On this blog, I, James Stokes, share insights and analysis covering the latest news and developments reported about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My specific emphasis and focus is on the ministry of our current apostles, General Conference, and up-to-date temple information. This site is neither officially owned, operated, or endorsed by the Church, and I, as the autthor thereof, am solely responsible for this content.
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Thursday, June 6, 2019
Several Church News Items Reported
Next, I wanted to mention that many of the foreign language Newsrooms have offered an increasing number of reports on the ministry of Church leaders in several of those locations. It particularly appears that many of our apostles have been outside the United States in recent days and weeks, and I'd encourage any who are interested in such reports to check them out on the individual Newsrooms. For those of us who have trouble reading material that was not originally in our native languages, in most web browsers, the option to translate such pages into the languages we use will be presented upon navigating to those pages.
Having said that, I wanted to focus my first set of shared articles from the main English Newsroom. The highlights include that the entire First Presidency, in company with Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is our apostle with Asian ancestry, welcomed a delegation from Vietnam's Committee for Religious Affairs, and they discussed, among other things, how the Church and the Committee can streamline efforts to enable the gospel to spread through Vietnam. With the Church having obtained official recognition from that nation roughly 3 years or so ago, it is good to see those cooperative efforts continuing and expanding.
And Elder Quentin L. Cook, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was recently in Jerusalem, where he spoke to a gathering of Latter-day Saints and Jewish leaders, where he encouraged interfaith listening and learning, Elder D. Todd Christofferson was in West Africa recently, during which government leaders praised the Church's focus on family and humanitarian work, while it has also been reported that Church members in New Zealand and elsewhere in the world have been involved in projects to help in the aftermath of the mosque shooting in Christchurch New Zealand.
Meanwhile, on the official website for Church News and Events page, the details of the November Face-to-Face event for children and youth ages 3-17, their teachers, their leaders, and their parents, which will feature Elder Gong and the entire Primary, Young Men, and Young Women General Presidencies. We now turn in conclusion to a few Church News articles that have been published recently, which include articles highlighting how 3 Latter-day Saint female athletes are living and sharing their faith while at universities that are not predominantly made up of Latter-day Saints.
Also, Sister Reyna I. Aubrto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, spoke at this week's BYU-Idaho devotional, while Sisters Lisa L. Harkness, First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, and Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, spoke to the Church News about their recent ministry tour through several nations within the Africa Southeast Area. The Church News also shared recollections from Hugh B. Brown, who served in WWII, and would subsequently serve as an apostle and, for a time, as a member of the First Presidency, as the world celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-day.
Additionally, the proprietors of an art-glass studio based in Lehi, Utah, have spoken to the Church News about how contributing to temple construction has had a positive influence in their lives and on the success of their business. I was pleased to be able to bring these updates to you all here today. I will continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will keep doing my level best to bring word of those to you all as I receive it.
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2 comments:
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Hello again, everyone! I wanted to report some temple updates, which I will get to later on in this comment. But first, the Church News has shared the latest edition of "This Week on Social", which includes quite a few posts on a wide variety of topics. Those featured in this week's edition include the following leaders:
ReplyDeleteElders Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Sisters Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, and her Second Counselor Becky Craven; Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency; Joy D. Jones, Primary General President, and her First and Second Counselors, Lisa L. Harkness and Cristina B. Franco, respectively.
You can find summaries of those posts (and links to the posts themselves) at the following web address:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-07/this-week-on-social-sister-cordon-gets-a-russian-nesting-doll-of-latter-day-saint-prophets-for-her-birthday-50082
Now to the temple updates: At the Arequipa Peru Temple, while interior work continues to progress, landscaping is nearing completion, and art glass windows have been installed. Meanwhile, at the Durban South Africa Temple, the monument sign slab has been poured; stonework, millwork, tiling, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, and data systems installation continues; and more trees, shrubs, and plants have been put in place around the temple grounds.
Given this update, it could be that the open house and dedication information might be officially announced within the next couple of weeks, with the open house perhaps occuring from late November to early December, and the dedication perhaps occurring on the final Sunday of 2019. Of course, nothing is official unless and until the Brethren make it so, but it would not surprise me if an official announcement is just a matter of time.
Another update has also been reported on the Pocatello Idaho Temple, where the sub-basement is currently being poured, and where forms are being set for the basement-level footings. And at the Washington D.C. Temple site, renovations continue on both the interior and exterior thereof. I should also note that the renovation closure for the Hong Kong China Temple will occur exactly one month from tomorrow.
I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and will bring such updates here to you all as I become aware of them. My thanks once again to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Hello again, everyone! Given that it is now around 2:00 PM in Los Olivos Peru, I can confirm that the groundbreaking for the temple in that part of Lima has taken place. But there seems to be another lag between when that happened and when any reports about that will be made available. With that being said, I have heard that work may be able to get underway within the next week or less. So I am, as previously noted, anticipating that Temple's completion sometime during mid-2022 or so. I will keep my eyes open for a source on this, and will share it in a new comment or post hopefully later today. And with the Nelsons and Uchtdorfs in Orlando this weekend, I will pass along a report on their ministry as that becomes available. I will also be covering the details on the next apostolic milestone within the next 12 hours or so. My thanks once again to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
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