BREAKING NEWS: PDF Version of May 2022 Liahona Now Available; Results of My Projected Table of Contents

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to share a new post now to note that the PDF version of the May 2022 Liahona was made available earlier this afternoon. As some of you might recall, in mid-April, I had presented a look at several of my documents relating to the April 2022 General Conference. One of those was a mock-up version of what I projected the table of contents might look like for the General Conference edition of the Liahona. With the PDF version now available, I have corrected the mock-up version by putting the actual page numbers in parentheses in the same document.

Just wanted to note that, FWIW. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of all such developments along to you all here as I become aware thereof. In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such feedback offered is consistent with 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. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

April 2022 Post-Conference Document Update

Hello again, everyone! Since tomorrow (Saturday April 16) marks two weeks since the April 2022 General Conference, as time has allowed, I have updated several documents I have that relate to that conference. This post will share those documents. So first, I have a look back at my projections for the speaker lineup and how that compared with what we actually saw; my projections (and the results thereof) for changes in general Church leadership; and the list I had compiled of potential temple locations, with a look at what was actually announced.

I also went through and scored those predictions. For the speaker lineup, the changes in general Church leadership, and the potential temples, 3 points were possible for each element. A score of 3 for the speaker lineup meant I had the right person in the right slot in the right session. A score of 2 was awarded if I had a speaker in the correct session but the wrong order therein. A score of 1 was awarded if I was correct that an individual would speak at all during the conference, and a score of 0 meant someone I had predicted would speak did not do so.

Meanwhile, for the changes in general Church leadership, each possible element was worth 3 points. If an element I had predicted was not included, that was not considered in the scoring. I did not venture any predictions specific to individuals, and each predicted element was scored on a scale from 0-3, depending on how wrong or right I was about the element in question. That document also included the statistical elements I had projected vs. what was in the official release. Each of those elements was also scored from 0-3 within a margin of error that was individualized to the element involved.

As for the temple predictions, for each of the 17 announced, if I had the exact location, that was 3 points. 2 points were awarded if I had the right general location (nation, island, state, etc.) but the wrong specific location (city). And there were a few surprise locations (both of the Brazilian temples are an example), so allowances were also made for that. 

Having posted that explanation, I have created a scoring overview accounting for the individual elements, then with a grand total. The results of that scoring have the accuracy of those predictions at a very respectable 64.5%, which, given all the surprises involved, is something I will gladly take. That would ordinarily conclude the analysis of my conference documents, but I am including some other documents with this analysis as well.

First up, I have compiled a list of the length of each talk given by our apostles during the April 2022 General Conference. Next, I have updated the total number of talks given by each of our apostles, along with a grand total of talks given by our current apostles, including those given before each became an apostle of the Church. And finally, based on the talk transcripts that have been released for the conference, I have crafted another document in which I offer projections for the table of contents for the May 2022 Liahona.

Regarding all of these documents, some may be concerned that the projections on my end are too speculative. But I continue to analyze patterns from the past in an effort to see how effectively I can predict the future on the known elements. This started out as something for just my own enjoyment, and I'm glad I can share such things with you all here. I am just as excited about any element of General Conference whether I have correctly or incorrectly predicted it. So hopefully, some of you might find these documents interesting.

I continue to monitor all major Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass along word thereof to you all as those developments cross my radar. In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such feedback offered is consistent with 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. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

UPDATE: April 2022 General Conference Predictions (Final Version)

Hello again, everyone! The window for discussion of my General Conference predictions closed 24 hours ago, so I wanted to provide a look at the final version of those. First up, as always, we have the projected speaker lineup. Given the fact that the Saturday Evening Session will be the Women's Session, in order to allow more general leaders to speak, I am predicting that 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak in each of the 4 general sessions. 

I have also discovered that, aside from doing so once as a member of the Primary General Presidency, outgoing Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham has not yet spoken in the Women's Session, so she could do so this go-round. What I don't know is whether this session will be different than its' predecessors as it will be held to honor the 180th anniversary of the formation of the Relief Society. 

I also think that, in view of this anniversary, the Church might opt to have the full First Presidency speak in that session. If that happens, then I assume neither of the counselors will speak in any other sessions. And I think that such an arrangement will allow more GA Seventies to speak during the other four sessions. Other than that, hopefully, the document detailing these predictions is self-explanatory. Feel free to post any questions you might have.

For my projected changes in general Church leadership, as noted in my post from earlier today, the Church presented releases for a few area seventies during the General Conference Leadership Session and presented a list of new area seventies who will begin serving. So that part of the predictions has already been resolved. 

But we don't know how many new GA Seventies will be sustained, whether any changes will be made in the Presidency of the Seventy, or what changes are coming to the Relief Society General Presidency and any other groups of general officers. Similarly, although I use a complex method to calculate the figures I've offered for the statistical report, there is no real way to tell how accurate those calculations might turn out to be. 

And although I do think it's safe to anticipate new temples as a sure thing, I have no idea how many (if any) new temples are on my general location list or the more specific list of the most likely locations. But I would in fact only be surprised if a hiatus on temple announcements occurs. It will be interesting to see just how accurate or inaccurate any part of these predictions could be.  Hopefully all of you, my readers, will enjoy following along with these.

You can count on my full report of the major announcements throughout this weekend. Stay tuned for all of that. In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such feedback offered is consistent with 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. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: 45 New Area Seventies Sustained; 1 Deceased; No Releases Noted

Hello again, everyone! The Church has reported this morning through the Newsroom and the Church News that 45 new area seventies have been called. Additionally, aside from noting that 1 current area seventy has passed away after a battle with stage IV cancer, no releases were presented. If any current area seventies are sustained as General Authority Seventies, I assume their releases will be presented over the pulpit this weekend. 

