Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to be able to report to you all now that I have completed the initial draft of my predictions for the October 2022 General Conference. At the outset, I would like to note that there has not yet been any official announcement about the type of session that will be held on Saturday evening. Therefore, for the purposes of these predictions, I am assuming that it will be another Saturday Evening Session for all members and friends of the Church. A First Presidency announcement in the coming months will either confirm, clarify, or correct that supposition.
That being said, here are my predictions for the potential speaker lineup (for which I used patterns of the past to attempt to predict the future). I have also prepared a list of the most likely changes in the general leadership of the Church. The final document I have is the list of locations in which a new temple announcement is most likely. On that document, where I have felt impressed to do so, you'll see that I have added one or more new locations to just about every area of the Church.
This is because the trend of announced temple locations by President Nelson has been harder to anticipate. So in addition to everything else I typically do to prepare the list of locations (searching existing temple districts, weighing in considerations for lengthy or dangerous travel, current known conditions that could impact such announcements, and the unpredictability of the times in which we live), I also took more time to look at any trends in the announced temples under the direction of President Nelson.
The times have changed, so the usual criteria for likely new temples has changed as well. Given the recent Nelsonian trend of temples being announced in more isolated areas, I have particularly opened up my Brazil and Mexico picks. And I needed to make additional considerations for any type of surprising or unexpected scenarios. Anyways, hope that information is helpful to all who view and comment on these predictions. Effective immediately, I am initiating an open commenting period. Since General Conference Saturday is on October 1, that commenting period will run from now until 10:00 PM on Thursday, September 28.
And of course, whenever that First Presidency announcement confirming the details relating to General Conference is made public, I will be adjusting the Saturday Evening Session information if needed. I look forward to your feedback.
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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below.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! I am pleased to be able to report to you all now that I have completed the initial draft of my predictions for the October 2022 General Conference. At the outset, I would like to note that there has not yet been any official announcement about the type of session that will be held on Saturday evening. Therefore, for the purposes of these predictions, I am assuming that it will be another Saturday Evening Session for all members and friends of the Church. A First Presidency announcement in the coming months will either confirm, clarify, or correct that supposition.
That being said, here are my predictions for the potential speaker lineup (for which I used patterns of the past to attempt to predict the future). I have also prepared a list of the most likely changes in the general leadership of the Church. The final document I have is the list of locations in which a new temple announcement is most likely. On that document, where I have felt impressed to do so, you'll see that I have added one or more new locations to just about every area of the Church.
This is because the trend of announced temple locations by President Nelson has been harder to anticipate. So in addition to everything else I typically do to prepare the list of locations (searching existing temple districts, weighing in considerations for lengthy or dangerous travel, current known conditions that could impact such announcements, and the unpredictability of the times in which we live), I also took more time to look at any trends in the announced temples under the direction of President Nelson.
The times have changed, so the usual criteria for likely new temples has changed as well. Given the recent Nelsonian trend of temples being announced in more isolated areas, I have particularly opened up my Brazil and Mexico picks. And I needed to make additional considerations for any type of surprising or unexpected scenarios. Anyways, hope that information is helpful to all who view and comment on these predictions. Effective immediately, I am initiating an open commenting period. Since General Conference Saturday is on October 1, that commenting period will run from now until 10:00 PM on Thursday, September 28.
And of course, whenever that First Presidency announcement confirming the details relating to General Conference is made public, I will be adjusting the Saturday Evening Session information if needed. I look forward to your feedback.
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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below.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! Since it is now nearing 5:00 PM Sunday in Utah (which is almost 9:00 AM Monday in Yigo Guam), I am assuming that the dedication of the Yigo Guam Temple has occurred, and that reports on that have simply been delayed. With the dedication of the 171st temple of the Church, there are now 129 to dedicate before the Church reaches 300 operating temples. As I've stated, I don't think it will be a problem for the Church to achieve that goal of 300 operating temples by April 6, 2030 (the bicentennial anniversary of the Church's reestablishment). With 7.87 years within which to dedicate the remaining 129 temples, that could be done if the Church dedicates an average of 16.39 temples per year. Between now and the end of June of next year, it seems likely that the Church could dedicate an additional 18 temples.
