Another Update Provided for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am posting today to note a few updates for temples. First, I wanted to note a status change for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple. When the status of that temple was last updated, it had been noted that hard landscaping was underway, that the exterior walls were being plastered, and that a moisture barrier was being added to the eaves of the temple roof. The update given today shows that hard landscaping continues and that the paint that is being applied to the exterior is nearing completion.

I should also note briefly here that I found out that the renovation currently underway for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple will alter its' exterior appearance to look like the other temples originally built during the temple building boom of the late 1990's and early 2000's. Based on that, I would assume that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, for which building permits are being acquired, will be altered in a similar manner. I will be keeping an eye on that and passing along any updates as I receive them.

In the meantime, we also know that full-scale efforts are still pending for the temple in Winnipeg, which is 13 months removed from its' groundbreaking. This time last year, the primary holdup for the commencement of construction efforts was due to a severe Canadian winter. While I cannot say with any certainty that winter this year is factoring into the decision to wait, I am hoping that by the time winter 2018 clears from the northern hemisphere, full scale efforts will have begun on that temple.

And finally, I wanted to note that while there has not yet been any additional news of groundbreakings or dedications for temples, I am keeping my eyes open for information in this regard and will pass any such updates along as I become aware of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Elder Uchtdorf's New Assignments Identified

Hello again, everyone! Many of you may recall President Nelson's statement during the press conference last week that Elder Uchtdorf had already been given major assignments, for which he is uniquely qualified based on his service in the First Presidency. Today we got a look at what those assignments will be.

According to this article, the First Presidency has announced that he will chair the Missionary and Correlation Executive Councils (for the first, he will oversee most issues relating to the missions and missionaries of the Church, and for the second, he will have a role in reviewing and approving all Church materials.

Additionally, he will take over oversight of the Europe and Europe East areas of the Church. Those two areas were previously overseen by Presidents Nelson and Ballard respectively, and in view of their new roles, it makes sense they would hand those off to someone who is very familiar with that continent.

There may or may not be other assignments which we have yet to learn about. But it is wonderful to see that President Nelson is trusting Elder Uchtdorf with all of these things. It will be awesome to see how these assignments allow Elder Uchtdorf to make recommendations to the First Presidency and to see those come to fruition.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Updates Made Yet Again to Completion Estimates for Temples Under Construction

Hello again, everyone! As I did yet another check on my favorite Church websites, I learned about additional changes that have been noted for the completion estimates for several temples. So I wanted to post right now to discuss what has changed and what that means for the sequence of events in the near future. Let's dive in to all of that.

First, a quick preliminary note: While I have continued to voice my opinion that the Rome Italy Temple will likely be dedicated prior to the end of this year, and while that still could happen, in view of its recent lack of progress, I now concur fully with the opinion of those who have indicated that, while the construction team may have the temple completed by the end of this year, it appears more than likely that its' dedication may only take place in the early months of 2019.

Additionally, it is also worth noting that the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, as I may or may not have noted here previously, is now anticipated to be the third temple dedicated this year, which moved the Durban South Africa Temple down. At some point earlier today, there was apparently reason to shift Durban down again, which resulted in the Lisbon Portugal Temple's dedication anticipated sometime between those for Port-au-Prince and Durban.

In another post yesterday, I noted the fact that the renovation for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple has formally begun, and that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, which is further behind in the process, although it closed first, is anticipated to have its renovation wrapped up after that of the Raleigh Temple.

With all of that said, I want to conclude by noting that I am working on revising the more specific estimates based on these changes. Once I have that ready, I will put it up here. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Miscellaneous Church News

Hello again, everyone! In the last little while, the Church News website has published a few new articles which I wanted to pass along. First of all, even though they had published a new General Authorities chart following last October's general conference, with the deaths of Elder Hales and President Monson and the subsequent reorganization of the First Presidency, it makes sense that the Church News has published an updated version of that chart, including empty spaces for the existing vacancies. You can find a PDF version of that chart here.

The Church News also ran a couple of articles focusing on addresses given at the Church's annual seminar for MTC presidents and visitor's center directors. This one summarized an address from Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer, who is one of a few Assistant Executive Directors of the Church's Missionary Department, and also the chair of the Missionary Medical Health Services Division. Additionally, the Church News published this article of the remarks then-Elder now-President Oaks gave during that same seminar, which was done just a few days before he was called to the First Presidency.

Additionally, aside from addresses in that seminar, the Church News ran  article about the return of missionaries to Madagascar, where a plague outbreak in that nation led to those missionaries being evacuated and temporarily reassigned in October last year.  It was great to hear about that.

It is awesome to see how the Church is progressing in small and simple ways that, when seen in retrospect, are more significant than we realized at the time. It has always interested me to see the work of the Lord unfold, and I am grateful these things mean so much to so many of you as well.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Further Updates Provided on Temple Renovations

Hello again, everyone! I am happy to be able to focus a blog post on new updates for temples undergoing renovations that came to my attention earlier today. The nature of these updates is such that I will need to once again revisit my estimated time-frames for the affected temples and, by extension, the new temples of the Church in various parts of the world. My work on that estimate revision process has kept me from reporting these updates before now. So let's dive right in and discuss the new information.

First of all, I wanted to note that, as of earlier today, the Raleigh North Carolina Temple was moved ahead of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, and that the Paraguayan temple has an updated completion estimate of mid-2019.

More specifically, the status of the Raleigh renovation process has been updated to note that the steeple has been removed and that the removal of marble cladding is underway. And in terms of new progress which has been reported for the Asuncion renovation process, it has been noted that building permits have been secured, which means the full-scale renovation efforts will likely begin early next week.

It is good to see what has occurred in terms of these developments. As noted earlier in this post, I am in the process of revising my estimates for future temple-related events, and I will do my best to ensure that I complete that process and pass the updates along to you as I get them figured out. Stay tuned for that, which will likely be posted within the next 6-18 hours.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.