Hello again, everyone! With today being August 9, Elder Neil L. Andersen is celebrating his 69h birthday today. So I wanted to post and share some highlights of his life and ministry in the Church. Let's get right into all of that. Neil Linden Andersen was born in Logan, Utah on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics. During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children. He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president (assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission) from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.
Through the next couple of decades as a Seventy, he served in a wide variety of Church assignments, including as executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West ,Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he also served as the area president). In 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy, where he was assigned to preside over the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007). By the time his stewardship switched to the North Am erica Southwest Area (2007-2009), he had gone from being the second-least senior member of that Presidency to being the third-most-senior member. In 2008, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in April) and the release of Senior President Elder Earl C. Tingey (in August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference), Elder Andersen then became the Senior President of the Seventy, a role in which he would only serve for around 8 months.
With the December 2008 death of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference. An interesting bit of trivia is the fact that Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband were all seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy as of August 2007, and they would all go on to be apostolic seatmates, with their apostolic calls occurring in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015 respectively. Since Elder Andersen's original call as a General Authority Seventy in April 1993, he has given a total of 28 addresses in General Conference (3 of which he gave as a General Authority Seventy, with 2 others given while he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 23 since his call to the QuorIum of the Twelve Apostles).
Elder Andersen continues to serve as the seventh in both senirotiy and chronological birth order among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ranks tenth among the 15 total apostles in both seniority and birth chronology. I gladly sustain him and each of his 14 apostolic colleagues as prophets, seers, and revelators, and am grateful to have been able to publish this tribute in honor of his birthday today. 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.
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Tribute to Elder Neil L. Andersen, Who Marks His 69th Birthday
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.
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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! In honor of Elder Andersen's 69th birthday, the Church News has published the following article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-09/elder-neil-l-andersen-birthday-69-190500
And retired Church News editor Gerry Avant continues to take a look back at highlights of her career with an article about how an interview done 47 years ago provides "living history" today:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-08-09/lorenzo-e-petersen-missionary-samoa-gerry-avant-190286
My thans once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.
After a week in which the only COVID-19 update from the Church was a statement from a Church spokesman about missionary reassignments, today has marked maor updates from the Church relative to the resumption of normal activities. First, on temple updates, the Bern Switzerland, Oaxaca Mexico and Tuxtla Guitierrez Mexico Temples are set to open in phase 1 one week from today (Monday August 17).
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, 17 temples which have been in phase 1 for various periods of time will move into phase 2, also effective one week from today. By way of reminder, phase 1 allows living husband-and-wife sealings where both have been previously endowed. And phase 2 allows those temples to resume all ordinances for the living.
A grand total of 17 more temples will open under phase 2 next week, namely: Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth Australia; Anchorage Alaska; Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Logan, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Payson, Provo City Center, Provo, and Vernal Utah; London England; Medford Oregon; and Nauvoo Illinois.
These temple reopenings can be confirmed through the following Newsroom and Church News articles:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-limited-reopening-temples
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-08-10/lds-temples-open-worldwide-phased-reopening-183918
The latter article specifically mentions that, of the 168 operating temples of the Church, 130 are now open for live ordinances, which, by next week, will include 101 open under phase 1 and a total of 29 open in phase 2. Progress is being made on the temple reopening front for sure.
I'm back with a few other thoughts. I have mentioned previously that, at times, it has been difficult to determine where the area boundaries for the Church are. The Church News article to which I provided the address above shows which currently-operating temples belong to each geographic area of the Church, which may help define those boundaries a little more easily than we'd otherwise be able to do so.
DeleteTurning now to other updates showing how the Church is reintegrating in various world areas, the Newsroom has shared the following report:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update
That article shares the following updates on Church Distribution Centers and Deseret Book stores:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/multimedia/file/church-distribution-retail-stores.pdf
And there has been another update provided on the Church's Deseret Industries facilities as well:
https://www.deseretindustries.org/reopen
I am grateful for the measured, cautious approach the Church is taking to its' strategy towards reopening. I continue to monitor all such developments relative to Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as i become aware of those in the future. In the meantime, I thank you all again for your continued interest and ongoing support.
Speaking of new updates, the Church News just confirmed what had been reported on the Events page through the Newsroom:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/event/september-2020-face-to-face-for-young-adults-with-elder-and-sister-rasband
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-10/venue-change-face-to-face-elder-rasband-bicentennial-proclamation-190553
That confirmation relates to a change in venue for the September 13 Face-to-Face Event with Elder and Sister Rasband. The event was originally planned to be broadcast from the Sacred Grove in New York. But COVID-19 travel restrictions, which will prevent the Rasbands from being able to get to New York for the event, have necessitated a change. That event will now originate from the Church's Motion Picture Studios facility in Goshen, Utah. I am grateful that the Church has been so quick to observe the conditions relative to COVID-19 and make needed adjustments accordingly as swiftly as can reasonably be the case. My thanks once again to you all.
A new update has been provided on the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple;
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/saratoga-springs-utah-temple/
And apparently, over the weekend, a new report has indicated that the government-imposed quarantine in Metro-Manila has been sufficiently lifted to the point where full-scale construction has been able to begin on that temple. Accordingly, foundation work is now underway at that site.
And although full-scale efforts are still reportedly pending on the Auckland New Zealand Temple, that temple is still anticipated to be completed before the Alabang Philippines Temple.
Additionally, Saturday is going to almost certainly be a big day for temple developments. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Salta Argentina Temple is set to be held. And the Columbus Ohio Temple, currently operating under phase 2, will close for its' renovation process on Saturday as well. Additionally, Saturday also marks the deadline within which the signature-gathering process for the ballot initiative on the development surrounding the Tooele Valley Temple comes to its' conclusion.
If sufficient signatures are successfully gathered, it could alter the Church's plans for both the development and the temple itself, and a delay in that temple's construction commencement could go into effect for roughly a year, unless the Church chooses to alter the plans for both to deal with the citizens' expressed concerns.
Stay tuned for more on that as I learn about it. Thanks again, everyone!
Hello again, everyone! The following articles have been shared by the Church News, and are self-explanatory:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-08-11/byu-vocal-point-video-vitual-choir-800-musicians-55-countries-190601
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-08-11/12th-international-art-competition-church-history-museum-190564
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-11/primary-general-presidency-engage-children-work-salvation-190536
And updates have been provided on the following temples:
Richmond Virginia:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/richmond-virginia-temple/
and Salt Lake:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/salt-lake-temple/
The Church’s Newsroom has also provided the following update:
https://news-ph.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/familysearch-hands-over-to-pandacan-church-190-years-of-digitized-parish-records
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The following articles have been shared by the Church News, and are self-explanatory:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-08-11/byu-vocal-point-video-vitual-choir-800-musicians-55-countries-190601
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-08-11/12th-international-art-competition-church-history-museum-190564
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-11/primary-general-presidency-engage-children-work-salvation-190536
And updates have been provided on the following temples:
Richmond Virginia:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/richmond-virginia-temple/
and Salt Lake:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/salt-lake-temple/
The Church’s Newsroom has also provided the following update:
https://news-ph.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/familysearch-hands-over-to-pandacan-church-190-years-of-digitized-parish-records
My thanks once again to you all.
Here is another article from the Church News:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-08-11/women-priesthood-covenant-memnet-lopez-trusting-lord-190005
My thanks once again to you all.