BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Confirms Arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! A long-time reader of this blog, Nigel, commented here a short while ago on the arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference. Based on that feedback, I did some digging on my end, and found an official letter from the First Presidency, which confirms the details for that General Conference. It appears that the General Conference will follow the typical October pattern, with four general sessions for all Church members on Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon, with the standard Women's Session being held Saturday evening. 

The announcement through this letter constitutes a correction to any information I have previously offered on the upcoming General Conference. Accordingly, I will neeed to take some time to update my predictions for the upcoming General Conference, which will be published here ASAP after the appropriate changes are made. In the interim, it seems more likely than not that, with the sessions being closed to the public, that the conference will still originate from the small auditorium on Temple Square, with the First Presidency presiding at the sessions, and only those speaking or praying during each session will be in attendance. 

For the Women's Session, I imagine that it will additionally be attended by whichever General President will conduct the session this go-round. I also imagine, per information that was previously released, that the Tabernacle Choir will participate in all sessions with prerecorded music, unless music is pulled from prior Women's Sessions. There will be a lot to consider in terms of the necessary readjustments to my predictions, and I will be sure to make and pass along those updates as I am able to make them. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreakings Set for Two US Temples; Location Specified for One Other

Hello again, everyone! Today, the Church announced the groundbreakings for two US temples and identified the location of one other. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started. With the site for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple having been announced in April of this year, and the site for the McAllen Texas Temple having been announced in December of last year, renderings were released for both temples today, and it was also announced that groundbreakings for both will be held in November of this year, again, with no definitive or specific date clarified.

Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will preside over the Bentonville Arkansas Temple groundbreaking remotely. The apostle was the first president of the Bentonville Arkansas Stake after it was split off from the Rogers Arkansas Stake, over which he had been presiding at the time that split occurred. I am not sure how the remote ceremony will work, but I imagine due to local travel restrictions amidst COVID-19, Elder Bednar will offer the prayer to dedicate the site from wherever he will be, and then someone standing in for him (proably an area seventy) will do the actual groundbreaking part of that ceremony. The temple will be a single-story edifice of roughly 25,000 feet, and will share a plot of land with an exisiting meetinghouse.

Meanwhile, for the McAllen Texas Temple, ground will be broken for the single-story edifice of 25,000 feet and an adjacent meetinghouse by Elder Art Rascon, an area seventy living and serving in the greater Houston Texas Area. That groundbreaking will also occur in November. The latest two groundbreakings announced for these temples by the Church will be the twelfth and thirteenth to be held in 2020, leaving a total of 5 temple groundbreakings that will need to occur before the end of this year, as Elder Bednar had indicated would be the case in April. I am grateful for these latest announcements.

Both of those temples were originally announced last year, Bentonville Arkansas in April, and McAllen Texas in October, so two more 2019 temples are out of the queue of those announced. If that was the only temple news, it would be wonderful enough, but the Church has also today identified the site location of and shared the initial details for the Syracuse Utah Temple, which was announced four months ago during the April 2020 General Conference by President Nelson. 

Utah's newest temple will be built on a 12-acre site at the corner of 2500 West 1025 South in Syracuse. Plans call for a three-story edifice of roughly 89,000 square feet. Since the plans are stil in the approval phase for that temple, a rendering and groundbreaking information will be announced later. But at least we have a location and initial details for the newest Utah Temple. The latest announcements mean I will once again need to reconsider thoughts I have previously offered in my temple files. 

But I am grateful to have learned of these latest developments and to have been able to share them with you all here. I continue to monitor all such updates and Church news developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all 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.