BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: 16 Temples Begin Transition to Normal Operations; "Traveling" Open House Being Conducted for Those in Yigo Guam Temple District

Hello again, everyone! In recent weeks, the timing of announcements about temple phase transitions has become slightly less predictable, with some announcements coming Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning rather than on Tuesday morning. So it has been difficult to anticipate the timing of such announcements each week, assuming there are any at all. Despite that, I am pleased to be able to report today that 16 additional temples will begin their transitions to phase 4 (normal operations) as soon as today.

The 16 temples include the following: 10 in Latin America (Buenos Aires and Cordoba Argentina; Concepcion and Santiago Chile; Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango Guatemala; Asuncion Paraguay; Montevideo Uruguay; Panama City Panama; and Tegucigalpa Honduras); 3 in Africa (Aba Nigeria, Durban South Africa, Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo); 2 in the United States (Birmingham Alabama and Orlando Florida) and 1 in Europe (Paris France). These adjustments are also confirmed in the area-by-area temple status tracker. 

As a result of the latest adjustments, the reopening status of the Church's 170 currently-operating temples stands as follows: 8 are closed for major renovations (all of which have been granted a designation of phase 3, allowing patrons in those districts to schedule phase 3 appointments at the nearest temples open); 1 each with phase 3 operations suspended (Kyiv Ukraine) and in phase 1 (Suva Fiji); 0 in phases 2 and 2-B; 35 remaining in phase 3; and the remaining 125 which have transitioned or soon begin transitioning to phase 4 operations. 

In view of today's announcement, 77.16% of the 162 currently-open temples are or will be returning to normal operations. Aside from the Kyiv Ukraine Temple, which is currently affected by the Russian invasion of that nation (which despite having previously moved on from Kyiv, has now seen action resume there), and the Suva Fiji Temple (where the transition to normal operations is being hindered by local COVID-19 conditions, among other factors), I believe in coming weeks that the 8 temples being renovation may be granted phase 4 status since the temples nearest to them have begun such transitions already.

The same is true of the 35 temples currently in phase 3. It has been interesting to watch the methodical way in which temple reopenings have occurred, and I again testify of the prophetic foresight guiding that process. But in addition to temple reopenings, there is another development I need to cover here. The Church is preparing to host tours of the Yigo Guam Temple.

Since some of the Saints in the forthcoming temple district are currently prohibited from traveling to Guam due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Church is bringing the experience of the temple open house through means of virtual tours and samples of materials used to furnish and beautify that edifice. The "traveling open house" will reach out to members and friends of other faiths in those regions to allow them to be part of that experience. That brings me to a potential correction I may need to make. 

I had understood that the Church was using a multipurpose space in the temple that could serve alternately as an instruction room for the endowment or a sealing room. The open house pictures appear to indicate they will be separate spaces, which was not originally indicated when construction began. If that is correct, then it corrects and supersedes anything I previously said on that. 

The VIP/invited guest tours have begun, with the formal open house starting tomorrow and going through May 14. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday May 22, under the direction of Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I will monitor available resources for updates on that and bring word of those to you as they are reported. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will bring you all word of those as I receive it.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 17 New Temples

Hello again, everyone! At the end of his address to conclude the April 2022 General Conference, our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, announced 17 new temples, which will be built in the following locations: Wellington New Zealand, Brazzaville Republic of the Congo, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Maceio and Santos Brazil, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City Benemérito, Tampa Florida, Knoxville Tennessee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, Missoula Montana, Montpelier Idaho, and Modesto California.

Regarding the temples that were announced today, I had the precise location correct for 10 of them (Wellington NZ, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Knoxville Tennesee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, and Missoula Montana. I had the right general location (nation, state, or region) for 5 others. I favored Pointe-Noire over Brazzaville and I was reasonably certain that temples in Brazil and Mexico would both be announced. I was surprised there were 2 each for each nation.

I believe that I can take credit for being partially right on the Mexico City Mexico Benemerito Temple, since I had a Mexico City South Mexico Temple on my list. Likewise, I was reasonably certain another temple was coming for Florida, but I had Pensacola/Jacksonville instead of Tampa. And I wasn't anticipating San Luis Potosi this soon, nor were Maceio and Santos on my radar. and the final 2 (Montpelier Idaho and Medesto California) weren't either. 

With today's announcement, the number of temples in any phase has increased from 265 to 282. And the total number of temples announced by President Nelson has now officially reached 100. Of course, that also raises the number of announced temples to 66. I am more impressed than ever to see how President Nelson's inspired announcements are constantly bringing temples closer to the people who have previously experienced undue hardship to get to their currently-assigned temples.

