BREAKING NEWS: 6 Women in Europe Called as International Area Organization Advisers

Hello again, everyone! This morning, in addition to the update about the renovation of pioneer-era temples, the Church News shared that the First Presidency has authorized the creation of a new position for female leaders at the area level, which was first reported in United Kingdom edition of the Church's official Newsroom page. Six women in the Europe Area of the Church wil now serve as international area advisers. What does this mean? Let's break it down.

Area presidencies outside the United States, at their discretion and with the approval of Church headquarters, may recommend and call women to serve as international area advisers. Women called to these positions will participate in area councils ad will coordinate with leaders at the ward and stake levels to provide training and support for all women serving at the ward and stake level as leaders in the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary organizations. 

The hope is that those who are called to serve in that capcity will be able to give women more of a voice and bridge that gap in reprensation between the general Church level and at the congregational level. Insofar as I can ascertain, those called to that position in Europe are the first to be publicly announced. Other international areas may subsequently call women to these roles. It is not clear why that applies specifically to areas outside North America and not to the 6 areas that cover the continent. It has been an exciting day for reported breaking developments, and it's not very far into this Friday afternoon. 

I continue to monitor all such Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass along word of those developments as I become aware of them. 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: Updates Announced for Salt Lake Temple Renovation;Mantis Utah Temple To Be Renovated Later This Year

NOTE: This post was originally published not long after the announcement was made, with subsequent edits added roughly 2 hours later.

Hello again, everyone!  The Newsroom has shared new information (which was also shared in the Church News) on the Salt Lake Temple renovation, with today's announced changes likely to extend the duration of that project. That announcement also noted that the Manti Utah Temple will also close for renovation later this year. There's a lot of information to get to, so let's break it down.  

First, for the Salt Lake Temple, continuing revelation has been sought regarding that process since well before that temple's renovation got underway in December of 2019, and the Church has continued to evaluate the best options to keep that temple up and running in the future, and to serve the needs of an expanding Church at its' headquarters. Consequently, a decision has been made to add two more instruction rooms, additional sealing rooms, and a second baptistry.

Next, rather than involving a room-to-room (progressive) endowment session that involves live performances from the ordinance workers, those live presentations of that ceremony will now be replaced by single-stage endowment rooms and include the incorporation of video presentations instead of the live performances. That will expand the temple's capacity for sessions each day.  Meanwhile, to free up space for the anticipated increased capacity of that temple, the cafeteria will no longer be part of that temple's facilities, and will be repurposed. The change in plans also means that the temple murals will need to be moved and either repaired or replaced, especially to accommodate a layout change for each endowment room now that those will be stationary rather than four-stage progressive. 

Also, since these particular additions to that project were added recently through revelation and were not part of the original plans, it seems likely that the renovation process for this temple may be extended to allow for the additional alterations. I previously shared my opinion that the Church would likely complete the renovation in mid-2024, with the open house and rededication likely to follow in the third or fourth quarter of that year. But in view of the adjusted and expanded renovation plans, the estimate for the completion may be more reasonably anticipated as late 2024-early 2025, though the Church will need to confirm or correct that, if that's not the case.

Having provided details on the Salt Lake Temple renovation updates, we now turn our attention to the part of the announcement relating to the Manti Utah Temple. The Church announced today that the temple will close for its' major renovation later this year, for a multi-year project. Aside from mechanical, electrical, seismic, and systemic updates, the Church plans to shift the Manti Temple from live presentations of the endowment in a multi-stage progressive style to a stationary endowment presented by video, which will expand the availiablity of the endowment in other languages at this temple.

The murals will also be documented, photographed, and removed, and some elements of the interior and exterior of that temple will also be altered and updated, with specifications on those to be provided as those plans are developed and as the scheduled renovations begin, which, again, will occur later this year. I am anticipating that the renovation on that temple will last a minium of 3-4 years, which will put its' completion sometime in late 2024-early 2025 as well. 

I am grateful to have been able to learn about and pass along these updates to you all. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and wil also pass those along as well as I learn about them. 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: 5 More Temples Will Move to Phase 3 on March 15

Hello again, everyone! This morning, the Church News noted status changes for 4 temples, with 2 previously-"paused" temples resuming operations, and with 2 others being "paused" in their reopening status due to COVID-19 conditions and local regulations. While I had intended just now to note those minor changes in the comment threads of my previous post (since those changes were not necessarily breaking news), as I was preparing to do so, the Church News happened to provide a breaking update on temple reopenings.