At a glance, it appears that a few former area seventies who have recently completed or will soon complete assignments as mission presidents will begin serving as area seventies again. I have a few minor personal issues to handle relating to my health today, but aside from taking care of those, I hope to be able to have a more complete analysis on the newly-sustained area seventies later today. 

One other note: last April, it was noted that Elder Christofferson presented the list of changes and that President Nelson then called for a sustaining vote. The news release this year mentioned nothing about who presented those changes. Further analysis from me will be provided later today. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.

Clarification on My General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might be aware, beginning about 2 years ago, I somehow inadvertently offended someone on Wikipedia. As a result of that, since that time, I have been harassed both on and off Wikipedia, most notably by trolls who continue to this day to use phony accounts on Wikipedia to harass me or generally make nuisances of themselves. Unfortunately, whoever is behind those efforts is very clever, and is using multiple false accounts of various names.

A few of them have even attempted to spoof names of some of my fellow editors, or by using the names of various general leaders of the Church. The names change, but the abuse by those who operate those accounts is the same. As a result, I have had to take some drastic measures on Wikipedia (including having several others keep their eyes out for those types of accounts in the history of pages I visit) and trying to be more discerning with the comments on this blog. 

2 days ago, I had a new comment posted here by President Russell M. Nelson To my knowledge, the senior Brethren of the Church haven't habitually followed personal blogs, and have never commented on them, which is understandable given the heavy loads they carry. Something about the comment didn't seem right, and given the fact that the names of senior apostles in the Church had been invoked in user accounts on Wikipedia to disrupt page content, I had to make a quick call about whether to keep it or not. At the time, I deleted it because something about it didn't seem right to me.

But if it was a genuine comment from the prophet, then it should be retained here in some form. I am posting a copy of the comment, just in case it is genuine, along with some additional information from me. President Nelson, if that really was a genuine comment from you, I apologize if I was unnecessarily suspicious of it, and I hope that the explanation that follows this reproduction of that comment might be illuminating to you and to all my other readers:

So, at 10:02 AM on February 25, 2022, at 10:02 AM, President Russell M. Nelson posted the following comment:

"Please do not make predictions about the upcoming General Conferences. You are not in a position to know what decisions may or may not be made. Do no make predictions about matters that you cannot possibly know about.

"When I was a heart surgeon, it was always dangerous to make predictions about what may or may not happen in a surgery. It's even more dangerous to make unfounded predictions about spiritual matters. You might lead new converts to trust in your opinion, instead of following the prophet. I know that you love the Lord and His Church too much to continue to do that.

"Thank you for your thoughtful, faith inspiring blog. In my 97 years, I've never seen a better example of a faithful Latter-day Saint.

"Sincerely,

"President Russell M. Nelson"

I bolded the errors which I believe point to this being a troll omment rather than a genuine one from the prophet, on which grounds I deleted that comment. 

But if it was genuine, I appreciate the kind words offered. Some of the things said reminded me of what the Prophet Joseph Smith said about the destiny of the Church being something the other men of his day knew no more about than a babe on its' mother's lap. At the same time, I have been creating such predictions for my own personal use since around 2007, and have publicly posted them since turning this blog's focus from personal updates to being almost completely focused on the Church. 

The point is valid: In general, I have no idea what decisions have been/will be made, who will speak and when they might do so, what changes will be made in general Church leadership, what the statistical report for 2021 might look like, or the full list of locations for which the Church will announce a temple in April. 

So for me to suggest in any way that each set of predictions will be 100% accurate would be foolish on my part. At the same time, beginning with the General Conferences held under President Hinckley, each General Conference followed specific patterns that were fairly easily analyzed so that a general framework for each subsequent conference emerged. 

Based on those patterns, I started keeping files of multiple documents relating to the general leaders of the Church. At a glance, I can give information on which members of the First Presidency conducted and spoke at any General Conference from April 1995 through now. I also track the most recent conferences in which each current member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has spoken in each General Conference session. 

And I have other documents showing information about the first time each current GA Seventy spoke in each General Conference, and when each GA Seventy last did so. That information has similarly been compiled for members of the current Presidency of the Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric. I've also tracked information about the speaking history for General Officers of the Church during President Nelson, and the particulars of each Women's Session in terms of who has conducted and spoken at each. As President Nelson reminded us in 2018, "Good inspiration is based on good information."

Based on the data in those files, which continues to expand, I have a rough idea of which leaders are likely to speak and when. But I have never once been 100% accurate on that, so I hope no one is taking those projections as gospel. The prophet is the one who ultimately discerns who speaks when and for how long, under the inspiration of the Spirit. 

And quite honestly, the process of predicting the speakers has been even more challenging under President Nelson, who has given us 8 General Conferences thus far that have each uniquely differed from the "usual patterns" I noticed in General Conferences overseen by Presidents Hinckley and Monson. 

As such, they should not at all be taken as gospel, and anyone who puts their faith in those or in myself as the predictor thereof is misguided. I have found myself paying even more attention to General Conferences since President Nelson became the prophet because, even with my best projections, I'm bound to be surprised multiple times over that one weekend. 

Similarly, I have never been fully accurate in predicting the changes in general Church leadership or the exact figures on the statistical report.  And I've been clear about the fact that some of the temples being announced caught me off guard. Temples for India, Russia, mainland China, and the Middle East were announced long before I thought that would ever happen. And Vitoria Brazil last time wasn't anywhere on my radar. 

Having linked to the files of information I keep for General Conferences, I hope that helps explain my process more thoroughly.  Let me clearly state this again: I have no inside sourcing or special access to inside information that would qualify me to pass off these predictions as anywhere close to doctrinally correct. If I were to attempt to do so, and someone was led away from the Church because of such assertions, I'd stand accountable before the Lord for that in the final judgment. 

I am just as likely to be wrong about any of these predictions as I am to be right. And I will gratefully and joyfully report any flaws in my thinking as they are proven to be incorrect. Anyways, hope this explanation is helpful to all who read it. I still am not sure whether that comment was genuinely from the prophet or not, and although I have my doubts, I am honored by the thought that he might have weighed in here. 

