Hello again, everyone! Breaking news was reported by the Church roughly 3 or so hours ago. Although that technically no longer classifies that as breaking news, I just found out about it a few minutes ago, so I'm styling the information as such anyways. The first two temple groundbreakings to be announced this year have been scheduled to occur here in Utah. Before I provide some analysis on the details, let me clarify something.
I emphasized in the previous paragraph that these are the first two temple groundbreakings.to be announced. I don't necessarily think that means they will also be the first two temple groundbreakingsto be held this year, though they will be among the first. I say that because, as we have seen the Church do last year, smaller temples with a general groundbreaking window for certain months were able to have their groundbreakings last year in general and specific windows that sometimes occurred prior to the windows for those that had been previously announced but occurred after those that were announced later.
And I've mentioned in the past that I am anticipating that at least 3 temples in the Pacific (Pago Pago American Samoa, Neiafu Tonga, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea) could soon have groundbreakings announced, especially since the former two are in the government approval phase. It is entirely possible that one, two, or three of the Pacific Island Temples I just mentioned could have their groundbreakings prior to the two announced today. That being said, let's break down the details.
I had mentioned that the Syracuse Utah Temple, which had a rendering released a short while ago, was almost certain to have a groundbreaking announced in the near term, because the site had been made ready for that prospect as of a report from yesterday. So the Syracuse Temple is the first one mentioned in today's announcement. The groundbreaking for that temple is set to occur in June of this year (note the general rather than specific window, as has been typical for all temple groundbreakings held during COVID-19).
Elder Kevin R. Duncan, a General Authority Seventy who currently serves as the Executive Director of the Church's Temple Department, who grew up in the proverbial stone's throw away from Syracuse in Ogden Utah, will preside at that groundbreaking, likely in view of his personal connections to the surrounding area. Based on the temple's anticipated size, I'd put a completion window of late 2023-early 2024 for it.
Meanwhile although the Syracuse Temple is mentioned first in today's release, the groundbreaking window for the other temple will actually be first chronologically. I mentioned in the past that the relocationof the newly-renamed Deseret Peak Utah Temple (and the fact that no residential development is included in the new location) would likely speed up the approvals process for that project, and so it is.
The groundbreaking for the Deseret Peak Utah Temple is anticipated to occur sometime in May, roughly a month prior to that of the Syracuse Utah Temple. The renderings for that temple, which were released in April of last year, remain unchanged. As a result of that temple’s established size and design, and since it is anticipated to be built on an accelerated schedule (which has not changed, insofar as I am aware), I anticipate the completion of that temple will occur sometime in mid-to-late 2023 or so.
Elder Brook P. Hales, another General Authority Seventy, who at last public mention was still serving as the Secretary to the First Presidency, will preside at the groundbreaking for that temple, At an initial glance, it appears that Elder Hales, who also grew up in Ogden, has some equally-strong personal and/or familial connections to the Tooele Valley area, so his assignment to preside at the groundbreaking for this temple is in recognition of that fact.
I am grateful to see the Church distributing opportunities to preside over groundbreakings for Utah temples to those with a personal connection, in addition to the area presidency members and apostles to whom that has applied in the past.
I look forward to seeing what will occur in terms of other temple groundbreakings later this year. In the meantime, I also continue to monitor all other Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I receive 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.
Hello again, everyone! Following a rough night that led to my late start on this newest post here, among other projects I am personally working on related to several of my files, I am also playing catch-up on other Church news reports and temple construction updates. So here are some additional Church news items:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/blood-drive-partnerships-american-red-cross-arup
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2021-03-16/president-bingham-celebrates-179-years-relief-society-podcast-207008
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2021-03-16/relief-society-anniversary-eliza-r-snow-discourses-emmeline-b-wells-diaries-205803
Also, given that there no longer seems to be any easily-discernable patterns in the timing of the release of each set of biographies for newly-called mission and temple leadership couples, it may be hard to gauge how soon the next sets of each could be shared. But I am reasonably certain that we could see the next set of new temple leaders within the next 2-3 days, with the next (and perhaps final) set of new mission leadership following 2-3 days after that. I will be sure to provide analysis on those announcements as those updates are provided. Meanwhile, if there are any other temple updates to pass along today, I will be doing so ASAP. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
I just noticed something unusual. Last year, when any General Authority Seventy presided at a groundbreaking, it was noted specifically that they were General Authority Seventies. But in looking again at the news release about the groundbreakings, the article refers to both Elders Duncan and Hales as members of the "Quorum of the Seve
DeleteI had noted in 2015, and again following the April 2016 General Conference that the Church was no longer identifying by name which General Authority Seventies were assigned to each of the two Quorums of the Seventy at the general level (First and Second), but that the Quorums for area seventies were still numbered starting at the Third.
But in reading the news release about the temple groundbreakings again, it referred to both Elders Duncan and Hales as members of the "Quorum of the Seventy" (singular case). It appears that there has been no change in the numeric designation of the area seventies' Quorums recently.
But if the Church has opted to change the reference of "General Authority Seventy" to "member of the Quorum of the Seventy" on a general level, it may be possible that the Church could reassign the numeric designation of the Third-Twelfth Quorums to the Second-Eleventh Quorums.
If, for whatever reason, that doesn't happen, thn it will be even more interesting to see what prompted the apparent change in terminology at the general level. Since I can't confirm that is an actual permanent change (rather than a one-time incorrect reference), the mention of the apparent new terminology may not qualify as breaking news until it is officially confirmed as a permanent change and any subsequent changes in area sevnties' Quorums numeric designations are also similarly confirmed. Just wanted to note that unusual detail for now. My thanks once again to you all.
