BREAKING NEWS: Next Batch of New Hymns Released

Hello again, everyone! Per an email that I received from the Church last week, the next batch of new hymns is expected to be released today. I am not sure how many hymns that will be, or what they might be. But I look forward to finding that out for sure. But today, I am also undergoing gallbladder surgery. So my analysis of the newly-released hymns will be delayed until further notice. But I look forward to providing my thoughts on that announcement ASAP. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.

UPDATED: October 2024 General Conference Speaker Lineup Projection

Hello again, everyone! After I posted my initial predictions for the October 2024 General Conference, I became somewhat unsettled about one aspect thereof: my predictions for GA Seventy speakers. That feeling led me to do more research, from which I discovered that when 9 or more GA Seventies are called in any given April, less than half of them speak the following October, with many of them waiting until the April or October following and at least one speaking 2 years after their initial call.

Based on that, I reconfigured my speaker lineup projections to reflect the fact that I now believe we will hear from 7 "veteran" GA Seventies and 5 of the 11 "new" GA Seventies sustained last April. If I am correct on that, that will take care of all but two of the "veteran: GA Seventies who last spoke in October 2019 (though it will also take care of all the GA Seventies who last spoke the previous April). As far as how I determined who to put where, that just took a bit of research and thought.

Again, maybe these adjustments won't matter to anyone but me, but if any of you are interested in these readjustments, if you have any questions about them, I'd be more than happy to address those. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. In the meantime, that does it for now. 

All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. 

Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Update on My Blogging Efforts (Subscriber Button Added and Advertizing Ongoing)

Hello again, everyone! I am posting a personal update today to explain some changes made to my blogging efforts here. A recent comment in the threads of an earlier post on this blog advised me that the individual posting a comment wanted to subscribe, but was not able to do so. After researching the matter, I have now created a specific subscriber button that can be found in the log's right-side column, directly under the list of log post labels and the list of links to sites from which I pull most of the information I report, there is a checkbox. Clicking on that should allow any of you to subscribe to notifications for future content and comments/

Additionally, at the bottom of each comment thread on this blog, between the line where you have the option to publish a new comment and and the comment form (at the bottom of each blog post), you have the option to check a box that will notify you of either all new comments on that post or all comments replying to the one for which you've checked the box. So those of you who are interested now have the opportunity to check that box and subscribe. I believe the only requirement to be a subscriber is to check that box when you're signed in to your official blogger account.

I am excited to finally have this issue resolved. I look forward to having any or all of you, my readers, as official subscribers. If any of you have any concerns about the subscription system, please let me know through the comments here on my blog, or through email on my Blogger profile page. As my longtime readers know, I have displayed ads here for years trying to make my blog profitable. I find I'm still putting more into it (in terms of content creation) than I am getting out of it (in terms of financial yield). So I am working through a few strategies to try and improve those returns on that investment.

Time will tell how well that goes. In the interim, please let me know if any of you have concerns, questions, or issues to report regarding the content, placement, or volume of those ads. There have been a few times in the past where inappropriate ads have appeared, so if anything like that shows up again, let me know that as well. For my part, I continue to monitor all reports from the Church News, the Newsroom, and the Church Temples site, and will be sure to pass along any updates ASAP after 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 the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Clarification on Blog Comments

Hello again, everyone! Since a good majority of the comments on this blog lately have come from me personally, I wanted to provide some clarification. I had one new comment submitted today on the threads of the previous post by Nancy, who also comments periodically on the threads of the Church Growth Blog. Though there wasn't anything wrong with Nancy's comment, she chose to delete it herself a few hours after it was posted.So I wanted to set the record straight regarding comments from you all here: Last year or the year before, any new development was covered in a new post, leaving the comments free for others to share their thoughts. As there have been more minor developments than major news items lately, I have begun providing a stream of those updates in the comments thread of other posts.

So I worry that many of you may have felt discouraged to share your feedback and input in the comments becausee a majority of the comments in each thread come from me. Here's the thing: As I'm sure many of you reading these posts know, there has been quite a lot more to cover in termis of general Church news on this blog. I no longer have time to devote new posts to every update, which is why I have shared the bulk of those in comments lately. But I never intended for any of you reading this blog to feel as a result of my increased comments that your input is no longer valid or necessary. To the contrary, as coverage of major developments continue, more than ever, I need the input of my readers.