I hope no one who reads my blog here is taking my thoughts on this as having any authority of any kind because that's not the case. What I do is the best research I'm capable of, followed by waiting to find out if anything I have predicted is correct. With that said, I invite us all to tune in to General Conference to see how accurate I might be. 

In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments adhere to the 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. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband Observes His 71st Birthday

Hello again, everyone! This post is written in honor of Elder Rasband, who today becomes the second current septuagenarian apostle. I am pleased to share a biographical overview of his life with you all on his special day. Ronald Anderson Rasband was born to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 6, 1951. He served as a full-time missionary in the Eastern States Mission, which was headquartered in New York City and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western New York and Pennsylvania. He met Melanie Twitchell in a class they both attended at BYU. At the time, both of them were dating other people, but they soon made arrangements to go on a date themselves, and once they started dating, that was it for both of them. They got engaged eight weeks later, were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1973, and went on to raise their five children.

Following their marriage, they continued their studies at the University of Utah. He later discontinued his college experience in order to begin his professional career in the Huntsman Container Company as a Sales Representative in 1976. Still in that employment 11 years later (in 1987), he was promoted to the position of president and chief operating officer of Huntsman Chemical Corporation, where he closely worked with Jon Huntsman Sr. and later served on the board of directors of that company. It was not until 1995 that, in tribute to his success as a businessman, he received an honorary degree in business and commerce from Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University).

As prestigious as his professional career might have been, his life, in similarity to those of his fellow apostles, has been characterized by a variety of assignments in the Church. Elder Rasband has served as a bishop, Temple Square missionary guide, member of the Church’s Sesquicentennial Committee, and, from 1996-1999, as president of the New York New York North Mission. On April 1, 2000, he was sustained as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Over the next 5 years, he served in the Europe North & Europe Central Areas from 2000-2003 (with both areas having since been consolidated). From 2003-2004, he presided over the Utah Salt Lake City Area. In August 2004, responsibility for oversight of the work of the Church in North America was transferred to the Presidency of the Sevent

He then served from 2004-2005 as Executive Director of the Temple Department. He was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy in August 2005, at which time he was assigned oversight for the North America Northwest and North America West Areas. Two years later, his assignment shifted to supervising the Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City, and Utah South Areas (from 2007-2009).

By August of 2008, he had become the second most senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy. The following April, as a result of Elder Neil L. Andersen's call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Rasband became the Senior President of the Seventy, and, as such, was given oversight for all areas in the United States and Canada.

He was still serving in that same assignment when, in October 2015, he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. With Elders Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund called at the same time (something that had not happened since 1906), the number of those who had served as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reached a total of 100. He is currently the eighth in seniority among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the eleventh in overall apostolic seniority. He also ranks as the sixth oldest among the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve, and the ninth oldest among all 15 apostles.

As I’ve noted previously, I have an indirect personal connection to Elder Rasband. When my wife was initially involved in the institute program, Elder Rasband was one of her instructors. As a result of the three apostolic vacancies in 2015, my wife was one of many who felt Elder Rasband would be called to the apostleship to fill one of those, and she (and others who felt the same way) turned out to be right.

I will never forget praying in advance of the October 2015 General Conference for my own personal witness to know that whoever was called had indeed been chosen by the Lord. The moment President Eyring read the names of the three new apostles, I received the witness I had requested. That experience is one that has been repeated for every apostle called since I entered my adult years.For that reason, I gratefully sustain not just Elder Rasband, but also each of the other 14 apostles in their divinely-appointed roles.

Having served for nearly 21 years as a General Authority, Elder Rasband has had 19 opportunities to address us in General Conference: 1 as a General Authority Seventy, 5 more while in the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 13 since his call to the apostleship almost 5.5 years ago. Any of those addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, is well worthy of review. I am grateful for this opportunity I have had, in my own small way, to pay tribute to and reflect on Elder Rasband’s life in honor of his 71st birthday. I also continue to monitor all apostolic updates, general Church news, and any temple-related developments and will continue my coverage of all such updates as I become aware thereof.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Tribute to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on His 81st Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being December 3, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is observing his 80th birthday. I know that the Lord is no respector of persons, and doesn't play favorites, but on a personal level, I wanted to reiterate again that Elder Holland is one of my favorite apostles. I have a couple of familial connections to him. My dad was born and raised in St. George, and his father (Dean Stokes), was Elder Holland's home teaching companion when "young Jeff" was an Aaronic Priesthood holder. According to my dad, his father often expressed his wonder that a boy like Elder Holland had become an apostle of the Lord.

I know that at times, it may seem that some members of the Church, to varying degrees, have put the leading Brethren of the Church on a pedestal, but I am reminded in accounts, such as that which was shared by my grandfather, that these men may have been foreordained to the apostleship, but they are no different than any other member of the Church; the Lord just ordered their lives based on their personal choices in such a way that when such calls came to them, they were qualified through years of service in the Church and living what they believe. That is important for all of us to remember.

My mom is a freelance proofreader, and in the early days of her marriage to my dad, she worked on many projects for the Church Educational System. Since that occurred at the time when Elder Holland was the Commissioner of the CES, he was essentially my mom's "boss." And she speaks warmly of the experiences she had working with him on such projects. Personal connections aside, I wanted to share a brief biographical sketch of Elder Holland.

