BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Specific Date Announced for the Groundbreaking of the Coban Guatemala Temple

Hello again, everyone! Less than a few hours after the confirmation of the groundbreaking for the Taylorsville Utah Temple, I have another breaking temple development to report. The exact date been announced for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Coban Guatemala Temple. 

Previously announced to just occur sometime next month, today, the announcement noted that that groundbreaking will take place two weeks from today, on Saturday October 14. That groundbreaking follows that of the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple, which was held on Saturday September 5. 

Hopefully between now and then, full-scale construction will be able to begin on the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple, or there will be two Central American temples in the "Full-scale construction pending" status. Insofar as I am able to ascertain, none of the other 7 temples for which a groundbreaking has been set to occur in November have had an exact date set. 

But if I am correct that Starudays may be utilized for those for the most part, and that the groundbreakings for the Salta and Mendoza Argentina and Antofagasta Chile Temples will all take place on the same day under the direction of each of the three members of the South America South Area presidency, then that leaves any of the 3 other Saturdays, including November 14, on which one or more temples could also have a groundbreaking.

For that reason, I will be interested to see how the scheduling  arrangements for those are handled. I continue to monitor those developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such news. 

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Halloween Groudbreaking Held for the Taylorsville Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! Having published a brief post on the Taylorsville Utah Temple groundbreaking, which was held today, I am now providing more expansive coverage by recreating as much as I can of the original post content I tried unsuccessfully to share earlier. As I mentioned, a report from KSL published roughly three hours ago confirmed that Elder Gong had presided over that event at some point this morning. 

The Church had assigned Elder Gong to do that in view of his wife's connections to the Taylorsville area in which the temple will be built. The interesting thing is that, although KSL is a subsidiary of a parent company connected to the Church, there has been no official confirmation through either the Church News or Newsroom of this same inforlmation, at least not at the time this post was published. 

But there may be a good reason for that. The KSL article notes that: "[t]he grounds will remain open Saturday for anyone in the Taylorsville area to come ceremoniously break ground for the temple with a few turns of a shovel." Directly after that sentence, Elder Gong is quoted in the article as saying, ""Anyone who wants to come and be part — we hope they will all come and be part — we feel like this is a special day for them."

So the Taylorsville Utah Temple groundbreaking thus has two firsts for the Church: today marked the first Halloween day in the United States on which a temple of the Church had a groundbreaking, and I also believe this is the first time ever (or at least the first time in a long time) that the Church has left a dedicated temple site open for the day for anyone who may be interested in so doing to participate in the ceremonial groundbreaking for that temple.not

Having said that, a few other tidbits from me may be helpful for contextual purposes. The Church announced this temple's groundbreaking (and Elder Gong's assignment to preside at that  event) roughly 2.5 months ago.  Between now and then, Elder and Sister Gong were diagnosed with and have receovered from COVID-19. If the tradition relative to temples in the United States continued with today's groundbreaking, Elder Gong may have offered a general anticipated completion window for this temple, along with noting how soon full-scale efforts are anticipated to get underway. 

But I'd be remiss here if I didn't also note that that optimism about how quickly construction efforts can begin (usually within a window of the week following the groundbreaking cremony) for temples in the United States has apparently been overstated. We have seen delays of varying lengths for the commencement of construction on the Richmond Virginia, Layton Utah, Feather River California, Orem Utah, and Moses Lake Washington Temples.

I will even go a step further and note that the groundbreaking for the Moses Lake Washington Temple took place 3 weeks ago today, and nothing has been done in relation to that temple within that time. Of course, that temple could be considered an exception anyways, since the city officials granted  approval for that temple as long as the Church sees to it that the land is platted within a year of when cconstruction commences.. If the Church is working on platting that site before beginning to build on it, that could explain the delays in that case.

So what I'm trying to convey here is that, whether or not Elder Gong mentioned a general time-frame for full-scale construction to begin on the Taylorsville Utah Temple, or gave any indication of when the Church anticipated completing it, the completion estimate may or may not need to be shifted forward or back. Until more inforrmation is known, given that the temple is anticipated to be just  under 500 square feet bigger than the Orem Utah Temple, I am applying mid-to-late 2023 as an initial general estimate for that temple's completion.

But as with all other estimates I have provided, those are subject to confirmation or denial through any official Church announcement or through any new information provided to me by the sources I use for temple construction updates. Either way,, I continue to monitor all such developments, in addition to any and all Church news updates, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all here as I become aware of any such updates.

I should also note that I hope to be able to publish updates of information in my temple files at some point between now and November when the bulk of temple groundbreakings held in that maonth have taken place. I will also be setting scheduled posts to publish here in honor of the two apostles celebrating their birthdays in November (with Elder Uchtdorf turning 80 on November 6, and Elder Renlund observing his 68th birthday exactly one week later).

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.