I sincerely apologize if that hasn't been clear to you all. I also apologize if my large monopolization of the comments thread has been a deterrent to any of you from weighing in. I want to provide as much coverage of the ongoing developments of the continuing restoration as I can. But I also very much want to hear from you all in response to those reports, as often as any of you might want to weigh in. So if you have any feedback on what I can do to improve the comment threads here so it's not always just me sharing subsequent updates, I'd be happy to take those suggestions under advisement.

As the work accelerates, we need each other. I need to hear from you just as much as I want to ensure I provide the most thorough coverage of the ongoing restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.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.

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.

1900th Post: BREAKING NEWS: 4 More Temples to Reopen Nexxt Week Under Phase 1; Several Church Historic Sites Renamed

Hello again, everyone! As hard as it is to believe, this post is my 1900th on this blog. For this milestone post, I am pleased to cover two breaking news developments, which have been reported by the Church today. Firstly, as of totday, the total number of temples open under phase 1 now rises to 89. This morning, the First Presidency announced that 4 more temples will reopen under phase 1 one week from today (June 22). That will bring the total number of temples open under phase 1 to 92. The 4 in question are the Apia Samoa, Brisbane Australia, Paris France, and Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. After several weeks of double-digit temples opening, it's nice to see the Church slowing down a bit. We are clearly not yet at a point anywhere in the world where opening any of the soon-to-be 92 temples under phase 2 is practical as of yet. I think it's wiser to take things more slowly and steadily than it would be to backtrack in that respect. So I appreciate the measured, principle-based approach.And for the second time in many of the last 6 Mondays or so, the temple reopenings do not constitute the only big news from the Church today, As also shared by the Church News, the nnames of several of the Church's historic sites have received minor name changes, With all Church sites still temporarily closed due to COVID-19, the following name changes go into effect: Brigham Young Winter Home will now be known as the Brigham Young Winter Home and Office. Historic Carthage Jail and Visitor's Center has been simpzlified to Cathage Jail. What was once known as Historic Cove Fort will now be known as Cove Fort. The Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site will now be known as the Grandin Building: Book of Mormon Publication Site. The Home of Jacob Hamblin will simply become the Hamblin Home.  Haun's Mill has been renamed Hawn's Mill to reflect the corrected spelling for the name of the owner of the property, Jacob Hawn. The Historic John Johnson Home lis renamed the Johnson Home. The Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial is now Joseph Smith Birthplace. Historic Liberty Jail now becomes Liberty Jail. The Historic Isaac Morely Farm will be known as simply the Morley Farm. What has been known as the Joseph Smith Family Farm will be renamed the Sacred Grove, which is more descriptive of what the site honors. A similar adjustment better describes the Peter Whitmer Farm, which will now be known as the Whitmer Farm: Church Organization Site.

For the remaining sites on the lsit, the name adjustments require some context which I hope may be helpful. In the early days of the Church, with members of the Church known colloquially as "Mormons", during the pioneer treks that occurred in the mid-to-late 1800s and beyond, many sites prominent to the process of that trek used the name "Mormon", which became a common identifier to differentiate those landmarks from others more associated with the Oregon Trail or other US trails named after US pionners not so connected with the Church.   

Blog Commenting Issues Leading to a Temporary Change

Hello again, everyone! There has been an influx of spam comments on this blog recently, all of a similar nature. As time and circumstances have allowed, I have looked for a reasonable solution, but dealing with this problem is taking too much of my focus. As a consequence, I have had to reort to enabling full moderation on all comments published on this blog for the time being. This means that even for those who regularly comment, I will need to grant approval for all such comments. I regret having to take this course of action, but the nature of the massive spam comments has left me no other alternative for the time being. But I will do my best to quickly approve all valid comments ASAP after I receive word of them. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding at this time regarding this highly irregular situation. 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. As those comments will now of necessity be moderated, I appreciate your patience for the time being. 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

Prayers Would Be Appreciated (Yet Again)

Hello again, everyone! Earlier this afternoon, my wife Amy got an update on her dad, who is around the same age as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While we may not have all the details at present, what we do know about her dad's present health isutaion troubles us deeply. As a result of Amy having chatted with one of her brothers (who lives next door to her dad), they have made the determination that she needs to go stay with her dad. She will be heading out to do so later this evening. Because we have a cat here at home, and due to my not feeling well, I will be staying here at our house during the time she is gone. Your prayers woul again be very much appreciated on behalf of her dad (Gene Nuttall), and on behalf of my wife and myself during this time, especially since, with all temples still closed due to COVID-19, we will not be able to put our names and her dad's name on the prayer roll at the present time. Although there may be logistical changes to my availability to report Church news and temple developments during the period of time when my wife will be staying with her dad,  I will still do my level best to bring you all word of any Church news, temple updates, or anything else, as I become aware of such things. 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.

