Stokes Sounds Off: 01/17/19

Search This Blog

Leaderboard

Thursday, January 17, 2019

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Set for San Juan Puerto Rico Temple

Hello again, everyone! Within the last week, the artist's rendering was released for the San Juan Puerto Rico Temple. Today, the First Presidency officially announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for this temple will occur on Saturday May 4. Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, Carribean Area President, will preside at this event. Given the fact that Elder Gonzalez has served away from Church headquarters since January 2013 (first as president of the South America South Area, becoming Caribbean Area President in August 2016), I would anticipate this being one of the last official acts in that capacity, at which point he might be returning to Church headquarters, whether to serve in an area presidency based in Salt Lake, or in other capacities. Barring any other temples having a groundbreaking before that time, this will be the third temple groundbreaking of 2019.

Since construction on this temple is anticipated to take roughly two years, I will be setting a preliminary completion estimate of early-to-mid 2021, but could see reason to move that up depending on how quickly construction progresses. I have mentioned this elsewhere, but it bears repeating here: For any temple to have a site confirmed, artist's rendering released, and a groundbreaking held within less than 8 months of its' announcement has not been a common occurrence since the Hinckley-era temple-building boom ended. And that is significant any way it is considered.

It is possible that this temple could potentially be dedicated before the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple is in 2021. It will be interesting to see how quickly this temple makes progress. And I am sure that Puerto Rico's status as a US territory is helping and will continue to help to expedite that process. I will keep my eyes open for more news on this and other temples and am committed to passing word of those along to you all as I become aware of it.

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.

New Mission Presidents Announced

Hello again, everyone! The Church News has published a list of new mission leadership (presidents and companions) who will begin serving later this year. Counted among that list are 8 currently-serving area seventies; several former area seventies, Elder Valeri V. Cordon, General Authority Seventy; and Reid L. Neilson, who currently is serving as assistant Church historian and recorder.

The 8 area seventies may or may not be released this April, as area seventies called as mission presidents have been known to fill both assignments for 1-3 General Conferences following the commencement of their service as mission presidents. Elder Cordon, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2015, will need to be released as a member of the Central America Area Presidency.

And for Brother Neilson, insofar as I have been able to ascertain, the Church did not formally present his name for sustaining vote in General Conference, so his release may not be done over the pulpit either. But Elder Steven E. Snow, who serves as Church Historian and Recorder, and whose call was presented for sustaining vote, will be 70 in November, so perhaps the Church will bring on both a new Church Historian and Recorder and a new assistant. That will be interesting to learn more about.

Getting back to the subject of new mission leadership, their biographies will be published in the Church News in the coming weeks, and I will pass those along either in new posts on this blog or on the comments of previously-published posts as I become aware of them. 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.