Stokes Sounds Off: UPDATED: Pago Pago American Samoa Temple Groundbreaking Postponed

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Tuesday, September 14, 2021

UPDATED: Pago Pago American Samoa Temple Groundbreaking Postponed

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, on July 27 (while I was hospitalized), the Church announced the original groundbreaking dates for the Neiafu Tonga Temple (Saturday September 11) and the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple (originally set for Saturday October 9). My reason for mentioning that announcement again today is due to an update provided by the Church.

I'm assuming that this is due to COVID-19, but regardless of the reason behind it, the Church announced this afternoon that the groundbreaking for the  Pago Pago American Samoa Temple has been rescheduled from October 9 to three weeks later (Saturday October 30). The Church has further specified that Elder K. Brent Nattress, First Counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency, will preside at the groundbreaking for American Samoa's first temple.

Even with the slight delay of 3 weeks, the Church will still have two more temple groundbreakings by the end of Ocltober of this year than they did at the same point last year., per information I have previously provided. I continue to monitor all subsequent temple updates and any other Church news developments and will bring word of those to you all here 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. 

7 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The Church News has provided coverage of today's announced delay for the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple's groundbreaking ceremony:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2021-09-14/updates-on-pago-pago-american-samoa-temple-groundbreaking-new-date-new-presiding-leader-225533

    The Church News has also provided the following additional new updates:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-14/elder-renlund-byu-devotional-doctrine-of-christ-spiritual-sisu-lead-happily-ever-after-225381

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-13/elder-rasband-g20-interfaith-forum-service-faith-religious-freedom-225124

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-14/sister-eubank-g20-interfaith-forum-world-hunger-225420

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I have one new Church News update to pass along:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-14/byu-idaho-devotional-president-eyring-encourages-stand-patiently-in-holy-places-225528

      My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
  2. Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and the Church News have noted the creation of a new Instagram account from which Church President Russell M. Nelson will post messages exclusively in Spanish:

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/president-nelson-launches-personal-instagram-account-in-spanish

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-15/president-nelson-launches-spanish-instagram-account-225438

    Also, two other reports (from the Church News) speak for themselves:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-15/sarah-jane-weaver-lesson-of-understanding-supreme-court-justice-sonia-sotomayer-defendant-mother-225569

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-15/ensign-college-devotional-kusch-holy-ghost-byu-idaho-225573

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am back with a couple new articles from the Church News and Newsroom, which speak for themselves:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-15/elder-rasband-sister-eubank-g20-interfaith-forum-225643

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-09-15/general-handbook-chapters-translated-23-languages-225600

      https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/general-handbook-language-update-september-2021

      I don't know for sure if any major announcements will be made by the Church on either Thursday or Friday of this week, but if anything is announced, I will do my best to pass that along to you all here, in addition to my analysis on sucn developments, ASAP after I learn about them. For now. my thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    2. A late update was provided on the Helena Montana Temple:

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/helena-montana-temple/

      And the newest photographs for the Salvador Brazil Temple might indicate that full-scale construction might soon begin in earnest:

      https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/salvador-brazil-temple/photographs/

      My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    3. On this Thursday, 3 new Church News updates speak for themselves:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-16/elder-andersen-fruit-video-stay-true-225514

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-09-16/watch-the-2021-church-music-festival-225509

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2021-09-16/california-wildfire-damages-historic-site-mormon-battalion-members-buried-224990

      Additionally, towards the end of last year or the beginning of this year, the Church's Newsroom pages with Spanish content were consolidated into a single hub page that allowed access to those updates from the Spanishe-edition of the Newsroom. I believe (but can't definitively confirm) that something similar was subsequently done with many of the Newsroom pages for Portuguese- and/or French-speaking nations in Latin America and Europe.

      Even if I am not correct about the single page for Portuguese- and/or French-speaking nations in general, the main Newsroom page shared a report today indicating that 7 of the Newsroom pages for African nations in which English is the primary common language, major updates from each of those nations will now be featured from a new English-language general page for Africa. The Church is planning to make similar African pages available to share consolidated content from the African nations in which both Portuguese and French are the primary languages:

      https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/the-church-s-seven-english-africa-newsrooms-have-merged-into-one-website

      It appears that the seven African nations for which English content will be provided on the new English Newsroom page for Africa are: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

      It's also worth noting that, while I don't know this for sure, I'm hoping that either later today or sometime tomorrow, we might hear another major temple update announced. The most likely updates appear to be the opening arrangements for the Yigo Guam Temple (which, if announced at around 9:00 AM Yigo time on any given day, would be 5:00 PM the preceding day here in Utah); the reopening arrangements for the temples in either Tokyo Japan (where 9:00 AM any given day would be 6:00 PM the preceding day here in Utah) or Hamilton New Zealand (where 9:00 AM on any given day would be 3:00 PM the preceding day here in Utah).

      If the first president is announced for the Quito Ecuador Temple in the near future, that could be another potential announcement to watch out for. In the meantime, it's also possible that a few other groundbreaking announcements might soon come down the pike. Among those most likely to be made in the near term, I am watching for information on the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple (for which an announcement made at around 9:00 AM local time would be 5:00 PM the preceding day here in Utah); the Bahia Blanca Argentina, Elko Nevada, and Willamette Valley Oregon Temples. Argentina is 3 hours ahead of Utah, with Elko Nevada and Eugene Oregon both being an hour ahead of Utah.

      I am also hoping (but can't currently confirm) that other temples for which I am not anticipating any official announcements might have something shared in that regard. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete
    4. The Church News has also covered the African Newsroom page:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2021-09-16/lds-church-english-africa-newsroomwebsite-225615

      Temple updates, if any, will be shared shortly. My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete

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