Initial Predictions for the October 2023 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! In the absence of any major announcements by the Church this week, I have been able to put together the initial draft of my predictions for the October 2023 General Conference. First up, as always, we have my predictions for the potential speaker lineup. A few notes on that: Last conference marked only the third time that President Nelson didn't deliver any remarks to open the General Conference. 

I don't know if that means he won't be speaking in any of the opening sessions for however many General Conferences he continues to serve as prophet, so I wanted to at least allow for the possibility. Secondly, as acknowledged in the one footnote to these predictions, last conference, President Oaks not only presented new GA Seventies, he also noted the upcoming August 1 release of 3 GA Seventies and led the group sustaining of the changes in area seventies and the advanced sustaining of the incoming Young Women General Presidency.

Since all of the changes effective on or before August 1 were already presented last time, the sustaining in October is likely to only include the First Presidency, the President and Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, the members of that Quorum, and a motion to sustain all other GA Seventies, area seventies, and general officers as presently constituted. Since that process may only take a couple of minutes, it is possible that more general Church leaders could speak in the Saturday Afternoon Session than I have predicted here.

With the major changes already noted, these predictions mark the first time that they do not include a document showing the likely changes in Church leadership. It's also worth noting that, of course, I am assuming that all apostles will be able to speak in October and that the Saturday Evening Session will again be open to all members and friends of the Church. 

So the only other element remaining are my predictions for the most likely locations in which new temples could be announced. Regarding the likely new temples, if the information I have is correct, President Nelson may announce a minimum of 35 temples per year. If that remains the case for this year, then with 15 new temples announced earlier this month, the Church may look to having a minimum of 20 others announced in October. 

I see no reason to not believe that will be the minimum possible number of temples. With those introductory notes shared, the rest of the predictions largely speak for themselves. I am pleased, therefore, to declare the commenting period for these initial predictions officially opened. That commenting period will remain active until Thursday, October 2, at 10:00 PM, which will then give me 36 hours to finalize these predictions.

Unless the Church continues to take a temporary hiatus on temple construction announcements, I assume the next major announcement will be shared on Monday. In the interim, I continue to monitor all major Church News and Newsroom updates and any other temple construction updates and will be sure to pass those along to you all as they cross my radar. 

That does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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. 

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