President Henry B. Eyring Observes His 88th Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! On this last day in May, I am grateful for the opportunity I have to pay tribute to President Henry Bennion Eyring, who was born on this day in 1933, to well-known physicist Henry Eyring and Mildred Bennion. His father's sister, Camilla Eyring, married Spencer W. Kimball, while his father's first cousin was Marion G. Romney. Young "Hal", as he was known, was generally a very good student. He recounted an experiencHe asked his son what he thought about when he had nothing else to consider, and told him that he should pursue that subject.

This led young Hal to an eventual career as an educator and academic administrator. His family would later relocate from New Jersey to Salt Lake City, Utah. Although he did not serve a full-time mission, he was an active member of the U. S. Air Force, and was stationed in New Mexico, where he served as a liaison between military officers and scientists, where he was responsible for analyzing data from tests done on nuclear weapons. Prior to his military service, he had earned a degree in physics from the University of Utah. He also studied at Harvard, where he eventually earned both a masters' and doctoral degrees in Business Administration.

While he was highly sought after by business owners who admired his analytical work, he chose to continue to pursue his education. In the meantime, it was not until 1960 (when Hal was 26 or 27 and serving in a district presidency) that he met Kathleen Johnson at a YSA meeting in New Hampshire. She was born in Palo Alto California, and had studied at Stanford before coming to Harvard. She also spent some time studying at the Universities of Vienna and Paris.

Because Hal was serving as a counselor in the district presidency, his district president (Wilbur Cox) adjusted his assignments to accommodate his desire to date Kathleen. Much of their dating relationship was built through long-distance communication or travel, with Kathleen making several cross-country trips prior to their engagement in the early months of 1961.

They continued their courtship for the next year or so, and were married in the Logan Utah Temple on July 27, 1962, by which time Hal was 29 years old. Their marriage was solemnized by his uncle, then-Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Their family would eventually include six children (four sons and two daughters).

Two of their sons are Henry J. Eyring (who current serves as president of BYU-Idaho and as an area seventy) and Matthew J. Eyring (who is a Chief Strategy Innovation Officer with Vivint, a company specializing in home automation, who served previously as an area seventy as well.). Hal eventually became a professor at Stanford University. He continued his career as an associate professor at the Stanford School of Business for 9 years (between 1972 and 1981), and went on to be a Sloan Visiting Faculty Fellow at MIT, during which time he also took courses in human behavior. Sometime between late 1970 and early 1971, his wife asked him if he shouldn't be studying with Neal A. Maxwell, who was serving at that time as Commissioner of Church Education. After considering her question and following a lot of reflection, Hal accepted an offer to become president of Ricks College. Although other job offers came his way during his 6 year tenure at the college, he continued to serve until his release in 1977. His previous Church callings included being a bishop, serving as a member of the Sunday School General Board, and as a regional representative.

In 1980, Hal was called to serve as the Commissioner of Church Education, succeeding Jeffrey R. Holland. He would continue to serve in that capacity until 1986. When the Church reorganized the Presiding Bishopric in April 1985, Robert D. Hales was called as the new Presiding Bishop, and he recommended that Hal serve as his First Counselor. After serving in that capacity for 7.5 years, he was called in October 1992 to serve as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

When he began his new assignment, he was called for a second time to seerve as the Commissioner of Church Education, an assignment in which he would continue until 2004. Before that time, following the passing of Church president Howard W. Hunter and the subsequent reorganization of the First Presidency in March 1995, new Church president Gordon B. Hinckley called Elder Eyring to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

12.5 years later, following the death of President James E. Faust, who had served as Second Counselor to President Hinckley, Elder Eyring was invited to join Presidents Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson in the First Presidency. The way that came about is an interesting story. Elder Eyring had taken the phone call from President Hinckley and had heard his invitation to join the First Presidency, but because he had occasionally taken calls on the Church's phone system that were meant for some of his apostolic colleagues, he asked President Hinckley if he was sure he was talking to the right person. "This is Hal Eyring." he said. President Hinckley quickly responded, "I know who this is." Thus it was that the first apostle appointed during President Hinckley's administration was called to serve in the First Presidency for an almost four-month period prior to President Hinckley's passing.

When the First Presidency was reorganized, new Church president Thomas S. Monson called President Eyring to continue serving in the First Presidency, this time as his First Counselor. While in that capacity, President Eyring has dedicated 8 temples (San Salvador El Salvador, Gilbert Arizona, Payson Utah, Indianapolis Indiana, Philadelphia Pennsylvania (for which he had also presided at the groundbreaking), Hartford Connecticut, Paris France, and Cedar City Utah). The dedication of the Gilbert Arizona Temple was an interesting anomaly. Although President Monson presided at all three sessions, he requested that President Eyring read the prayer during the first session, so that was one recent example of how the dedication duties were shared by two apostles.