ReplyDeleteI will provide official coverage on that dedication whenever it is released. In the meantime, the Church News has shared the following new reports:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-22/elder-rasband-visits-southern-africa-meets-with-mozambique-president-254981
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-05-22/15-reorganized-stakes-australia-argentina-zimbabwe-orem-ysa-spain-congo-utah-254857
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-22/week-in-review-president-nelson-president-oaks-praia-cape-verde-temple-byu-rotc-255078
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-22/recently-announced-temples-spanish-speaking-south-america-cusco-peru-santiago-west-chile-la-paz-bolivia-254887
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-22/billiongraves-and-justserve-volunteers-take-millions-gravestone-records-blessing-people-on-both-sides-of-the-veil-254581
My thanks once again to you all.
And a new update has been noted on the Yorba Linda Temple:
ReplyDeletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/yorba-linda-california-temple/
Apparently, approval has been granted for that project (with the temple groudbreaking set for June 18), on the condition that the length of the steeple be slightly reduced. Don't know what the Church will do about that, but I will keep my eyes open. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
Hello again, everyone! Oddly enough, there have been no new reports from the Church News or the Newsroom to verify that the dedication of the Yigo Guam Temple occurred as scheduled yesterday. I am wondering if unforeseen circumstances led to a postponement thereof until sometime this week. I will keep my eyes open for any such reports on that event.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I do have a new report from the Newsroom to pass along. Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who, as previously noted either late last year or early this year, was newly assigned oversight for the Africa Central and Africa South Areas, recently wrapped up his ministry in those areas by visiting the site of the Nairobi Kenya Temple to assess the progress on that project. The following report shared more details on that:
https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/apostle-concludes-ministry-in-africa-at-temple-site
My thanks once again to you all.
I am pleased to report that I stand corrected. Apparently at some point between when I checked last night and now, the Guam/Micronesia Newsroom confirmed that the Yigo Guam Temple dedication took place as scheduled yesterday:
Deletehttps://news-gu.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bdedication-of-the-yigo-guam-temple
My thanks once again to you all.
Here is one new report from the Church News:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-23/church-members-peru-help-neighbors-by-giving-blood-and-performing-service-helping-hands-254898
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church's Newsroom homepage and the Church News have both also shared coverage on the Yigo Guam Temple dedication:
Deletehttps://news-gu.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/apostle-dedicates-yigo-guam-temple
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-23/elder-bednar-dedicates-first-temple-in-guam-asking-members-to-connect-jesus-christ-with-the-temple-255177
As some of my older readers might recall, in the late 1990s, President Hinckley introduced the concept of "smaller temples". But it seems that the Church is shying away from using that term now. This is a direct quote from Elder Bednar on that: "[W]e do not have small temples. A temple is a temple. The covenants and ordinances are exactly the same in every temple, regardless of size.”
And I also need to set the record straight on something else. I had noted that, due to images shown of the Yigo Guam Temple, it appeared that the ordinance rooms and sealing rooms were separate, and not alternating as originally asserted, But it appears that both ordinance rooms can alternate being sealing rooms as the need requires. I assume whatever is scheduled determines what either or both of the rooms are used for at any given time.
Elder Bednar and his wife, Susan K. Bednar, were accompanied by Elder Michael John U. Teh, an Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department, and Elder John A. McCune, the Second Counselor in the Asia North Area presidency and his wife, Debbra.
And Elder Ronald A. Rasband has concluded his Africa Central and Africa South Areas tour with a stop at the site of the Nairobi Kenya Temple:
https://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/apostle-concludes-ministry-in-africa-at-temple-site
And here are 3 new reports. The final two speak for themselves, but the first one shares counsel given to the youth in the Yigo Guam Temple district during Saturday's devotional:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-23/yigo-guam-temple-youth-devotional-elder-bednar-holy-ghost-taught-a-powerful-message-255062
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-23/church-members-peru-help-neighbors-by-giving-blood-and-performing-service-helping-hands-254898
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2022-05-23/1950-u-s-census-indexed-reviewed-familysearch-ancestory-how-to-help-255121
My thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom provided one additional report in the last 24 hours:
Deletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/poland-ukraine-refugees-four-months
My thanks once again to you all.