October 2020 General Conference Predictions Results

Hello again, everyone! With almost 3 full weeks having passed since the October 2020 General Conference took place, I am pleased to now provide the resultp s of my predictions for it. First, I felt that it might be helpful for many of you if I provided more specific information and examples on what I score, how it is scored, and how that leads to the overall point total and accuracy percentage for them. That new section sets the backdrop for the results of the predicted speaking order, those of the projected changes in general Church leadership and a look at how my list of prospective temple lcations compared to the locations in which a temple was officially announced.

The information largely speaks for itself, but if any of you have questions about any of that, I'd welcome the chance to address 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.

UPDATED: Observations About Temple Groundbreakings in 2020

Hello again, everyone! While I continue to get the results of my October 2020 General Conference predictions ready to present here, and am also making updates as I can to the temple documents I want to share here as well, something else has come up that warranted a new post.  Aside from the Church News updates I provided in the threads of my previous post, one other article was published on the subject of the 21 temple groundbreakings that the Church has scheduled to take place this year. 

The article in question sheds some light on why 18 temple groundbreakings were originally planned, how that number increased to 21, and why President Nelson referenced only 20 in his remarks opening the October 2020 General Conference. It appears that 21 are indeed scheduled to occur, but that the logistics related to the arrangements of 1 of those may result in that groundbreaking being pushed back on the schedule. 

Although the article did not specify which temple might be delayed, I had a few thoughts in that respect.  When the Deseret News published an article on the 2020 groundbreakings, the Mendoza Argentina Temple had not been on that list. So it’s possible that, logistically, there are or may be issues with that temple. We also know that the Salta Argentina Temple’s groundbreaking has been pushed back twice, so any additional delay relative to that temple might push it back into next year. 

Similarly, we know that there are some political, environmental, or systemic issues going on in Zimbabwe’s capital city, which might delay that one. And it appears that Bengaluru India is somewhat of a hot spot for COVID-19 at the moment, so that temple could have its groundbreaking pushed back. While I don’t know if any of these thoughts are correct in defining which temple might not have a groundbreaking, I am personally hoping that all goes well and that the full 21 will be able to occur. 

I’ve previously mentioned a personal theory I have: Since each of the three members of the South America South Area will preside at the groundbreakings for the Salta and Mendoza Argentina and Antofagasta Chile Temples, it seems possible that the three temples could all have groundbreakings on the same day. 

As I’ve also mentioned, with no exact dates specified for any of the remaining 12 temples in the queue for this year, it may be hard to know when each might occur.  That being said, with only a handful of exceptions, most of the temple groundbreakings that have occurred since the beginning of 2017 have taken place on a Saturday. With that in mind, I am fairly certain that Elder Gong will break ground for the Taylorsville Utah Temple this Saturday, October 24. 

I will be interested to see what happens next month with temple groundbreakings. 8 of the remaining 12 groundbreakings are set to take place in November, and there are 4 Saturdays in that month. As a result, even if the Salta, Mendoza, and Antofagasta temples have their groundbreakings on the same day, that still leaves 5 that would need to take place over the other 3 weeks in that month. And for those parts of the world that observe Thanksgiving Day on the final Thursday of this month, that holiday may impact the timing on those groundbreakings as well. 

Similarly, for December, where 3 groundbreakings have been scheduled, the final 2-2.5 weeks of the year focus on Christmas and New Years’ celebrations through most of the world. Even with COVID-19 impacting the customary large-scale public celebrations, the Church likely will not want to detract from the focus particularly on Christmas. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how the Church handles the remaining 12 groundbreakings. I will keep my eyes open for any such updates, in addition to all Church news and other temple construction developments, and remain committed to passing word of those along to you all as I become aware of that 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Statistics

Hello again, everyone! Recently on this blog, it has become traditional for me to publish updated apostolic statistics relating to both the age and tenures of our current apostles roughly every 7 weeks. Since I last did so on Sunday August 30, it is now time to do so again today. Those updates, as has also been customary, will be featured in two parts: the first, and the second. The information speaks for itself. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those developments along to you all as I become aware of any such reports.

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.

BREAKING NEWS: Elder and Sister Gong Complete Quarantine; Elder Gong to Resume Apostolic Responsibilities Next Week

Hello again, everyone! A breaking news update on the health of Elder and Sister Gong was provided a short while ago by the Church's official Newsroom. As some of you may recall, during General Conference weekend, Elder Gong was excused and had prerecorded his talk due to the fact that he and his wife had been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. As later confirmed by the Newsroom on October 6, both Elder and Sister Gong tested positive for COVID-19. Two days after that, that same news release was updated to note that all other apostles had been tested, and that all tests were negative.

That brings us around to today's update. In a Facebook post within the last hour or so, Elder Gong shared tconfirmation from his and his wife's doctors that they had successfully completed quarantine, and that he has been given the all-clear to resume his apostolic responsibilities in full, while, of course, observing mask wearing and social distancing in public apperances. He also expressed gratitude to Church members worldwide for the prayers offered in behalf of himself and his wife.