President Eyring also rededicated seven temples (Ogden Utah, Buenos Aires Argentina Mexico City Mexico, Montreal Quebec, Suva Fiji, Idaho Falls Idaho, and Jordan River Utah Temple). The Ogden Utah Temple rededication is another interesting case. President Eyring conducted all three sessions and presided at the final two sessions, in which he also offered the dedicatory prayer, with President Monson having presided at and offering the dedicatory prayer in the first session. As we also know, around two years ago (on May 23, 2017), the Church announced that President Monson would be stepping back from an active role in the day-to-day administration of the Church.

Following the release of that statement, Presidents Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf assumed oversight of all decisions except for those requiring the prophet's direct approval. Following President Monson's passing last year on January 2, the First Presidency was reorganized on January 14, at which time President Eyring was called to continue his service in the First Presidency, and is serving as Second Counselor a second time, working with Church President Russell M. Nelson and his First Counselor, President Dallin H. Oaks. For the last several years, President Eyring's wife has been in ill health, and he has done a wonderful job of balancing his responsibilities in the First Presidency with his role being his wife's caregiver. Because President Eyring has a familial connection to both Presidents Spencer W. Kimball and Marion G. Romney, who were involved in the 1981 dedication of the Jordan River Utah Temple, President Nelson asked President Eyring to preside over its' recent rededication on May 20, 2018. As noted in an earlier post, President Eyring drew heavily on the original dedicatory prayer in composing the dedicatory prayer for that temple. He went on just one after that (a year ago from today) to preside over the one-session private rededication for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple, since he also has ancestral connections to that temple. Although he is now 87 years old, by all accounts, he continues to be in good health.

His lifelong devotion to education and his decades of committed Church service is an inspiration to all. I had the opportunity to attend a stake conference around 14 years ago, over which then-Elder Eyring presided. His message to us at that time focused on unity. It is a message he has since shared repeatedly in several General Conference addresses, a focus that has since been adopted by the current First Presidency, with multiple efforts underway to unify the Church on a global scale and to streamline and standardize policies and procedures. That message of unity was particularly poignant during the October 2017 General Conference, when he, as First Counselor to the ailing President Monson, served as the de facto presiding authority, since his talks highlighted the important concept that the Lord is at the helm of His work, and that, regardless of the health of His chosen prophet, He continues to move the work forward. To date, President Eyring has given a total of 108 addresses in General Conference.

Of those, 5 were given during his 7 years in the Presiding Bishopric (including his first which, for unknown reasons, is not in the main repository page where his other talks can be found), with 25 others given during his 12.5 years in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the remaining 78 since he was first called to the First Presidency in October 2007. During his apostolic tenure thus far, he has served as a counselor to 3 Church Presidents. Aside from his being the junior and youngest member of the current First Presidency, he is the fifth-most senior apostle and the fourth oldest overall. Among his fellow apostles, President Eyring has been one who has clearly shown when the feeling behind the message he is giving during each General Conference has had a direct impact on him. We are blessed to see how deeply he wants to convey such ideas, thoughts, and feelings to each of us.

I am grateful for the life, ministry, and service of this amazing man, whom I sustain with all my heart, and for the opportunity I have had in this small way to pay tribute to him on this day as he celebrate his 87th birthday. That does if 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 Quentin L. Cook Dedicates Temple District of Nauvoo in First Apostolic Assignment Outside of Utah

Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and the Church News have shared a similar report on the first major apostolic travel assignment to be filled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who chairs the Priesthood and Fmaily Concil of the Church, visited Nauvoo to look over several prominent Church history sites in the city, and to dedicate those sites collectively to form what will be known as the Temple District of Nauvoo. That name is being applied to those historic locations because they are all fairly close the the Nauvoo Illinois Temple of the Church. 

Note the subtle difference in title there. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple District encompasses the specific stakes assigned to that temple. But the Temple District of Nauvoo refers not to those stakes that the temple serves, but the historic sites just west of the temple. Elder Cook was accompanied by his wife, Mary G. Cook, Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., who serves as the Church Historian and Recorder, and his wife, Jane C. Curtis. Also in attendance at the dedication was Lachlan Mackay, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Aposstles in the Community of Christ, who was accompanied by his wife, Christin Mackay, the latter of whom has an assigned role in the Community of Christ as the Joseph Smith Historic Site Director.

