Hello again, everyone! We are now just 36 hours away from the first session of the April 2024 General Conference, so I wanted to post the final version of my predictions for this weekend. First up is my projected speaker lineup. I have notes in the document, where applicable, that speak for themselves. Next up is my projections for changes in general Church leadership and the statistical report.
The former speaks for itself. On the latter, I used known data where available and a complex algorithm where data was not available to determine the relevant figures. The final element of these projections is my list of locations in which a temple could be announced. The list speaks for itself, but I also have a more specific list of what I feel are the most likely specific locations that will have a temple announced. (Note that my April 2024 picks are at the bottom of that second document).
I am looking forward to this General Conference weekend. You can count on me covering the latest news and updates as they are reported this weekend. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. 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.
On this day before General Conference, the Church News has shared a couple new updates, including 4 General Conference games to help children engage with General Conference and a review of prophetic/apstolic blessings that have been pronounced on Church members by President Nelson since he became the President of the Church.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the Church Temples site has noted an update on the completion estimate for the Burley Idaho Temple. Previously, its' completion had been estimated in late 2024-early 2025, where it was sandwiched between the Farmington New Mexico Temple on one side and the Syracuse Utah and Grand Junction Colorado Temples on the other. It has now been moved down between the Elko Nevada Temple (Alabang Philippines and Elko are both estimated to be completed in early 2025) and the Nairobi Kenya Temple (Nairobi and Harare Zimbabwe are both estimated to be completed in mid-2025).
The new estimate for the Burley Idaho Temple is early-to-mid 2025. Also, as noted previously, the Davao Philippines Temple has been moved ahead of the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple, with both temples now estimated to be completed in mid-to-late 2025. My thanks once again to you all.
The latest edition of "This Week on Social" has been published. It included social media content from the following general Church leaders: Church President Russell M. Nelson; Elders David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, and D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Sister Tamara W. Runia, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency (via Young Women Worldwide); Primary General President Susan H. Porter and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Amy A. Wright and Tracy Y. Browning (Sister Wright's post was in collaboration with the Book of Mormon social media account); and Brother Michael T. Nelson, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency.
DeleteMy thanks once again to you all.
Status updates have been noted today for the Farmington New Mexico, Elko Nevada, and Torreon Mexico Temples. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteA new Church News video has been released. And due to changes in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Presidency of the Seventy in December 2023 and January 2024, a new chart showing the General Authorities and General Officers of the Church had also been released. This will setve as the update to that chart for this General Conference. Another updated chart (including those who will be sustained as GA Seventies this conference) will be featured in the May 2024 Liahona. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteJust a quick additional note on my predictions above. I finalized them before President Nelson's message was released today. Based on what he said, it could be we might hear from him more than once. It is also possible that Elder Kearon won't speak until after he is sustained. So it's possible he will either speak in a different session than the first, or it could be that the sustaining of Church officers could take place at the top of the conference in lieu of an opening message from President Nelson. To accommodate that, President Eyring could be asked to open the Saturday Afternoon Session instead of closing the Morning Session. Just some scattered thoughts I had, for whatever they may be worth to you. Thanks again.
DeleteAnd the Church News has put out a request for photographs from General Conference weekend. As another quick note, on KSL's 5:00 PM newscast this evening, it was noted that, due to ongoing construction on Temple Square, the seating cap for this conference will be 18,000 per session (just 3,000 shy of the Conference Center's 21,000 seats). My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteOn this General Conference Saturday, the Church News has shared one new report. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteWow! What an amazing General Conference it has been so far. I could not have predicted that the First Presidency would ask 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to conduct 3 of the sessions, nor could I have guessed that the first round of that would involve at least 2 of the junior half of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I honestly don't know who might conduct one of the sessions tomorrow, but if I had to guess, I might suggest Elder Rasband will do so. It was good to see President Nelson in person at the Saturday Afternoon Session. He used a wheelchair to get to and from his seat in the Conference Center. President Eyring used one at least to exit the Conference Center in tonight's session. President Eyring didn't look well. I hope he'll be okay. And President Oaks was clearly struggling when presenting the Church Officer sustaining today. But it appears President Oaks is doing better than President Eyring, so that's good. If I had to venture a guess, I think that President Oaks will conduct whichever session isn't conducted by the third member of the Quorum of the Twelve, and that President Eyring will be relieved of that responsibility, at least this go-round.
DeleteI am glad my hunch about the Sustaining of Church Officers being in the morning session was correct. Guess I should have moved it there when I had that hunch, along with the Church Auditing Department report. With the First Presidency leaning on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles more, especially and particularly entrusting the junior members with conducting 3 of the 5 general sessions, which will probably continue to be the case with other members of the Quorum going forward, that might negate the need to call an additional counselor or two to the First Presidency for the time being.
I was not anticipating Elder Godoy's release. But I was intrigued to see that President Nelson's son-in-law (Michael T. Ringwood) and the first black African (Edward Dube) called to the Presidency of the Seventy. I was also intrigued that Elder Johnson was called as the Sunday School General President. And it appears that the First Presidency included in the area seventy releases those who were called as GA Seventies. There is so much more I could say about this General Conference Saturday, but I will let that be sufficient for now. For anyone interested, the Church News and the Newsroom have provided extensive coverage on this General Conference. Looking forward to more sessions tomorrow. Temple construction upates, if any, will follow shortly. My thanks once again to you all.
Of the 8 new Seventies who were currently serving as Area 70s, three were on the list of 52 being released. Five were not, which makes a total of 57 being released.
DeleteWhich 5 are they? I ask because I'll need to remove them from my list. Thanks.
DeleteElders Buckner, Casillas, Goury, Shumway, and Strong.
DeletePerfect. Thank you.
DeleteOn this Monday, I don't know if the Church will make any major temple construction announcements at 2:00 PM MDT today (which is just a half hour from now). If such an announcement is made, you can count on my covering that. In the interim, with the coverage of General Conference weekend, the Church News staff didn't post their weekly edition of what Church leaders and scholars have shared about the "Come Follow Me" curriculum for the week. That changed this morning. This week's prescribed material spans Jacob 5-7. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like no major temple announcements will be made today. However, the Church News did share reactions from Church members about the 15 newest temples worldwide. My thanks once again to you all.
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