This is very good news. With Elder Gong being able to resume his apostolic assignments early next week, it seems highly likely that no adustments whatsoever will need to be made to the arrangements for the Taylorsville Utah Temple groundbreaking ceremony.  The only question is when that ceremony might occur. My best guess at this point would be one week from tomorrow, which would be Saturday October 24, but it could happen any other day during the remainder of this month once Elder Gong resumes his responsibilities.

I was grateful to have been able to learn of this update and to be able to pass it along to you all here. Parenthetically, I would like to note as a personal update that, due to ongoing issues with back-to-back infections recently, my wife and I have been wodering if either or both of us had COVID-19. I was tested for that earlier this week, and the test results were negative. I was relieved for that result personally because I've had more than my fair share of pulmonary problems over the last couple of decades.

That aside, I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of any such news. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreaking Held for the Moses Lake Washington Temple Today

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may recall, for the groundbreakings scheduled to be held the final three months of this year, the official announcements did not specify exact dates, but said that media resources would be available to acknowledge their occurrence after the fact. I am pleased, therefore, to report that, less than a week after General Conference concluded, the first of those groundbreakings has taken place. Earlier today, ground was broken for the Moses Lake Washington Temple.

As arranged, Elder David L. Stapleton, an area seventy, presided over that ceremony. The small-scale event, held in accordance with proper COVID-19 protocols in place, marked the commencement of construction for the fourth temple in Washington state. Given its' relatively smaller size, I anticipate that, once construction gets underway, the process of completion may only take 18-21 months or so. Time will tell in that respect. Either way, it is good to have confirmation that this has occurred as planned.

The one other temple that was set to have a groundbreaking later this month was the Taylorsville Utah Temple. I am not sure at the present time if, how, or to what extent the positive COVID-19 diagnosis for Elder and Sister Gong may delay, alter, or change the plans for that temple's groundbreaking. I imagine if worst came to worst, the Church might either send someone else to do that, allow Elder Gong to do so remotely, or push that back a little, and perhaps move forward one or two of the 8 temple groundbreakings planned for next month.

Whatever might occur in that regard, you can count on my bringing word of that to you all here as I become aware of such news. 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.

UPDATED: COVID-19 Status Report on the Senior Brethren of the Church

Hello again, everyone! Although this is no longer breaking news (since the report was provided a few hours ago), I wanted to provide an update (as reported by Newsroom and confirmed in the Church News) on the health of our apostles during this COVID-19 period. According to longtime Church spokesman Eric Hawkins, Elder and Sislter Gong, who tested positive for COVID-19 two days ago, continue to experience very mild symptoms, and are both taking proper precautions and remaining actively involved in contact-tracing as a result of their diagnosis.

Additionally, based on the positive diagnosis of Elder and Sister Gong (and, I'm sure, under the watchful eye of President Nelson, who continues to do what he can as a former physician and surgeon to provide a medically-supportive role to his fellow apostles), each of the other apostles (perhaps with their spouses) have been teted for COVID-19. With the exception of Elder and Sister Gong, all other tests taken returned negative results.

This news is both welcome and not surprising, since the Brethren have been foremost in encouraging COVID-19 precautions on the part of Church members and leaders. And hopefully, the confirmation that the Gongs continue to do well and that no other senior leaders have tested positive will be a comfort to any who may have been worried about that over the past several days. I am grateful to have been able to learn about this report and to pass it along to you all here.

I continue to monitor  all Church news reports and updated temple developments, and will be sure to bring you all word of those as I become aware of them. In the meantime, I wanted to mention that, due to the many other Church news reports which have been provided today, some of which relate to prior content posted on this blog, I may be sharing some of those updates across the threads of a few of the most recent posts, so be on the lookout for those.

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.

In Honor of President M. Russell Ballard, Who Celebrates His 92nd Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! With the wonderful spirit of the October 2020 General Conference still strongly impacting all of us, I wanted to post now a tribute to President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is observing his 92nd birthday today. Among the total of 19 nonagenarian apostles, President Ballard is currently the twelfth-oldest and he will next move up on that list in March of next year. That said, let's get to some biographical details. Melvin Russell Ballard Jr. was born in Salt Lake City Utah to Melvin Russell Sr. & Geraldine Smith Ballard, on this day in 1928. Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers (Melvin J. Ballard and Hyrum M. Smith) were apostles, and Elder Ballard is thus a direct descendant of the early leaders of the Church (Hyrum M. was the son of Joseph F., who was the son of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph).

As I previously mentioned, the Church has, by tradition, had at least one apostle currently serving who has ancestral ties to the Smith family. It is further interesting to note that Bruce R. McConkie, who was the last apostle indirectly related to the Smith family (being the son-in-law of Joseph Fielding Smith, who was the son of Joseph F. who was the son of Hyrum, who was the brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith), was the apostle whose death resulted in the apostolic vacancy that necessitated Elder Ballard's call. As a young man, now-President Ballard served as a missionary in England, as has been noted in previous blog posts. Upon his return, he served in the US Army Reserves, where he rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. As a result of obtaining his secondary education from the University of Utah, he met a young lady named Barbara Bowen, whom he married on August 8, 1951 in the Salt Lake Temple. Sister Ballard passed away roughly two years ago.

