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.
Hello again, everyone! The following additional Church news updates were shared earlier today:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-10-23/20th-anniversary-100-temples-boston-massachusetts-lds-196086
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-10-23/lds-church-politically-neutral-morally-socially-engaged-196139
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-23/elder-waldo-p-call-emeritus-general-authority-seventy-dies-196193
I should also add that I continue to reevaluate the information in my temple files, and am also preparing to work on my initial predictions for the April 2021 General Conference, in addition to crafting scheduled posts for the two apostolic birthdays coming up next month. So the busy season of coverage on this blog will continue. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.
Hello again, everyone! The latest edition of "This Week on Social" has been published:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-23/this-week-on-social-president-nelson-eyring-uchtdorf-holland-prayers-general-conference-196230
Featured in the most recent installment were posts from the following general leaders: Church President Russell M. Nelson and his Second Counselor, President Henry B. Eyring (who is incorrectly identified as the First Counselor in the article); Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, D. Todd Christofferson, Ronald A. Rasband and Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon and her First Counselor, Sister Michelle D. Craig; and Sister Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency (from the latter of whom two posts were shared).
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has shared the following two additional reports:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-24/sarah-jane-weaver-japan-earthquake-tsunami-ganbaru-2011-branch-president-196143
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-24/music-and-the-spoken-word-our-decisions-determine-our-destiny-196019
And it appears that, contrary to what I had supposed and predicted, the groundbreaking for the Taylorsville Utah Temple was not held today, so I now believe we will see that occur sometime within this next week. Looking back at the history of temple groundbreakings in recent years, we've had a handful or so that had such a ceremony in the middle of the week. I will be sure to pass along a report on that as i become aware of it. My thanks once again to you all.
On this Sabbath Day, the Church News has published a couple new articles. The first shows new stake presidencies who have been called in August and September:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2020-10-25/new-stake-presidents-germany-new-york-korea-georgia-florida-las-vegas-japan-195929
Parenthetically, I should perhaps also note on a personal level that last week, the then-First Counselor in the presidency of my stake noted he'd be moving out of the stake soon. Then today in our sacrament meeting, they announced his release, that the former Second Counselor would be the new First Counselor, and that someone who has been seerving on the high council, as bishop, or in one of the ward bishoprics (not sure which, but the name seemed familiar to me) would be the new Second Counselor.
Sorry for that sidenote. The other Church News I am able to report at this time is the beginning of a new series of articles entitled: "Week in Review". It appears that the major Church news and temple highlights will be summarized in each edition of that article:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-25/week-review-podcast-apostles-devotionals-handbook-196216
I love the idea of this new series, because based on the sheer mass of recent announcements, if that continues, which it is expected to, a weekly summary of the major highlights might be helpful in keeping track of all of it.
Finally, just to reiterate what I said in my comment above, since the Taylorsville Utah Temple did not have a groundbreaking yesterday, I'm assuming that will either happen at some point this week, or on Saturday October 31. As soon as I find out anything further on that, I'll be sure to pass it along here. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Church has provided one COVID-19 reintegration update, and again, that update relates to status changes for temples:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-limited-reopening-temples
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-10-26/lds-temples-open-worldwide-phased-reopening-183918
With the two reports focusing on different statistical demographic information on temple reopenings, the one common element between them was the list of temples changing their status. For the second or third time in as many weeks, the list today was fairly short. In Oakland California, the temple will move from a paused phase back to phase 1, which allows for the living husband-to-wife sealings where both have previously been endowed.
Meanwhile, 1 other temple, in Porto Alegre Brazil, has shifted from phase 1 to phase 2. Phase 2 allows all living ordinances in the following priority order: living husband-to-wife sealings; all living ordinances for individuals preparing to be sealed who have not been previously endowed; missionaries currently out in the field who were unable to receive their own endowment before commencing their service, then to missionaries preparing to depart for the mission field, and finally, to anyone else desiring to receive their own endowment.
The Church News has also reported on a new referral system that helps Church members connect their friends of other faiths to missionaries:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-10-26/missionary-referral-tool-participate-remotely-gospel-teaching-196279
And this month, Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, and Dale G. Renlund are marking the fifth anniversary of their calls to the apostleship. The Church News takes a look back at their apostolic ministries during that time:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-26/elder-rasband-stevenson-renlund-five-years-apostle-ministry-196164
My thanks once again to you all.
