Stokes Sounds Off: A Look Back at 2021 and a Look Ahead to 2022

Search This Blog

Leaderboard

Friday, December 31, 2021

A Look Back at 2021 and a Look Ahead to 2022

Hello again, everyone! With the recently-published overview of 2021 temple construction progress being  published here a short while ago, as the final minutes of 2021 are nearing their conclusion, I wanted to provide a look back at this last year and look ahead at the incoming year. In addition to numerous breaking news or temple updates, I also focused on several updates about apostolic age and tenure milestones, and also covered several significant updates involving the ministry of our apostles. 

Another major hot topic for this blog was the ongoing adjustments made necessary by COVID-19. In-person Church has returned, and temple worship has been restored with the necessaray precautions intact. 34 new temples were announced, while ground was broken for 12 others. 2 new temples were dedicated, and 1 was rededicated. The First Presidency called 8 new GA Seventies in April, released 6 in October, and adjusted the way area seventies were released and sustained.

I could go on, but the blog history of this last year speaks well for itself.  I did want to note here that this year, I marked the milestones of 2000 blog posts (on January 19) and 2100 blog posts (on October 1). Depnding on what needs to be covered, I am tentatively predicting that I might hit the milestone of 2200 posts by sometime in May or June of next year, which could mean I will reach the milestone of 2300 blog posts before the end of next year.

In rhe interim, I wanted to take a look back at scheduled updates I provided throught this year (2021) and to provide an advanced look ahead at known developments I havr scheduled in for updates within this next year (2022). I continue to monitor all major Church news updates and temple construction developments and will be sure to pass those along 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.

2 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone, and Happy New Year for 2022. Right out of the starting gate for this year, the Church News shared a special messsage from Church President Russell M. Nelson, which was posted on each of his sovial media pages:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-01-01/president-russell-m-nelson-suggests-3-resolutions-in-his-first-message-of-2022-238652

    Our prophet suggested 3 resolutions for all Church members and friends of other faiths: resolve to strengthen your spiritual foundation; resolve to be kind to others, and resolve to be resolute (consistent and steadfast). I believe this may be the first time ever that a Church President has shared counsel on specific resolution suggestions for a new year. With that in mind, we have our proverbial marching orders for 2022, and I encourage all of us (including and especially myself) to take those suggestions seriously as we begin a new year.

    The Church News also continued coverage of the planned study material for Sunday School, offering a look at the books in the Old Testament and an overview of the significant contributions made by women in the Old Testament:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-01-01/2-pages-to-96-pages-39-books-of-the-old-testament-238458

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-01-01/women-of-the-old-testament-come-follow-me-2022-238171

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here is the "Spoken Wotd" message that will be given by Lloyd Newell during tomorrow's scheduled choir broadcast:

      https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-01-01/music-and-the-spoken-word-new-year-traditions-and-resolutions-238582

      My thanks once again to you all.

      Delete

In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.

I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.

And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.

Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.