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

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Friday, October 16, 2020

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.

3 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The Church News also shared some insights on the situation of Elder and Sister Gong:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-16/elder-gong-covid-19-update-complete-quarantine-195755

    And the latest edition of "This Week on Social" has been published. The newest installment in that ongoing series had some additional focus on General Conference:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-16/social-media-elder-bednar-holland-andersen-general-conference-beach-spirit-195737

    Featured this week were the following general leaders: Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, David A. Bednar, Neil L. Andersen (from whom 2 posts were shared), Dale G. Renlund and Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon (from whom 2 posts were shared) and her First Counselor, Sister Michelle D. Craig; and Sister Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency.

    Just one other thing to note: In one of his two posts, Elder Andersen shared a link to a copy of remarks he gave at a university reunion, which I also wanted to pass along here:

    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/10/reflections-on-life-after-death?lang=eng

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello again, everyone! Sister Sharon Eubank offered remarks earlier today at the final plenary session of the G20 Interfaith Forum, during which address she described faith and religion as being as vital to humanity as food and water. Given her dual role as both the First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency and the president of Latter-day Saint Charities, she focused a portion of her remarks on sharing some of what the Church's Humanitarian arm has done worldwide during COVID-19 to assist many nations, communities, and individual families:

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/sister-eubank-discusses-role-faith-disasters-g20-interfaith-forum

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-17/sister-eubank-g20-interfaith-forum-address-faith-food-195771

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Newsroom has also provided the next installment in the new ongoing series "Relief Society in Action", which highlights what Relief Society sisters throughout the world are doing to help their congregations and communities:

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/relief-society-in-action-october-17-2020

    And "Music and the Spoken Word" will have another hybrid episode tomorrow, mixing prerecorded music with a new "Spoken Word" message delivered by Lloyd Newell:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-17/music-and-the-spoken-word-when-children-stray-195617

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete

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