Those updates came through less than an hour ago. So let's break down the announcement: 2 weeks from today (on Monday March 15), 5 additional temples will transition to phase 3 of reopening, which allows all ordinances for the living in priority order, but also allows all proxy ordinances to be done on a limited scale by appointment. The 5 temples that will transition to phase 3 in two weeks include the first 3 in North America (Kona and Laie Hawaii and Cardston Alberta in Canada), the first one in Central America (San Salvador El Salvador), and 1 more in the Pacific (Papeete Tahiti).

With the announcement about the Papeete Tahiti Temple transitioning to phase 3, on March 15, 9 of the 10 temples in the Pacific will be in phase 3. The only Pacific Area temple not currently in any phase of operation is the Hamilton New Zealand Temple, which remains closed for renovation, and for which the open house and rededication is anticipated to be the first held later this year (likely towards the end of the third quarter of this year, or the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year). Time will tell how soon following its rededication the Hamilton temple will transition from phase 1 to phase 2, and then on to phase 3 with the other temples in the Pacific.

Having noted that, the other changes which were noted in the original announcement from the Church this morning (roughly 4 hours before the subsequent phase 3 announcement) are that the Guadalajara and Monterrey Mexico Temples will both resume their former phase 1 reopening status, which will allow the living husband-to-wife sealings where both are previously endowed, with limited guests in attendance. Meanwhile, due to local COVID-19 conditions and new governmental regulations, the Curitiba and Porto Alegre Brazil Temples, which had been in phase 2, will now pause operations.

The Church News has updated their temple status tracker, which lists the status of each temple, grouped by the geographical boundaries for each area of the Church under which each temple falls. The Church News further notes that, by March 15, there will be 19 temples in phase 3, 119 more in phase 2, 12 others in phase 1, 9 in a "paused" status due to local restrictions and regulations, and 1 still closed (Kyiv Ukraine, which has not reopened in any phase since the First Presidency announced the closure of all operating temples roughly 1 year ago).

The other 8 temples are closed for renovation, with 2 of those (Washington D.C. and Tokyo Japan) completed and awaiting their rededications. The same updates I reoprted here are also available through the Newsroom's official release and the corresponding reopening status list, which presents the temples in alphabetical order I am grateful to have learned of and been able to pass on these updates here. I continue to monitor all Church news and any additional temple updates, and will be sure to continue to pass those along as I learn about them.

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: Exterior Rendering Released for the Syracuse Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone!Breaking news has been reported by the Church within the last hour. As some of you might recall, in late August of last year, groundbreakings were set and renderings released for the Bentonville Arkansas and McAllen Texas Temples. In that same announcement, the location and preliminary details were revealed for the Syracuse Utah Temple. Fast forward to around half an hour ago. The Church News noted that the exterior rendering for the Syracuse Utah Temple has been released. Interestingly enough, on the Newsroom, rather that providing a new press release specifically relating to this temple's new rendering, it appears that the late August release, which showed information about that temple, has since been updated with the exterior rendering.

The Syracuse Utah Temple was announced in April of last year. The site location for it was then confirmed in August, and the rendering has been released now in February, so four months passed between the temple's announcement and the release of the preliminary information, with four more months passing between the release of that preliminary information and today's release of that rendering. As I have previously mentioned, it is currently anticipated that the Syracuse Utah Temple will be one of the first (if not the very first) to have a groundbreaking this year.

The Church News update on this temple notes that no groundbreaking date has been set yet, but given that a window for that is anticipated in the spring, we might hear of formal arrangements being set for that temple within the next month or two, with the groundbreaking itself perhaps set for April, May, or June. In 2019, as some of you might recall, there were several cases where the Church released a rendering for a temple a few weeks prior to subsequently announcing the groundbreaking information for it, so something similar could happen here.