Prayers Would Be Appreciated

Hello again, everyone! This will be a brief personal update based on information I received late Sunday evening. I have been experiencing a resurgence of gastrointestinal issues. Over this last week, my docotr has run a couple of blood panels, along with one other test, to determine what to do about this issue. Towards the end of this last week, he had made an initial change to my medication treatment plan. and hoped that would be sufficient to deal with the problem, but he apparently went over the results of that latest panel of blood tests, and they are reportedly trending in the wrong direction. As a result of his consultation with the on-call gastro doctor for this weekend about these results, we were advised around 3 hours ago that they will need to do an endoscopy at some point tomrrow to examine the issues more thorougly. Due to my extensive medical history, going in for such a procedure is nerve-wracking enough under a normal situation, but I will, of course, be needing to undergo this procedure tomrrow during a period of time where concern in Utah over COVID-19 is rampantly abudant. As a result, this particular procedure needing to be done right now is even more of a concern. I realize that by the time most of you read this later today, this issue may be resolved. But if any of you are able to send prayers heavenward in behalf of my wife and myself as we deal with this issue within the next 8-12 hours, I'd greatly appreciate it. I will hopefully be able to report back on the results of anything that has been figured out within the next 12-15 hours. I will also, of course, be back to report any interesting Church news or temple updates later today when I can. In the meantime, thanks for indulging me in this personal update and resulting request.

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.

Custom Search Engine Added

Hello again, everyone! I just wanted to post briefly again today to announce that I have added a new custom search engine for this blog, which I hope will allow any of you who are interested to find more information yourselves on the developments which I continue to cover in various ways here on this blog. Hopefully it will be a good addition to this blog. Please be sure to let me know if you have any feedback for me on this development, or any other I have covered or will yet cover on this blog. 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 stalbished guideline. Thank you for the privilebe of your time. If you would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe for updates. 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.

First Blog Post of 2020: Updated List of Temples Which May Be Renovated in the Near Future

Hello again, everyone! Much sooner than I had anticipated, I am pleased to bring you now my first blog post of this new year, 2020. Before I get to my main reason for posting now, I wanted to just offer a brief reminder: Although I cannot anticipate evyerthing thatt will wind up being covered on this blog during the course of this year, I do have a fair few known blog projects which I am planning on publishing here as scheduled on the dates indicated. Those posts will, of course, be in addition to covering all major (and especially breaking news) developments reported via the Church News, the Church Temples site and the official Church website (which includes those from the Newsroom thereof. Having shared that information, we now move on to the main reason for this post: I have completed my reanalysis of the temples which are most likely to be renovated in the near future. That list, as previously mentioned, has been further annotated and adjusted based on new information that included those temples which had closed for an extended period last year, and those that will do so at any point during this year.  The one thing I would add is that, as noted on the list itself, the timing of temple renovations is and ever will be in the hands of the Lord, as He conveys that direction to His prophet. I am also not entirely sure how (if at all) the closure of larger temples (those in Hong Kong China, St. George Utah, and now Salt Lake) or the planned closures (in the cases of the Logan Utah and Manti Utah Temples) might possibly impact the timing of any of the temples on the list I have put together.

That said, because it seems likely that around 19 temples could potentially have groundbreakings within the next 12-18 months (just from what we know so far), I am satisfied that, in considering the Church's 2020 budget, the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes set aside more than sufficent for all existing current and anticipated future projects. And if we see President Nelson continuing to announce temples every six months, and making announcements on other temples this year (which I have no doubt will be the case), we may be in for another windfall of temple announcements on a variety of fronts. For my part, I remain committed to continuing to bring you updates on every facet of the developments which have characterized the tone of this blog for the last 3-4 years. In the meantime, as I begin another year of covering such things, I'd be remiss if I failed to thank you all for your continued interest, for your onoging support, and for the privilege of your time. That does it for now. Any and alll 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. 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.

