Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson's Latin American Ministry Announced; Preliminary Work Begins on Bangkok Thailand Temple

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Wednesday, May 29, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson's Latin American Ministry Announced; Preliminary Work Begins on Bangkok Thailand Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has been reported on a couple of fronts today. First, President Nelson's next Global Ministry Tour has been announced, with some of the details originally shared by Bryan D., a user who regularly comments here, having been confirmed.  The tour, which will focus on locations throughout Latin America, will see Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife Mary G. Cook, accompanying President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Wendy W. Nelson, on a 9-day tour that will entail 5 stops between Saturday August 24 and Monday September 2.

On August 24, after departing from Salt Lake, the leaders will stop first in Guatemala City Guatemala, where an evening devotional will be held for all congregations in Guatemala. The following day, the leaders will travel to Bogota Colombia, where a devotional will be broadcast to all Colombian congregations. A stop in Quito Ecuador one day later will allow leaders to speak to all congregations in that city. They will then have one day to rest before visiting Buenos Aires Argentina on Wednesday August 28. After a 3-4 day respite, the leaders will then wrap up their tour by stopping in Sao Paulo Brazil, where they will speak at a Sunday afternoon devotional before returning home on Monday September 2.

I imagine the extensive layovers will enable them not just to rest, but also to take care of unspecified business, which may, as Bryan D. noted in his comment earlier this week, involve scouting for future temple locations in Argetina and Brazil, especially if the current level of activity at the Buenos Aires Argentina and Sao Paulo Brazil Temples requires a second temple to be built within the boundaries of both current temple districts. The Newsroom will provide full and complete coverage of these stops, as will I, either through new posts here, or in comments on existing posts.

If that were the only news I had to share in this breaking news update, that would be reason enough to rejoice, but a new report of which I became aware a short while ago indicates that heavy equipment is arriving at the Bangkok Thailand temple site.  This is good news, as it is a key indicator that preliminary work will begin soon on the temple site, putting it out of the "full-scale construction pending" status. But I also wanted to issue a reminder: due to the preliminary work that will need to be done to prepare the site prior to the construction of the temple proper, it may be 6-9 months or so before that temple's footings and foundation are poured. While that does not and should not lessen our excitement about this development, it needed to be noted.

Still no word on how long it might take before full-scale work begins on the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, San Juan Puerto Rico, or Quito Ecuador Temples, but hopefully work will at least have begun on the latter well in advance of President Nelson's August 26 visit to that city. In the interim, it is now definitively verified that whomever may actually preside at the September 1 dedication for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, it will not be President Nelson or Elder Cook.

In the interim, I will be posting a birthday tribute to President Eyring honoring his 86th birthday two days from now, and will also have coverage this weekend on the dedication of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple by Elder Soares. I likewise continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of the significant developments along to you all as I receive word thereof.

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 are made 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.

2 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The following additional news stories, as published by the Newsroom and Church News, have been reported and speak for themselves. My thanks again to you all.

    https://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/lending-a-helping-hand-to-families-impacted-by-15-march-attacks

    https://www.mormonnewsroom.sg/article/muslim-and-christian-faiths-join-effort-in-promoting-interfaith-harmony-and-unity

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-05-29/tacoma-refugee-choir-miracle-washington-community-50013

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2019-05-28/provo-missionary-training-center-demolition-buildings-50009

    https;//www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-05-29/elder-shayne-bowen-lds-business-college-fasting-devotional-50011

    ReplyDelete
  2. It appears that the last web address I posted in my comment above had a typo. The semicolon after "https" should be a regular colon. But since I was going to leave another comment here now anyways, it all worked out. There have been some additional temple updates reported as well, so let's dive into those. First of all, this upcoming Sunday, the dedication which will be held for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple will make it the 164th operating temple of the Church. Since the Church is already well on track to have at least 200 temples dedicated by or perhaps even before the Church's bicentennial, only 36 others would need to be dedicated between June 2, 2019 and April 6, 2030. The amount of time between the two dates will then be 10.84 years, so an average of 3.32 temples would need to be dedicated per year within that time. And within a year following this temple's dedication on Sunday, a total of 5 or 6 others will have been dedicated, which means a whole new average will come into play. For that reason, I am convinced that not only will there be a minimum of 200 operating temples by that time, but that the actual number of temples operating as of that bicentennial anniversary will prove astounding to all of us.

    With that said, let's move on to the two other temple updates of which I have been made aware. Within the recent past, I had reported in either another posts or the comments thereof here that concrete forms had been placed for foundation footings for the Pocatello idaho Temple, and that the process of connecting sewer lines was also underway. Today it has been reported that rebar is going in for the foundation as well, and that water lines are also being installed. And having already reported that heavy equipment has arrived at the site of the Bangkok Thailand Temple, the one other update I have is for the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, where interior finish work is now underway. Insofar as I have been able to ascertain, Paraguay's only current temple has not had an exterior alteration of the same kind that the Church has utilized on other temples originally dedicated in the late 1990s and early 2000s under the Hinckley-inspired smaller temple building program.

    With all of that noted, I also wanted to mention that I am hoping beyond hope that a temple-related announcement (specifically arrangements for another groundbreaking ceremony) could potentially be made either tomorrow or Friday. Time will tell. If and when I learn of such news, I will be sure to pass word of it along to you all. Thanks again for your ongoing interest and support.

    ReplyDelete

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