The one difference between most of the temples that had that happen 2 years ago and the Syracuse Utah Temple is that the latter is going to be a comparatively larger temple. Set to rise at the intersection of 2500 West and 1025 South in Syracuse, plans call for a three-story temple of roughly 89,00 square feet. The rendering in this case shows yet another temple that will not feature the angel Moroni, suggesting that the new trend will be towards not including it in most cases for future temples of the Church.

A couple of additional thoughts, if I may offer them. I know that I am one who has been surprised that no groundbreakings have been set to occur this year yet. Last year, the first groundbreakings were announced in mid-to-late January, and set to occur in April and May, but wound up occurring in April, May, and June, due to COVID-19 conditions. 

Last year also saw several other groundbreaking arrangements reshuffled. So while I am surprised no arrangements have been formally announced thus far, I understand that it may be wiser to factor in COVID-19 conditions when making those arrangements. And the way things worked out last year, the Church had originally planned to conduct 18 temple groundbreakings (per Elder Bednar's remarks in the April 2020 General Conference). That number was increased to 20 (per President Nelson's opening remarks in October), and the Church actually wound up being able to carry out 21 groundbreakings by the end of the year. Of those 21, 16 wound up occurring during the final 4 months of the year.

My reason for mentioning that is that, even if the Church does not wind up announcing the first groundbreaking(s) this year for another month or two, a slow start on announcing them may not equate to a smaller number of groundbreakings occurring during this year.  In fact, I think the opposite may turn out to be true. For the upcoming April General Conference, among other things, I have predicted that Elder Bednar may be one of the three members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who might speak in the final session thereof.

If that happens, I think it may also be safe to assume that Elder Bednar might mention an exact number of temples for which the Church is hoping to break ground by the end of this year, and that, as President Nelson speaks to close out the conference, he may then announce several new temples. Given what we know about the potential for temple events this year, there are at least 8 thus far that will almost certainly have a groundbreaking, and I have at least 6 or 7 others on my radar as well.

As a result, I think we might safely anticipate new temples being announced in the double-digits this time around, marking the first time since October 2018 that more than 10 temples might be announced. It will be interesting to see all of that unfold this year. I continue to monitor all temple developments, major Church news, and many other factors as well, and will do my best to continue to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such updates.

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.

Temple Construction Progress Report Overhauled as Completion Order and Estimates Are Frequently Adjusted

Hello again, everyone! As we near the half-way point of the second month in 2021, I wanted to publish new content today. I have mentioned repeatedly in recent threads of several of my previous posts that the completion order for temples now under construction, along with their completion estimates, have been fluctuating frequently of late. In consideration of the massive and significant nature of those changes, I wanted to provide two links to my temple construction progress report

The first shows the changes that have been made as of today, and as of the time at which this post is being published. And the second link I wanted to share today is for the version of my report that will be continuously updated from today until my first-quarter temple construction progress report is shared (which I am planning to take care of on either March 31 or April 1).

It appears that there will be a need to keep tabs on the queue of temples which are now or may soon be under full-scale construction, since there will surely be many more such changes in the days ahead. As the saying goes, "The only thing that's truly constant is change." Within the last couple of weeks alone, on several of the days therein, there have even been multiple chnages to the queue in a single day. That will no doubt continue to be the case for the foreseeable future.

I remain committed to continuing to track those changes, and will do my level best to continue to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of them. I also will be monitoring all other Church news updates and will similarly bring you summaries thereof as I am able to do 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: 6 Temples Will Move to Phase 3; 6 Others Will Move to Phase 2 in the Next Two Weeks

Hello again, everyone! At this hour, we have some breaking Church news to get to. So let's dive right in. The Church has announced this morning that 12 additional temples will have changes in their reopening status that will go into effect over the next two weeks, with 6 of those temples transitioning to phase 3 on Monday February 22, and 6 others moving to phase 2 effective next week. Additionally, next week will also see 3 temples that previously had their reopenings paused or downgraded terutning to their former status.

So let's break down this information. First, for the 6 temples transiitioning to phase 3 in two weeks, that marks the largest number to-date transitioning to that phase on the same date. The six temples tranisitioning to phase 3 in two weeks include 3 in Mexico (Merida, Oaxaca, and Tuxtla Guitierrez); and 1 each in Central America (Guatemala City Guatemala); Canada (Halifax Nova Scotia); and the Pacific (Sydney Australia). Phase 3 allows those temples to perform all living ordinances, along with some ordinances for the dead, while ensuring proper COVID-19 protocols are followed.