Temples Which Will Have An Extended Closure Period in 2020/Blog Projects Planned for 2020

Hello again, everyone! As 2019 continues to wind towards its' close, I am pleased to post now to note that I have compiled a list of temples which will have an extended closure period during 2020. The list largely speaks for itself. Just a couple of things I would note. First, for the first time in a couple of years, the Provo Utah Temple does not have a continuous extended closure period planned. Secondly, the list for this year and the list for next year may or may not impact the list of temples I have previously provided for which a renovation might take place. That particular project is something for which I will be providing my analysis after the first of the year. In the coming days, I will also continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments. In addition to that, I wanted to share my list of upcoming projects which I have planned ahead for this blog in 2020 as well, and I also plan to post a list of temples for which a new president may be called in 2020 as soon as I have that put together as well, which will be at some point after the first of the year. I similarly anticipate that after the first of the year, there will be a list of new mission presidents for 2020 releawsed, in addition to several new temple developments reported within the first 2-3 weeks of this year.

Above and beyond all of that, before 2019 officially ends, I will be publishing on this blog a post that will focus on the quarter-by-quarter progresss during 2019 which has occurred for the temple construction program of the Church. And due to my new practice of sharing links to these documents, this end-of-year review of that progress will be the first to feature every quarterly version of that report which I previously published on this blog, in addition to a look at the never-before-shared fourth-quarter 2019 version of that report.

At the outset, I hope all of you are looking forward to the upcoming content just as much or more so than I am to providing 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 for a happy, safe, and inspiring end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Miscellaneous Musings

Hello again, everyone! I have a few thoughts on my mind that I wanted to pass along to you all here. Firstly, I am scheduled to check in for the procedure I previously referenced tomorrow morning at 8:15 AM Utah time, which means 12 hours from now, I will likely either be under anesthesia or just coming out of the surgery. As I mentioned in that earlier post, it is anticipated to be a same-day procedure, which means I could be home by late afternoon or evening, barring anything unexpected. Your continued prayers in my behalf are appreciated, and hopefully this fixes the issue correctly this go-round. In the meantime, I have a few Church News updates to pass along, including one octagenarian who is retiring from her 22-year role of playing the piano in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, another inspiring octagenarian who is a violinist with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. some insight from the Young Men Presidency about the new Aaronic Priesthood theme, the unusual way BYU's cross country men's and women's track teams celebrated a national championship, and the unique elements related to the Church's newly released video, "The Christ Child".

I also have a few temple updates to pass along to you all. First, the Durban South Africa Temple has been delivered to the Temple Department, and, while training of key temple staff is underway, custodians and groundsmen are assuming their duties, and all final details are now being addressed. And while preliminary construction efforts are underway on the Yigo Guam Temple, training was delivered this month regarding how local Saints can develop a history of the Church in their nation which will subsequently be placed in a time capsule in the temple capstone.

Yet another update has been provided on the Pocatello Idaho Temple, where concrete stairs and floor slabs are being poured, temporary windows are being installed, and framing and exterior sheathing is making progress, while the installation of the steeple framework for the temple spire is still pending. And since I reported two days ago on a fantastic development related to the Richmond Virginia Temple, let's move on to temples undergoing renovation. At the Tokyo Japan Temple, interior renovations are progressing, structural framing for the nearby annex is nearing completion. And at the St. George Utah Temple, 400th South is closed to traffic.

Finally tonight, I have made updates and adjustments to what were previously the "Groundbreaking Anticipated" and "Announced" sections of my temple construction progress report. Specifically, I have now divided that "Groundbreaking Anticipated" section into 3 separate sections. The first will utilize the name of its' originally-larger eponymous counterpart and will include those temples for which, having a rendering released, makes estimating a groundbreaking easier. The second will contain those temples for which the announcement of official details may be pending. And the third and final section will be for those temples for which I am aware that a site has either been confirmed or at least acquired. Those 3 newly-divided sections join the group of "Announced Temples" on this document, to which anyone with the link thereunto has access granted.

As always, I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and am committed to doing my best to continue to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such developments. I am cautiously optimistic that if my procedure tomorrow morning has any impact on my ability to share such reports, that impact will be minimal. TIme will tell. But 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.