Updates have been reported for the Casper Wyoming, Pago Pago American Samoa, Antofagasta Chile, and Nairobi Kenya Temples. In conjunction with the update on Nairobi, it has been moved down in the queue to now be between the Davao Philippines and Bengaluru India Temples, with its' completion estimate shifted to 2025:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/casper-wyoming-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/pago-pago-american-samoa-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/antofagasta-chile-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/nairobi-kenya-temple/
My thankss once again to you all.
My thank
On this Tuesday, the Newsroom and the Church News have shared a video showing a 360-degree panoramic view of the exterior of the Washington D.C. Temple:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/360-washington-dc-temple
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-24/see-the-washington-dc-temple-in-360-degree-virtual-tour-255259
And Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a former pilot for Lufthansa Airlines in Germany, recently had the opportunity to note the similarities between a non-stop flight from Salt Lake City Utah to Frankfurt Germany and how that relates to the personal connections we make throughout our lifetimes:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-24/celebrating-a-salt-lake-to-frankfurt-nonstop-flight-elder-uchtdorf-sees-similarities-to-connecting-with-others-255136
My thanks once again to you all.
There has only been one change noted on temple construction today: there are no longer any temples estimated to be completed in late 2024-early 2025. The Grand Junction Colorado Temple's completion is estimated for late 2024. The Davao Philippines, Nairobi Kenya, Bengaluru India, Harare Zimbabwe, and Lindon Utah Temples are all now anticipated to be completed sometime during 2025. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteThe Church News has shared 3 new reports, which speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2022-05-24/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-and-sister-patricia-holland-part-1-church-news-podcast-service-health-faith-devotion-to-jesus-christ-sheri-dew-255328
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-24/elder-john-c-pingree-jr-byu-hawaii-devotional-divine-identity-belonging-potential-three-invitations-255317
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-24/elder-nielson-to-byu-pathway-students-the-truth-will-set-you-free-255270
My thanks once again to you all.
Thanks for your temple predictions! I enjoy reading it! What would you say would you say would be your top guesses for the top 25 guesses?
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Mon Chou. Elder Kevin S. Hamilton, Executive Director of the Church's Family History Department, presided at my stake conference in December. He noted the Church had over 300 temples in various phases. So I conjectured that at least 35 temples will be announced this year. With 17 announced in April, I anticipate at least 18 announced in October. I will share a list of what I believe will be the most likely 18 locations at a later time. Thanks for taking time to comment. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteMon Chou, just as a follow-up to your inquiry, I will be addressing that in a new comment below. That comment will not only feature a link to the document on which I've listed the top locations for temples in the upcoming conference, but will also provide some additional analysis. Hope that comment, which will be further down in this comment section, might prove helpful to you. Thanks.
DeleteOn this Wednesday, the Church News has shared the text of the dedicatory prayer offered by Elder David A. Bednar for the Yigo Guam Temple:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-25/yigo-guam-temple-dedicatory-prayer-david-a-bednar-255109
And one other Church News report speaks for itself:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-25/elder-perkins-shares-common-values-at-groundbreaking-conference-in-saudi-arabia-255336
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has shared the following report about Elder Rasband wrapping up his ministry in the Africa Central Area:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-25/elder-ronald-a-rasband-nairobi-kenya-temple-instruction-meetings-missionaries-central-africa-255277
Additionally, the temple reopening status tracker was updated today:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2022-05-25/temple-reopening-status-tracker-worldwide-199279
According to today’s update, the following 3 temples began the transitionto phase 4 as of yesterday (Tuesday May 24): Accra Ghana; Fort Lauderdale Florida; Halifax Nova Scotia. In addition, the Yigo Guam Temple will begin welcoming patrons tomorrow (Thursday May 26), and, like the other temples in the Asia North Area of the Church, will probably assume phase 3 operations on that date.
That leaves the current status of the Church’s 172 operating temples as follows: 1 (Yigo Guam) will begin operations tomorrow (likely in phase 3); 8 are closed for major renovations, with all 8 being granted phase 3 status, allowing patrons in the applicable temple districts to schedule phase 3 living or proxy work at the nearest temple open in phase 3 or 4; 1 other (Kyiv Ukraine) has phase 3 operations paused/suspended due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and 1 other (Suva Fiji) remains in phase 1 for now. With no temples in either phases 2 or 2-B, there are now 22 left in phase 3, and the final 139 temples are now in phase 4, beginning the transition to regular operations.