They became the parents of 7 children, and one of their daughters, Brynn, married Peter Huntsman, whose mother, Karen Haight Huntsman, is the daughter of Elder David B. Haight, one of Elder Ballard's apostolic colleagues. It is interesting to see that additional relationship Elder Ballard has to other LDS apostles. Brother Ballard worked professionally in auto sales. His Church service included serving as a counselor to his mission president, as a bishop twice, and as president of the Canada Toronto Mission. He completed the final year of that assignment as a General Authority Seventy, having received that call in April 1976.

Less than four years later, on February 20, 1980, he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. Both before and as a result of that assignment, he served in a wide variety of capacities. Particularly, the Church had established an International Mission in the late 1970s, and in 1985 then-Elder M. Russsell Ballard ws called to serve as president of that mission, overseeing the isolated congregations within it from Church headquarters. During his roughly 5 years and 7 months or so in the Presidency of the Seventy, he had moved up in that Presidency from being the junior member thereof to the third most senior member.

A few short weeks after rising from his sickbed to give a his powerful final testimony, Elder Bruce R. McConkie passed away, and Elder Ballard was then called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Now-President Ballard is known and respected for the emphasis he has placed on missionary work in his apostolic ministry. Since October 1985, he has moved from the position of the junior apostle to now being the third in apostolic seniority. In his 43 years as a general authority (shich has seen his apostolic ministry span exactly 3.5 decades as of this month), he has given a grand total of  80 addresses in General Conference, including the one he gave just this last weekend. Of those 80, 7 were given prior to his apostolic call.

And, as we know, the death of President Thomas S. Monson on January 2 of last year resulted in the First Presidency being reorganized on January 14, with President Russell M. Nelson choosing his apostolic seatmate and the new President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Dallin H. Oaks, as his First Counselor. Consequently, President M. Russell Ballard was set apart as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve. He thus is tasked, with the approval of the First Presidency, with giving the other 11 members of that Quorum their various assignments around the world and at Church headquarters.  I am grateful for the life and apostolic ministry of President M. Russell Ballard, and on this, his 91st birthday, testify of the divine inspiration that attended both his apostolic call and the way and timing by which he has moved up in ranks of apostolic seniority and among all apostolic nonagenarians.

I gladly sustain him and the other apostles in their foreordanied roles. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will bring word of all such developments to you all here as i learn about 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.

BREAKING NEWS: English Transcripts of October 2020 General Conference Now Availaable; A Look at Updated Documents Relevant to General Conference

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to report more breaking news on this Tuesday night: the English version of transcripts from last weekend's General Conference are now available online. I have again been impressed by how quickly the Church has been able to get those published every six months following General Conference. Since those are now available, I was also able to update a few personal documents as a result. Those documents include a comparative look at the length of each address given by our apostles last weekend, an updated breakdown in the number of addresses given by our current apostles, both prior to and during their apostolic ministries, and, based on the released transcripts (which note the title of each address), what the table of contents for the November 2020 Ensign might potentially look like.

With reference to the latter document, I do not have any inside information whatsoever about what determines the layout of each General Conference magazine, but in similarity to the predictions I provide for each General Conference, they are based solely on using patterns of the past, which are subject to change, in order to predict the potential future. As a result of that, I will be providing a revised version of that table of contents once I have compared it to the actual page in that Ensign. And as far as my predictions for last General Coference are concerned, I am still in the process of analyzing them to determine the scoring and accuracy I will assign thereunto. So stay tuned for those.

In the meantime, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates, and will be sure to provide all such updates as 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.

BREAKING NEWS: Elder and Sister Gong Test Positive for COVID-19; First Presidency Encourages Latter-day Saints in the United States to Vote

 Hello again, everyone! Breaking news on two fronts unrelated to temples has been reported by the Church within the last hour or so. The Newsroom, with additional context provided by the Church News has confirmed that Elder and Sister Gong have both tested posititive for COVID-19. As some of you may recall, due to having had contact with someone who later tested positive for COVID-19, Elder Gong had prerecorded his remarks for the recent General Conference, and neither he nor his wife attended conference in person.

What we do know at this point is that the Gongs are only experiencing very mild symptoms, and are actively involved in the process of contact tracing and self-isolation. This is the first time that a positive COVID-19 diagnosis has been provided for any of the Church's top leaders. That being said, with at least two former physicians as fellow apostles, and with Elder and Sister Gong adhering to the proper guidelines for self-isolation and contact tracing, I have no doubt they will both pull through. I urge all my readers in light of this news to join me in praying for the welfare and healing of Elder and Sister Gong.

In the meantime, it has been a time-honored tradition for the First Presidency to also urge Latter-day Saints in the United States to vote in the general elections each year. Usually, those invitiations and reminders come down the pike in mid-to-late October, so to have that earlier than usual underscores how impartant it may be for members of the Church and their friends of other faiths to participate in the political process. You can find more information on this year's invitation from the leading Quorum of the Church in the Newsroom and the Church News. 

