BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Loacation and Preliminary Details Announced for the Puerto Montt Chile Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency officially confirmed the site location and preliminary details for the Puerto Montt Chile Temple, which was originally announced by then-Church President Russell M. Nelson in October 2024. Let's get right on into the details:

A single-story temple of nearly 18,500 square feet will rise on a 5.8-acre site at Avenida Chamiza Lote 2 2015, Pelluco, Comuna de Puerto Montt. An exterior rendering and groundbreaking date will be announced later, when the time is right for that announcement. As a result of this update, there are now only 14 temples from the 17 originally announced during that conference. And this means that the number of temples with no official information announced is now down to 55, with that number hopefully continuing to go down before the April 2026 General Conference. 

And speakingof that General Conference, I need to issue a correction to what I have stated in the past. When the First Presidency announced the Portland Maine Temple in December through the area president, I had stated my opinion that this new method of announcing temples might not necessarily mean no temples would be announced in General Conference anymore. But as many of you know, President Oaks was interviewed by the media in conjunction with his presiding at the Burley Idaho Temple dedication.

During that interview, he was asked the following questions, with theanswers following:

President Oaks, you recently announced a temple for Portland, Maine, at a devotional, not in general conference. Why did you announce that temple?

President Oaks: That was a strong impression that came to me early in my knowledge that President Nelson had transferred to heaven. It has occurred to me for a long time that the best place to announce a temple is in that temple district. And the best person to announce it is the file leader in that area, which can be an Apostle on assignment to a stake conference or another meeting, or it can be the area president if there’s no Apostle in the district when a decision is made by the First Presidency to have a temple there.

So, this is a pattern we can expect to see again?

President Oaks: It’s a pattern that we will follow as long as I have influence in determining those things. This does not change the pattern of decision-making or gathering facts and determining the agreeable timing and the need. And all those things will continue to be analyzed. But when it comes to making a decision from all those facts, the First Presidency will continue to make the decisions. But they’ll assign someone else to make the announcement in the place where the temple will be built.

So it appears from that interview that any other temple announcements made while President Oaks is the prophet will be announced locally. That makes sense in a big way. While President Nelson loved to announce new temples in General Conference, I know I was bothered by the audible vocal reactions to those announcements. If new temples are instead announced unexpectedly and locally under the direction of the First Presidency, that particular problem goes away.

I am sharing all of this to note, with my apologies, that I now assume temple announcements in General Conference will go away, and the local announcements, as approved, will be the status quo. I had believed and asserted that we could still see temple announcements in General Conference, but that assertion was, simply put, incorrect. I will look forward to hearing more of these local announcements going forward.

In the interim, I am nire than a little surprised that we only got an announcement about one temple today. I had hoped we'd perhaps see 1 or 2 temple dedications, 1 or 2 groundbreakings, the release of 1 or 2 renderings, and more than 1 site confirmation. But it occurs to me to wonder if there might be something else coming down the pike in terms of major announcements this week. Will that happen? Only time will tell.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.

Tribute to President D. Todd Christofferson For His 81st Birthday

Hello again, everyone! In view of his birthday today, President D. Todd Christofferson is now 81 years old. So let's get right on into a birthday tribute to him: 

David Todd Christofferson was born on this day in 1945 in American Fork, Utah (a place I proudly claim as my hometown) to Paul Vickery and Jeanne Swenson Christofferson. He spent his formative years in Pleasant Grove and Lindon, and his family subsequently relocated to Somerset, New Jersey. While there, he participated in the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant, and, having been urged by his bishop to do so, he earnestly sought a personal testimony of the gospel. 

Although he felt for a while that his prayer at that time had not been answered, the witness he was seeking came about a month later. At around this same time, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery for it. While his father learned later that he had gathered his brothers to pray for their mom, it would be years later that President Christofferson learned about his father's personal sacrifices to supply what his wife needed to help her with the housework.