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Thursday, the Church News has shared a few new reports. The first two speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-26/grants-pass-oregon-salvation-army-thrift-store-flood-justserve-service-volunteers-cleanup-255129
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-26/elder-bednar-national-press-club-church-and-its-members-mourn-over-senseless-shooting-in-texas-255518
That second article links to a couple of new reports from the Newsroom:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-bednar-national-press-club-summary
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/elder-bednar-national-press-club-speech
Next, as I’ve mentioned in the past, on March 25, the Newsroom released a list of 72 couples called to oversee the operations of temples around the world. Between March 25 and last week, all but two of those couples had been featured in articles by the Church News. With new biographies published today for the incoming leaders of the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple, the Manhattan New York Temple is the only one remaining on that list:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-05-26/new-temple-president-matron-called-tegucigalpa-honduras-first-presidency-255236
I have updated my list tracking those changes as a result of this update:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J-KR6Hdv4ElYa8ZxBn6OqGWSEMcZxi3GaLcCoYTrJec/edit?usp=sharing
Aside from noting that I will be interested to see which other temples come close enough to completion for the announcement of their first leaders, I will let that document speak for itself. The final update from the Church News was intriguing to me. As some of you might recall, on Tuesday, the Church News released the first of what was said to be a 2-part podcast episode:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2022-05-24/elder-jeffrey-r-holland-and-sister-patricia-holland-part-1-church-news-podcast-service-health-faith-devotion-to-jesus-christ-sheri-dew-255328
I thought that the second part would not be released until next week, but I was pleasantly surprised when the second part of that podcast was released today:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/podcast/2022-05-26/episode-85-elder-holland-sister-holland-sheri-dew-part-2-becoming-disciples-of-jesus-christ-255459
If there are any new temple construction updates, I will provide those later this evening. For now, my thanks once again to you all.
A status update has been reported on the Feather River California Temple today:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/feather-river-california-temple/
There is also a new update on the Nairobi Kenya Temple today:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/nairobi-kenya-temple/
That temple used to be in the construction queue between the Davao Philippines and Bengaluru India Temples, with an estimated completion of early 2025, It has now been moved up between the Elko Nevada and Pago Pago American Samoa Temple, with the completion estimate now shifted to mid-2024.
And a subtle change has been reported on the status of the Grand Junction Colorado Temple:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/grand-junction-colorado-temple/
Other subtle changes have been noted on the Columbus Ohio and St. George Utah Temples:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/columbus-ohio-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/st.-george-utah-temple/
And a status update has been reported on the Manti Utah Temple:
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/manti-utah-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
I'm delighted that on your prediction paper, you have Augusta, Georgia listed. Of course, part of the reason is selfish: I live there. However, I think Augusta Georgia would be a perfect location for one of the modular smaller temples, like they are building in places like Arkansas and Wyoming. It's also an under the radar temple location, and fits in nicely to cover the area between Atlanta Georgia and Columbia South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I just wanted to share my enthusiasm over seeing Augusta Georgia listed as a distinct possibility.
Michael, as I've mentioned in the past, I have had 3 separate lists of likely temple prospects for the future. The first contains those most likely to be announced in the next several General Conferences. The second contains candidates that were originally listed as long-shots, but have become more feasible based on recent trends. And the third has those that are out-of-the-box or unconventional. As part of my process of analyzing prospects for this General Conference, I went over the parameters that may have led to the announcements. In that process, I discovered some great new additions for the near term, and Augusta was one of them.
DeleteThe goalposts for the parameters used by President Nelson in determining temple locations continues to change as time goes on. Recently, I heard that the new goal was for every member to be within 1.5 hours of their assigned temples. Since Augusta and Atlanta are almost 150 miles apart, Augusta qualifies as a likely prospect. I think that we will continue to see those goalposts moved as far as what parameters guide future announcements, so the net will likely need to continue expanding. Nice to hear about your personal connection to the area. Thanks for taking time to weigh in here, Michael.
