Hello again, everyone! Around half an hour ago, I received a breaking news alert on my phone from the Church News, wherein a new article indicated that 3 changes are being implemented effective immediately by the First Presidency in the wake of the ongoing worldwide spread of COVID-19. Those changes were further detailed in 3 official news releases published on the Newsroom website at around the same time. Let's look at those one-by-one. The first change will impact the April 2020 General Conference. With all five sessions thereof originating from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City (which should put rumors to rest about the conference being held in other locations), attendance at the Conference Center will be limited to participants only, including General Authorities and General Officers of the Church, the choirs that will be performing thereat, and the technicians and specialists required to help trasmit and translate the conference. The second announcement relates to missionary work. In order to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19, all missionaries who would otherwise have been trained in the MTCs in Provo Utah and Preston England will instead be trained remotely before flying out from their nations of residence to their fields of labor. This change also applies to missionaries from areas where there are a high number of cases of COVID-19.
And the final adjustment will pertain to large gatherings of Church members in the following specific areas of the Church: Asia, Asia North, Europe, Europe East, and the 6 areas in the United States and Canada. In those areas of the Church all stake or large leadership gatherings that would otherwise have been held are postponed out of an abundance of caution regarding the potential spread of COVID-19. For each of the other 11 (soon to be 12) areas of the Church, members and leaders are being counseled to follow directions received from the area presidencies. In the meantime, for weekly worship servicesand and other meetings or activities that would have been held, local leaders will be tasked with making decisions on that on a case-by-case basis, as a result of what is determined through the lines of authority. The interesting thing that struck me about all of these announcements (aside from the fact that these three major developments were reported simultaneously) is that each of the letters outlining these changes were published in full via the official Newsroom of the Church. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that 3 letters have been simultaneously sent out and reported via the Newsroom website, rather than merely showing up in members' e-mail inboxes or on the Church's repository website for official communications. Aside from that analysis of these developments, I want to acknwoledge that it is wonderful to see Church leaders making these adjustments due to the changing asse\ssments and recommendations about COVID-19 from health and government officials.
These official announcements also all serve as corrections and clarifications to anything I have previously shared on this subject, since the determinations of the leading quorums of the Church as inspired by the Lord trump my own wisdom and analysis at any time.t These appear to be very common-sense adjustments allowing the utilization of technology to a greater degree to further the work of the Lord in the midst of the ongoing global scope and increasing threat posed by COVID-19. That said, it is also important to note that, according to recommendations made by several doctors familiar with infectious diseases, there is no call at this time for widespread panic or mass hysteria in response to the virus. As long as proper precautions are being taken on all of the right fronts, and as long as Church members are prepared for how COVID-19 might impact individuals, families, and congregations, and as long as health officials indicate this is the case, there is no need at this time to be unduly concerned or troubled. Any further adjustments will be made based on recommednations from health officials and political and religious leaders at various levels. To quote the immortal words of President Gordon B. Hinckley, the enterally optimistic prophet, "Everything will work out." And above all else, the Lord is mindful of His people all over the world, and knows how best to assist all of us in preparing for and responding to the virus in all such cases.
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.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Tweaks Guidelines for the April 2020 General Conference, Missionary Training, and Other Larger Gatherings
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
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Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post right now to clarify some things I have ssaid, particularly in the post above and in the threads of prior posts, regarding the Church's evolving response to the COVID-19 situation. Firstly, the Church continues to provide almost daily updates on arrangements that are being made in response to this crisis. The latest such update, reflected in the article found at the following web address, notes that, in addition to the breaking developments on which I reported earlier, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple has now also closed in the wake of the coronavirus. That opens the possibilitiy that other South American nations (or even, by extension, other parts of Latin America or nations elsewhere in the world) may be impacted in a similar way through the closure of temples in their midst.
ReplyDeleteAbove and beyond that, I realized that my statement in the post above about the process of preparing ourselves for the virus's imnpact in our own lives might have been confusing. The reason I mentioned approaching that preparation from a place of faith rather than fear is because, as has usually been the case in prior global-scale issues, some people are taking their preparations to the extreme level.
Among other available resources, my main source for local news, KSL, has published a list of FAQs about the coronavirus, and among the questions asked and answers for those are several prime examples of dos and donts:
https://www.ksl.com/article/46728734/coronavirus-mailbag-answers-to-14-questions-youve-asked-us-about-covid-19
Just to reiterate: the questions and answers are not meant to imply that no preparation is needed, but rather that the preparation needs to be done in a smart, effective, and reasonable degree, and without going into the territory of extreme or neeedlessly excessive and/or wasteful practices of preparation. The key is to follow advice from local and regional government, educational, civic, and religious leaders. The Church's Emergency Prepardness standards are almost certainly applicable in relation to preparing properly with the right mindset in the wake of COVID-19 spreading the way it is. So getting prepared but doing so intelligently and prudently appears to be the key.