Young Todd Christofferson also stepped in to help his mom by making homemade bread for his family, after being taught how to do so by his grandmother. After graduating from high school, he studied for a year at BYU prior to serving full-time in the Argentina North Mission, where he had two mission presidents, Ronald V. Stone, and his future colleague in the Quorum of the Twelve, Richard G. Scott. Following the conclusion of his missionary service, he returned to BYU, and there he met Kathy Jacob, whom he married in May 1968. 

He earned his bachelor's degree from BYU, and went on to get a doctor of law degree from the School of Law at Duke University. During his years as a young attorney, he clerked for Judge John J. Sirica at the time the Watergate hearings were occurring. When his clerkship ended, he took active duty with the US Army for a year, after which he served in the Army reserves for 8 years, by which time he had achieved the rank of Captain. 

His professional career took his family to Washington DC, Nashville Tennesee, and Charlotte North Carolina. During that same period of time, he would serve as a bishop, stake president, and in the now-defunct calling of regional representative to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After being called as a general authority in April 1993 (at the same time as Elder Neil L. Andersen, alongside whom he now serves in the apostleship), he served in a variety of capacities (including as a member of area presidencies outside the US) until his call to the Presidency of the Seventy in August 1998. 

During his service in that presidency, he first served as the executive director for the Church's Family and Church History Department (which have since been split into two departments), where he worked to negotiate with Jewish religious leaders on the matter of performing temple ordinances for Holocaust victims, which in turn shaped the policy of Church members only being allowed to perform such ordinances for direct-line family members. 

In 2004, the First Presidency announced that the Presidency of the Seventy would be relieved of responsibility for the Church Departments and would instead oversee areas in the United States and Canada. Elder Christofferson was given responsibility for the North America Southeast Area of the Church from August 2004-August 2007, at which time he was reassigned to oversee the North America Northwest and North America West Areas. 

He continued that assignment for 8 months, then, as we know, he was the first apostle called by President Thomas S. Monson in April 2008. At the time of his release from the Presidency of the Seventy, which came in conjunction with his call as an apostle, he had become the second-most senior member thereof. During his first seven years as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as noted, Elder Christofferson served alongside his former mission president, Richard G. Scott. 

Since his ordination as an apostle, Elder Christofferson has filled a wide variety of assignments, and he was serving as the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve assigned to oversee the Church Public Affairs Committee when he was asked by President Nelson to introduce the new First Presidency in a worldwide broadcast on January 16, 2018. After President Nelson died last year, President Christofferson was called by new Church President Dallin H. Oaks to serve as his Second Counselor in the First Presidency. Given that the last two Solemn Assemblies have been led by the Second Counselor in the First Presidency, I am projecting that President Christofferson will lead the Solemn Assembly to sustain President Oaks in April. 

President Christofferson has given 42 addresses in General Conference so far, 1 of which was given in the conference following his call as a General Authority, with 5 others given during his near decade in the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 36 as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Christofferson currently ranks as the junior and youngest member of the current First Presidency. He is now the sixth in overall apostolic seniority and the fifth oldest among all of the apostles.

I am grateful for the life and ministry of President Christofferson. I had a couple of choice opportunities to meet him. His niece and her family lived in my parents' ward, so when their newest baby was blessed, then-Elder Christofferson presided at our Sacrament Meeting. A few years later, our paths crossed again while I was a temple worker, and he was the speaker at our yearly devotional. As one who has had the opportunity to chat informally with him on these two occasions, I testify that his call as one of the Savior's special witnesses is divinely inspired.

I greatly appreciate the chance to share these thoughts with you. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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 TEMPLE NEWS: Site Locationns and Preliminary Details Released for the Kahului Hawaii and Flagstaff Arizona Temples

Hello again, everyone! As I had anticipated, there was an official temple construction announcement today, in which the First Presidency officially confirmed the site locations and preliminary information for two temples in the United States: Kahului Hawaii and Flagstaff Airzona. Let's get right into the details for both temples:

The Kahului Hawaii Temple was originally announced by President Russell M. Nelson in October 2023. The single-story 19,000 square foot edifice will rise on a 7.6-acre site along Kuikahi Drive next to an existing meetinghouse at 1300 Maui Lani Parkway, Kahului, Hawaii. An ancillary building will also be constructed as part of this temple project.

