Stokes Sounds Off: 10/31/21

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Sunday, October 31, 2021

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Temple Dedication in Over a Year Includes Slight Change to Dedicatory Procedures

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the latest edition of "In Case You Missed It" was published by the Church News. 5 of the top 9 developments reported were about the ministry of the apostles. The last of those 5 updates detailed the real reason (rather than the previously-conjectured one) that the Church held the temple dedication youth devotional one week ago today.

The Church had previously announced that the temple dedication would occur in four general sessions held today at 8:00 and 10:00 AM and at 12:00 and 2:00 PM, with the option to hold a fifth at 4:00 PM if that is needed.

As we also know, under normal arrangements, the Church would include the sealing of the cornerstone as part of the first dedicatory session. But with the dedicatory sessions for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple being held within two-hour intervals today, in order to allow more speakers to offer remarks during the first dedicatory session, Elder Gong officiated at the cornerstone ceremony yesterday evening.

So, while COVID-19 may impact the timing of temple dedications, particularly having a youth devotional the week before the dedication will allow the cornerstone ceremony to occur the day before the dedication, and the Church could allow one or two additional dedicatory sessions to encourage smaller groups in attendance at each session.

I am grateful to have learned about these updates and to pass them along to you all here. I'm hopeful we could see temple reopenings announced for the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples soon, in addition to opening arrangements soon for the Yigo Guam and Quito Ecuador Temples, and that between now and the only currently-scheduled groundbreaking (in mid-December for the Bacolod Philippines) there could be at least a few other groundbreakings held, whether or not they are announced in advance.

In the meantime, 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.