It's my pleasure James. I really appreciate all the work you do, and always look forward to your blog posts. We live in an exciting time for the Church.
DeleteMichael, I have been a lifelong follower of Church developments. For the first 2.5 decades of my life, I mostly tracked those for my own personal enjoyment and enrichment. I started this blog in 2014 as a way to keep family and friends updated on my life, but quickly found it was a great way to keep people informed about the Churhc updates I've been consistently tracking for years. Over time, the amount of people reading these updates has increased in a way that has been humbling to witness. It's my pleasure to pass along these updates on an ongoing basis, and I thank you for your kind expression of gratitude for my efforts.
DeleteHello again, everyone! In the following comment above, Mon Chou asked me which of the locations listed in my document above would be my top 20 picks:
ReplyDeletehttps://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/05/initial-predictions-for-october-2022.html?showComment=1653441750750#c1486684326167277805
I will now attempt to answer that question. I have put my top picks for this conference into a separate area-by-area projected list on the following document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AHEJOqAjEJDN7aXQLlfrkzc2yTVer6E0TRR5eYdNKB8/edit?usp=sharing
The list of what I feel are the most likely picks are broken down at the bottom of that document. But in order to provide further context into my specific picks for October, I have a few general comments, most of them particular to Nelsonian temple announcements.
First, I wanted to acknowledge at the start that I am not privy to the discussions about potential future temples that might be announced every six months in General Conference. I base my general and more area-specific lists on a variety of factors, including any pertinent patterns in past announcements by President Nelson, the distances, rigor, or hardship of travel for the Saints involved, the size of current temple districts which will be affected by such announcements, feedback from others, and any insights I can glean from public statements by general Church leaders since the last General Conference.
Secondly, in the 9 General Conferences over which President Nelson has presided thus far, 6 have included announcements for new temples in Africa (with 11 African temples announced in those 6 General Conferences), while new temples for Asia also being announced 6 times (with 7 total temples being announced). 5 have included announcements for Brazil (with 6 temples announced during that time).
Central American temples have been announced in 4 General Conferences (one apiece, for a total of 4). Only 1 temple has been announced for the Caribbean Area, while 4 have been announced for Central America (in 4 General Conferences). Temples in Europe have been announced in 5 General Conferences (yielding a total of 8 new temples). President Nelson has announced temples for Mexico 4 times (with a total of 6 being announced), and 1 temple has been announced in the Middle East/Africa North Area.
New temples for North America in general and the United States in particular have been announced in every General Conference. 3 General Conferences have featured the announcement of 9 temples for the North America Central Area. 3 temples have been announced for the North America Northeast Area in the same number of General Conferences. In 3 General Conferences, 4 temples have been announced for the North America Southeast Area.
4 General Conferences have featured the announcement of 5 temples for the North America Southwest Area. Prior to its' consolidation with the North America West Area, 1 temple was announced in the North America Northwest Area, while 4 other temples have been announced in the North America West Area proper. And as we know, all but 1 General Conference has seen new Utah temples announced, for a total of 9, with 1 other being announced outside of General Conference.
New temples in the Pacific Area have been announced 5 times (yielding a total of 6 new temples). And 4 announcements have yielded 4 new temples for the Philippines. 4 new temples have been announced for the South America Northwest Area in 4 General Conferences. And over 5 General Conferences, 5 new temples have been announced in the South America South Area.
That's it for preliminary information. I will be back shortly with additional analysis.
Hayving shared both my document tracking Nelsonia temple announcements and an area-by-area breakdown of announcements thus far, that brings me to my list for the October 2022 General Conference. When getting more specific with my predictions, it has been a little harder to say with any certainty which areas will have temples announced. You'll notice that my October 2022 General Conference list includes a total of 34 potential locations. If some of these are announced, others might not be. As an additional comment, I will note that Nelsonian temple announcements have sometimes included more than one new temple per area. I think it would be awesome if most or all of the 34 locations I mentioned have temples announced, but I don't know whether that is likely or not.