And for the Flagstaff Arizona Temple,, originally announced by President Nelson in his last General Conference as Church President (April 2025), a 10.43-acre site at the southwest corner of Butler Avenue and South Fourth Street in Flagstaff, Arizona, will be home to the single-story edifice of approximately 18,850 square feet, and will also include an adjacent ancillary building.

In view of today's announcement, there are now only 12 US temples awaiting official information, and the number of temples for which no information has been officially confirmed now sinks down to 56. That number is getting smaller all the time. The data on the document to which I linked abovespeaks for itself. Just a couple more thoughts about today's announcement, if you will indulge me therein:

I had thought that, with 3 temples completed and awaiting the announcement of their opening arrangements, at least one of them might have a dedication announced in the near term. But clearly, that did not happen this week. Maybe that will be the case next week. I still think that at least one more temple dedication might be scheduled to occur in the first halfof 2026, but I guess we'll have to see. 

I will also be interested in finding out whether any temple dedications will be set to occur in July. If memory serves me correctly, during the temple-building boom of the late 1990s-early 2000s, having a few dedications in July was the status quo for a while. Could we see some July dedications in 2026? Only time will tell. Unless any other dedications are announced within the next month, the Brethren may opt to wait until August to begin building up the queue of temple dedications again.

And for groundbreakings? What can we expect? I've got a few temples in my crosshairs for which I hope a groundbreaking announcement will be made and the ceremony held in the near term. I likewise hope we will see some movement in the queue of temples for which groundbreakings have been held, but for which full-scale construction is pending. In any case, there is a lot to which we can look forward in the coming weeks and months, and I'm sure this prolific season of temple building will continue, even if it is slower than I currently am predicting and projecting.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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 TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for Yorba Linda California Temple; Groundbreaking Arrangements Announced for Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple; Site Locations Confirmed and Preliminary Information Released for the Beira Mozambique and Spanish Fork Utah Temples

Hello again, everyone! A few minutes ago, the First Presidency officially confirmed the opening arrangements for the Yorba Linda California Temple, groundbreaking arrangements for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple, and the preliminary details for the Beira Mozambique and Spanish Fork Utah Temples. There's a lot to get to, so let's dive right in!

A media day for the Yorba Linda California Temple will be held on Monday, April 27, 2026, with invited guests touring the temple for the next two days. A public open house will be held from Thursday, April 30, through Saturday, May 23, 2026. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at 10:00 AM, with a rebroadcast of those services at 2:00 PM. 

The dedication will be carried to all units in the temple district. A presiding apostle has not yet been announced, but I am sure any apostle with ties to the area the temple will serve will be the one assigned to dedicate that temple. Who that might be is less certain. As soon as a presiding apostle is assigned, I will note that on this blog in a subsequent comment.

The time frame announced for these arrangements took me by surprise a bit. I was anticipating that the next temple dedication announced would only occur in July or August at the earliest, so it also gives me hope that other temple dedications may be set to occur in June as well. Incidentally, this is the same date previously announced for the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple dedication, so the Church could easily double- or even triple-up on other Sundays in June. So it's back to the drawing board as far as those estimates are concerned, and I hope I'm wrong on those estimates as well.

As for the Huehuetenango Guatemala Temple, groundbreaking services will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2025, with Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, Central America Area president, presiding. The temple dedication follows its announcement in October 2022, with the site location confirmed in mid-March 2023, and the release of its exterior rendering 14 months later. This will be the third groundbreaking this year, and will be occurring at around the same time as the third temple groundbreaking last year.  

That brings us to the new information about the temples in Mozzambique and Utah. Mozambique's first temple, planned to be approximately 10,000 square feet (which could mean it will be a modular temple), and with plans including patron housing and arrival facilities, will rise on a 2.5-acre site located at Avenida 24 de Julho, Beira, Mozambique. This announcement follows the temple's April 2021 announcement by then-Church President Russell M. Nelson.