Jeffrey Roy Holland was born in St. George, Utah to Frank D. and Alice Bentley Holland on December 3, 1940. He served a full-time mission in the British Isles. His mission president was Marion D. Hanks, (who at that time was a member of the now-defunct First Council of the Seventy and later served in the First Quorum and Presidency of the Seventy). One of young Elder Holland's missionary companions was Quentin L. Cook, alongside whom he would later serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Of Elder Holland, Elder Cook has remarked that it is interesting to him that he, as the previously-senior missionary companion to Elder Holland, is now the junior apostle to his former junior companion. Following the concusion of Elder Holland's missionary service, he attended BYU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in religious education.Additionally, shortly after his release from missionary service, he married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Terry, in 1963. They are the parents of a daughter and two sons, one of whom, Matthew, has served as the President of Utah Valley University and as president of the North Carolina Raliegh Mission. During General Conference in April of last year, Matthew Holland was sustained as a General Authority Seventy, marking the first time a fahter-and-son duo have served together as general authorities since the July 2015 death of President Boyd K. Packer. 

Once Elder Holland earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, he went on to earn a doctorate degree in American studies from Yale. He then became a professor at BYU, serving as Dean of the College of Religion. He served as Commissioner of Church Education from 1976-1980. In 1980, President Dallin H. Oaks, who was then serving as President of BYU-Provo, announced his intention to move on to other opportunities. Commissioner Holland was put in charge of the committee to find the new BYU President. 

Two days later, he was stunned when the First Presidency appointment him to that assignment. He had reportedly been favored for the position by President N. Eldon Tanner, who was then serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency, and was the protege of then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, who at that time was the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles asssigned to the Church Board of Education. Elder Holland would go on to serve as president of BYU for 9 years himself, until his April 1, 1989 call as a General Authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. 

Prior to his call to general Church service, Elder Holland also served as a bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, and regional representative. After the First Presidency was reorganized following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson, President Howard W. Hunter took immediate action to fill the apostolic vacancy. In the space of a few short hours on Thursday June 23, President Hunter issued a call to the apostleship to Elder Holland, gave him his apostolic charge, set apart and ordained him to that calling, and had him join the other 14 apostles in their weekly meeting at the temple. That action was sustained by Church membership during the Solemn Assembly that was held exactly 100 days later.

Elder Holland has given a total of 58 addresses in General Conference.  Of those, 3 were prior to his apostolic call. The first time he spoke during General Conference was in April 1983, while he was serving as the President of Brigham Young University. He spoke alongside his son during that session, and for unknown reasons, that talk is not listed with the others in the first link I shared at the start of this paragraph. He gave the remaining 53 General Conference addresses as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

To me, it always seems as though the talks given by Elder Holland are specifically focused on something I have been dealing with personally at the time. As a consequence, listening to him speak every six months is one of my favorite things about General Conference weekends. The last thing I want to mention about Elder Holland is that he is currently the second most-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the fourth in seniority among all current apostles. 

He is also the fourth-oldest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and is the seventh-oldest among all living apostles. Interestingly enough, although he is the most senior of the three apostles born in 1940 (with Elders Uchtdorf and Cook being the other two), he is the youngest of the three. His apostolic seatmate, Elder Uchtdorf,  obsrved his 81st birthday just under one month ago, with Elder Cook having done the same two months prior to that.

Given his age and current apostolic seniority, some, myself included, have suggested that Elder Holland could one day serve as Church President. Right now, the only apostles senior to him are Presidents Nelson, Oaks, and Ballard. If President Nelson does indeed the lead the Church for the next decade or two, our current prophet may outlive a few more of the apostles junior to him. So it will be interesting to see what happens there. I am grateful for the life and ministry of Elder Holland, and for the chance I had to write this post in his honor today.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and will do my best to bring you all word on those developments as they occur. That does it for now. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

In Honor of Elder Dale G. Renlund on His 69th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! I am back with a post in tribute of Elder Dale G. Renlund, who, as noted, is marking his 69th birthday today. Let's get right into all of that. Elder Dale Gunnar Renlund was born to Mats Ake and Marianna Andersson, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on this day in 1952. His parents had emigrated from Finland (Mats) and Sweden (Marianna) respectively in order to be married in the temple. In view of that, Elder Renlund grew up primarily speaking Swedish. 

The fact that he did not speak English as a primary language gives him a certain degree of international appeal. In his teenage years, Elder Renlund lived with his family in Sweden while his father was a building missionary for the Church Several years later, Elder Renlud returned to Sweden, this time as a full-time missionary. Following his missionary service, Elder Renlund continued his scholastic endeavors at the University of Utah, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and his M. D. 

Approximately 3 or 4 years after he concluded his missionary service, he met and married his eternal companion, Ruth Lybbert, who was the daughter of another General Authority Seventy, Merlin R. Lybbert. Elder Renlund went on to do a three-year cardiology residency and a three-year fellowship in cardiology, both at Johns Hopkins University, and served as a bishop while he did so.

During that very same period of time, his wife was earning her law degree, and Ruth also gave birth to their only child, a daughter, Ashley. At some point in 1986, Elder Renlund became a professor at the University of Utah. From 1991 to the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy in 2009, he served as the medical director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program. 

In 2000, he was also appointed the director of the Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment Program at Intermountain Health Center headquartered in Salt Lake, while his wife was working as a law partner in the firm of Dewsnup, King and Olsen. In the Church, in addition to serving as a bishop, Elder Renlund also served locally as ward Sunday School president, high councilman, and as a stake president. From 2000 to 2009, Elder Renlund served as an area seventy. 

He became a general authority seventy in April 2009, at the same conference in which Elder Neil L. Andersen was sustained as an apostle. The August after his call, Elder Renlund began serving in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, which is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. He concluded that service as the area president from 2011 to 2014. 

Just over a year after concluding that service (during which time he served in other general capacities at Church headquarters), he was the third man to be called to fill the three vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve in the wake of the passing of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scot (with his call occurring the same day as that of Elders Ronald A. Rasband and Gary E. Stevenson). 

Some have claimed (rightfully so, in my opinion) that since Elder Scott was the last of the three to pass away, Elder Renlund, as the last of the three new apostles called, was the one filling the apostolic vacancy occurring from the death of Elder Scott. Others may disagree on that, as is their right, but I think that is a fair statement.