I don't know how long it may be until conditions improve enough for the Church to get back to business-as-usual instead of taking the precautions outlined in today's announcements, but I will keep my eyes on that situation, and on any other Church news or temple developmments and will do my level best to continue bringing word of those to you all here as I become aware of such developments. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! In person and online via social media, Church members shared their reactions to the above announcements:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-03-11/coronavirus-general-conference-missionaries-mtc-training-176788
My thanks once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.
Further updates have been provided on the Church's continued responses to and adjustments for COVID-19. The Church News highlights all of the latest developments in a single article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-03-11/coronavirus-byu-college-campuses-temples-closed-176899
And the Newsroom has published new guidelines that will become effective on March 16 for the many primary and secondary schools worldwide which fall under the Church Educational System (CES):
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/ces-guhidelines-covid-19
In the meantime, the Church has also provided additional clarification on the missions and temples which have been impacted by the response to COVID-19L:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update-february-27-2020
Above and beyond that, however, the restrictions already in place for several missions located throghout the Asian contient will also apply to the Italy Milan Mission, with other European missions likely to be affected in the days ahead as well.
As a direct result of the Church's efforts to adapt to the widening range and scope of COVID-19, with an announcement earlier today that indica, ed that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple would be closed, the closure of 4 others brings the total impacted by the response to COVID-19 to an even dozen. As reported by the Church News and the Newsroom, the four temples in question are as follows: Boston Massachusetts, Copenhagen Denmark, Louisville Kentucky, and Manhattan New York. It is more likely than not that other missions will be affected, and that other temples will soon be closed to prevent the possible spread of COVID-19.
To the best of my ability, I will stay on top of all subsequent updates on this, other Church news, and new reports of temple progress (or a lack thereof). My thanks once again to you all.
Closing temples should not delay or stop temple work. I encourage all to do more of thier own family history work to gather and prepare names for when those temples reopen. I also highly encourage more people to try and indexing. It is not too hard and could be done on your own pace and time. You can do as much or as little as you want. Indexing is an essential part of temple work and family history work. If your temple is clised, you can still participate in the sacred work.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chris, for putting in a plug for indexing. That is a great suggestion. The awesome thing is that, if people do involve themselves in indexing, then when their assigned temples are once again open, they will be ready to redeem the dead they found through indexing. I have not yet been able to get into indexing myself (since I am dealing with many health issues that complicate my day-to-day situation currently), but I have heard from several people, including and especially you yourself, how amazing indexing is. So your encouragement in that sense is timely given all that is going on. Based on your comment, I endorse your suggestion as posted to the threads of this blog for anyone that would like to take that opportunity. Thanks, Chris, for sharing that, and for taking time to comment.
DeleteHello again, everyone! I have mentioned this a few different times since the Church began taking steps on the coronavirus, but once things began shifting and adjusting in the wake of the increaed global scope of this issue, the Church has been quick to take steps to curb the potential spread for vulnerable populations and to minimize that prospect. As a result of those ongoing efforts, the following additional updates have been provided:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-03-11/coronavirus-byu-college-campuses-temples-closed-176899
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-03-11/coronavirus-byu-college-campuses-temples-closed-176899
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-03-11/coronavirus-asuncion-paraguay-temple-closes-176877
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update-february-27-2020
The CHurch News has also begun shring biographies of hewly-called temple presidents who will begin serving in November:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-03-12/temple-presidents-matrons-australia-spain-england-florida-176611
I will keep an updated list of temples for which a new president has been called at the following web address, for which all who have that URL will be able to access it:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qcf4P9oxAlBJ7Mh20Ixy11WQ7BQGxOtgqIRwnFhSn6A/edit?usp=sharing
I do have some breaking temple news to get to, which I will publish in a new post shortly. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom continues to provide updates on the coronavirus:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update-february-27-2020
Additionally, earlier this afternoon, state officials here in Utah held a press conference, which included insights from medical professionals and a discussion of recommendations provided by a task force formed to deal with the impact of COVID-19 in Utah.
The Church News provided a look at how those recommendations will impact Church members who live in this state:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-03-12/coronavirus-utah-church-members-gatherings-176927
Effective immediately, all congregational meetings and other gatherings are canceled here in Utah for the next two weeks (which pertains to the Sundays of March 15 and 22). Word may be coming down from the area presidency regarding whether or not the priesthood bearer(s) in the home will be able to administer the Sacrament in their homes to their families during that two-week period. I assume that, closer to the end of this month, further assessment will determine what (if anything) to do about normal worship services on Sunday March 29, and whether or not the arrangements for General Conference might be further tweaked.
If those tweaks do wind up happening, it might be that the choirs could perform in a separate room from which the feed would be piped in to the Conference Center, and that attendance at each session could be restricted solely to the participants in that session. But I will keep an eye on those developments and report any new updates that are shared. In the meantime, my thakns once again to you all.