Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson to Minister in Southeast Asia; Rendering Released for the Layton Utah Temple

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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson to Minister in Southeast Asia; Rendering Released for the Layton Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! At the top of this breaking news post, I'd be remiss if I did not first take just a brief moment to thank you all for your continued interest, ongoing support, and regular comments. Some of you may have commented earlier today to report the breaking news I will now share, and I will be addressing any comments ASAP this afternoon. In the meantime, let me now share the two breaking news developments reported by the Church today.


First of all, President Nelson is not letting the proverbial grass grow under his feet following the recent historic General Conference weekend. He has made plans for a third 2019 ministry tour as an ongoing effort to enable as many Church members as possible to have the opportunity to see a prophet, and to better acquaint himself with the issues worldwide members are facing. He, accompanied by his wife, Wendy W. Nelson, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Katherine, will travel to Southeast Asia, making four stops in a seven-day period.

The Church leaders will depart from Salt Lake on Friday November 15, returning to Salt Lake on Friday November 22, 6 days before Thanksgiving here in the United States. The first stops will last two days, and see the leaders in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam. They will stop in Phnom Pehn Cambodia the following day, and I would be shocked if they do not spend part of the time looking at prospective locations for the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple, although a potential site has already been identified. The following day, the leaders will travel to Singapore, ending the tour with the last stop in Jakarta Indonesia the following day. So perhaps part of the time may be spent scoping out any of these cities for readiness for a temple of their own.

President Nelson becomes the first Church president to visit these regions of Southeast Asia since President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Vietnam and Cambodia in 1996, and Singapore and Indonesia in 2000. The Newsroom release also notes that the leaders will speak at member meetings to Latter-day Saints and friends of otther faiths, and that they will also pay courtesy calls to government and religious leaders. So stay tuned here for more coverage on that tour as it occurs.

If that were the only breaking news, it would be reason enough to rejoice, but the Church also released earlier today an official exterior rendering for the Layton Utah Temple, as they continue to work with the Layton city government on final approvals for that temple. No groundbreaking date has been announced as of yet, but until further notice, I stand by the estimate I have previously offered. If I am correct in assuming that all temples for which news was reported within the last month or so will have a groundbreaking by this time next year, in addition to the other temples for which I am anxiously awaiting news, then within the next year, we could easily see a minimum of 12 temples have a groundbreaking within that time.

But I anticipate that we may see more temple groundbreakings than that. Although he has not be too specific about the extent or timing of his plans, it is obvious that President Nelson loves temples and wants to bring them to the people so they can experience the blessings thereof. Therefore, in the coming days, weeks, and months, I anticipate many more temple-related announcements, some of which may currently be on nobody's radar, including and especially my own. I will watch for word of all such developments and will bring word of it all to you here as I become aware of it.

Another couple of notes not related to the breaking news developmnts I have reported here. The Newsroom also reported today that the president of the Pacific Islands nation of Kiribati visited Church headquarters today, meeting with the First Presidency and other Church leaders. Additionally, with today being Tuesday October 8, Acting President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is celebrating his 91st birthday today. I will be posting a birthday tribute to him on this blog later this afternoon or evening, just as soon as I catch my breath from the whirlwind influx of Church news that was seen today. Again, I have to echo Elder Holland's statement from the April 2018 General Conference. "What a prophet [we have in President Nelson]!"

That does it for now. 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.

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