Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency made two major announcements this morning. Area Seventy Elder David L. Stapleton will preside at the October groundbreaking ceremony (for which the exact date has not been specified) for the Moses Lake Washington Temple.
I had thought that the Church could schedule more groundbreakings for a few smaller temples around those previously announced, and it's wonderful to have that confirmed in this case.
This announcement means that, when all currently-scheduled groundbreakings have occurred, there will only be 4 left for the Church to make the total 18 mentioned by Elder Bednar during General Conference five months ago.
Parenthetically, based on all that is and is not known about the specific timing and order for groundbreakings in October, since the Salta Argentina Temple is the only one with an exact date set, I have moved both the Taylorsville Utah and Moses Lake Washington Temples below Salta on my list of scheduled temple groundbreakings.
Also, further guidelines have today been provided to allow members worldwide to safely resume normal activities. As communicated to congregational leaders by area seventies following approval from each area presidency, members worldwide may cautiously resume regular in-person or virtual attendance at Church block meetings, as long as governmental and medical guidelines regarding appropriate precautions are followed.
For those congregations allowing virtual participation, it's recemmemded that the Sacrament administration potentially be held at the end of each Sacrament Meeting. This is because the Sacrament portion is not to be virtually broadcast, since members cannot virtually partake of the Sacrament, and because that part of weekly worship is sacred and should not be broadcast publicly outside the meetinghouse from which it originates. The timing and extent of these changes as they impact each congregational meeting can be implemented ASAP as local conditions and tnrestrictions allow once the appropriate approvals are received
Meanwhile, effective November 1, as determined by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as communicated by area presidencies through area seventies to congregational leaders, Stake Conferences can resume in-person or virtually based on COVID-19 guidelines from medical experts and governmental leaders.
I was grateful to learn about and share these developments here today. I continue to track all Church news reports and temple updates and will be sure to pass those along ASAP.
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.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News shared the following additional reports related to today's two major announcements:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-09-11/moses-lake-washington-temple-groundbreaking-192417
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-09-11/first-presidency-principles-guidelines-members-safely-gather-meetings-activities-192492
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-09-11/utah-area-presidency-sunday-worship-meetings-sacrament-activities-192536
The last article I shared above includes a link to an updated list of general guidelines from the Utah Area Presidency. They may or may not be comparable in nature to guidelines that will be forthcoming from the presidencies of the other 21 geographic areas of the Church.
The latest edition of "This Week on Social" has also been published:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-09-11/president-nelson-birthday-restoration-elder-rasband-miracles-face-to-face-holiness-missionary-192518
The newest installment of that ongoing series includes posts from the following general Church leaders: Church President Russell M. Nelson (from whom two posts were shared) and his First Counselor, President Dallin H. Oaks; Elders Quentin L. Cook and Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and the following general officers of the Church: Primary General President Sister Joy D. Jomes; and Sister Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency (from whom 2 posts were also shared).
My thanks once again to you all.
The following additional Church News updates have been provided:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-09-12/music-and-the-spoken-word-blind-spots-open-hearts-192373
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-09-12/oregon-wildfire-latter-day-saints-homes-destroyed-192564
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-09-12/tad-callister-gospel-puzzle-perspective-192231
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-09-12/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-pornography-covid-19-ucap-lds-hope-192547
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Sabbath day, retired Church News editor Sister Gerry Avant, looked back on yet another highlight of her career covering inspirational stories for the Church:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-09-13/pow-faith-korea-gerry-avant-kim-ki-young-wwii-192330
Thanks again, all!
And updates have been reported on the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire and Saratoga Springs Utah Temples:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/abidjan-cote-d'ivoire-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/saratoga-springs-utah-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
With Monday having rolled around yet again, the Church News and Newsroom have provided updates on the phased reopening of temples worldwide, with those changes effective one week from today:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-09-14/lds-temples-open-worldwide-phased-reopening-183918
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-limited-reopening-temples
Although the two articles in question focused on different demographic data, the one common element shared by both is the list of those temples moving into phase 1, which allows for the living husband-to-wife dealings for individuals who have previously received their own endowment, and those moving from phase 1 to phase 2, which allows all living ordinances to be done by priority order: first, to missionaries already out in the field who have not yet received them, them to those within each temple district who are preparing to enter the mission field, then to those preparing for temple sealings who have not previously been endowed, then to any others who may need them.
As for specifics, the Newport Beach and San Diego California Temples are returning to phase 1 after the recent pause to their reopening process. Meanwhile, the following temples previously opened in a phase 1 status remain closed:
Ciudad Juárez, Colonia Juárez Chihuahua, and Hermosillo Sonora Temples, all of which are in Mexico, along with the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple all remain in a paused status.
Meanwhile, of the 10 temples reopening under phase 2, there are 8 in the United States (namely the Atlanta Georgia, Chicago Illinois, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando Florida, Memphis and Nashville Tennessee, Portland Oregon, and Raleigh North Carolina), 1 in Canada (Halifax Nova Scotia), and 1 in the Philippines (Manila Philippines).
Insofar as I have been able to ascertain, there are no other Church news updates or temple developments for me to pass along for the time being, but I will be sure to do so on the future as I learn of them. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom just barely reported on last night's Face-to-Face event featuring Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife Melanie:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-rasband-face-to-face-september-2020
I look forward to hopefully watching that later today, as I was unable to when it aired last night. My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News also provided coverage of last night's devotional:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-09-14/face-to-face-elder-rasband-restoration-bicentennial-proclamation-192597
Additionally, the Newsroom has covered additional developments on how the Church is reintegrating amidst COVID-19:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/coronavirus-update
My thanks once again to you all.