Elder Cook provided grateful acknowledgement of the efforts of Mackay and his wife in fulfilling their roles to maintain those sites, and noted that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ have a good partnership in place to ensure the preservation of those sites for years to come. The articles note the specific sites that were included in the dedicatory prayer offered by Elder Cook. And the Newsroom particularly provides more context into why each site is significant in Church history.

This is a wonderful development. And that's not just because of the dedication of the Temple District of Nauvoo, but also because it is the first time since the onset of COVID-19 that any apostle has traveled outside of Utah. I am hoping that means that the Church is able to cautiously transition back into having the apostles expand their ministry efforts through more regular travel.

Having said that, as President Ballard and other apostles have acknowledged, the COVID-19 pandemic has led the Church towards hopefully using a combination of in-person apostolic visits where practical in combination with virtual efforts where that option makes more sense. It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months in that respect. I continue to monitor all Chruch news and temple updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware 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: Official Rendering Released for the Lindon Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, in December of last year, the site location and preliminary details were released for the Lindon Utah Temple, with the note that a rendering would be released and a groundbreaking set when that was feasible, with project manageers working through the approvals with city leaders. In the interim, the Church has had a few examples in the recent past where initial site announcements were updated with renderings. I believe that happened most recently with other Utah or US temples, but I have not been able to confirm that.

Anyways, in the latest news update on that temple from the Church Temples site, it has been noted that a rendering has been added to the initial news release on the Newsroom. The rendering shows two steeples, no angel Moroni statue, and similar elements of design to the Layton Utah Temple, in addition to similarities to perhaps a few other temples. I will leave it to others (particularly longtime reader and commenter Jim Anderson, if he is willing to do so) to provide further insight on the temple's rendering. The timing of the release of this rendering comes as the Church is moving closer to being able to set a formal groundbreaking for that temple. 

It seems likely that the grundbreaking for that temple could be set for July, August, or perhaps even September, and that the groundbreaking for the Lindon Utah Temple might be one of the next announced, if not the very next. Parenthetically, it is worth noting that I'm watching the following temples for potential groundbreaking announcements in the near future (listed in current order of likelihood, though that is subject to confirmation from the First Presidency through official announcements): Lindon Utah, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Helena Montana, Pago Pago American Samoa, and Neiafu Tonga. 

It would also not surprise me if, in the next several months, announcements came down the pike for temple groundbreakings in Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, Port Vila Vanuatu, Tarawa Kiribati, and Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temples. In addition, as previously mentioned, it would not surprise me if further action and official announcements were made regarding locations, renderings, or groundbreakings for any of the 9 other US temples which were announced most recently, or for 4-6 other temple cities outside the United States.

I won't list those particulars here for the time being, but will be happy to give the details to any of you who request them in the comments. I am grateful to have been able to hear about and pass along this news to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will be sure to mention those as well as time and circumstances allow. 

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: 76% of Churchwide Temples Will Open for Proxy Work by July; Reopenings Announced for the Next Week

Hello again, everyone! I do have some major breaking temple news regarding reopenings to get to, but before I do, I wanted to note something else: During the last couple of weeks especially, with elements of the temple reopenings sticking to a standard form, it was easier for me to copy each post from the previous reopening announcement, and leave room for new developments to be added before the post was scheduled to publish as pre-set.

Because I could not have possibly anticipated the news I needed to share with you all this morning, and due to the fact that I had another rough night last night, I didn't wake up to the announcement from today as I usually would for Church news alerts. Since I wasn't able to update the copied post before it was scheduled for publication around 1.5 hours ago, the incomplete post, which had not been updated, was published at the appointed time.

But today's announcement contained major news that needed to be properly focused on, so I determined that the best option would be to delete the post that had been published as scheduled and to start this one with the major developments in a fresh new post. So I apologize to any of you who read or were in the process of reading that preset post, because it was incomplete and did not have the relevant information. Hopefully the new post penned at this time will make up for that.