With those phase 3 reopenings occurring in two weeks, for next week, 3 temples will begin phase 2 for the firs timet, offering all ordinances for the living, with the priority given first to those previously-endowed couples who are going to be sealed, with limited guests in attendance; then to those preparing for a temple sealing in the neear future who have not previously been endowed; then to missionaries already out in the field, who departed without being able to receive their own endowments; then to those missionaries preparing to depart for the mission field; then to anyone else who made need to receive their own ordinances for any other reason.

The Palmyra New York, Rome Italy, and San Jose Costa Rica Temples are the 3 that will start phase 2 for the first time next week. The Johannesburg South Africa and Santiago Chile Temples were previously paused, and now resume phase 2 operations. And the Quetzeltenango Guatemala Temple, which had returned to phase 1 briefly due to local COVID-19 restrictions, will again resume phase 2.

The Church News provides additional details on the reopening, including updates made to the status tracker for all temples worldwide. Church leaders are continuing the inspired process of monitoring global COVID-19 restrictions or adjustments, and to adjust the temple reopenings accordingly. The cautiously-coordinated efforts have also involved receiving and evaluating information on nations worldwide from those serving in area presidencies or as area seventies, and it is inspiring to witness that occurring the way it has.

For my part, I continue to monitor any and all such developments, in addition to any breaking Church news, and will do my level best to pass word of those along 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.

All Current Apostles Observe Their First Group Tenure Length Milestone

Hello again, everyone! As demonstrated in the last update I provided on apostolic data (posted on January 24), the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, both on their own and in company with the current First Presidency, were set to observe serefveral apostolic group milestones this year. As the documents I shared in that last update showed, the first of those milestones has been reached today, Monday February 8. As of today, the current members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have served together for a period of 2 years, 10 months, and 8 days.

The length of their service has now matched that of the apostolic group which included Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, and James E. Faust in the First Presidency, and when the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was comprised of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Joseph B. Wirthlin, Richard G. Scott, Robert D. Hales, Jeffrey R. Holland, Henry B. Eyring, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and David A. Bednar.

That group served together from October 2, 2004, when Elders Uchtdorf and Bednar were called to the apostleship until the death of President Faust on August 10, 2007. Oddly enough, this first milestone for our current group of apostles will not be the only one they observe this month. They will be marking their second one on February 26.

On that date, the length of their tenure as an apostolic group will match that of the First Presidency consisting of Presidents Heber J. Grant, Charles W. Penrose, and Anthony W. Ivins, while the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles consisted of President Rudger Clawson and Elders Reed Smoot, George Albert Smith, George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, James E. Talmage, Stephen L Richards, Richard R. Lyman, Melvin J. Ballard, and John A. Widtsoe.

With both milestones being observed this month, the current group of apostles will then become the twelfth longst-serving such group in Church history, and they will be observing their next two milestones 15 days apart in July, followed by 1 more that will coincide with President Nelson's 97th birthday.

Meanwhile, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will mark 3 years of continuous service together on March 31, and will be observing 3 milestones of their own this year as well, with one a few days after their third anniversary, and the final two also coincidentally in July, but not necessarily on the same days as the two milestones for the current group of 15 apostles as a whole.

I will provide more specific details on these milestones closer to the dates on which each will be reached. In the meantime, I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of all of them to you here as they are brought to my attention.

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.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband Observes His Birthday; Becomes the Second Current Septuagenarian Apostle

Hello again, everyone! As I noted in a previous comment on this blog, on January 19, the First Presidency and those 5 apostles over 70 received the vaccine for COVID-19. When I shared that report on this blog, I failed to mention that two more of our apostles would turn 70 this year as well: Elder Ronald A. Rasband today (February 6), and his immediate senior apostolic seatmate, Elder Neil L. Andersen, will do so in roughly 6 months (on August 9). So I have no doubt that Elder Rasband will be in line for the vaccine himself soon. And perhaps by Elder Andersen’s birthday, the priority order for vaccinations may have expanded to allow all other apostles to get it as well.