Oddly enough, the Church News coverage on the groundbreakings uses the customary generic terminology of "General Authority Seventy" rather than "Quorum of the Seventy*, so it will be interesting to see which one is accurate. Thanks again, everyone!
DeleteOn a separate note, the Church News has also published a reminder that the 2021 Youth Music Festival will be held virtually tomorrow evening:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-03-16/youth-music-festival-global-concert-a-great-work-206812
My thanks once again to you all.
Two more articles from the Church News speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-03-16/basketball-ncaa-tournament-returned-missionaries-hoops-206988
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-03-16/byu-devotional-president-pace-hear-the-voice-of-the-shepherd-207106
My thanks once again to you all.
Temple or general conference predictions?
ReplyDeleteHello, Pills & Pillows, and thanks for taking time to comment. I actually shared my predictions for the speaker layout, likely changes in general Church leadership, the figures for the 2020 Statistical Report, and the locations in which a new temple could be announced:
Deletehttps://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2021/02/initial-predictions-for-april-2021.html
Those were shared on February 1. But since that time, all but 3 temples which had been announced for the United States are now out of the Announced queue and are awaiting the announcement of groundbreaking arrangements. And given the fact that 21 temples had a groundbreaking last year, and how many could have one this year, I wouldn't be shocked to see a double-digit number of temples announced. I also expect that at least 2 Utah cities and 2 other locations within the US could have temples announced this go-round.
Above and beyond that, all but 5 of the 105 new mission presidents called this year have had biographies featured thus far. And a majority of the currently-operating temples for which a new president may be called this year have already also been featured in the Church News. All of that is happening months ahead of schedule, suggesting that there is something big coming down the pike that the Brethren wanted to clear that queue for.
I mentioned also in the first comment on this thread that the Church referred to those who will preside at the groundbreakings for these two temples were referred to as members of "the Quorum of the Seventy" rather than as "General Authority Seventies", and I theorized what that meant.
But I also mentioned in a previous comment that a recent letter from the First Presidency noted that special programming would be offered in conjunction with the Easter General Conference that is upcoming. I'm still evaluating what that means.
I do think we have some big things coming down the pike in the near future, but it's difficult to know with any certainty what else there might be, based on all that has been adjusted, changed, corrected, or altered under President Nelson's prophetic direction.
Aside from that, the rumor mill has been fairly silent this go-round, so I think others are also having trouble figuring out and/or theorizing what might be next. What we do know is that a few months after President Nelson became the prophet, someone reportedly overheard Presidents Oaks and Eyring coming out of a meeting with President Nelson and marveling that he'd laid out an overview of the timing and changes that would be coming down the pike for his prophetic administration in the next several years.
That may possibly be more anecdotal than factual, but given what we have seen thus far and how much President Nelson and his fellow apostles have highlighted the amount of revelation being received by the prophet, who knows what to expect? Not me. It will be interesting to see what happens there. Thanks for stopping by to ask about this. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Please refer me to the recent letter that noted special programming would be offered in conjunction with Easter General Conference
DeleteThanks for weighing in here as well, Craig. I have been trying to find that part of the letter ever since Sunday. A part of me is wondering if that wasn't something actually said in the physical letter but in reference to what the letter said. If so, the leader who said that parenthetically could have some knowledge about the broadcast plans. It's also possible that, after a rough night Saturday, I may have misheared or misremembered something relative to that. I've been scrambling trying to figure that out in the midst of everything else I've had going on. But unless and until I can find a corroborating source, I can see that even I have a problem taking my word for it alone that the report in question that I shared is accurate. I'll keep looking. But I will put it out there that, given my failure to find corroborating solid evidence in this case, there's a HUGE chance that it may be no more than a false or erroneous memory. And if that's the case, I sincerely apologize to anyone whim I inadvertently misled through that report. Thanks.
DeleteCraig, just wanted to respond again to you. The Church has put together the following web page, which indicates that the Sunday Morning Session of this General Conference will include a "special worship service" during the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference, and that it will consist of specific addresses given by the apostles and "other Church leaders" on the subject of Easter:
Deletehttps://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/easter-2021/general-conference
I am going to go ahead an create a new post in the form of breaking news specifically on that confirmation, and that will be available within the next 20 minutes or less. For now, thanks again, Craig.
Hello again, everyone! The following additional reports have been shared by the Church News and the Newsroom:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-03-17/area-organization-advisers-relief-society-young-women-primary-local-instruction-207196
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/new-international-area-organization-advisers-strengthen-global-church
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/relief-society-at-179-years-president-binghams-message-to-women
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-03-16/youth-music-festival-global-concert-a-great-work-206812
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-03-16/basketball-ncaa-tournament-returned-missionaries-hoops-206988
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has also reported on this week's BYU-Provo devotional. The featured speaker was Brother Mark L. Pace, who currently serves as Sunday School General President:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-03-16/byu-devotional-president-pace-hear-the-voice-of-the-shepherd-207106
There is a slight error in that report. The opening sentence refers to August 8, 1844 as "six months after" the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at the Carthage Jail. But that martyrdom occurred on June 27 of that year, which was actually six weeks, not 6 months, before August 8. Probably just a typo, but I wanted to mention it anyways. My thanks once again to you all.
And on this anniversary of the formation of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo (the original version of today's churchwide Relief Society program):
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2021-03-17/emma-hale-smith-relief-society-first-president-206828
My thanks once again to you all.
One other report' from the Church News'
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-03-17/byu-cougars-cross-country-track-national-championships-207236
My thanks once again to you all.
And an update has been provided on the status of the Okinawa Japan Temple:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/okinawa-japan-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom and the Church News have both shared recaps of the 2021 Global Youth Music Festival:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/a-recap-of-the-2021-global-music-festival
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-03-16/youth-music-festival-global-concert-a-great-work-206812
My thanks once again to you all.