Personal Update/Prayers Would Be Appreciated

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may recall from previous posts, I have been dealing with a severe migraine for the last 6 weeks. Additionally, back in mid-April of this year, I had a same-day bladder neck procedure due to several issues I was having. Earlier today, we followed up with my urologist, and due to some additional circumstances, we wound up having to go back to that office before they closed and I wound up having a minor in-clinic procedure there, from which I am now in recovery. But based on what they are seeing with the symptoms I described an the issues I have been experiencing lately, it looks as though I will need to go in again for another same-day procedure to deal with the relevant issues. That procedure is anticpated to occur anytime between now and the end of the day Saturday, or, at latest, early next week. So I wanted to put out a request here for prayers in my behalf and in behalf of my wife.  The odds are very good that the next week or two will be extremely difficult for us, so I wanted to mention that here.

And although I don't anticipate the usual level of coverage on this blog to be impacted by these circumstances, if I am off-the-grid as far as that is concerned at any point within the next two weeks, that will be why. I wanted to mention this due to the fact that I take seriously the obligation to share such reports here, and the last thing I want to do is let anyone down in that respect. But it will be essential to get the issue dealt with sooner rather than later. So I felt it my duty to let you all know here about this issue, just in case my normal ability to pass along such reports within the next week or to respond to comments is impacted as a result.

I realize the details I have provided herein are sparse and few. I would be happy to provide more details on the specifics of what is going on with me to anyone who may ask for them. But I thought that until such specifics are requested, it would be best to be general and more vague in this case. That said, I would be remiss indeed if I failed to mention my thanks to you all for your continued interest and suppport. When I began this blog five years ago, I could not imagine it becoming the success it has.

I hope it will continue to function as a safe space where inspiring dialogue can occur regarding the develpments which are highlighted here. If it were not for your continued interest and ongoing support, I could not have done what I have in terms of the latest reports I have shared here. So please accept my profound appreciation and deepest gratitutde for that.

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.

Blog Fixes Attempted

Hello again, everyone! As I have mentioned several different times in the recent past, when time and circumstances have allowed me to do so, I have continued to make an effort to research how best to improve the appearance, layout, and feel of this blog. Based on some of the things I have recently read online about how to do that, I have attempted a few different adjustments and fixes. Among them has been consolidating the amount of space on a screen is taken up by my blog. With the newest adjustments, none of you will have to scroll left or right on your screens to see the entire layout, which is now more compact.

In addition, I have updated the mission statement for this blog as found underneath the title thereof. I believe the tweaks better reflect my intentions, desires, focus, and purposes for which I determined the more specific focus should encompass shortly after starting the blog. Because my main goal has always been to create the best possible atmosphere in which any of you can feel free to express your thoughts to others and to myself about the content posted here or any other topic of interest in the Church, I have felt these latest adjustments are appropriate. But as always, if any of you find that anything in the layout, appearance, and overall accessibility for this blog is lacking in any respect, I hope in such cases each individual would let me know about that.

I have always felt that if what I present here and the way in which I present it is not working for everyone who visits, either occassionally, for the first time, or with regularity, then I am failing in my efforts to bring such news to you all in the very best, most effective, and inspiring manner, which I want to be very careful about. After all, I cannot continue to do what I do here on this blog without the continued interest and support of all my readers, especially those who take any time to comment in any respect. So I need your continued help and support to enable me to effectively do what I mean to do here. My hope is that as we continue to work together here in exchanging ideas on the many "great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God" which He "has revelead, that he does now reveal, and [all that] he will yet reveal" that these continued adjustments may serve my readers well in those ongoing exchanges.

For my part, I continue to monitor all major Church news developments and temple updates, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such things. 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.

1800th Blog Post: Updated Sections of Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to now bring you my 1800th post on this blog. When I began blogging in early July 2014, my initial reason for doing so was to allow family members and friends to keep up on the major events in the lives of my wife and myself. Very shortly thereafter, I realized this blog could become something more: a perfect outlet for me to share my lifelong interest in Church history, and some insights into topics of particular interest to me. When I changed the direction of this blog to that focus, I found that my analysis filled a very important niche.

And looking back now on the beginnings of this blog, I can hardly believe what it has become, or the interest that my thoughts, observations, and analysis about developments covered on this blog has wound up generating. So, as I author this 1800th blog post now, I felt I would be remiss if I did not take an opportunity to thank all of you who read and those who comment on the things I continue to report here. I hope you all know how much your readership and dialogue about those subjects has meant to me. It is at once humbling and very gratifying to know that my thoughts and observations, such as they are, generate such wide-spread interest.