As previously noted, groundbreakings have been scheduled for the following 8 temples between April and June: Bahia Blanca Argentina, Grand Junction Colorado, Lindon Utah, Farmington New Mexico, Elko Nevada, Burley Idaho, Smithfield Utah, and Yorba Linda California. I have a feeling that before the last of these (Smithfield and Yorba Linda) have their groundbreakings on June 18, the Church will have scheduled others. I am not sure which temples could have groundbreaking arrangements announced by June 18, but wouldn't be shocked if the Willamette Valley Oregon, Ephraim Utah, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Torreon Mexico, and Cali Colombia Temples were among the next to have groundbreakings set.

I also anticipate that either before the end of June or in August or September, announcements would be made Greater Guatemala City Guatemala, Queretaro Mexico, Cape Town South Africa, Tarawa Kiribati, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. And of course, we can't rule out other unexpected announcements leading to groundbreakings for other temples.

Whatever might happen in terms of Church news updates or temple developments, you can count on my reporting those to you all as I become aware of all such reports. 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.

UPDATE: Temple Construction Progress During the First Quarter of 2022

Hello again, everyone! As this last day of March 2022 draws to its' conclusion, I wanted to provide a look back at the progress the Church has made in the construction of temples as the first quarter of 2022 also wraps up. So for a refresher course, I am providing a look at where things stood as this year began. And as this first quarter of 2022 wraps up, there have been significant updates with the Church's temple construction program.

The Church has already broken ground for 1 temple this year, with 8 more temple groundbreakings set to occur during the second quarter of this year. 3 new temples have had dedications scheduled, all of which will take place during the next three months. The Church also defined, clarified, and expanded the length of the opening dates for the Washington D.C. Temple, and has announced the rededication arrangements for the Tokyo Japan Temple. While neither of those rededications will occur this quarter, that is also a positive sign.

Current temples have also been announced to shift to phase 4 as local conditions and area presidency directions provide. Oddly enough, this quarter passed without the Church announcing official details for any of the 4 US cities in which temples were announced last October. As we also know, 2 temples each are awaiting announcements of their opening or reopening arrangements. That number may increase in the next quarter, but hopefully official announcements are coming there as well.

I am likewise hopeful that the Church may release more official information (either just a site announcement, or a site announcement and artist's rendering, or a site announcement, artist's rendering, and groundbreaking arrangements for a few more temples this quarter. And, of course, we have the always-anticipated announcement of new temples likely to occur on Sunday during General Conference. 

Although I have provided an extensive list of locations in which a temple could be announced this weekend, I have also put together a more specific list of 16 locations in which I have felt a new temple could be announced this time around. As I've mentioned in the past, when Elder Kevin S. Hamilton presided at my stake conference in December, he alluded to the Church having more than 300 temples in various phases. 

Since there are 265 current temples in any phase, the Church might be looking to announce at least 35 temples. And since the number of temples which have had may soon have a groundbreaking scheduled is 8, announcing the smaller number of those 35 could allow the Church to focus on clearing the current queue of announced temples more before the October General Conference, then announcing a larger number of temples to total or exceed 35 could work out nicely.

With that being said, hope you all enjoyed this look back at temple construction progress during the first quarter of 2022. I continue to monitor all such developments, and will be sure to pass along any updates 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.

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.

UPDATED: April 2022 General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! As I mentioned almost 2 weeks ago, when the First Presidency announced the Women's Session for the April 2022 General Conference, my initial predictions were blown out of the water. Since then, I have reasoned that, if my theory is correct, the determination to hold a women's session was made because this General Conference will come just over two weeks after the 180th anniversary of the establishement of the Relief Society organization. So what might that mean for this General Conference? 

I'm not entirely sure. Any patterns that previously prevailed in the process of rotating speakers in General Conference have literally been blown to smithereens by each of the now-8 markedly-different General Conferences held under President Nelson's dynamic leadership. While there are some patterns, there is also a high degree of unpredictability for each one going forward. 

As I've mentioned in other settings, the different focus of each Saturday Evening Session of General Conference adds even further to the complex process. But for me, admittedly, that also makes it all the more exciting to try and analyze, theorize, and present something even close to what actually happens every six months. Where possible, I have picked up on some factors that have been of assistance to me in crafting the last few versions of those predictions. 

With just under 6 weeks remaining until the April 2022 General Conference, I am pleased to present for your perusal my updated predictions for that conference. Those predictions consist of 3 parts: the potential speaker lineup, the potential changes in general Church leadership (which includes my estimated figures for the Statistical Report), and the usual extensive list of the most likely locations for which a temple could be announced in April. 