DeleteI will also note that since it's been a while since temples were last announced in the Cairbbean and Central American areas, one or both are likely to have temples announced. Depending on a variety of factors, new temples may or may not also be announced in Brazil and Mexico, and also the Pacific and Philippines Areas. Either way, I am anticipating temples in Africa, Asia, and Europe, in addition to temples for all 6 North American Areas. Hope these comments provide context into my more specific choices. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
Also, sorry about all the typos above. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteTurning now to other updates, three new Church News reports speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-27/how-latter-day-saints-in-poland-are-serving-during-the-ukraine-conflict-255605
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-27/nicaragua-health-care-hospitals-humanitarian-donations-255546
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2022-05-27/elder-gerrit-w-gong-addresses-inter-american-interfaith-forum-in-mexicos-senate-chambers-255655
And the latest edition of "This Week on Social" was also published:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-27/this-week-on-social-apostles-share-insights-from-d-c-speech-and-global-ministry-trips-255643
The final May installment in that ongoing series included posts from the following apostles: Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, Neil L. Andersen, and Ronald A. Rasband, all of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The following General Officers were also featured: Sister Reyna I. Aburto, outgoing Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency; Sister Susan H. Porter, outgoing First Counselor and incoming General President of the Primary; and Sunday School General President Mark L. Pace.
My thanks once again to you all.
And a new update has been reported today on the Taylorsville Utah Temple:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/taylorsville-utah-temple/
My thanks once again to you all.
On this Saturday, the Church News has shared a biographical introduction to Elder Denelson Silva, the last new General Authority Seventy sustained in General Conference almost two months ago:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-05-28/elder-denelson-urbano-da-silva-knew-something-was-ready-to-happen-255723
Now that all 6 of our new GA Seventies have been featured, I imagine that the coming weeks will bring articles introducing the new Relief Society and Primary General Presidecy members. Of course, three of those incoming leaders (Sister Camille N. Johnson, the current Primary General President and her current respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Susan H. Porter and Amy A. Wright) were already featured in the Church News last year in conjunction with their calls to the Primary General Presidency.
So I am not entirely sure it's a given that Sisters Johnson, Porter, and Wright will be featured in view of their new assignments, but it will be interesting to see what happens there. It's also worth mentioning that the Church News is doing everything sooner this year, including featuring all new mission and temple leaders and the new leaders called during the April General Coference earlier than they did last year.
With all of that noted, here is another report about the upcoming FSY conferences this year:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-05-28/fsy-for-the-strength-of-youth-conferences-begin-in-us-canada-preparing-for-a-revelatory-summer-255325
I heard a report a while back on the threads of the Church Growth Blog (which I have been unable to independently confirm) that in some areas, there does not seem to be wide-spread interest in the FSY conferences in some parts of Canada and the United States. But it appears that is not a problem here in Utah.
As part of the special Memorial Day edition of "Music & the Spoken Word",, the following message will be delievered by Brother Lloyd Newell:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/spoken-word/2022-05-28/music-and-the-spoken-word-to-remember-and-be-remembered-obituaries-memorial-day-255557
And Church News editor Sister Sarah Jane Weaver provides insight into how covering the Worldwide Devotional for Young Single Adults taught reminded her of her own divine potential:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-05-28/sarah-jane-weaver-president-sister-nelson-divine-potential-mistake-255396
My thanks once again to you all.
I have found some information that appears to be accurate on the reopening arrangements for the Hong Kong China Temple:
Deletehttps://hk.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=zho
According to that, open house tours were conducted between May 23 and May 29, with the rededication set for June 19, the same day as the dedication for the Praia Cape Verde Temple. I assume since the information is on the Church's Hong Kong page that it is legitimate, so I also assume that a brief Newsroom acknowledgement will be added on June 19 confirming that the rededication took place. My thanks once again to you all.
Add about 44?
ReplyDeleteKinshasa-kimbanseke kikula.
Bulawayo E London.
Asaba takoradi abidjan-yopougon. . .
Sorocaba londrina pelotas passoFundo. . .
Elche. .
Glasgow bristol dublin.
Cuautla pachuca mexicali chihuahua. ME/NA.
Milwaukee blackfoot.
Mason. .
Summerlin longview glendale prescott.
Lake Elsinore lancaster ontario.
nuku'alofa city malapo.
San Pablo city naga.
