Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Confirms Arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference

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Friday, August 28, 2020

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Confirms Arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! A long-time reader of this blog, Nigel, commented here a short while ago on the arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference. Based on that feedback, I did some digging on my end, and found an official letter from the First Presidency, which confirms the details for that General Conference. It appears that the General Conference will follow the typical October pattern, with four general sessions for all Church members on Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon, with the standard Women's Session being held Saturday evening. 

The announcement through this letter constitutes a correction to any information I have previously offered on the upcoming General Conference. Accordingly, I will neeed to take some time to update my predictions for the upcoming General Conference, which will be published here ASAP after the appropriate changes are made. In the interim, it seems more likely than not that, with the sessions being closed to the public, that the conference will still originate from the small auditorium on Temple Square, with the First Presidency presiding at the sessions, and only those speaking or praying during each session will be in attendance. 

For the Women's Session, I imagine that it will additionally be attended by whichever General President will conduct the session this go-round. I also imagine, per information that was previously released, that the Tabernacle Choir will participate in all sessions with prerecorded music, unless music is pulled from prior Women's Sessions. There will be a lot to consider in terms of the necessary readjustments to my predictions, and I will be sure to make and pass along those updates as I am able to make them. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such information. 

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.

5 comments:

  1. Hi James,

    I don't think the link to the letter is working.

    Thanks,
    Michael

    ReplyDelete
  2. But here's another source: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/5-ways-to-watch-october-2020-general-conference-live

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael, thanks for stopping by to comment. I figured out the issue. Since the original letter was from the online repository, which is password-protected, it couldn't be distributed, even if downlloaded to a device rather than accessed through that system.

    The Church generally makes something more official available within a few days of whenever the letter is dated. So something more official in the public domain may be coming down the pike. In the meantime, the link to the story from the Newsroom was helpful. Thanks for finding and posting that. I appreciate hearing from you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello again, everyone! Because I was so busy yesterday between the major updates I provided and some personal obligations, there were a few Church news articles I was unable to pass along before now. So let’s get right into those.

    The Church News has apparently created a one-article repository where the latest updates on the aftermath of Hurricane Laura can be found, replacing the content with updated information when that becomes available. Here is the latest update published yesterday:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-08-28/hurricane-laura-update-lake-charles-louisiana-beaumont-texas-relief-efforts-191685

    And as part of BYU-Hawaii’s Ohana annual meeting for faculty and staff at that university, Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, who spoke remotely, shared insights on the power of belonging, and some counsel on how faculty and staff can still connect with their students during COVID-19 as they are “laying the foundations of a great work”:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-28/president-cordon-belonging-students-great-work-remote-learning-191642

    The Church News also shared the inspiring story of how, in a roughly 5-week period in May and June, Latter-day Saint youth in Colorado were able to gather nearly 16.000 pounds of canned goods to donate to a local food bank. The project, which replaced the traditional youth conference originally scheduled to occur within that period of time, allowed the youth to do some meaningful service even as COVID-19 continued to impact their daily lives:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-08-28/colorado-youth-foodbank-service-covid-19-191563

    Following the recent deadly explosion in Beirut, Latter-day Saint Charities, the Humanitarian Service arm of the Church, donated $2 million to the Lebanese government to help with the ongoing recovery efforts:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-08-28/latter-day-saint-charities-donates-2-million-beirut-lebanon-relief-blast-191738

    The Church’s official Newsroom provided additional coverage on that development:

    https://news-middleeast.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saint-charities-sends-humanitarian-aid-to-lebanon

    Retired Church News editor Sister Gerry Avant continues her look back on highlights of her career with another article, recounting her experience observing a young missionary who was severely injured in Guatemala who had the tenacity, fortitude, and faith to complete the recovery process and then resume and honorably finish his missionary service in Guatemala:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-08-29/missionary-earthquake-calling-gerry-avant-guatemala-back-injury-191410

    And the latest edition of “This Week on Social” was published yesterday:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-08-28/this-week-on-social-young-women-leaders-inspire-bless-191722

    Leaders featured in the newest installment of that ongoing series this go-round included the following: President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency; Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, Quentin L. Cook, and Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; the entire Young Women General Presidency (General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon and her First and Second Counselors, Sisters Michelle D. Craig and Becky Craven, respectively); Primary General President Sister Joy D. Jones; and Relief Society General President Sister Jean B. Bingham.

    Finally, another update has been provided on the Pocatello Idaho Temple:

    https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/pocatello-idaho-temple/

    I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of them. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello again, everyone! Updates have been reported on the Winnipeg Manitoba, Pocatello Idaho, Layton Utah, and Salt Lake Temples:

    https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/winnipeg-manitoba-temple/

    https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/pocatello-idaho-temple/

    https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/layton-utah-temple/

    https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/salt-lake-temple/

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete

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