As I metnioned recently on the Church Growth Blog, Elder Kevin S. Hamilton, who serves as the Executive Director of the Family History Department, presided at my stake conference in December, where he noted that the Church has over 300 temples in various phases. With a total of 265 now, that means the Church could be looking at announcing at least 35 new temples this year. 

I consider it more likely that we will see a smaller number of temples in April, with a larger number announced in October, to give us that total of at least 35 new ones. As a final note on these revised predictions, I am not including footnotes or endnotes on them this time around.If there is anything in these predictions about which any of you have questions, I'd be happy to address those as they come. 

The commenting period on them remains active through 10:00 PM on Wednesday March 30, which I hope will give me enough time to update and post a final version before the conference officially starts. I look forward to hearing your feedback. 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.

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.

2021 Year-End Review of Temple Construction

Hello again, eveyone! As the final moments of 20e 21 tick towards their unavoidable conclusion, I wanted to provide you with a 2021 year-end review of temple construction progress. So by wayrom  of a reminder, here's a look back at the status of temples as the year began, a few days prior to the April 2021 General Conference, as the 2021 recess got underway for the General Authorities in July, how things looked a few days before the October 2021 General Conference, and how tenple construction looks as of 2021 concludes.

I think that 2022 will be another big year for temple eventsed 19-29 temples at minimum that could have a groundbreaking nwxt year as well. So I wouldn't be shocked if a minimum of 34 new temples were announced next year in the two General Conferences. I continue to monitor all such decelopmentd and will be sure to pass them along to you all as such announcements are made.

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: All Temple Cafeterias Will Close, Effective in Early 2022

Hello again, everyone! As some of you are no doubt aware. several temples of the Church around the world have had caeterias in operation for their patrons and workers to obtain good food as they worship and work in the temple. But one of the top initial temple updates on the renovation process for the Salt Lake Temple, as reported in March of this year, was a decision to close the cafetera in that temple and repurpose it for temple worship spaces.

Today, a second major temple development announced by the Church was that, effective in early 2022, all temple cafeterias will pernmanently close. The two exceptions are for the Guayaquil Ecuador and Hamilton New Zealand Temples, where a longer transitionary period will be required. The announcement also noted that the Church has already closed some temple cafeterias due to COVID-19, and that those will not reopen. This move comes as the result of the Church continuing its' steady efforts to reduce and simplify the day-to-day operations of the Church on a global scale.

But more than that, based on the fact that a major focus of President Nelson's prophetic priorities for the Church is to determine what is most needful for the members thereof, and how the Church can focus on whar really matters (the work for the living and the dead that is performed in temples). This also opens up the prospect that for the temples that had operated cafeterias, current or future renovations could repurpose those spaces for temple worship.

Makes perfect sense to me. While I wouldn't have traded my experiences as a worker in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple (which included regular stops at the cafeteria and numerous memories in the early 2010s when I met my wife in that temple and we had numerous opportunities to eat together while we served together, I can understand the reasoning behind these decisions.

And in the future, if the Church no longer is needing to plan to include temple cafeterias in some of the larger temples, that would create more space for temple worship to occur.rega I am grateful for this inspired directive and testify that it was the result of revelation to those 15 men I gratefully sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators.ark

I will be back tomorrow with another new post, honoring Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who will then be celebrating his 81st birthday. The following Saturday, Elder Dale G. Renlund will mark his 69th birthday, and the day after that will mark the last 2021 update I will share regarding apostolic age and tenure milestones.

So 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: Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! Throughout this week, there have been periodic changes in the number, ordering, or time-frames for the completion of new temples under construction. As a result of the changes made in the last couple of days, I have prepared an updated copy of my temple construction progress report. I am pleased to be able to share that with you.

On my end, I also continue to minotor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be happy to pass those along to you all as I receive such updates. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Locations Confirmed and Exterior Renderings Released for 4 Latin American Temples

 Hello again, everyone! In another stunning announcement I could not have seen coming, this morning, the Church officially shared renderings and locations for 4 temples in Latin America. The four temples in question are Belo Horizonte Brazil,  Cali Colombia, Greater Guatemala City Guatemala, and Torreon Mexico. 3 of those 4 ttemples were announced in April of this year, with the Greater Guatemala City Guatemala Temple announced in October of last year. 

I wanted to first note at the outset that once Latin American Temples are far enough along in the process for a site location and exterior rendering, the Church has generally taken action on those temples to get them under construction sooner rather than later. So while I can't say this for certain, I anticipate that each of these temples could have groundbreakings by either the end of this year or the early months of next year. With that said, let's get to the details and specifics.