Reaching this milestone is also a reminder of how much I owe to the accelerated pace of the Church under President Nelson's remarkable and inspired leadership. If it were not for the increased number of developments which have occurred within the last 21 months, there is no way I would be marking this milestone at this time. And so, I also renew my commitment to continuing, to the best of my ability, to stay on top of all such developments. I have no doubt there will be much more ahead to report, and if things continued at an accelerated pace, then the number of reports needed to cover things will likewise increase greatly in the coming months and years.

Now, on to the intended subject for this blog post: Quite a bit earlier than I had supposed, I have completed the revision process for the "Groundbreaking anticipated" and "Announced temples" sections of my temple construction progress report. I have completely restructured those by weighing what I know about each temple against what is unknown. That meant rearranging quite a bit of the content. The changes speak for themselves, but if any of you have questions on either section, feel free to ask. The two sections (with the relevant changes) follow below.

In order to not disturb the flow of that information, I will end here as I always do: 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.

Groundbreaking anticipated:
183. Nairobi Kenya Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; construction contract awarded; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019.

184. Brasilia Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; property fence installed around temple site; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019.
Note: On September 1, 2019, I was advised that the concept plans for this temple were floating around social media. If those plans are verified, a groundbreaking could occur within this period of time.
185. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; President Nelson visited potential site on April 17, 2018; groundbreaking anticipated in late 2019.
Note: Aside from the information noted above, in mid-November of last year, Elder Andersen visited with Zimbabwe’s Vice President, and indicated to him that the Church was hoping to begin construction on the Harare temple in late 2019. Therefore, barring anything unexpected, it seems more likely than not that a groundbreaking could occur at around this time.
186. Bengaluru India Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.
187. Feather River California Temple: Planning and approval phase; official rendering released and site location announced on September 26, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in late 2019-early 2020.
188. Layton Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; official exterior rendering released on October 8, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020.
189. Greater Manila Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official name announcement; groundbreaking could occur in early 2020. 
Note: Based on what is and is not known presently about this temple, it seems probable that a groundbreaking for it could be fit in during this window, if all goes well.
190. Tooele Valley Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location officially confirmed on September 25, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.
191. San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple: Planning and approval phase; site acquired (location not yet officially confirmed); groundbreaking could occur in early-to-mid 2020.
192 Managua Nicaragua Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020. 
193. Richmond Virginia Temple: Artist’s rendering and accompanying photographs released on August 28, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in mid-2020.
194. Auckland New Zealand Temple: Planning and approval phase; site location confirmed on May 21, 2019; groundbreaking could occur in mid-to-late 2020.

Note on announced temples: During 2019, I had reasons to repeatedly reevaluate the information I had available, and made further adjustments to this section following the completion of the revision process for the “Groundbreaking anticipated” section. I have felt that more information is needed on each of these temples before I offer any kind of estimate for their groundbreaking ceremonies. But as such information is made available, I will be sure to make further alterations to this section as needed.

Announced Temples (for which more information is needed before I provide a groundbreaking estimate):
195. Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.
196. Moses Lake Washington Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.
197. Bentonville Arkansas Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.
198. Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple:: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; potential site acquired; awaiting official confirmation.
199. Salta Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.
200. Mendoza Argentina Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.
201. Salvador Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.
202. Antofagasta Chile Temple: Planning and approval phase; potential site identified.
203. Washington County Utah Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement.
204. Lagos Nigeria Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
205. Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
206. Davao Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
207. Pago Pago American Samoa Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
208. Okinawa City Okinawa (Japan) Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
209. Neiafu Tonga Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
210. Budapest Hungary Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
211. Freetown Sierra Leone Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
212. Orem Utah Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
213. Bacolod Philippines Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
214. McAllen Texas Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
215. Coban Guatemala Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
216. Taylorsville Utah Temple: Announced Saturday October 5, 2019; planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.
217. Russia Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official city (and site) announcement.

Further Blog Tweaks

Hello again, everyone! I have spoken before of some of the difficulties I have encountered optimizing the layout and setup of this blog to achieve the best financial returns from it. Over the last several weeks and months, as time and circumstances have allowed, since I am not an expert on matters of advertising for optimal yield, I have continued to do what research I can on the subject, which has resulted in my making periodic tweaks to the setup of this blog, particularly implementing suggestions I have found online about how to increase such revenue.


