UPDATED: October 2023 General Conference Predictions (Final Version)

Hello again, everyone! On this Thursday evening before the October 2023 General Conference weekend, I wanted to share the final version of my predictions for this weekend's conference. Let's dive right in: First, as a disclaimer, I use the patterns of the past to project what might occur in the future. So anyone taking these projections as accurate or gospel will be sadly disappointed. These are no more and no less than my own thoughts, and I will be just as happy whether I'm right or wrong on any of these projections.

Let's get into the predictions themselves. First up, as always, is my projection for the potential speaker lineup. While I anticipate a higher number of female General Officers to speak (I am projecting 4 in total), due to the absence of both President Nelson and Elder Holland (and because any prerecorded message from the prophet will likely be a short one), I anticipate that all new GA Seventies called in April and August of this year, along with all GA Seventies who last spoke in April or October 2017 will likely speak this go round. Other than these notes, the lineup should largely speak for itself.

Second is the list of projected potential changes in general Church leadership. As I have mentioned elsewhere, with President Nelson one year shy of centenarian status, and with the two First Presidency counselors now over 90, there may be a possibility this conference that the oldest First Presidency in Church history may call an additional counselor. 

If that happens, the most likely candidates are Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf (who has been in the First Presidency previously and is the sixth both in apostolic seniority and age) and David A. Bednar (seventh in apostolic seniority and the eleventh oldest). 

If and when an additional counselor is called to the First Presidency, that would in turn necessitate the call of a 16th apostle to fill the resulting vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The new apostle would most likely be pulled from general Church leadership. I will not offer any specifics about who might be called, simply because the likelihood of an additional counselor in the First Presidency is the furthest I'd like to speculate at this time.

The final element related to my predictions is the list of potential locations in which a temple could be announced. As I also noted previously, with 15 temples announced in April, I am projecting 20 more will e announced this time around. I have provided more specific projections about the top locations per area. This conference's area-by-area projections are at the bottom of that page. I should note that, if, as expected, President Nelson records a short message that will air during the Sunday Morning Session, it seems most likely to me that the message will likely focus on an important topic, and that any new temple announcements would be made at the end of the Sunday Afternoon Session, for which I am projecting President Oaks may offer concluding remarks in the absence of President Nelson, and may represent him in announcing new temples.

I will just add that, if, as projected, 20 new temples are announced this weekend, 138 of the total 335 temples (45.7% of all temples) will have been announced during President Nelson's prophetic administration. I think we may hear about the renovations for the Logan Utah Temple, and will likely hear more about the major announcement that service missionaries will be integrated into proselyting missions. Also, if the "core collection" of the new unified hymnbook/children's songbook is going to be released next year, we may also hear more about that. I am very much looking forward to whatever happens this weekend, and you can depend on my reporting any updates here.

In the meantime, 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. 

Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Health Updates on President Nelson and Elder Holland

Hello again, everyone! New health updates have been provided for President Russell M. Nelson and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland.  Shortly after his 99th birthday, President Nelson fell. Having prescribed similar treatment for other patients in similar information, the prophet will be following doctor's orders to rest and will not be present for General Conference weekend. 

His social media update on this indicates that he hopes to record his message (singular). I assume that refers to either his main message for Sunday morning or his concluding remarks on Sunday Afternoon. As a result, I anticipate his counselors will step up to the plate and fill in for him in opening and closing the conference, and, if necessary, announcing any new updates, including new temples, unless the prophet prerecords that message to close the conference.

Meanwhile, Elder Holland continues to recuperate at home from his recent hospital stay and will be watching remotely. The article didn't say anything about him prerecording his remarks, so I assume we won't hear from him again this weekend. But hopefully, both the prophet and Elder Holland will be able to be present and fully participate in General Conference in April.

I don't know what this means for my General Conference predictions, but I will figure that out and have the updates ready to go in my 10:00 PM post tonight that will share the final version of those predictions. In the interim, I continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will continue to pass those along as time and circumstances allow. In the meantime, 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.