First, for the Belo Horizonte Brazil Temple, plans call for a single-story temple of 27,000 square feet to be built on 11.8 acre site at the Rua Professor Jose Vieira de Mendonça. The Cali Colombia Temple will be a 9,500 square feet single-story edifice rising at the 3.14 acre site in La Flora in Cali Colombia. 

The Greater Guatemala City Guatemala Temple is planned to be a two-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet. Given ins' two-story plan, the temple will be built on a 1.5 acre site at the intersection of 13 Calle and 5-56 in Guatemala. A more official name for that temple will be determined prior to the groundbreaking.

And the Torreon Mexico Temple is planned to be a 10,000 square foot temple that appears to use similar modular components to what is planned fby the Church for the Helena Montana, Casper Wyoming, and Elko Nevada Temples, which will mark the first usage of those modular components in a temple outside the United States. The temple will be built on a 0.89 acre site on the corner of Paris and Amsterdam streets in the city of Gomez Palacio, Mexico.

So, based on their smaller sizes, I could see the Church potentially taking action to break ground for the temples in Cali Colombia an Torreon Mexico before the end of this year. Given the fact that the other 2 temples are 2-3 times larger than their newest Latin American counterparts, it may be a few months into next year before groundbreakings are set to occur.

But in any case, the Church is clearly expanding efforts to find quick ways to get temples approved and under construction, so I'm confident that we might have some additional surprises on the way. That's especially true if the modular components can be used in smaller temples outside the United States.

In the interim, whether these 4 temples have groundbreakings set this year or next year, it's nice to see that these temples were not in the queue very long. The Church is nearing the first anniversary of the announcement of the temple in Greater Guatemala City Guatemala, so the fact that official information was shared on that temple and 3 more announced by President Nelson in April of this year is very wonderful indeed.

With the recent groundbreaking for the Phnom Pehn Cambodia, the Church is down to 40 announced temples. Of those 40 temples, 2 (Casper Wyoming and Pago Pago American Samoa) have groundbreakings scheduled, hopefully with more on the way.  But with 38 temples for which groundbreakings have not yet been set, the number of temples for which no official information has been confirmed now rises to a total of 23.

I have previously mentioned the theory that groundbreakings could be announced sooner rather than later for the Elko Nevada, Willamette Valley Oregon, Grand Junction Colorado, Burley Idaho, Yorba Linda California, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, and Bahia Blanca Argentina Temples. So if we add Cali Colombia and Torreon Mexico to that list, that raises the total number of temples likely to have a groundbreaking announced to 9 more at minimum before the end of the year.

But I'd just add here that I'm hoping more official information will come down the pike for the Farmington New Mexico, Lindon and Smithfield Utah, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Tarawa Kiribati. I know that, per the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site, the groundbreaking for Lindon is anticipated to occur sometime early next year, but I'm hoping that something might be done for that newest Utah County temple sooner than that.

Also, I am watching for official information to be released for the Ephraim Utah, Managua Nicaragua, and Lagos Nigeria Temples. But above and beyond that, I think we might see more official information released on other temples before the end of this year. Today's announcement may point to the Church potentially also releasing official information about any of the 11 temples remaining from last year or this year, and to also clear any of the 7 remaining temples from announcements in 2018 and 2019.

With that in mind, hopefully the Church will indeed be able to exceed in 2021 the 21 total temple groundbreakings held last year. In the meantime, I'm hoping that the modular design might be used on any other temples that have been announced elsewhere in the world. The fact that the modular design will probably be used for the Torreon Mexico Temple opens the prospect that something similar could be done for smaller temples in Europe, Africa, and Asia. 

I have a strong feeling that we will have at least one other breaking news update on temples in the current queue before General Conference, and personally, I can't rule out the feeling that there could be more than one major announcement relating to temple construction between now and General Conference weekend. And if that belief is justified, that gives President Nelson a solid reason for another large number of temples to be announced during the October 2021 General Conference.

I don't know whether the Church will announced 20 temples again, or if the number announced could be larger or smaller, but given how the queue has been cleared out since the April General Conference, including the official details being announced for 12 of the 20 temples announced by Presidet Nelson in April of this year, I really do think we might be in for some surprises. While I was putting together my analysis of today's announcement, the Church News also provided coverage on this development.

 I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my best to bring you all word of those updates as I become aware thereof. Also, just by way of reminder, the commenting period for my revised predictions about the upcoming General Conference remains in effect until Friday October 1 @ 10:00 PM, so feel free to weigh in on those. 

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.