Although the Church as an institiution, and its' top leaders, of necessity, maintain the practice of political neutraility when it comes to all political candidates and most political or civil issues, with the exception to the latter occurrinlg when there is a solid doctrinally-based reason to oppose a meaure (fas we saw years ago when the Church mobilized some resources and issued a statement against California Proposition 8, which legalized same-sex marriage in that state), or where issues of human life are at stake (the subject of abortion comes to mind), or where any measure would trample on the rights of any religious organization (issues relating to religious freedom). 

Those are the main exceptions of which I am presently aware in the recent past. Having shared the First Presidency statement and some relevant thoughts on that, I will just observe on a personal note that I urge any of my readers to prayerfully approach the process of voting especially this year. Pray about issues of concern, the candidates who have taken stands one way or another on those issues, and the character of the candidates themselves. If any of you find anything lacking in your current local or national leaders, it is a duty all Church members and friends of other faiths should hold dear to vote them out appropriately, and to seek to appoint leaders that will do the right thing for the right reasons in all important  matters.

I hope that that statement was sufficiently politically neutral on my personal part here. As a citizen of the United States, I have my own thoughts about the upcoming election, but I have vowed to keep this place as a safe haven for my readers where all can express their opinions on the news shared and can share ideas as guided by the Spirit, and I am determined to personally hold myself to that standard. The one thing I will say is that, for so many in the United States, we are at a critical juncture where, in many cases, the leaders we select will shape the future of our nation and localities as we currently know them. 

So I hope with that in mind that all of us will approach the privilege of voting  as the solenm and sacred duty that it truly is. When we can do so, we will know we have discharged our obligation as citizens in accordance with the counsel given yearly and renenewed today by the First Presidency. For my part, I will continue to monitor all Church and temple news, and be sure to pass word of the latest developments on to you all here. I have no doubt that, coming out of the recent General Conference weekend, the best is yet to come prior to the end of the year. 

I am also more than slightly surprised that the Church has not yet released the calendar of Churchwide events for next year, as that has typically happened during or just prior to Semptembe every year. Perhaps there are a few other details to iron out with that, since COVID-19 and a few other factors are definitiely unknown. I will keep my eyes open in that respect as well, and bring you all word of that here as I become aware of it.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 6 New Temples As the October 2020 General Conference Concludes

Hello again, everyone! I have breaking news to share from the Sunday Afternoon Session of General Conference that has just concluded. During his remarks that served as the capstone to this conference, President Nelson announced 6 new temples, which will be built in the following locations: Tarawa Kiribati; Port Villa Vanuatu; Lindon Utah; Greater Guatemala City Guatemala; East Sao Paulo Brazil; and Santa Cruz Bolivia. Along with covering this announcement, I wanted to share some preliminary information based on what is known about each of these new temples. First, the Church News also covered this announcement. Secondly, when Church Growth expert Matthew Martinich last updated his list of the top ten natons with the strongest Church presence without a temple last April, Kiribati and Vanuatu were on that list in the first and eighth positions.

Additionally, some have offered the opinion in the past that the forecasted sinking of both Kiribati and Vanuatu within the next hundred years or so might deter the Church from building a temple in either or both places. I am grateful that the Lord moved upon His prophet to announce temples for both island nations, and I look forward to seeing how the construction of both temples may lead to a change in those mortal opinions.

Lindon may or may not have been on my list, given that two temples are operating in Provo, with one more currently under construction in Orem, but it's clearly needed in this part of Utah County. Bolivia's second temple being announced for Santa Cruz was expected, as were additional temples in Guatemala and Brazil, but I didn't anticipate the announcement of general rather than specific locations for those. Overall, without conducting a more thorough analysis of the locations announced vs. what I predicted, I probably came close to my 60-80% accuracy rate for that part of my predictions.

I am grateful to have been able to learn of this development and pass word of it along to you all. I am confident the remainder of this year will see several other breaking Church news updates and temple developments, and I will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such news in the future.

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.

BREAKING NEWS: Church Announces Changes in General Leadership During Saturday Afternoon Session

Hello again, everyone! During the traditional Saturday Sustaining of Church Officers, which just concluded, some changes were noted in general Church leadership I thought that the changes were sufficient enough to provide a breaking news update, as some of the changes were not expected. Firstly, the changes in the Presidency of the Seventy that took effect on August 1 (with Elder L. Whitney Clayton released as Senior President, Elder Patrick Kearon becoming the new Senior President, and Elder Brent H. Nielson joining that Presidency) were not presented for stastaining vote. So apparently, an official announcement from the Church as took place for those has negated the need for a subsequent sustaining vote, at least this go-round.

It was next no great surprise when Elders L. Whitney Clayton, Enrique R. Falabella, and Richard J. Maynews were released as General Authority Seventies and granted emeritus status. Nor was it surprising that no release was presented for Elder David S. Baxter, who is still on leave from his assignments for medical reasons. The surprising thing was that Elder L. Todd Budge, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April of 2019, was released from that assignment.