That being said, let's get to the huge news shared by the Church this morning:: With this week's update being published, it will be the last one published for May. The next update, likely coming next week, will be posted on June 1. So the last update for May indicated that, as part of the phased reopening of temples, if COVID-19 conditions permit, 76% of all temples will open for proxy work by the end of July. This is a huge step towards normalcy for the Church.

phLet's break down the details: 60 temples are planned to open in phase 3 between now and the end of July. Rather than list the individual temples, I will refer anyone interested to the link I shared above, which breaks down the individual temples by area. My personal focus will be on listing the number of temples by geographical area that will open in phas:e 3 by the end of July:

Caribbean Area: 1 temple

Central America Area: 2 temples

Mexico: 4 temples

North America Central: 10 temples

North America Northeast: 1 temple

North America Southeast: 4 temples

North America Southwest: 15 temples

North America West: 7 temples

Utah: 16 temples

As an important note, the Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah Temples are closed for renovation but will be given phase 3 designation, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule proxy work at the nearest temple open in phase 3. Additionally, in the standard weekly update on temple reopenings from the Church News, two weeks from now (on June 7), 13 temples will move from phase 2 to phase 2-B, which allows the performance of all living ordinances, in priority order, in addition to offering youth the opportunity to participate in baptisms for the dead.

Those 13 temples include: 5 in the United States (Denver and Fort Collins Colorado; Boston Massachusetts; Hartford Connecticut; and Philadelphia Pennsylvania); 6 in Latin America (Hermosillo Sonora and Tijuana Mexico; Caracas Venezuela; Manaus Brazil; Quetzaltenango Guatemala; and Trujillo Peru); and 2 in Europe (Lisbon Portugal and Rome Italy). The information about the reopenings is further explored in the weekly temple status tracker, in addition to which all of these new updates and details are likewise confirmed through the official release on the Newsroom.

In view of these updates, effective Monday (May 31), the Church's temples will break down as follows: 8 remain closed for major renovation, 4 of which (Hamilton New Zealand, Mesa Arizona, Salt Lake, and St. George Utah) have been given reopening statuses, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule appointments at nearby temples. The Hamilton temple went into phase 3 status as of yesterday, and the 3 US temples have been in phase 2-B and will all be granted phase 3 status between now and the end of July.

Meanwhile, 1 temple (Kyiv Ukraine) has not reopened in any phase whatsoever since all temples were closed last year, 5 temples have "paused" in their reopening (3 were in phase 3, with 1 each in phase 2 and 2-B when local COVID-19 conditions necessitated the pauses); 4 are in phase 1, 41 in phase 2, 82 in phase 2-B, and the remaining 27 in phase 3. I am grateful for the latest reopening announcements (demonstrating the caution and inspiration attending that process), and will watch with great interest for further information on the June and July reopenings in the coming weeks.

I also continue to monitor all other Church news reports and temple updates and will do my best to bring you all word of those here as I become aware of all such developments.

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: Official Locations Confirmed and Renderings Released for Tarawa Kiribati and Port Vila Vanuatu Temples

Hello again, everyone! Less than an hour ago, the Newsroom shared an announcement from the First Presidency. The site locations have been confirmed and the renderings released for the Tarawa Kiribati and Port Vila Vanuatu Temples. which were both announced in October of last year. Although the Tarawa temple was the first of the two to be announced, the information about the Vanuatu Temple was provided first, probably because it is first alphabetically. Let's get to some details.

In Port Vila, the single-story temple, which will be roughly 10,00 square feet in area, is set to be a single-story edifice that will be built on a 1.62 acre site at the location where the Blacksands meetinghouse currently sits. Another building on the site will house an arrival and distribution center, in addition to patron housing. Meanwhile, the Tarawa Temple will be a single-story edifice roughly the same size as its' counterpart in Port Vila. A separate building 450 meters from the temple will be paired with a new meetinghouse and patron housing facility that will be part of the project. The temple portion of that project will rise on a 0.80 acre site at Ambo in Southern Tarawa.

This afternoon's announcement means that 3 of the 6 total temples announced last October have now had sites announced, with renderings released for two of those. And it also means we are nearly certain to have these two additional Pacific Area Temples have a groundbreaking later this year. With today's announcement, there are now a total of 3 temples with a groundbreaking scheduled (2 of which will happen within the next month), and 9 more for which a groundbreaking is anticipated at some point within the next 12 months (if not sooner).

But I am also moniotring developments for the 9 remaining temples in the United States which were announced since the beginning of last month, in addition to a minimum of 4 temples outside the United States for which, based on information I have found in various places, could soon see action taken. Any of those 13, and by extension, any the remaining 23 announced temples (particularly any of the 11 other temples outside the United States which were announced during last month's General Conference and might be on the smaller side) could also see anything more official announced in the near future.