And Utah's newest temple will rise on a 8.7-acre site at the corner of 100 South and 2550 East in Spanish Fork, Utah. The multistory temple of 80,000 square feet will be accompanied by an ancillary building. As confirmed by the Church Temples site, design work for that temple is already underway, and groundwater and soil samples have been evaluated as well. With that in mind, hopefully this temple will have an exterior rendering and groundbreaking announced in the near term. This announcement follows the temple announcement by President Nelson in April last year.

In view of these announcements, there are now 58 temples for which the confirmation of any official information is pending. I am grateful for today's announcements, and hope to see more temple news next Tuesday (since next Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in the United States). I also hope we will see the new apostle announced on Thursday or Friday of this week. I will be covering all such updates if/when/as they occur.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.

UPDATED: Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, November 23, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 18 Church Presidents (including our current prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks), in addition to updated information on the tenure lengths for each of the 30 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (including our new Quorum President, Henry B. Eyring). 

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (with the current First Presidency not even making that list for the next 6 years), the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) The clock on the current group reset when President Holland died and will reset again whenever the new apostle is appointed in his stead.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the same data for the combined First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 14 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 12 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list.

This is the first update for 2026, and, with these updates being published every 7 weeks, the next one will be provided here on Sunday, March 1. Hopefully, this post is of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 

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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates.

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: 2026 Mission Leadership Assignments Announced; Temple Square Mission Will Be Dissolved; All Sister Missionaries in Utah Missions Will Serve at Temple Square

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the Church announced mission leaders and companions for 188 missions, the dissolution of the Temple Square Mission, effective in July of this year, and that all sister missionaries assigned to Utah missions will, as assigned by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, be assigned to serve for periods of designated times on Temple Square. There's a lot to get into, so let's dive in!

First, the list of new mission leaders is pretty self-explanatory. I am still analyzing the assignments in question to ascertain whether any current general authorities or area seventies are being assigned this year (which may necessitate a release for the area seventies, but that's not guaranteed). I will have that further analysis posted in the comments below as soon as I can make it happen.

The Church is also changing its approach to missionary service on Temple Square. The Temple Square Mission will be discontinued, and all sisters currently assigned to the Temple Square Mission will be reassigned to one of the surrounding missions (Utah Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City East, Utah Salt Lake City West, Utah Salt Lake City South, Utah Layton, Utah Ogden, and Utah Saratoga Springs Missions). And sister missionaries from those surrounding missions will, as assigned by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, have the opportunity to serve at Temple Square. 

This adjustment will allow more sisters the opportunity to serve at Temple Square, and will also allow those missionaries who had exclusively been assigned to Temple Square the opportunity to proselyte. And it will allow the Church to have more missionaries on Temple Square at peak busy times, such as General Conference weekend and especially as the Church prepares to welcome the world to Temple Square during the 6-month open house celebration next year.

The coverage of this announcement also indicates at least one change that has occurred at Church headquarters: Elder Ronald A. Rasband now replaces Elder Quentin L. Cook as the chairman of the Missionary Executive Council. This is the first of many changes made to Church headquarters assignments of the apostles following President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's appointment yesterday as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

I am grateful for these adjustments, and I testify that they are inspired. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 

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 APOSTOLIC NEWS: Changes in the Leadership of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Announced

Hello again, everyone! As a result of the December 27, 2025, death of President Jeffrey R. Holland, who had been serving as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Henry B. Eyring, who is also serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency, became de de facto President of the Quorum of the TwelveApostles, with Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf assuming a role as the de facto Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

I had both felt and asserted that, a short time after President Holland was laid to rest, Church President Dallin H. Oaks would act quickly to make these changes official. So I am pleased to report that I was correct: those changes in question were recently confirmed. President Oaks set apart President Eyring and now-President Uchtdorf in their new responsibilities earlier today.

With the new Quorum leadership in place, I also strongly suspect that President Oaks will act to fill the resulting vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the near term. I offered my predictions for what might happen in that regard on my YouTube channel, so feel free to check out that video.And of course, whenever the new apostle is named, I will provide my own analysis on that here and on my YouTube channel.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. 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 all such 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. 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.