Elder Renlund's apostolic call was significant for a few reasons. The calls of Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund made them the 98th, 99th, and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called in this dispensation. There have been more men ordained as apostles, but only 102 of those men have officially served in the Quorum of the Twelve. There is another significant aspect of Elder Renlund's call. 

As most of you are probably aware, at times in the past where 2 or more apostles have been called, tradition is that they will be called, sustained, and ordained according to their age, from oldest to youngest. That tradition, as has been the case a couple of times before, was slightly adjusted, as Elder Stevenson, almost three years younger than Elder Renlund, was called, sustained, and ordained as the senior apostle to Elder Renlund. That kind of thing is not in any way unprecedented, but it is a significant anomaly to note.

Given that all apostles from Elder David A. Bednar through Elder Renlund were born in the United States, some have taken issue with the Church for the perceived lack of diversity in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. But as was observed in this article, Elder Renlund's diverse background certainly qualifies him as having strong international ties and experiences. Elder Renlund has given a total of 13 addresses in General Conference, 2 of which were prior to his apostolic call (the second of which was given in the General Conference prior to the one in which he became an apostle.

I am grateful to have been able to offer this birthday tribute in his honor, and am also grateful for his service. I gladly sustain him and the other 14 apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will keep doing my level best to bring word of those to you all as I receive it.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: PDF Version of November 2021 Church Magazines Are Now Available

Hello again, everyone! This will just be a very brief post from me. I am pleased to share that the Church has made the PDF versions of the November 2021 Church Magazines available. This will enable me to cover how my pdrojected version of the Liahona table of contents for Noember compared to the actual corresponding page numbers. I am also taking time to look at the list of magazine editors and advisers for each magazine to see what (if anything) has changed in that respect. This post will be updated with those details as I complete that analysis. 

(The remaining content of this post was added just prior to noon on November 4): Having completed my analysis, it appears that, in some cases where the First Presidency talks have taken 3-4 pages each, they are now each taking about 2-3 pages, and that the shorter time each member of the Quorum of the Twelve is alloted means that most of them will have talks of 2-3 pages in length as well. It seems safe to assume that the Church will keep this format going forward. The corrected page numbers are listed on the document to which I linked above.

Additionally, I have done some analysis on the changes in  magazine editors and advisers. The advisers listed for the Liahona and the Friend remain unchanged, and with Elder Adrian Ochoa now serving in the Mexico Area Presidency, the Church has called Elder Valeri V. Cordono to replace Elder Ochoa as an adviser to the "For the Strength of Youth" magazine. Looking ahead to next year, Elders Randy D. Funk and Walter F. Gonzalez are both set to observe their 70th birthdays during 2022, which will mean both will be granted emeritus status in the October 2022 General Conference.

So there will likely be a significant turnover of assignments next year. Among those turning 70 next year are one member each from the Africa Central (Joseph W. Sitati), Africa West (Larry S. Kacher), Africa South (Christoffel Golden), and Middle East/Africa North (Randy D. Funk), the current Church Historian and Recorder (LeGrand R. Curtis). It will be interesting to see what happens going forward in the next few months with those assignments.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Church Leaders Worldwide Will Be Able to Electronically Sign and Print Temple Recommends through LCR

 Hello again, everyonne! As some of you might be aware, I have been checking periodically to see whether the PDF version of the Novembeer 2021 Liahona has been made available. Although the PDF availability is still pending,I was able to glean from portions of the magazine what has changed for the conference issue of the Liahona. Based on what I found there, although the shortened length of time for talks given by the apostles will mean the text of those talks no longer will cover the standard 3-5 pages in most cases, I was not prepared for some other surprises. 

With the summary of conference talks given by the First Presidency and a few members of the Quorum of the Twelve, along with some of the female officers of the Church, the combined data provided on that summary page, when taken together, shows that some of the talks given by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles actually only spanned 2 pages, as did a fair few other talks by general leaders.

It appears that the Church was able to do that through a slight adjusted sizing of the conference isssue by contrast with the other 10 issues of the Liahona. And that means that in October, the sustainings portion might only take one page, while for April, a colum of one other page will show the auditing department report. If the General Conference Liahona does indeed have 128 pages every time going forward, then doing a slightly taller edition of the Liahona would help facilitate that.

The HTML version of the magazine being available now would be sufficient grounds on its' own to warrant a breaking news report here, but when you add to that the fact that another major development has been reported in that conference edition of the Liahona magazine, The reported update notes that ward and stake leaders now have the option to electroically fill and then e-sign Church members' temple recommends through their administrative capacities available to those individuals in the LCR (Leader and Clerk Resources). 

The fact that this option was not available before now seems to suggest thaT President Nelson may be in a better position that makes him willing to more fully embrace and encourage technology for the worldwide Church than it may have to do with the fact that his predecessors never considered that update, or may not nhave found it feasible. By contrast to his two immediate predecessors, our current prophet, who brings all the precision and problem-solving skills he finessed and all the inspiration he has honed to bear on his role as the only man authorized to receive revelation for the entire Church, is making common-sense adjustments that might have never occurred to his predecessors because they never thought to ask those questions in a way that would enable them to receive the revelation the same way President Nelson has done.

I will continue to monitor what happens and will share more complete information when the PDF of the magazine becomes available. Above and beyond that, however, I am keeping my eyes open for official announcements relating to temples. I remain committed to bringing you those updates as I become aware thereof. In the meantime, that does it for now. 

Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. 

Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do. 

Initial Predictions for the April 2022 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! Given the fact that no breaking Church news or temple deelopments have been shared thus far this week.I was able to spend a good chunk of time yesterday getting the initial version of my predictions for the April 2022 General Conference. Those predictions include 3 separate segments: the potential speaker lineup, a list of changes in general Church leadership (which also includes my estimates for the numbers that may be featured in the 2021 Statistical Report, and my preliminary list of locations in which a temple seems most likely to be announced.