Tacna huancayo huanuco valencia barcelona machala cucuta tarija.
Tacuarembo rivera tucuman.
Farmington.
Steven, I apologize for my late acknowledgement of your comment. I appreciate your suggestion of additional locations for me to add to my list, as you've made suggestions in the past for locations that were not on my list that had temples announced sooner than I expected. That being said, do you see any of these as imminently likely (ripe for an announcement in the next 1-3 General Conferences)? The lists I share with my predictions focus on the most imminently-likely prospects for the next few General Conferences, so I wanted to clarify that point.
DeleteAlso, you mentioned a bunch of cities, but not the associated states/nations. I just want to make sure I understand the specific locations you are suggesting before I consider adding them to my list. And depending on specifically where these locations are, some of them might have already had temples announced. Thanks in advance for any clarification you can provide me on these points. I appreciate hearing from you.
Steven, I apologize for my late acknowledgement of your comment. I appreciate your suggestion of additional locations for me to add to my list, as you've made suggestions in the past for locations that were not on my list that had temples announced sooner than I expected. That being said, do you see any of these as imminently likely (ripe for an announcement in the next 1-3 General Conferences)? The lists I share with my predictions focus on the most imminently-likely prospects for the next few General Conferences, so I wanted to clarify that point.
DeleteAlso, you mentioned a bunch of cities, but not the associated states/nations. I just want to make sure I understand the specific locations you are suggesting before I consider adding them to my list. And depending on specifically where these locations are, some of them might have already had temples announced. Thanks in advance for any clarification you can provide me on these points. I appreciate hearing from you.
James,
Delete33 are ready.
None are already announced.
I went in alphabetical order by area.
Areas with no adds went “. “
Mason is between Dayton and Cincinnati.
Glendale az.
Ontario or.
To me, your list looks hopeful, yet unlikely.
I have more places for down the line,
but these are likely to precede those.
Also I’m reconstructing my model to 1.5-hours-to-temple for travel at slow-medium-fast with radius of 64-96-128 km (40-60-80 mi).
Steven Cuff (I hope I'm correct in assuming that comment is from you), thanks for the additional comment, which clears up a few things. Now that I know you are going by area, that makes the list only slightly easier to understand. I say "only slightly" because you listed the 33 that, according to you, "are ready", but you did not answer the questions regarding imminency or which cities any of these locations are in. Ordinarily, I would have had the time to invest into checking for the specific locations of each city you named, but right now, between my health, the health of my wife's dad (for whom my wife is a primary caregiver), and everything else I'm trying to deal with (including several projects in the pipeline for this blog in the near future), I don't have the kind of time to do that.
DeleteIf you want me to consider any of these locations, I need more specifics from you. I could probably guess on some of them and might be correct, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I would also like to note that knowing where the locations are is only half the battle. I need to understand more about your process of arriving at these locations. Upon request, I've been able to provide insight into why certain selections are on my list while others are not, so I hope you'll be willing to extend that courtesy relative to your list.
You also said, "To me, your list looks hopeful, yet unlikely." Are you speaking of the original list to which I linked in this post, or about the specific list of the most likely prospects I think will be announced in October? If so, can you give me any insight into why any of these locations look "unlikely" to you? I really would like to understand the answers to these questions for greater personal insight into your process. As President Nelson said, "Good inspiration is based on good information." Your list of locations don't tell me much (if anything) about their individual merits, why they would be more likely than anything on my list you disagree with, or which of my picks seem ""unlikely." If you can shed more light on those questions, I believe that would allow a more robust discussion, especially from anyone else reading our exchange who might want to weigh in.
Some of the prospects you've mentioned in the past have had announcements sooner than I might have otherwise expected, so thanks for that. I value your feedback and want to understand your list of locations more fully. Thanks again for the recent (and any future) clarifications you have provided or will provide going forward. I appreciate you!
Reply: Stoke’s likely TBA’s in 1-3 gconf’s:
Deleteafrica central:
Uganda, Kampala 3stakes8districts.
dcongo,kinshasa.2; Luputa 4s1d; Likasi 3s.
congo, pointe-noire after 2nd s.
Angola, luanda after 2nd s.
africa s:
Zimbabwe, Bulawayo 3s.