Throughout the last several months, between the accounts from President Nelson, his apostolic colleagues, and many other general Church leaders who are involved in the planning of temples, and on information that has been released through such outlets as "This Week in Mormons", if the Church is able to use uew and innovative methods such as prefabricated modular temples or other processes that could accelerate temple construction going forward, the Church could be entering a new unprecedented, accelerated, and rapidly-expansive period of temple construction.

References in the past on this blog from myself and others have noted the idea of a ten-fold increase in the number of temples, or that "adding a zero" to the current number would put us closer to envisioning what President Nelson's plans for temple construction might be.  A recently-published article from LDS Living highlighted insights from Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, who serves on the Temple and Family History Executive Council, and from Elder Kevin R. Duncan,. who serves as the Temple Department Executive Director. 

Those statements indicated that the modular design of the Helena Montana Temple would allow it to be built and dedicated within 12-15 months of whenever construction begins. That is a much quicker turnaround than the typical 2-4 year window we've seen for temples of a similar or slightly larger size in the past. I look forward to getting a clearer picture of what such advances might do for temple construction going forward. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all other Church news and temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware 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: First Presidency Announces Temple Reopenings for the Next Two Weeks

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has announced more temple reopenings that will be effective next  wek. Those updates have been shared by the  Newsroom and the Church News and outlined by the temple reopening status tracker. Let's get to those details.

First, the Manhattan New Yotk Temple is moving from phase 1 to phase 2, which will allow that temple to offer all living ordinances in priority order. 

Meanwhile, the Mexico City Mexico Temple will unpause and be pushed back to phase 1 (offering living husband-to-wife sealings where both are previously endowed). In addition, the Taipei Taiwant Temple, which had reached phase 3 recently, will pause due to local restrictions, while the Toronto Ontario Temple will resume phase 2-B after dropping back to phase 2 in recent weeks.  And although the Hamilton New Zeland Temple remains closed for renovation, it is being given a phase 3 designation so that patrons within its' district can schedule proxy or living ordinances for any of the temples open in nearby Austrailia.

In addition, I made reference last week to the changes that would be coming for 9 temples in Finland and North America. Those details have not changed, and remain in effect. Above and beyond that, the Columbus Ohio and Washington D.C. Temples are both being given phase 2-B designation, and those within those districts who want to schedule  baptisms for the dead can do so at the nearest temples with the same status.

As of next Monday (May 24), the Church's  temple reopenings will break down as follows: 8 remain closed for renoation, with a few of those granted phase 2-B or 3 status; 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) has not reopened in any phase; 4 remain paused (3 had reached phase 3; 1 had reached phase 2); 4 temples remianing in phase 1; 41 in phase 2; 83 in phase 2-B; and 27 which have reached phase 3. I am grateful that the Church continues a cautiously-coordinated reopening plan for temples around the world. I continue to monitor all major Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to bring you all word of those as I become aware 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: Groundbreaking Held for Deseret Peak Utah Temple Today

Hello again, everyone! As previously mentioned in the comment threads of another post on this blog, the groundbreaking for the Deseret Peak Utah Temple occurred as scheduled this morning. Elder Brook P. Hales, a General Authority Seventy who has served/is serving as the Secretary to the First Presidency, presided. Other leaders in attendance were Elder Berne S. Broadbent, an area seventy who resides in nearby South Jordan, and Brother Richard Droubray, who previously served as a stake president and who chaired the groundbreaking committee for the temple. Per the release, video of the groundbreaking ceremony will be made available later today. 

And although it was not explicitly stated, I anticipate that the plan remains to utilize an accelrated construction process for that project. Stay tuned for more on that as i learn about 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.

UPDATE: How My Projected Table of Contents for the May 2021 Liahona Compared with the Actual Version; Possible Changes in the Magazine Advisers' Specific Assignments

Hello again, everyone! My wife and I received our copy of the May 2021 Liahona magazine last week, at which time I took the opportunity to compare how my mockup of the table of contents for the magazine compared with the actual physical copy, since the PDF version thereof remains unavailable due to a likely glitch in the Church's computer servers used to post that information. I had hoped that the PDF version would be up by now, but so far, that has not occurred.

So I decided just now to go ahead and share the report. First, I wanted to comment on a couple of interesting elements to the magazine. With the May 2021 Liahona being the first full General Conference edition, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. So as I was thumbing through it, I noticed something interesting. Where information about the editor and advisers of the magazine are listed, there were only a few nams specified this time, with Elder Randy D. Funk listed as the editor of the magazine, and 4 other leaders (Sharon Eubank, Walter F. Gonzalez, Jan E. Newman, and Michael T. Ringwood).