A bit of context might be helpful. On the speaker lineup, I have used a similar (if not identical) template for each featured speaker. In view of the fact that so many GA Seventies spoke during the October 2021 General Conference, it appears more likely than not that the April 2022 General Conference will follow a similar format, but with Presidents Oaks and Eyring switching speaker slots this time around. 

It seems likely that 3 apostles each will speak Saturday Morning,Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning, with 2 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in the final session, and the one remaining apostle will speak Saturday Evening. 

It also seems likely to me that, with the Church having shortened the amount of time alloted for the Sustaining of Church Officers, and for the duration of all talkgs given by our apostles, that there will be ample room for one member of the Presidency of the Seventy (Kearon), one Presiding Bishopric member (Causse), and 5 General Officers of the Church.

Additionally, in view of the fact that 15 current GA Seventies spoke earlier this month, the adjusted talk lengths for all apostles will leave room for about that same number of GA Seventies. There is only one current GA Seventy (Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran) who was sustained in April 2020 but has not yet spoken in General Conference, All GA Seventies called in April of this year spoke for the first time in General Conference earlier this month.

As a result, in addition to Elder Ojediran, my predictions for other GA Seventy speakers does not take Elder Baxter into consideration, since he is still reportedly on medical leave. But the next name on that list of when each current GA Seventy last spoke to us is Elder Randy D. Funk, who gave his first address as a GA Seventy during the Priesthood Session in October 2013. 

I went down through the list, and with the way the speaker predictions apeear to be set up going forward, I was able to plan out a scenario that would see every GA Seventy listed between Elder Funk and Elder Hugo Montoya (who gave his first address during the Saturday Afternoon Session of the October 2015 General Conference).

The only notes I have on the changes in general Church leadership are that new GA Seventies are likely to be sustained, with area seventy releases and sustainings conducted in advance, and the release of the Relief Society General Presidency and the calling of new leaders for that organization. The numbers showing up in my projected version of the data likely to be included in the 2021 Statistical Report for the Church are based on both estimates and somewhat elaborate algorithms that are hard to explain.

And with the final document showing the list of locations in which a temple seems most likely to be announced, I eliminated all candidates that had been announced in October. I will be looking to add any locations to the list based on research verifying those choices, or based on any recommendations from you, my readers, who would like to submit feedback for consideration here. With those explanations handled, I am pleased to declare the commenting period for these predictions is now open.

The commenting period will remain in effect until 10:00 PM on Friday April 1, which will then give me a few hours to make any adjustments before General Conference weekend gets underway with the first session on Saturday April 2 at 10:00 AM. I look forward to any feedback any of you might offer on what I've put together. I also continue to monitor all major Church news and temple developments and will bring you all word here of the latest as I can once I become aware of that information.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Post-Conference Document Analysis: Part Two—Additional Relevant Documents

Hello again, everyone! Having just provided the first part of my two-post analysis on General Conference, I am back to share some additional analysis I have put together. First up, we have the length of talks given by each of our apostles. A side-by-side comparison of that document to the lengths of talks given during the April 2021 General Conference, you'll notice that the length of time taken by each apostle was shortened by between 2-4 minutes. 

In view of that fact, and in view of the fact that President Nelson and his counselors each gave 1 less talk each by contrast to what occurred last October, more time was made available for other general leaders to speak.In April, there was a total of 15 talks given by other leaders (the non-apostolic speakers). 

By contrast, 22 General Authorities and General Officers spoke in October, which makes sense in view of the decision to reinstate the Saturday Evening Session so more general leaders could speak Because each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave one talk each, and the prophet and his cousnelors gave one less talk apiece, the consequent adjustments were noted to the running total of talks given by our apostles. 

And in view of the aforementioned talk transcript release by the Church (which included the title of each talk), I was able to also create a mock-up showing what the table of contents for the November 2021 Liahona might look like. I anticiapte the PDF of that magazine will be available within the next week or two, so we'll see how close my predictions come this time around.

I am grateful to have been able to provide this two-part analysis of General Conference, and my documents related thereunto. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and reported temple developments and will bring word of those to you all as I become aware thereof.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Post-Conference Document Analysis: Part One—Predictions & Scoring Results

Hello again, everyone! Although the Church has not released any updates today on the reopening process for temples, the lack of new information there allowed me to focus more fully today on updating several of my files relating to General Conference.As I reported exactly one week ago, tthe Church released the transcripts for the October 2021 General Conference. 

Based on the release of that information, I was able to complete my analysis of that conference. As a reminder, I have links to my predictions for the speaker lineup, the anticipated changes in general Church leadership, and the most likely locations in which a temple could be announced. 

I had previously noted I would give myself a slightly higher margin of error than I usually do, since this was the first General Conference held with a Saturday Evening sesion instead of a Priesthood or Women's Session. That being said, I wanted to share how scoring my predictions worked this time around.

As I mentioned, I gave myself a slightly higher margin of error with these predictions. With that in mind, let me now shed light on what the scoring signifies. For every possible element of my predictions, I use a 3-point scale. In terms of the speaking order, I gave myself 3 points if I had the correct individual in the correct position in the session in which they spoke. 

So for the Saturday Morning, Sunday Morning, and Sunday Afternoon Sessions, 3 points each were awarded by correctly predicting that President Nelson would speak in those slots during that session. 2 points were awarded if I had the correct individual in the right session, but if they spoke in a different slot than I had projected. 

An example of that would be President Eyring in the Satruday Evening Session, since he was the last speaker, or the 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who spoke during the Saturday Morning Session, but did so in a different order.  I had Christofferson first, then Soares, then Holland, but it was Holland, Soares, and Christofferson). 

Although I was correct about Elder Soares being the second ajpostle, his slot earned me 2 points because I did not have him in the right slot within that session. 1 point was awarded if I correctly predicted a speaker at all, but had them in the wrong slot and in the wrong session. Examples of that from the Sunday Afternoon Session are Elders Sean Douglas and Michael A. Dunn.