While I am grateful for the example of top Church leaders in getting the vaccine as they are eligible to do so (especially given the fact that the three junior apostles of the Church have dealt with that virus, that’s a sidenote. My point in mentioning it is that this post is written in honor of Elder Rasband, who today becomes the second current septuagenarian apostle. I am pleased to share a biographical overview of his life with you all on his special day. Ronald Anderson Rasband was born to Rulon Hawkins Rasband and Verda Anderson in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 6, 1951.

He served as a full-time missionary in the Eastern States Mission, which was headquartered in New York City and encompassed the whole New York Metro area, while also stretching into western New York and Pennsylvania. He met Melanie Twitchell in a class they both attended at BYU. At the time, both of them were dating other people, but they soon made arrangements to go on a date themselves, and once they started dating, that was it for both of them. They got engaged eight weeks later, were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1973, and they raised five children.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I will never forget praying in advance of the October 2015 General Conference for my own personal witness to know that whoever was called had indeed been chosen by the Lord. The moment President Eyring read the names of the three new apostles, I received the witness I had requested. For that reason, I gratefully sustain not just Elder Rasband. That experience is one that has been repeated for every apostle called since I entered my adult years. I gratefully sustain each of our 15 apostles in their divinely appointed roles.

Having served for nearly 21 years as a General Authority, Elder Rasband has had 17 opportunities to address us in General Conference: 1 as a General Authority Seventy, 5 more while in the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 11 since his call to the apostleship almost 5.5 years ago. Any of those addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, is well worthy of review. I am grateful for this opportunity I have had, in my own small way, to pay tribute to and reflect on Elder Rasband’s life on this day, when he is celebrating his 70th birthday. I do continue to monitor all apostolic updates, general Church news, and any temple-related developments and will keep bringing you word of those as I receive it.

It is worth noting that I have another post set to publish two days from now, which will highlight one of several milestones one of our current apostolic groups will be observing on that date, so stay tuned for that.

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 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: Tokyo Japan Temple Annex Dedicated Last Month

Hello again, everyone! Based on the newest information for the Tokyo Japan Temple, I did some additional digging on my end. I found an article from the Japan Newsroom, dated January 27, which that the new annex for the Tokyo Japan Temple was dedicated 2.5 weeks earlier, on Sunday January 10. Elder Takashi Wada, the Asia North Area president, presided at that event, accompanied by both of his counselors, Elders James R. Rasband and John A. McCune.

Although only the apostles have the doctrinal authority to preside at and officiate in the dedication or rededication of any completed temple, as assigned to do so by the First Presidency and/or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, area presidencies, other General Authority Seventies, area seventies, local congregational leaders, or (in the early days of the Church) temple building missionaries, have been able to preside at temple groundbreakings, the dedication of chapels, etc.

The reasoning behind dedicating the annex last month when the full rededication of the temple proper may not occur for at least 8 months was because parts of that annex will be used by local congregations for Sunday worship, and will also be used as office and meeting spaces for the president of the Tokyo Japan stake and some of the bishops serving in the same stake. and the headquarters offices for the Japan Tokyo Mission and the Asia North Area.

It was also noted that Elder McCune conducted the dedicatory services, with remarks being offered by Elders Rasband and Wada, and a video message of congratulations featuring Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was also shown. Throughout the dedicatory services, it was frequently emphasized that the dedication of the annex would be a stepping stone to the eventual anticipated open house and rededication of the temple in its' entirety.

I would just add a few other observations here: Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the Church had originally planned to wrap up the renovation of the Tokyo Japan Temple and rededicate it last year in advance of the commencement of the 2020 Summer Olympics in mid-July. Conditions related to the global pandemic, along the decision to add the annex to the project, which had not been part of the original plan, delayed that process.

Given the information I have previously shared (indicating that the fall months in the Northern hemisphere are likely the soonest that any temple dedications or rededications may be held this year), the potential timing for any such events may be difficult to determine. That being said, there are parts of Asia and the Pacific, among other regions, that have kept the impact of COVID-19 to a relative minimum.

So whenever temple dedications and rededications do resume, I'd anticipate the Tokyo temple to be one of the first (but likely not the very first) to have an open house and (in Tokyo's case) a rededication. The second thing I wanted to mention is that both Elders Gary E. Stevenson and Gerrit W. Gong have connections to the Asian continent, with Elder Stevenson having served as a member of the Asia North Area Presidency for a few years prior to his call as the Presiding Bishop, which in turn preceded his call as an apostle.

