededication announcements will be forthcoming for at least the next couple of months, unless something unexpected occurs. I will keep my eyes open for any information in that regard and post it on this blog as I learn about it. Thanks again for your time, interest, and support.

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  4. Wanted to mention one other thing. Today marks 11 years since President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away, and next Sunday would have marked President Monson's 11th year as Church President if he were still living. Just thought that prophetic trivia would be helpful to some of you. Thanks again.

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  5. Hello again, everyone! I have conclusively verified that the public open house tours for the Rome Italy Temple officially began earlier today. More details on that can be found in a special section of the Church News highlighting the articles that have been written about that temple at the web address below:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/category/italy-temple

    It appears that the following additional articles have been published about the Rome Italy Temple, but have not yet been added to the page I mentioned above:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-01-28/its-all-in-the-details-what-makes-the-rome-temple-piazza-very-italian-and-why-it-will-continue-to-draw-members-from-across-europe-48849

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-01-28/8-stories-to-know-about-the-rome-italy-temple-as-the-public-open-house-starts-48888

    Another article, sharing more details about the groundbreaking held on Saturday for the Bangkok Thailand Temple, can be found at the web address below:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-01-28/bangkok-thailand-temple-groundbreaking-brings-joy-hope-to-latter-day-saints-48886

    And when the US Congress convened, there were only a total of 10 lawmakers who are Latter-day Saints, resulting in the lowest number of Church members in government within the last several years. Read more about that in the article below:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-01-28/these-10-latter-day-saints-hold-positions-in-us-congress-and-thats-the-lowest-number-in-nearly-a-decade-48868

    I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and will be sure to pass word of those developments along here as I receieve it. THanks again, everyone!

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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.

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