I found some information relating to those ongoing efforts earlier today which has led me to tweak the way I use the space I have available for content and for advertising yet again. So I am giving those suggestions a shot in the look and feel of this blog. At the same time, however, I do not want the amount of ad space I am utilizing here to detract from the contnent. My main problem at this time is that I have no training in effect advertising strategies, so experiments and tests that are largely trial-and-error based are the best way I know how to figure out if new strategies are worknig, or if they in any way are failing or detracting from content.

Over the next week or two, as time and circumstances allow me to do so, I will try to analyze how the most recent changes I have attempted here are helping or hurting both my revenue and the look and feel of my blog. Within that time, I am asking that any of you who find anything in the look and feel to detract from otherwise good experiences visiting this blog would please share your honest feedback on the subject.

And admittedly lately, in my experimentation and numerous tests, I have found more errors occurring than success in that respect. I am hoping the latest tweaks I have made will be more successful, but time will tell. I appreciate your patience, consideration, and earnest feedback as this process continues. Hopefully, one of these days,. I will be able to find the most effective methods and keep them in place going forward.

Again, I appreciate your indulgence and patience as I continue this process. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all major Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of it. Within the next 8-12 hours or so, I will have another new post published, this one in tribute to Elder Neil L. Andersen, who will be observing his 68th birthday tomorrow.

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.

Further Adjustments Made to Blog Layout and Comment Form

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may have realized, I have continued to perform minor tweaks to the layout of this blog as I feel a need to do to make the look, feel, appearance, and accesibility of all blog elements the best they can be. I appreciate the patience exhibited by all of you as the process of making such adjustments and tweaks is ongoing. In addition to that, I wanted to note some changes made to the comment form.

Bearing in mind the purposes for which this blog has been established, and balancing the needs I see to maintain a good blog where conversations can take on a deeper quality, I have adjusted the wording to the comment form ro now read as follows:

"In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

"At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.

"I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.

"And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.

"Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters."

I realize that is rather lengthy for a comment form. Any suggestions any of you have that would better capture my intent but be more brief would be particularly welcome and appreciated. In the meantime, it has saddened me to see my requests to those using the "Anonymous" and "Unknown" monikers has been largely ignored by a majority of those who use such identifications.

The point made by one such individual who commented under one of those generic monikers is well-taken: I should not be treating all comments from those generic names as if they were from the same individual. But I also don't know whether or not I am dealing with the same person unless I have some way to tell. So in order to preserve the etiquette which I hope will prevail among those who are regular readers here, for the foreseeable future, I am mandating the use of any name (whether a pseudonym, nickname, or an actual name) for everyone who comments here.

The mark of someone who is good at leading discussions, which is how I see my role as the author of the blog on which you all comment, is that he acknowledges contributions by the name of those making them. And I cannot do that if I don't know with whom I am dealing. So anyone commenting specifically under the "Anonymous" or "Unknown" monikers needs to let me know who they are. If I can get to know you all better in that way, I am more likely on my end to take offered feedback more seriously.

And I'd rather not have to delete any earnest or sincere comments simply because I don't know who might have made them. So it has sadly become necessary for me to make that mandatory. Barring anything unexpected, that will remain the status quo on this blog for the foreseeable future. So I'd encourage us all to help each other, whereby you all can help me keep this blog more in line with the intents and purposes for which I have established and continue to maintain it. My thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation in these matters.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreicated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established gudelines. 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.

Personal Update/Additional Church News and Temple Developments Reported

Hello again, everyone! This post will serve 3 purposes: First, a personal update; second, a discussion of recently-reported Church news; and finally, to share a few temple updates which have crossed my radar. So let's get right into all of that. On the personal front, my procedure has been scheduled for 2:00 PM MDT, and I anticipate the whole process will take between 2-3 hours. I will then be released to start a 1-2 day at-home recuperation, and have been instructed to not do anything strenuous for 2 weeks or so after that. I look forward to getting that procedure taken care of.

With that said, in non-personal news, the Church News shared the following articles recently: two Latter-day Saint siblings are now rising opera stars, Elder Stevenson's address to graduates at the commcement for LDS Business College, Elder Holland's commencement address to the graduates from BYU-Idaho, a BYU professor's top ten finish in the recent Boston Marathon, and the reaction of Sister Sharon Eubank, director of LDS Charities and First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, to the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, which had personal impact on her.