A short while ago, the Newsroom shared how food donations have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of plentiful harvests on Church-owned farms:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/food-donations-increase-during-pandemic-recent-harvest
My thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and Church News both covered the remarks given earlier today by President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, during the weekly devotional at BYU-Provo, which also marked the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were put in place that a small group of students were able to gather again in the Marriott Center for that devotional:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-oaks-byu-devotional-summary-october-2020
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-27/byu-devotional-oaks-racism-president-nelson-196320
The Church News also shared the following additional reports:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2020-10-27/episode-2-voting-pioneer-women-katherine-kitterman-rebekah-ryan-clark-better-days-2020-196326
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2020/10/26/21530795/deseret-news-news-media-prospectus-principled-illuminating-news
My thanks once again to you all.
Hi! I hope you are in good health and I encourage both you and your wife.
ReplyDeleteI am always checking your blog to see your correct, objective analysis and respectful with respect to the church and its future.
To be honest, I watch and listen to the conference, although it does not give me the same feeling as years ago, in my personal case I enjoy the choir, the announcements from the temples, the messages from the sisters and the occasional message from a leader.
I always hope that issues that concern us all in the Church can be addressed, but rather than repeating the same thing, there are no variations. They create expectations that are later not met. I find that some messages are ambiguous and unclear and that you have to read between the lines.
I was left wanting to see more announcement of temples, I was happy to see that temples were announced in remote places, although I thought there would be some more for Chile, because of the great and extensive country, anyway.
At least, the shovel of the Antofagasta temple will be in November.
Hopefully more temples will be announced even though there are few stakes in some cities, as happened with Winnipeg Manitoba, the sacrifice made to travel long distances is enormous and not only for money, the Church has a lot of money and could do it without problems.
a hug, take care of yourself
Omar valenzuela
Santiago Chile
Hello, Omar! Thanks for stopping by to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you. I am grateful to hear that my insights on the latest Church and temple developments have been helpful to you.
DeleteI can also certainly understand why some feel that, in many ways, the General Conference messages have become more repetitive, and that nothing new is being said. But for me personally, I don't see that as problematic. Whenever the Lord prompts any of His servants to repeat, reiterate, or reemphasize things that have been previously noted, it is usually because those are things that we as Church members need to hear again, whether that's because we just didn't get it the first time, we just need a reminder, or worldly circumstances have changed in such a way that makes the repetition necessary.
I love how some of our current leaders, especially our prophet and the apostles, have talked about making multiple drafts of their remarks to ensure they are saying what the Lord wants them to say, and are not motivated by anything other than conveying what the Lord needs us to hear. When it comes to some of what you've described, it brings to mind the 14 fundamentals of a prophet that were laid out by Ezra Taft Benson several years before he himself became Church President. A copy of those remarks can be found at the following web address:
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/ezra-taft-benson/fourteen-fundamentals-following-prophet/
I especially like a few of the fundamental ideas laid out by President Benson, primarily those that state that the prophet will never lead the Church astray; that the prophet is not required to have any particular earthly training or credentials to speak on any subject or act on any matter at any time; that the prophet tells us what we need to know, not necessarily what we want to know; and that the prophet can receive revelation on any temporal or spiritual matter.
I will come back to those particular points in a second, but I would be remiss if I did not note here that, for at least the last two General Conferences, President Nelson as the Lord's prophet gave both a pre-endorsement of the messages given in April and October before anyone else spoke, and that at the end of the two General Conferences, he also provided a post-conference endorsement of the messages that had been given.
DeleteThat being said, a couple other thoughts: Particularly here in the United States, many people are being impacted by issues of perceived racial prejudice and resulting protests, and here in the United States, as has been, is now, or will soon be, citizens of various nations are being asked to offer their opinions on political candidates and issues through voting, and many political campaigns are utilizing less than civil methods to convey their opinions about the issues at hand and their political opponents.
The result of this here in the United States has been increased instances of violence and lawlessness. With that in mind, I was personally pleased that both Presidents Nelson and Oaks in separate remarks spoke out against racist practices on the one hand and against violations of the laws and civil ordinances throughout the world. Those messages were timely for what has been going on here in the United States, and very well could apply to some things also going on in various other nations throughout the world.
Above and beyond that, there is a reason why many of the General Conference messages seem to be needlessly repetitive. The Church and its' general leaders cannot shift their focus to other matters that may be of interest to Church members in various parts of the world when there is a lack of fundamental understanding regarding and adherence to the "small and simple" parts of the gospel.
With that in mind, having read your comment above, my concern, Omar, is that you may be approaching each General Conference with expectations that may not match what the Lord wants and needs His people, including and especially you yourself, to hear. And it's been my experience (though that experience has been limited in some ways in recent days) that those who seem to be most dissatisfied with what is said and how it is said in any General Conference are those who may have needed and perhaps therefore missed the specific message the Lord has for them in such addresses.