I was further surprised when Bishops Dean M. Davies and W. Christopher Waddell were released as First and Second Counselors in the Presiding Bishopric. But then President Eyring presented the name of Bishop Davies to be a General Authority Seventy.

Although I wasn't aware of this at the time, the reason the Church amde that change, as noted in the news release, is that he has been dealing with health issues for the last year, so it was thought that an assignment change at this time would allow him to take care of those issues and still serve as a General Authority of the Church while he does so. I do not know if that means that he will still be granted emeritus status this time next year, when he will have passed the age of 70. 

As a result of the change to Bishop Davies' assignment, Bishop W. Chistopher Waddell hss been released as Second Counselor and called as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. With the Second Counselor spot vacant, Elder Budge will now serve in that assignment in the Presiding Bishopric, now becoming Bishop Budge. He is presently serving as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency outside the United States, so a subseuqnt change in that presidency will soon be necessary, assuming it is not already in progress.  

Meanwhile, President Eyring also announced the release of 47 area seventies (if I have correctly counted) and 4 new area seventies were called to serve from Tanzania, Nevada, Ecuador, and Russia. Given the other announced changes and my need to report on them here, I have not taken a look at how many area seventy releases I correctly predicted. More to come on that as I can analyze it.

I should also note here another major item: President Oaks, in announcing the first speakers for this session, noted that Elder Gong had recorded his remarks from home and was not in attandance after having been exposed to someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. He reassured the Church that Elder Gong and his family are not exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19; but the Brethren felt it wise to be safe rather than sorry. This is the first confirmation of the direct impact that COVID-19 has had on the leAding Quorums of the Church. That being said, I am glad that it does not appear that there is a need to be unduly concerned about Elder Gong in light of this news. I'm sure there is also much more ahead in terms of this General Conference weekend, and I will be sure to bring word of all such developments here as I leanr 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreakings Set for Two South American Temples

Hello again, everyone! In the threads of my previous post, longtime readers Jim Anderson and ScottS shared some insights on major Church news today. For the first time in a while, I didn't catch that development soon after it was reported. Earlier this week, I was diagnosed with a minor infection unconnected to COVID-19. I am under treatment here at home for that (through an antibiotic course), but have been more wiped out as a consequence of dealing with that, so I've been allowing myself more time to rest as a result.

That being said, let's get right to the news of the day: On this day before General Conference begins, and less than 24 hours following yesterday's announcement of the groundbreakings for3 more temples, the First Presidency announced this morning that two South American temples will also have groundbreakings this year. The Mendoza Argentina Temple, for which a rendering was released in mid-June, and the Antofagasta Chile Temple, for which details were released today, will both have groundbreakings next month.

Late last night, I had become aware of new information indicating that the general contractor had been selected and that the site had been cleared for Chile's newest temple. So today's announcement was not too much of a surprise in that respect. The location for that temple has been confirmed as a 2.2-acre site around Avenida de Las Palmeras 44 in Antofagasta, Chile. That temple is planned to be a single-story edifice of roughly 23,000 square feet. Elder Juan Pablo Villar, who is a Chilean native currently serving as Second Counselor in the South America South Area Presidency, will preside at that event.

Meanwhile, Elder Allen D. Haynie, First Counselor in the South America South Area Presidency, has been assigned to preside at the groundbreaking for the Mendoza Argentina Temple, which will also be held in November 2020. For those of you following along at home, that means that each member of the South America South Area Presidency is assigned to preside over the groundbreaking for 1 temple in their area during November 2020. 

Could we be looking at a scenario where the Church will conduct all three groundbreakings on the same day in November, with three different teams of Church leaders making that possible? I think there might be more than an outside chance of that. It will be interesting to see what happens in that respect. Also, the total number of temple groundbreakings set to take place in November is now up to 8, so if the 3 in the South America South Area do take place on the same day, the other 5 could be held on individual dates throughout that month.

But it is also possible that the Church will continue with one final push to clear out the queue even more by the end of this year. If so, among the options to watch for a potential announcement appear to be the temples in Nairobi Kenya, Managua Nicaragua, and Salvador Brazil. And because the Pacific Islands have faired so well in their individual battles against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that something more could also be announced for Neiafu Tonga, Pago Pago American Samoa, and/or Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temples.

That is especially true when considering that the Church may be setting up one scenario this year where each of the 3 South America South Area temples could have groundbreakings done on the same day by each member of that area presidency. With 3 members of the Pacific Area Presidency, and also area seventies available to go anywhere the area presidency may not be able to go, there may be a scenario in November or December coming down the pike where groundbreakings could take place for those 3 temples on the same day.

It is also possible that, with the Church moving ahead on the groundbreaking for the Bengalur India Temple before the end of this year, something similar could happen with the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple as well. Interestingly enough, it appears that President Nelson released the rendering and site information for the first Cambodian temple because he was in the neighborhood thereof during his first Global Ministry Tour in 2018. 