Meanwhile, recent news reported on the Church's official website include: the First Presidency's official Easter message; the newest General Authority and General Officers chart, complete with the 119 General Authorities of the Church and all 15 general auxiliary presidency members, including the newly-sustained Sunday School General Presidency; a large print edition of the "Come Follow Me" manual; and an article about how differrent editions and printing schedules for "The Liahona" help to bless the worldwide Church.

And while I may or may not have reported many of the newest stories from the Church's official Newsroom, the one which I know I have not passed along is the latest edition of "Latter-day Saints Around the World". The latest edition features articles from Australia (from which there were 2), Jamaica, Guatemala, the Pacific, Canada, and India. It was good to read the summaries of all of these articles.

We now conclude with some temple updates. With the Fortaleza Brazil Temple open house now just 9 or 10 days away as of the publishing of this post, covered walkways and tents are being assembled for it. The open house will go from April 27-May 18. Meanwhile, there has been another outstanding update on the Durban South Africa Temple, where the tiling of floors and walls and the sanding and painting of walls is making progress, in addition to which doors and frames are being fitted, and progress has been made on the cladding of both the grand staircase and entrance retaining walls. Also workers are preparing to add pavement to the west side of that temple's parking lot.

On temples which have a groundbreaking scheduled, I have found information indicating that the demolition of the Yigo chapel is officially underway for the temple in Guam, and that heavy equipment is helping to clear the site for the Quito Ecuador Temple. And finally, in regards to temples undergoing renovation, the open house tours for the Memphis Tenessee Temple will end on the day after the scheduled annoucement detailing plans for the Salt Lake Temple renovation.

At the Washington DC Temple, while exterior wall grout and stained-glass window repair continues, work is underway inside on the elevators within the temple. And at the Mesa Arizona Temple, forms have been set for the north reflecting pool, while landscaping structures are being installed, and progress has been made in the planting of trees on the grounds of that temple. And as the Pacific Area prepares for visits from President and Sister Nelson and Elder and Sister Gong next month, the Hamilton New Zealand Temple has seen scaffolding erected in preparation for the refurbishment of the exterior.

I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and am committed to bringing you word of such news here as I receive it. That does it for this post. 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 enjoyoed 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.

Personal Update

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to share a brief personal update. Not sure whetner I mentioned this or not, but in late February, I determined in consultation with my wife and one of my doctors that I had gotten the maximum benefit I could get out of the main pain medication I have been on for the last decade. We therefore have been instructed to have me transition off of the medication in question, and I am about half-way through that process, which has been a bit of a struggle.

In the interim, we received more information about a minor procedure I need to have at some point, and based on what was learned in that respect, the same-day procedure is anticipated to involve 1-2 weeks of at-home recuperation.  And as a result of the nature of the procedure, we have been advised to have me halt my efforts to further transition off of the pain medication until after the at-home recovery process is complete.

Additionally, both my wife and myself continue to deal with health-related challenges and other difficult circumstances, but hopefully things are progressing in the right direction in many respects. In moments when we have struggled, the Lord has reminded us in choice and significant ways that He has not forgotten us, and has made up the difference for things we feel we lack.

And for me personally, immersing myself in the process of continuing to track the latest Church news and temple developments and report on those things here has been an important and vital part of helping me deal with the associated stress relating to these ongoing difficulties. I appreciate the wide-spread intrest in things I have found to "sound off" about here, and hope that my analysis on such developments has proven and will yet prove helpful to all who read it.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time. 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 oen of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

A Couple of Items of Blog Business

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to take an opportunity to briefly transact some blog business. First, after a lot more research and some experimentation, I have again made alterations to the layout of this blog. Based on the results I see with the latest alterations, or on the feedback any of you might choose to provide about them, further adjustments may be necessary over the next little while. So I'd like to thank you all for your ongoing patience while I continue to experiment in this regard.

In the meantime, I made the determination earlier today that I could be more effective in presenting the progress of temple construction during the year if I were to post my full report once every quarter-year. With that in mind, I will be posting a comparative look at temple progress as it was at the beginning of this year to what it will look like at the end of March, either in the late night hours of March 31, or at my first opportunity to do so on April 1. So stay tuned for the post on that at that time.

That does it for this post. 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. 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.