Given the fact that both apostles have connections to Asia, it might be easy to surmise that either of the two apostles could be called upon to preside at the eventual rededication for this temple whenever that might happen. But despite Elder Stevenson's connections to Japan, he was not the one assigned to dedicate the Sapporo Japan Temple in 2016, although he did accompany President Russell M. Nelson, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to that dedication.

If that temple had been dedicated after President Nelson became the Church President, he might have opted to send Elder Stevenson to handle that dedication on his own. But that didn't occur.

In the interim, three years after the dedication of the Sapporo temple, President Nelson, who had since become Church President, started giving his fellow apostles opportunities to officiate at temple dedications and rededications. But for each temple rededicated that year, those were handled by 8 of the 9 most senior apostles (with President Nelson himself not rededicating any of those).

That to me suggests a potential precedent that Elder Christofferson may be the most junior apostle asked preside at a temple rededication. While the President of the Church is free to delegate any task to any other apostle as he is prompted or inclined to do so, until there is an established precedent for any of the 6 junior apostles to be assigned to rededicate a temple, it's my assumption (for the time being) that temple rededications may continue to be presided over by any member of the First Presidency, or any of the 6 most senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

I could, however, see a scenario where the senior apostle presiding takes either Elder Stevenson, Elder Gong, or both, with him to rededicate the Tokyo Japan Temple, whenever that might occur. I need to offer the standard disclaimer here: i do not have any inside track to any information that would corroborate that theory, nor is it within my prerogative or privilege to receive any revelation that would justify that theory.

President Nelson has proven to be a very non-traditional prophet in so many ways, including when it comes to deviating from anything that has been typically a long-time established status quo, and the President of the Church is free to do whatever he is inspired to do. It is his prerogative to determine who to assign to each temple dedication or rededication. So if he is prompted to do so, he could send any of the six junior apostles to rededicate a temple.

But since Elder Christofferson has been the most junior apostle thus far to rededicate a temple, I am not entirely convinced that anyone more junior than Elder Christofferson will be sent to rededicate a temple. The Lord has proven me wrong in the past, and it will surely happen again, but for the time being, my research on recent temple dedications and rededications point me towards that theory.

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 2021 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! As we begin this second month of 2021, I have a few different projects in the pipeline. Among those on which I have had to put in frequent but sporadic work are my initial predictions for the April 2021 General Conference. I am pleased to present those to you today for your review and feedback. I will do so by sharing links to the relevant files. I will note at the outset that my predictions for the speaker layout are based on the announced parameters for the upcoming General Conference, and that the changes in Church leadership have been based on the announcement of new mission and temple presidents

Additionally, the projected numbers for the statistical report (which are featured in the same document covering anticipated Church leadership changes) are based on what has been confirmed, what can be calculated, or otherwise, thorugh a complex algorithm that hasn't always worked. In the meantime, new to the initial draft of my predictions this go-round, I have adjusted my list of potential locations in which a temple could be announced.

Aside from some new locations making the list for the first time, I have in some cases provided two or more potential locations for a specific nation or state because I had a hard time narrowing them down further than that. I have also opted, for this initial draft, to eliminate the accompanying references for context, because I want the list to be able to speak for itself until I have it slimmed down a bit more. I also hope that without the distraction of the lengthy notes section for the temple locations, that might more fully open up the conversation about these predictions. At some point, should the need arise to do so, I will add any adjusted notes for context.

That said, I am pleased to declare the commenting period on these predictions is open, effective immediately, through Thursday April 1 at 10:00 PM, which will give me 36 hours to make any final adjustments to these predictions. Between now and then, when appropriate, I will be providing updates that may be needed based on the feedback I receive on them here. Thanks for your consideration of these predictions. I look forward to your input.

I will also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of them. For the immediate future, I am planning on providing a new post on Saturday in honor of Elder Ronald A. Rasband's 70th birthday, and have a couple of apostolic tenure milestones to cover before I provide the next full apostolic data update on March 14. Stay tuned for all of 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.