A few months later, the information for the Bengaluru India Temple was subsequently released. It appearst that priority between the next two larger Asian temples was given to India's first temple, which was originally announced six months before Cambodia's first. So something could happen with the temple in Cambodia before the end of the year as well.

Whatever might happen in that respect, one thing is abundantly clear: Last April, during General Conference, Elder Bednar noted that 18 temples were planned to have a groundbreaking before the end of this year. Although the Tooele Valley Utah Temple may have been part of that planned number originally, despite the delays experienced there, the Church has pressed forward with temple groundbreaking arrangements, even in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

As a result, though only 18 temple groundbreakings were mentioned by Elder Bednar last April, it appears that the theory I presented a few times in the past has been verified as correct. The Lord has seen the diligence of His servants in setting (and then working towards) the goal of the 18 groundbreakings, even in the midst of great obstacles, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, and has enabled that goal to not only be met, but also exceeded by 3 temples so far, with others possible before the year officially closes out.

I had prepared some additiona insights I wanted to share here about the temple construction program of the Church, but it appears that they were lost due to a system error with my computer, so I may provide those later. In the meantime, it is sufficient to note that, while I had conjectured as recently as yesterday that 8-12 new temples could be announced in this weekend's General Conference, with 13 temple groundbreakings currently in queue, the number of announced temples will go down from its' current 35 down to 22. As a result of that, I'd anticipate perhaps any double-digit number totaling up to 20 new temples could be announced.

Aside from that, I don't know what to expect for the upcoming General Conference weekend, but you can count on my monitoring all such developments and bringing word of them all to you here as they are announced. 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.

Tribute to Elder Ulisses Soares, Who Is Marking His 62nd Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! On this, the day before General Conference, I am pleased to bring you all a post honoring Elder Ulisses Soares, who is observing his 62nd birthday today. As I've mentioned previously, Elder Soares has a most unique life story and background, and I am grateful to share some thoughts about him with you all today. He was born on this day in 1958 in Sao Paulo Brazil to Apparecido Soares and Mercedes Carecho Soares. He has European and Amerindian ancestry. When an aunt joined the Church, that was how the Soares' family first learned of the gospel. His parents, after being taught by the missionaries, were baptized when young Ulisses was five years old. 

Regarding his experience with worshipping in the Church during his growing-up years, his small branch would meet in a tiny rental place that was located above a bakery. He served a full-time mission in Rio de Janeiro, Upon his return, he connected with Rosana Fernandes Morgado, who had served in the same mission at around the same time, but whom he had not met until after they both had returned. The two were married in the Sao Paulo Temple, and together they raised three children. His academic experience involved studying at the  Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, from which, in 1985, he would receive a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting. He then continued his studies at the National Institute of Postgraduate Study, where he earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration. He spent his professional career working for several multi-national companies (one of which was Pirelli Tire Company) as an accountant and an auditor. Donald L. Clark, who at that time was serving as director of temporal affairs for the Church in Brazil, convinced him to take a job with the Church as a senior auditor.

When Brother Clark was asked to serve as a mission president, Brother Soares took over for him as director of temporal affairs. He went on to fill a special assignment for the Church's Presiding Bishopric. Within the Church, Elder Soares has served as an elder's quorum president, counselor in a bishopric, stake high councilman, and as a regional welfare agent. When the São Paulo Brazil Cotia Stake was created in 1995, Elder Soares was called as the first president thereof. 5 years later, he served a three-year term as president of the Porto Portugal Mission. Less than two years after his return (during the April 2005 General Conference), he was called as a General Authority Seventy.

As a General Authority Seventy, he served as First Counselor in the Brazil South Area.from 2005-2007, as First Counselor in the Brazil Area from 2007-2009, and as President of that area from 2009-2011. He served from August 2011-January 2013 as First Counselor in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, at which point he was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the North America Southeast Area  Then, in November 2015, Elder Soares was reassigned to oversee the Idaho and North America Central Areas of the Church. He still had oversight of both of those areas in 2018.

On March 31, 2018, Elder Soares was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and he was ordained an apostle on Thursday April 5, 2018. He thus became both the first Latter-day Saint apostle from Brazil and the first one from Latin America. Elder Soares has had many opportunities to grow into his new assignment. In the last 1.5 decades in which has has served as a general authority, he has given a total of 10 General Conference addresses, with the first 2 given as a General Authority Seventy, 3 more as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 5 given since his 2018 call to the apostleship. He will, of course, be speaking to us again in General Conference tomorrow or Sunday, which will mark his sixth address as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his eleventh overall.

I gratefully and wholeheartedly sustain him and all the other prophets, seers, and revelators in their roles and responsibilities as special witnesses of Christ, and am grateful to have been able to provide this birthday tribute to him today. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to bring you all word of the major developments as I learn thereof. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreakings Scheduled for 3 More Temples

Hello again, everyone! During this unprecedented season of temple developments, it's almost impossible to gauge the likely course of events. At this time yesterday, 14 of the 16 groundbreakings to which Elder Bednar made reference in April had been scheduled, and it was unknown whether any others would take place. In the interim, I had offered the theory (which I couldn't substantiate) that the Lord, in seeing the diligence of the Church in working towards that goal, could open a way for that number to not only be met but exceeded.