That was intriguing to me because the January-April and June editions had a longer list of advisers noted. In addition to the 4 names I mentioned above, Elders Marcos A. Aidukaitis, Jeremy R. Jaggi, Adrian Ochoa, Sisters Michelle D. Craig and Becky Craven (the respective First and Second Counselors in the Young Women General Presidency), Sister Cristina B. Franco (the since-released Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency), and Brother Bradley R. (Brad) Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency.

As I was pondering the difference in the lists of advisers in the May vs. June editions of the Liahona, I remembered that each conference edition of each magazine goes to print later than regular editions, due to the increased amount of content that needs to be accounted for. With that in mind, it wouldn't surprise me if the June magazine went to print faster than the May edition, which might explain why the list of advisers mentioned in the May Liahona is different from June.

If that theory proves correct, then in the coming months, we may have more information, but for now, I am wondering if those who have been or will be listed as advisers going forward will be specifically assigned to individual magazines. If I am correct on this theory, then my assumption is that the editor and Elders Ringwood and Gonzalez (who respectively serve as the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director of the Priesthood and Family Department) will be the only ones listed as serving in a role for all three magazines going forward. 

I further assume that Brother Newman, as the representative from the Sunday School General Presidency, will also be listed as an adviser specifically to the Liahona (but possibly to one or both of the other two magazines), with Sisters Craig and Craven and Brother Wilcox being specifically assigned as advisers to the For the Strength of Youth magazine, and the member of the Primary General Presidency specifically listed as an adviser to The Friend. 

Until further evidence suggests otherwise, the Church may have opted to assign specific advisers to specific magazines, rather than having all of the advisers be assigned to all of the magazines. Aside from that, this edition brought a few other surprises. Given the increased amount of photographs or other images used, more of the talks in General Conference are taking up slightly more spac than usual.

Let me explain what I mean on that further. For talks given by any of our apostles, those have ranged anywhere from 3-4 pages in general. A few more of the apostolic talks shared in the Liahona span 5 pages, including the photographs or images. Meanwhile, with most talks by non-apostolic speakers typically taking 2-3 pages, more of those took 3-4 pages this time around. The conference edition was also a standard 144 pages in length.

Additionally, something else I wasn't anticipating was that the News of the Church section in the back part of the magazine was subdivided into 3 new sections: New Callings (providing brief half-page biographies for newly-called leaders, including the two new incoming members of the Presidency of the Seventy), the News of the Church section covering other developments, and a two-page conclusion sharing some suggestions for those teaching from the General Conference talks.

Aside from these notes, the table of contents document to which I linked above is pretty self-explanatory. Hopefully whatever is causing the problems with the Church website server might soon be resolved, which will hopefully allow the PDF versions of the magazines to be published as usual. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware 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: 8 Temples in North America and Europe to Offer Proxy Work; 5 Latin American Temples to Unpause Operations

Hello again, everyone! As I noted yesterday, temple reopening announcements will now be made on Tuesday, although they will continue to go into effect on Monday as specified in their announcements, unless otherwise noted. The Newsroom and the Church News have announced changes affecting a total of 13 temples this week in Latin America, North America and Europe, with those changes confimed by the status tracker

First, the Helsinki Finland Temple will offer all proxy ordinances, effective Monday May 24. Meanwhile, the temples in Idaho Falls and Rexburg Idaho, Anchorage Alaska, Chicago Illinois, Montreal Quebec, and Regina Saskatchewan will move to phase 2-B, offering all living ordinances in addition to proxy baptisms. Meanwhile, the temples in Columbus Ohio and Washington D.C. are being given phase 2-B status as well, which will allow patrons in those districts to schedule proxy baptisms at the nearest open temples.

And 5 more temples in Latin America (Concepcion and Santiago Chile, Porto Alegre Brazil, Quetzeltenango Guatemala, and Trujillo Peru) were confirmed to have resumed all phase 2 operations following their recent respective pauses. 

As previously announced last week, the Kansas City Missouri and London and Preston England As of May 17, the Church's temple reopenings will stand as follows: 8 closed for major renovations; 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) which has still not opened in any phase since all temples were closed last year; 4 temples "paused" in their reopenings (1 in phase 1,  1 in phase 2, and 2 in phase 3); 4 in phase 1; 49 in phase 2; 75 in phase 2-B; and 27 in phase 3. Further information on these updates can be found in the links I shared at the beginning of this post.

