Hello again, everyone! Let's get right into the latest apostolic birthday tribute I'm posting. Today's is in honor of Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is celebrating his 75th birthday today. Elder Neil Linden Andersen was born on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen in Logan Utah. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics.
During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children. He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president (assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission) from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.
Through the next couple of decades as a Seventy, he served in a wide variety of Church assignments, including as executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West ,Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he also served as the area president).
In 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy (alongside Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who would eventually become Elder Andersen's apostolic seatmate). While serving in that Presidency, he was assigned to preside over the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007). By the time his stewardship switched to the North America Southwest Area (2007-2009), he had gone from being the second-least senior member of that Presidency to being the third-most-senior member. In 2008, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in April) and the release of Senior President Elder Earl C. Tingey (in August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference), Elder Andersen then became the Senior President of the Seventy, a role in which he would only serve for around 8 months.
With the December 2008 death of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference. An interesting bit of trivia is the fact that Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband were all seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy as of August 2007, and they would all go on to be apostolic seatmates, with their apostolic calls occurring in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015 respectively.
Since Elder Andersen's original call as a General Authority Seventy in April 1993, he has given a total of 40 addresses in General Conference (3 of which he gave as a General Authority Seventy, with 2 others given while he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 35 since his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).
Elder Andersen is now the fourth in both seniority and chronological birth order among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ranks seventh among the 15 total apostles in both seniority and birth chronology. I gladly sustain him and each of his 14 apostolic colleagues as prophets, seers, and revelators, and am grateful to have been able to publish this tribute in honor of Elder Andersen's 75th birthday today. 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.
On this Sabbath Day, the Church News has also paid tribute to Elder Andersen in honor of his birthday today. Latter-day Saint youth in one of the stakes impacted by wildfires pushed back their high adventure activity in favor of helping those impacted by the wildfires in Washington. The top 9 developments reported by the Church News this week were recapped in the latest edition of "In Case You Missed It: Week in Review" And with this week's "Come, Follow Me" study focused on the book of Job (with emphasis on 14 chapters thereof), the Church News has shared what Church leaders have taught about the story of Job. And with further updates to the temple construction queue, this document shows the latest changes in that queue. My thanks once again to you all.
ReplyDeleteAnd aside from the noted updates to the ordering of that construction queue, status updates have been noted for the following temples: Queretaro Mexico, Querétaro Mexico, Ribeirão Preto Brazil and Londrina Brazil. This is the second update each of those three temples has had within the last 7 days. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteOn this Monday morning, the Newsroom and the Church News have highlighted the news that additional Temple Square Volunteer Scheduling options are open for members to serve during the Salt Lake Temple Open House Celebration. Any temple construction updates will be highlighted here ASAP later today, although the Church will almost certainly also announce the next major temple construction update during the 2:00 PM MDT hour today. That news will be fully covered and analyzed here ASAP after it is announced. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteAn update on the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple indicates that the adjacent stake center, which was renovated as part of the temple project, has been rededicated. I have been unable to ascertain who officiated at that meetinghouse rededication, but this does make it seem likely that the opening arrangements for the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple may be announced soon, perhaps even today. But it's also still very possible that either or both the Smithfield Utah and Fort Worth Texas Temples could have their dedications announced before Pago Pago's arrangements are made public. Seems 50/50 at this point. Whether or not we get a dedication announcement, I hope for news of one or more groundbreakings, additional exterior renderings, and/or site location confirmations In any case, I will be sure to pass along that news whenever it happens to be announced. My thanks once again to you all.
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