Miscellaneous Musings

Hello again, everyone, and Happy Leap Day 2020! It's not often that I have a chance to post new content on February 29, so I am grateful to be able to do so today. The last couple of days, I have benn running around physically, mentally, and in other respects, focusing on a wide variety of temporal and spiritual obligations. But I wanted to post again now to share some musings I have been having in the midst of all of it. First of all, let me say right out of the gate that what I share herein are no more and no less than my own thoughts, perspectives, and ideas based on the information I currently have available. And especially where matters relating to the Church are concerned, these thoughts that I offer are subject to either confirmation, denial, or correction through official channels. So the first thing that I wanted to share relates to temples. As some of you may know, the coronavirus outbreak, particularly as it is impacting the Asian continent, has had an impact on the operation of temples, and, I am sure, is also impacting the renovation efforts on the Tokyo Japan and Hong Kong China Temples. If the crews working on either or both temples have been advised to halt those efforts out of caution in relation to that virus, the duration of the delay in being able to resume that work may in turn impact the timing of the eventual completion of that work. Therefore, I am hazarding a guess that the rededication of the Tokyo temple may be deferred until early next year, though I don't know what that might mean for the timing of the anticipated rededication of the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Above and beyond that, however, with the Church having previously announced the opening dates and rededication for the Washington D.C. Temple, I had expresed surprise that there would be just over 6 weeks between the conclusion of the open house and the day of that temple's rededication. Yesterday, I came across an interesting article from someone currently living in the D.C. area, who posited the theory that the explanation for that lengthy gap (which could also explain the timing of the earlier-than-usual announcement of the information so far in advance of the relevant dates) could be the Church wanting to keep extra time open for tours, depending on the gauged interest in the open house process.

That in turn lead me to conclude that the Church may have initially put out a rededication date, but could subsequently determine to extend the rededication of that temple across multiple dates, in a reverse of the situation we saw for the Rome Italy Temple dedication last year, where 8 days of dedication were originally alloted, with the Brethren subsequently deciding to hold sessions over only 3 of the original 8. So I wouldn't be surprised if the rededication plans for this temple are also extended. On a separate note, I would also anticipate that the dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, with it being a smaller temple, might take place before the rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple, and when I post my latest revisions to my estimates for future temple events, all of that will be reflected therein.

Next, over the last week, as time and circumstances have allowed me to do so, I have taken time to watch the Face-to-Face event for youth on the new Children and Youth program, which featured President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and his wife, Kristen. While all of the broadcast was good, one thing in particular stuck out to me, which was a statement made by President Oaks. He said that one of his personal goals he's working on is putting together 7-8 talks, which will be given in various settings over the next six months, including in the upcoming April General Conference.

That statement led me to change my thoughts about the April 2020 General Conference yet again. And I realized that perhaps what would make the upcoming conference so unique would not be an increased number of addresses given by members of the Presidency of the Seventy and Presiding Bishopric of the Church, but the First Presidency having more opportunities to speak during this General Conference than we typically see. So in my newly-revised predictions, they will include only one speaker from the Presiding Bishopric, 2 from the Presidency of the Seventy, and 5 general officers of the Church, which will allow the First Presidency members more of an opportunity to speak.

I am taking my time with the revisions to my predictions, especially in light of the thoughts that came to me as detailed in the previous paragraphs. The insights I gleaned may delay the publication of those predictions 2-3 days beyond what I originally anticipated (as I had been planning on reposting them either later today or tomorrow sometime), so you can probably expect those to now be published later this week (by no later than Thursday or Friday, but hopefully on Tuesday or Wednesday).

And I have a variety of other projects coming down the pike in the near future, some of which I have outlined, others of which will be added to the plan going forward as I determine a need for them. Above and beyond anything else, I know that we are entering an unprecedented period of time, and I can't wait to see what's next. I am hopeful that between now and the weekend of General Conference that groundbreaking arrangements may be announced for at least 2 other temples, but that too is up to the discretion of the Lord and the inspiration He gives to His prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.

To the best of my ability, I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will pass along all such updates ASAP after I become aware of them. 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.