Mozambique,maputo 2s2d; nampula aft2s.
S africa, E london 3s.
Zambia, lusaka after 2nd s.
africa w:
(Nigeria needs its own area)
Nigeria,abuja 3s2d; asaba 5s6d; ibadan 5s1d; etinan 10s; pHarcourt >aba 8s; calabar 3s.
Ghana, cape coast 7s3d.
Togo, Lomé 2s.
Benin, Cotonou 2s.
Côte d’Ivoire, Yamoussoukro 2s9d.
Sierra Leone, bo 4s.
Again, Steven, I'm somewhat at a loss here. Your shorthand may make sense to you, but to those of us not familiar with what it represents, it's a little difficult to correctly interpret what you are trying to convey. I will take a stab at addressing what I believe your feedback to be, but if I misunderstand anything you wrote about, any plainer clarification (without shorthand) would be appreciated by both myself and my readers.
DeleteThat being said, I believe you were trying to provide a breakdown of what the temple districts would either look like for each selection I mentioned, or what would need to be done to make temples possible in each location that does not have stake (s) or district (d) breakdowns. If I am interpreting that correctly, then I'd be interested to know something: Does your analysis account for Nelsonian announcements thus far? For example, the fact that there are only currently 1 or 2 wards based in Yigo, and that Yigo was not the capital city in Guam did not prevent a temple from being announced, constructed, and now dedicated in Yigo.
Secondly, for some of the smaller temples built under President Nelson, the number of stakes within a prospective temple district does not seem to be as much of a concern compared to whether the people are ready for a temple, so I don't know that the lack of "second stakes" in some of these locations would prevent a temple from being announced in any of these nations. Sometimes temples are built in anticipation of the growth that will come to an area as a result. Again, Yigo is a prime example of that. So I'm not sold on the idea that some of the selections above would not see a temple until a second stake is announced.
And the final observation I would make on what you shared above is that I agree that, at some point, the current Africa West Area will likely be divided. I could see Nigeria being its' own area at some point, but a first step might be splitting the existing areas in 2 or 3 ways over the period of several years. And on that note, it's also worth mentioning here that I think we will see a split in the current Asia Area (just because of how much it covers) before we see another split in the existing Africa Areas. I'd love to be proven wrong on that, but since the Asia Area remains the largest geographically in the Church, and since the Church has taken action recently to divide areas in Africa and Europe, I could see next year bringing a split to the current Asia Area, with additional splits to Africa or elsewhere following that.
Of course, it is not out of the question for the Church to consolidate multiple areas or split multiple areas in the same year. We've seen that before. For whatever they may be worth, those are my thoughts in response to your latest feedback. Hope that's helpful in illustrating my thought process here. And thanks again for weighing in with these thoughts.
I live in the area covered my the Brazil Ribeirão Preto Mission, the nearest temple is 200/300 miles away, there's this rumor about a temple in our area, it would be a blessing. The church growth is not that best, at least in my stake, but family history work and temple attendance is great, considering the distance.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope for it! Thanks for you predictions!
Lucasreis, thanks for taking time to comment. I apologize for my delayed acknowledgement of your feedback. I have had Ribeirão Preto on my list of locations in which a temple could be announced since early 2019. I was intrigued to hear that there is a rumor about a temple in your area. I've learned to not take such reports likely. Does the rumor in question include a prospective location? If so, that would definitely increase the likelihood of a more imminent announcement of a temple in that city.
DeleteI have a strong feeling that, whether or not our native Brazilian apostle Elder Soares has any input on Brazilian temples, that the Church will continue to announce new temples there for the foreseeable future, especially since President Nelson has announced 6 new temples for Brazil within the 9 General Conferences over which he has presided thus far. My brother-in-law served his mission in Brazil (I think he was based in Sao Paulo for most of that time), and he speaks warmly of the faith and diligence of Brazilian Saints. Through watching Elder Soares' apostolic ministry efforts in the last 4 years, we have had a front-row seat to the truth of that report.
Thanks so much for stopping by to comment, Lucasreis. I always appreciate hearing from anyone who has any input here, especially when it comes to the subject of the most likely locations for a temple in the near term. I appreciate hearing from you.