I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will bring you all word of those as I become aware 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: Exact Groundbreaking Dates Unofficially Confirmed for 3 Temples in the United States

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, a comment on this blog on Saturday that was posted by Eric S. noted the report that the groundbreaking for the Deseret Peak Utah Temple was scheduled to occur this Saturday (May 15). Today, the construction status page for the Church Temples site unofficially confirmed that information. But more than that, the page in question also noted exact dates for next month's groundbreakings for the Talahassee Florida Temple (Saturdy June 5) and the Syracuse Utah Temple (Saturday June 12).

Although the Church won't be officially confirming the dates of each of these groundbreakings until the exact days on which they each occur, generally, if the Church Temples site notes a date in advance of that confirmation, that information has traditionally proven correct. So I have no doubts that each of these temples will have their groundbreakings on those exact dates. I continue to also believe that the probability that other temples could have groundbreakings in June, July, or August remains relatively high.

Particularly, any of the remaining 6 or 7 temples for which sites have been confirmed or renderings have been released could have groundbreakings set, which also applies to any temples that could have sites confirmed, renderings released and even groundbreakings set in one go. Again, in my opinion, we have barely scratched the surface of the major temple announcements which will come down the pike throughout the rest of the year. I will do my best to track all of that aand bring you word on the latest developments as I am able to put that analysis together.

I likewise continue to follow all major Church news updates and will be sure to pass along my take on those as they are reported also. 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 Clark G. Gilbert To Serve as New Commissioner of Church Education

 Hello again, everyone! As some of you might be aware, when the Church announced changes in the Presidency of the Seventy that would be effective August 1, the first new member of that Presidency who was announced was Elder Paul V. Johnson, who currently serves as Commissioner of Church Education. Although it has been customary for a member of the Presidency of the Seventy to serve on the Church Board of Education (with Elder Robert/ C. Gay currently filling that assignment, and Elder Johnson likely to succeed him in doing so in August), generally, a call to the Presidency of the Seventy makes necessary a release from assignments like the Comissioner of Church Education.

So I had privately theorized that Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a new General Authority Seventy currently serving as president of BYU--Pathway Worldwide, might succeed Elder Johnson as the Comissioner of Church Education. A new biographical article on Elder Gilbert through the Church News confirms that theory: Elder Clark G. Gilbert will begin serving as the new Comissioner of Church Education, effective August 1. I imagine this in turn will necessitate a change in the presidency of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, but the Commissioner of Church Education usually plays a role in recommending a change in the presidency of any Church schools, so no doubt Elder Gilbert is qualified to know who his best successor may be.

I am grateful to have learned of this news and to be able to pass it along to you all. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will pass word of those along to you all as I become aware 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: August Groundbreaking Set for the Sallvador Brazil Temple

Hello again, everyone! A short while ago, the First Presidency announced that a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at some point in August for the Salvador Brazil Temple. Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella, President of the Brazil Area, will preside at the event. An artist's rendering hax been released for the temple, but no square footages and been provided. This temple was another oringally announced in October 2018 by President Nelson.

There are a total of 7 dedicated temples in Brazil, with the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple completed and awaiting ran announcement of revised opening dates.Additionally, the Salvador Brazil temple will join the temples in Belem and Brasilia as being under construction. The Church has also announced temples in Belo Horiznote and East Sao Paulo.

The scheduling for this temple's groundbreaking did catch me by surprise a little. The Church hass previously announcecd that the Deseret Peak Utah Temple will break ground sometime this month, with the Syracuse Utah and Tallahassee Florida Temples following in June. Last year, one temple groundbreaking was held in July. Setting thee groundbreaking for the Salvador Brazil Temple for August suggests that the Church may try to keep July open for aany others that could have a groundbreaking.

I will note that I allso anticiapte announcements relatively soon for the Pago Pago American Samoa and Neiafu Tonga Temples, and that I'm similarly watching for an update on the Lindon Utah and Bahia Blanca Argentina Temples, among others. There is a chance, however remote, that no groundbreakings will be held between those for the Syracuse and Tallahassee temples and the Salvador temple, but I see that scenario as vnlikely, based on information I currently hava available. Either way, I am grateful to have heard of this announcement today, and fo the chance to pass word thereof on it to you all here.

I continue to monitor all other Church News updates and temple developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware 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: 4 Temples in Brazil Unpausing; 30 More Worldwide To Offer Proxy Ordinances

Hello again, everyone! As reported by the Church News and the Newsroom, and confirmed in the weekly temple status tracker, 4 temples in Brazil will unpause next week, at which time 30 others around the world will offer proxy ordinances. Let's break down the details: First, with local COVID-19 conditions sufficiently cleared for the time being, the Campinas, Fortaleza, Recife, and Sao Paulo Brazil temples will unpause and will resume phase 2 operations. Meanwhile, also due to local conditions, the Toronto Ontario Temple will take a step back, from phase 2-B operations to phase 2.