I had predicted they would speak in that order in the Saturday Mroning Session, but they did so in the reverse order in the Sunday Afternoon Session, as a result of which I gave myself a score of 1 for each of them. For changes in Church leadership, I gave myself a 3-point score for every GA Seventy I correctly predicted would be granted emeritus status, and 3 points each for the fact that current area seventies have been released while a couple of new ones were sustained.

That brings us to the new temples. I had the exact locations on my list for the newest temples in the Philippines, Liberia, Mexico, Bolivia, Texas, and Utah, each of those were 3 points apiece. Although I had a second Rexburg temple correct, I didn't predict it would be tn the northern area of that city, so it was 2 points, as were the temples announced in Taiwan, the DR Congo, Chile and Wyoming. I correctly surmised that a new Brazilian temple would be built, but Vitoria wasn't on my radar, so that was scored at a 1.

With a possible 3 points for each individual element of these predictions, the grand total I used to determine the accuracy percentage was 204. And the 130 points awarded of that total were based on that 3-point scale, but with a margin of error applied,  I hope that explains my method for scoring these predictions.

That being said, I also have other relevant documents to share. But because I don't want to make this post excessively long, this will conclude part 1 of my Post-Conference Document Analysis. A second part will follow later tonight and will focus on the other updated documents.

As I prepare to wrap up this first part, I wanted to note that this General Conference will likely be a template for others held going forward with the Saturday Evening Session. That means that President Nelson will continue to open and close each conference and conclude the Sunday Morning Session, but that he will also likely take his turn to speak every third Saturday Evening Session. 

The counselors in the First Presidency will rotate between being the final speaker on Saturday Morning or Saturday Evening, or, for conferences in which President Nelson speaks during the Saturday Evening Session, whichever counselor does not speak last in the Saturday Morning Session will speak first Sunday Afternoon.

The five sessions will feature 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles each speaking Saturday Morning, Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning, with 2 members speaking in the final session, and 1 at the beginning of the Saturday Evening Session. The other general leaders of the Church (Presidency of the Seventy, General Authority Seventies, members of the Presiding Bishopric, and General Officers of the Church) will speak in the five general sessions with some degree of rotation that will vary each General Conference.

So that seems to be what we will be looking at going forward for General Conferences. Of course, it's also possible that there will be different speaker lineups for April vs. October, but until that is proven to be correct, I think the October 2021 General Conference will be the standard template. I will be back shortly with the second part of my analysis.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

UPDATED: Predictions for the October 2021 General Conference (Final Version)

Hello again, everyone! Given the fact that first session of General Conference is now only 12 hours away, I am back to post the final version of my General Conference predictions. First up, as always, is the potential speaker lineup. As I've previously mentioned, if the Church has 2 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak during each of the two sessions on Sunday, that will allow for around 4-5 additional speakers aside from the members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Aposttles.

Next up are my predictions for changes in general Church leadership. (including 6 current GA Seventies, with the possibility that 1 other who is under 70 but in ill health, might also be released and granted emeritus status. There is also a possibility, in my mind, that the Church could call current BYU-Provo President Kevin J Worthen to finish his term as president thereof with the additional role as  a GA  Seventy. The acknowledgement of the previously-announced releases for area seventies will likely be followed by a sustaining vote for a few new area seventies.

And the third and final part of my predictions shows a revised list of locations in which new temples could be announced. In the updates to that list, I have taken some of the feedback I had received under advisement. In particular, I used a comment made by Steven Cuff to guide my research into those prospects. So if any temples not on the previous list is now featured on this one, that is because I discovered strong reasons to add those locations to the list.

I still believe that a double-digit number of temples will be announced, and that the number will likely be between 12 on the low end and 20 on the high end (which averages out to 16 additional temples this time around). That will be especially trrue if many of those tempjles are on the smaller end of the scale as is the case with Helena Montana, Casper Wyoming, and Elko Nevada. 

Having seen the succesful ways that the temples with modular components worked in the US, that will also be true of the temple in Torreon Mexico. So if those smaller temples with modular components are used around the wrld, that will cut cost and the amount of time needed to build them, which could then allow crews to quickly move on to the next project.

I have also been thinking ni preparation for this General Conference that , in view of the fact that Saturday Evening Sessions going forward will not be directed to any particular group, whatever does wind up happening this time around might give uw a better idea of how that change impacted the number of speakers and anyt noticeable rotations.

I am very much looking forward to this General Conference weekend, and I also look forward to bringing you all word of the latest developments, especially in terms of breaking news, throughout the General Conference weekend as those developments are reported. If nothing else, we know President Nelson will likely announce more new temples, most likely doing so during his address to conclude the General Conference.

)I am hopeful (but not necessarily convinced] that perhaps his concluding remarks might be slightly longer, and that that would give him a chance to explain his temple construction plan, but I also have thought that would be possible in the lead-up to the last 3-4 General Conferences. I was also considering whether there would be any other announcements.or major developments.

If that is the case, I don't know what might be left that needs to bie changed or corrected. I wouldn't be surprised at some point if the Church took a look at the current organization of areas and made some changes there, but the question would be, why would those changes be necessary? It's possible that we could perhaps get updates on the new Church hymnbook and children's song book, and there may be other things in the Churc that are more tradition than doctrine. 

It would also, in my opinion, be good to see the poetntial canonization of either the Family Proclamation and/or The Living Christ. especially since a majority of the apostles serrving at the time both documents were released. But there is also less of a need to canonize something as scripture given that basicallym anything the apostles and prophets say publicly in their assignments as such is defined by the Lord as scripture.

I will be sure to cover anything that comes up in that respect throhgout this weekend. In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

2100th Blog Post: CORRECTION: New Area Seventies Sustained; Others Released

Hello again, everyone! You may recall that in a new post published yesterday, I mentioned that the leadership session for General Conference included some changes for the area seventies of the Church. The link I shared in that post has since been taken down, which means it might only be during General Conference weekend itself that we hear anything about what was said during the leadership training sessions.