A few minutes ago, breaking news was reported by the Church. Three more temples will have their groundbreakings before the end of this year, which, if no others are postponed, will bring the year-end total to 19, 1 above the 18 referenced by Elder Bednar. Let's get down to details. The three in question are in Bengaluru India, Davao Philippines, and Harare Zimbabwe. As part of today's announcement, the Church has also released an official rendering for the Harare Zimbabwe Temple.

Let's now get into details. The first in that group to have a groundbreaking will be the Davao Philippines Temple. That will take place in November 2020 (exact date not specified), which brings the total number of temple groundbreakings announced to occur sometime in November to 6. Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, president of the Philippines Area, will preside over that event. 

That temple, originally announced in October 2018, saw its' location confirmed and rendering released less than one month ago. Not since early last year, when the initial details were announced for the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples shortly before each of their groundbreakings were announced, has the Church had such a small period of time between releasing the first information about a temple and announcing its' groundbreak9ing arrangements.

Meanwhile, ground will be broken for both the Bengaluru India and Harare Zimbabwe Temples in December 2020. Elder Robert K. William, an area seventy whose location is identified as Bangalore India (that city was renamed Bengaluru in 2014), will preside at the groundbreaking for the temple in his home city. The site location and rendering for that temple were both released earlier this year (on January 15). 

As some of you might recall, in April 2018, the Bengaluru India Temple was among the first President Nelson announced during his first General Conference as prophet of the Church. As he later shared with the Saints in India, his intention was to only announce six new temples that weekend. But on the evening before General Conference began, he reported that the Lord instructed him to announce a temple in India, which is why he did so.

That brings me to the final temple. With the Harare Zimbabwe Temple set to have a groundbreaking in December 2020, as previously mentioned, that is the third of the four temples originally announced by President Monson to have a groundbreaking occur this year, and it leaves the Nairobi Kenya Temple as the last remaining temple announced by President Monson.

It seems feasible that some action could be taken on Kenya's first temple soon as well, especially with a native Kenyan serving as president of the Africa Central Area. But speaking of individuals native to regions in which temples will be built, the groundbreaking for Zimbabwe's first temple is set to be presided over by native Zimbabwean General Authority Elder Edward Dube, who became the First Counselor in the Africa South Area Presidency just two months ago in August of this year.

Some thoughts about the size and design of that temple. If I am evaluating that correctly, the temple is set to be a single-story edifice, with an approximate area of 17,250 square feet. Unlke the other two temples mentioned in today's announcement, it does not appear that any other buildings will be part of the temple project in Zimbabwe. The temple will rise at 65 Enterprise Road Highlands in Zimbabwe's capital city. 

I have not yet been able to ascertain whether the location confirmed today was one of those visited by President Nelson during his first Global Ministry Tour in April 2018. Meanwhile, the specific details for the other two temples were provided in the original announcements about their locations and renderings. And that brings the total number of temple groundbreakings in the current queue to 11. Once all of those take place, that will leave 24 others (that we know about so far) remaining in the queue of those announced.

In view of that fact, and because it has previously been noted that President Nelson likes to keep the queue of announced temples at or around 35, I am reasonbly certain that he could and will announce either the standard number of at least 8 new temples this weekend in General Conference (as has been the case every six months since April of last year), or perhaps up to 12, similar to what we saw him do in October General Conference in 2018. I am not, however, ruling out th prospect that he could easily announce any other number of temples, if he feels impressed to do so.

This means that there is now even more of a reason for me to reevaluate my previously-offered thoughts as contained in my temple files. Also, based on my research, there may be a chance, however slim, that other temples could have groundbreakings set to occur prior to the end of this year, whether or not full-scale construction efforts formally begin on the last of those before the end of the year. There is also an outside possibility, however remote, that any temple groundbreakings set for November currently could take place in late October, with any set for December potentially taking place in November, if the circumstances are right for that to occur. 

The general rather than specific windows for each event offers a degree of probable flexibility in that respect. And in any case, it looks as though 2021 and the years that follow are going to be even busier than we thought in terms of temple events. I am, of course, monitorng all such developments as closeely as I am able to do so, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such things. In the meantime, I first learned of this news through a breaking news alert on the Church News mobile app, and can recemmend that article to you all as well.

In conclusion, I know that what was breaking news when I began working on this post may have been reported by multiple sources in the meantime, but I wanted to take time to provide context and insight into this latest announcement, so I am still using the "Breaking News" label for this post. Based on today's surprise announcement, I can only imagine what may be coming down the pike for General Conference weekend. I may have some thoughts to pass along on what we can exxpect in that regard, which, if I do post them here, will be up for your enjoyment within the next 24 hours or less.

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.