DeleteI also worry sometimes that those who come into any General Conference with firm impressions or expectations of what they need to hear (or what they think they need to hear) may also miss the messages the Lord actually has inspired just for them.
Omar, I hope that what I said above does not offend or injure you. That is the last thing I ever want to do to anyone with whom I interact here or elsewhere. That being said, if I may, I'd like to encourage you to go back and review again anything from General Conference that didn't match what you were hoping or expecting to hear, and that in reading, listening to, or watching those talks again that you will see the inspiration of the Lord evident in the messages as prepared by those who represented the Lord in delivering them.
"By small and simple means are great things brought to pass."
"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."
In these two scriptural passages, we see that often we are more fully inspired in our daily lives when we can put aside personal feelings and notions and focus on obtaining the wisdom the Lord is anxiou to bestow on us through those messages.
DeleteAgain, my desire is to not give any offense here, and I hope that no offense is taken by you, and that my response to your comment today has instead conveyed the concern I have for you and for the gravity of the situation that you described in your comment above. But I also hope that anything or everything I have said here may help change your mind about how the messages given during every General Conference, and this most recent one in particular, truly were inspired by the Lord for this period in time. Thanks again for taking time to comment, Omar. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Hello! I hope you are well together with your wife of good spirits.
DeleteI thank you for responding to my opinions, which are always critical and objective.
I like it because you take the time to respond and update the news, it doesn't bother me and what you say doesn't make me angry, since you've always been respectful and kind.
A hug
Thanks again, Omar! I'm glad my response to you was received in the same spirit in which it was given. I hope people of any faith (or of no faith at all) may receive some inspiration through watching, listening to, or reading the talks from this most recent General Conference. I am likewise grateful to be able to pass the reports on to my readers hear. Hope all is well with you and yours.
DeleteHello again, everyone! I had assembled some Church news updates yesterday, but apparently didn’t get as far as publishing them. The Church News shared the following report, which in turn linked to an update on the official Newsroom website as follows:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-28/food-donations-pandemic-farms-canneries-storehouse-196478
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/food-donations-increase-during-pandemic-recent-harvest
Additionally, the Church News and the Newsroom both shared this update:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-28/elder-soares-dfw-summit-on-religious-freedom-2020-196446
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-soares-encourages-respect-and-love-for-those-with-whom-we-disagree
And the Church News and Newsroom each provided one unrelated update each:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-28/peanut-butter-cannery-houston-texas-covid-19-food-donations-196426
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/luz-de-las-naciones-2020
That brings us to Church news updates from today:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-29/president-eyring-onion-patch-video-byu-speeches-1990-devotional-196615
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2020-10-29/byu-pathway-worldwide-50000-student-milestone-global-higher-education-resource-196318
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/byu%E2%80%93pathway-worldwide-enrollment-surpasses-50-000-students
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-10-29/womans-exponent-church-history-lds-women-relief-society-standard-bearer-196530
And updates have been provided on the Orem Utah and Columbus Ohio Temples:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/orem-utah-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/columbus-ohio-temple/
Aside from an update on the status of the Columbus Ohio Temple, the link above also includes a look at the artist’s rendering of the new exterior of the temple. I continue to monitor all such news and will do my best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of it. In the meantime, thanks again to all my readers for your continued interest and ongoing support.
Hello again, everyone! The Church News has provided the following additional updates:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-10-30/familysearch-geracoes-free-virtual-family-history-event-196633
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-30/sheri-dew-not-alone-hickley-holland-manilla-philippines-eliza-snow-196488
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-10-30/hurricane-zeta-members-missionaries-helping-hands-196675
And the latest edition of “This Week on Social has been published:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-10-30/social-media-eyesight-president-nelson-elder-uchtdorf-oaks-196657
The newest article in that ongoing series highlighted posts this week from the following general leaders of the Church: Church President Russell M. Nelson and his respective First and Second Counselors in the First Presidency, Presidents Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring; Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Quentin L. Cook, Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, Dale G. Renlund, and Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon.
My thanks once again to you all.
And an update on the Taylorsville Utah Temple appears to confirm that, since the groundbreaking thereof was scheduled to occur this month, that may take place either later this evening or at some point tomorrow morning or afternoon:
ReplyDeletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/taylorsville-utah-temple/
Coincidentally, fun fact: Insofar as I have been able to ascertain, if the Taylorsville Utah Temple groundbreaking is conducted at some point tomorrow, it appears that will be the first time the Church has ever broken ground for a temple on the same day as Halloween.
Meanwhile, although a previous update had implied that site clearing and preparation was complete for the Antofagasta Chile Temple next month, a new report from today provides important clarification on that:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/antofagasta-chile-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.