As previously announced last week, the Kansas City Missouri and London and Preston England Temples remain on track to shift to phase 3, offering all living ordinances and limited proxy work (including baptisms for the dead).  Meanwhile, the following 30 temples will move to phase 2-B next week (listed below by area, then alphabetically):

Caribbean: Port-au-Prince Haiti

Central America: Panama City Panama; Tegucigalpa Honduras

México: Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tampico, and Veracruz

North America Central: Nauvoo Illinois

North America Northeast: Indianapolis Indiana

North America Southeast: Atlanta Georgia, Birmingham Alabama, Columbia South Carolina, Louisville Kentucky, Raleigh North Carolina

North America Southwest: All 4 Texas Temples (Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio); Oklahoma City Oklahoma

North America West: All 7 temples in California (Fresno, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Oakland, Redlands, Sacramento, San Diego)

Philippines: Cebu City

As of May 10, the Church's temple reopenings will stand as follows: 8 closed for major renovations; 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) which has still not opened in any phase since all temples were closed last year; 7 temples "paused" in their reopenings (1 in phase 1, 4 in phase 2, and 2 in phase 3); 4 in phase 1; 46 in phase 2; 75 in phase 2-B; and 27 in phase 3. Further information on these updates can be found in the links I shared at the beginning of this post.

I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will bring you all word of those as I become aware 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! As most of you are almost certainly aware, I have provided updates on the latest apostolic data (specifically relating to tbeir lifespan or tenure length milestones) roughly every seven weeks. Having last done so on March 14 (through utilizing two consolidated documents), it is time to publish the third such update for this year. As with that last update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document also shows information on three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the First Presidency as presently constituted until 2024), in addition to the longest2-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). 

Since my last update, it is worth noting thas of at the current Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as constituted beginning on March 31, 2018 (when Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares were sustained), have officially moved up on the list of longest continuously-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles from the 14th to the now-13th spot on that list. They will move up twice more on that list by the end of July of this year. I will be detailing the specifcs of those moves in my next update (which is set to be published here on Sunday June 20).

In a similar manner, the current members of the First Presidency, together with the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with that group of 15 apostles as it has been constituted as of the last day in March of 2018, have not only served long enough to make the list of longest, continuously-serving apostolic groups, but they have already moved up from the 14th to the 12th position on that list, and are set to move up twice more by the end of July, and more than that, the current group of 15 apostles will actually move up on the exact same dates that just the current Quorum of the Twelve will move up. Again, more information on that is coming with my next update (on Sunday June 20).

Meanwhile, the second part  of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and the timing noted for when each of the other 13 apostles will join that list).

Hopefully this shared data will be of interest to you all, and again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, conFitinue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all 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 TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces a New Temple for Ephraim Utah; Renovation on the Manti Utah Temple Will Begin in October

Hello again, everyone! In a stunning and unusually-timed announcement, President Russell M. Nelson announced this morning that the multi-year renovation on the Manti Utah Temple will begin on or around October 1 of this year, that greater care would be taken with the multi-year project to preserve the pioneer's efforts and craftsmanship, and that renovation plans for the temple would be evaluated and adjusted on an ongoing basis as the Lord inspires the Brethren further in that process

But today's video from President Nelson also included something I had not expected. It has been somewhat traditional under the leadership of Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson for the bulk of new temples to be announced in General Conference, with a few announced outside of those gatherings. A few examples of that are the Payson Utah Temple, announced in January 2010, and the confirmation of the intention to build the Paris France Temple was acknowledged in the summer of 2011, with plans officially confirmed for that temple in General Conference several months later.

The trend of temples announced by President Nelson seemed to focus for the most part on announcing temples every six months in General Conference, with a focus between each conference on clearing the existing queue. But this morning, President Nelson announced that, in consideration of the multi-year closure planned for the Manti Utah Temple, the Brethren have felt impressed to build a new temple in Ephraim to serve those currently in the Manti Utah Temple district during its' closure, especially given the student body population of Latter-day Saint young adults attending nearby Snow College. So it appears the new temple announced for Ephraim will, in similarity to the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, be built on a similar accelerated schedule.

This is developing news I did not see coming, but I welcome it. I continue to monitor all such updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware 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.