Stokes Sounds Off: 04/10/19

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Wednesday, April 10, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Announces New Church Historian and Recorder and Commissioner of Church Education

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced a new Church Historian and Recorder, along with a new Commissioner of Church Education. The Brethren serving currently in those assignments, Elders Steven E. Snow and Kim B. Clark respectively, will be released as General Authorities and granted emeritus status this October.

The new Church Historian and Recorder will be Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, who currently serves as First Counselor in the Utah Area Presidency and as Assistant Executive Director of the Church History Department. The new Commissioner of Church Education will be Elder Paul V. Johnson, who had been serving in that capacity when Elder Clark was called to replace him following Elder Johnson's call to serve outside the United States in the Europe Area Presidency.

Elder Johnson becomes the second general authority to serve two separate terms as Commissioner of Church Education. The other was Henry B. Eyring, who served in that capacity from 1980-1986 and again from 1992-2004. I had a feeling those changes were coming down the pike at some point, and I am grateful to have learned about and been able to report these changes.  I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all here as I receive 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.

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson's Next Global Ministry Tour Announced

Hello again, everyone! Earlier today, the Church's official Newsroom shared a release announcing the next leg of President Russell M. Nelson's ongoing global ministry tour. The latest leg of that tour will take place in mid-to-late May throughout the Pacific Area of the Church, and President Nelson and his wife, Wendy, will be accompanied by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Susan.

The tour will kick off on Thursday May 16 and end on Saturday May 25. After departing from Salt Lake on that Thursday, the tour will begin in Kona Hawaii. On Saturday the 18th, the group of leaders will be in Apia Samoa, and will travel over to Sydney Australia the following day. On Monday, a two-day stop in Auckland New Zealand will be observed. Wednesday, the group will arrive in Suva Fiji, followed by a stop in Nuku'alofa Tonga the following day. Once their time in Tonga is completed, they will cross the international date line into Papeete Tahiti, which will mark the last stop on the tour.

As many of you may have noticed by now, quite a few of the stops are in nations where temples have been announced, and perhaps part of the time during that tour may involve looking at prospective temple locations. This tour will allow the leaders to meet with members and missionaries in all of these cities. And again, we see President Nelson planning a trip at somewhat of a breakneck speed. This may be the first of two or perhaps even three legs of his Global Ministry Tour this year.

The Newsroom release to which I shared a link above notes more specific details, which are well worthy of your time. The Newsroom will be carrying full reports on this tour as the stops are observed, and I will be carrying that coverage here on this blog as well. We are blessed to have a prophet who is healthy enough to travel extensively, and we continue to see him stopping at home between trips just long enough to recover, retrieve another apostolic companion, and head out again. And the fact that he is continuing to do so as his 95th birthday draws ever closer is amazing and outstanding.

I guess I should also mention that just because the next official leg of that ongoing Global Ministry Tour will take place in May, that doesn't mean he won't be making other stops elsewhere as time and circumstances allow in the interim. There is still no word as to who might be presiding over the dedication of the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple this weekend, so he could oversee that personally, or delegate that assignment to either of his counselors or one of the senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

For my part, I will continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will bring you all word of such news as I receive 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.