In the interim, the Newsroom has provided a new article about the changes in area seventies. Part of that article clarified that the previously-announced releases were ratified in that session. So those for whom a release was granted received a vote of gratitude for their service. As far as the new area seventies are concerned, in what I believe is a first for the Church, the new area seventies have beeen designated to replace a couple of those previously called. 

Elder Charden Ndinga will replace Elder Gaëtan Kelounou. As near as I can figure out, Elder Kelounou, called as an area seventy just six months ago, was released from that assignment to assume oversight for the Republic of the Congo Brazaville Mission. Elder Pedro E. Hernández has been called to serve in the Seventh Quorum of the Seventy, replacing Elder Guillermo I. Guardia, who has served since April 2017. Not sure why Elder Guardia will be replaced by Elder Hernandez, as I wasn't able to find anything on that.

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With all of that in mind, I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my best to bring word of those to you as I become aware thereof. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: October 2021 General Conference Leadership Meetings Includes Releases and Sustainings of Area Seventies

 Hello again, everyone! I mentioned earlier this week that I wasn't sure whether or not the Church would hold leadership training sessions, but this afternoon, a news release being prepared with content that will be shared has conclusively verified that the leadership training is occurring today and tomorrow. Among the other highlights that will be shared, the Newsroom release as it currently exists showed that President Nelson focused his remarks on the life experiences of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the restoration can help general and area leaders in our day to fill their assignments more effectively.

The Newsroom releasse will also share information about counsel given by Presidents Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring, First and Second Counselors in the First Presidency, and from Acting President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, during this morning's leadership meetings. The offered counsel in and of itself is breaking news, but the news release as it currently stands also referenced the releases and sustainings affecting area seventies I found it interesting that both releases and sustainings occurred. and I'm intrigued to see what that means.

In the meantime, I will plan on adding more information to this post as the Newsroom release is updated accordingly. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

UPDATED: Predictions for the October 2021 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! In the last couple of months since the Church reinstated the Saturday evening session , I have been pondering if, how, and to what extent thr typical General Conference patterns under President Nelsson might change. When it comes to the speaker lineup predictions, I ran some specific scenarios to see if they would potentially be better than what I had originally suggestied following that announcement.  

After running those simulations, I have come to the conclusion that my original version of the potential lineup was the best scenario of the bunch, so not a lot has changed there. Meanwhile, slight adjustments have been made to the list of the most likely changes in Church leadership. And although I still have some checking to do on the list of the most likely locations in which a temple could be announced, the fact that I might still have updates on that was not enough of a good reason to delay posting that information.

That's especially true given the fact that there are less than 2 weeks before General Conference. I am hoping to take any comments into account as I go, which would potentially enable me to push the end of the commenting period to Friday October1 @ 10:00 PM. If I might do so, I'd like to offer a few preliminary things to bear in mind as you review these updates. 

First, with the shift from focusing on a specific demographic group to an additional general session for all members and friends of the Church, the reasoning behind that change was to give more general leaders of the Church an apportunity to speak than there would have been had the session been discontinued. So when I was recently running some simulated scenarios, I had a lot to consider. 

I see no reason why President Nelson would not continue to offer 4 addresses (meaning the only session in which he will not speak is Saturday Afternoon, unless there is a reason to do so). As I ran the simulations, I also saw no reason why both counselors in the First Presidency would not offer remarks in the Saturday Evening Session alongside the prophet, while also alternating being the concluding speaker on Saturday Morning and the opening speaker on Sunday Afternoon. 

Additionally, we have seen the Church take action to shorten the length of time that is taken by the Sustaining of Church Officers, cutting that by half, which in April allowed 4 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to speak in the second session. And in all but 2 of the 7 General Conference held under President Nelson's prophetic guidance, 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have spoken in the Saturday Morning Session.

Therefore, as far as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is concerned, I am predicting 3 members speaking in the Saturday Morning Session, 4 others that afternoon, and 1 in the evening session, which leaves 2 members to speak in each of the two Sunday Sessions. Having a majority of the Quorum speak in the first 3 sessions will enable the Church to call upon more non-apostolic speakers in both of the Sunday Morning and Sunday Afternoon Sessions.

Overall, that scenario would enable the Church to hear from 2-4 more non-apostolic speakers than would be able to speak if  another pattern or scenario were followed. Other considerations weere the average number of general officers that could speak going forward (that works out to a total of 4), and the GA Seventies and member of the Presiding Bishopric. 

Given that Elder Teixeira (who has been a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since August 2018) and Elder Palmer (who started serving in the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1 of this year) both spoke in the Sunday Morning Session of the April General Conference, (after having only 1 member of that Presidency speak per General Conference since 2018 began), my theory is that no members of the Presidency of the Seventy will speak. 

Then it became a matter of determining which GA Seventies to add to that lineup. Of those tenured GA Seventies who have not spoken recently, 2 last did so in October 2012, with 2 others last doing so in April 2013, so I put those Brethren in the lineup, along with several of the newer GA Seventies who have not yet spoken in General Conference.

Next, when it came to changes in general Church leadership, I have made a specific prediction this time around about a few of the newest area seventies that appear likely to be sustained. I could be partially or completely wrong on that, but I thought that merited a mention.  I've also noted in the past that I anticipate another double-digit number of new temples to be announced, but that I anticipate that number will likely be below 20.

And again, the list of prospective locations might be edited in the midst of the discussion about these updates. That being said, I look forward to feedback from any of you who might care to offer some. It's also worth noting that I'm hopeful that, with only 3 days remaining in the workweek, that one or two breaking temple updates or other breaking developments might be reported. If that occurs, I will be sure to pass those items on as i become aware thereof.

That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.