General Conference Predictions

I wanted to post my predictions for the next General Conference, as it was about this time six months ago that I posted my predictions for last General Conference. Since the First Presidency has in the interim decided and declared that the General Women's Meeting is now an official session of General Conference, for the first time, my predictions include who I believe will speak at the General Women's Session on March 28. Now for my predictions.

First, near the end of each year, I take a look at past changes in Church membership numbers each year. Based upon the average number of members added each year of President Monson's presidency, I then make a projection about the number of Church members there were at the end of each year. My predictions for this have general been way off, but I enjoy making them anyways. I recently reconfigured that chart to make it more readable and easier to understand. I include it to show you what I mean:

Statistical Yearly Report Record During President Monson's Presidency

Year covered by statistical report	# of Church Members
2007 (reported in the April 2008 General Conference)	13,193,999
Increase	314,510
2008 (reported in the April 2009 General Conference)	13,508,509
Increase	316,345
2009 (reported in the April 2010 General Conference)	13,824,854
Increase	306,613
2010 (reported in the April 2011 General Conference)	14,131,467
Increase	309,879
2011 (reported in the April 2012 General Conference)	14,441,346
Increase	341,127
2012 (reported in the April 2013 General Conference)	14,782,473
Increase	299,555
2013 (reported in the April 2014 General Conference)	15,082,028
Increase	314,672
2014 (reported in the April 2015 General Conference (projected))	15,396,700

Now, here are the changes I predict we will see in general Church leadership next conference:

April 2015 Predictions for Changes in General Church Leadership

First Quorum of the Seventy: New members added from Second Quorum of the Seventy, Area Seventies, or Church at large. NOTE:

Second Quorum of the Seventy: New members added from Area Seventies or Church at large. NOTE:

Area seventies: Releases and sustainings. NOTE:

Young Men General Presidency: David L. Beck, Larry M. Gibson, and Randall L. Ridd released; new Young Men General Presidency sustained (perhaps with Randall L. Ridd remaining as President or Counselor). NOTE:

Primary General Presidency: Rosemary M. Wixom, Jean A. Stevens and Cheryl A. Esplin released; new Primary General Presidency sustained. NOTE:

Here are my predictions for General Conference speakers, including, as noted before, for the first time ever, the General Women's Meeting:

April 2015 Conference Predictions [Text in Brackets indicates what actually happened.]

Session	Conducting	Speaker
General Women’s	Bonnie L. Oscarson	Cheryl A. Esplin
		Carol F. McConkie
		Carole M. Stephens
		President Thomas S. Monson
Saturday Morning	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	President Thomas S. Monson
		Elder L. Tom Perry
		Bishop Gérald Caussé
		Linda K. Burton
		Elder L. Whitney Clayton
		Elder Richard G. Scott
		President Henry B. Eyring
Saturday Afternoon	President Henry B. Eyring	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Sustaining of Church Officers)
	Church Auditing Department Report, 2014	Kevin R. Jergensen
	Statistical Report, 2014	Brook P. Hales
		President Boyd K. Packer
		Elder David A. Bednar
		Elder Kevin W. Pearson
		Elder Rafael E. Pino
		Elder M. Russell Ballard
		Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Saturday Priesthood	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	Elder Russell M. Nelson
		Elder Ulisses Soares
		Larry M. Gibson
		President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
		President Henry B. Eyring
		President Thomas S. Monson
Sunday Morning	President Henry B. Eyring	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
		Elder Quentin L. Cook
		Rosemary M. Wixom
		Elder Jose A. Teixeira
		Elder Neil L. Andersen
		President Thomas S. Monson
Sunday Afternoon	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	Elder Robert D. Hales
		Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
		Elder Jorge F. Zeballos
		Elder Mervyn B. Arnold
		Elder Yoon Hwan Choi
		Elder Brent H. Nielson
		Elder Dallin H. Oaks
		President Thomas S. Monson

I will post again sometime after General Conference to update you on how my predictions turned out.  In the meantime, I will post again in a few minutes. Only one or two more posts to go!

Temple Progress Update

Hello, all. Once again, it has been a busy couple of weeks. I will attempt to catch you up on all that has happened since I last wrote. There's a lot to get through, so let's get started!

On Friday, the Church announced the opening of two more temples before the end of the year.

The Mexico City Mexico Temple, which has been closed for renovation, will have its open house from Friday August 14-Saturday September 5. The cultural celebration will take place on Saturday September 12 and the temple will be rededicated in three sessions the next day. As with other temples that will be dedicated this year, the dedicatory services will only be broadcasted to Saints residing within the Mexico City Mexico Temple district.

The new Tijuana Mexico Temple will have its open house from Friday November 13-Saturday November 28. The cultural celebration will take place on Saturday December 12, and the temple will be dedicated in three sessions the next day. These dedicatory services will also only be broadcasted within the temple district. The dedication of the Tijuana temple will bring the number of operating temples to 149 by the end of the year.

It is unlikely that any other temples will be dedicated the remainder of the year, but time will tell. More dedications could happen this year. We'll have to see.

Additionally, the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple closes for renovation tomorrow, though ldschurchtemples.com lists it as already closed. While we are waiting for further progress on temples, here's an updated status report on temple progress. The number by each temple refers to the order in which it was dedicated (for temples closed for renovation), the order in which it will be dedicated (for temples scheduled for dedication), the order in which ground was broken (for under construction temples) or announcement date (for those that have been announced). I based my list on information available from ldschurchtemples.com. Here's the list:

Temples Undergoing Renovation:

26. Mexico City Mexico Temple: Scheduled to be rededicated Sunday September 13, 2015.

86. Montreal Quebec Temple: Anticipated to be completed in late 2015.

91. Suva Fiji Temple: Anticipated to be completed in late 2015-early 2016.

33. Freiberg Germany Temple: Anticipated to be completed in mid-2016.

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Anticipated to be completed in late 2016.

Under Construction:

145. Cordoba Argentina Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday May 17, 2015.

146. Payson Utah Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday June 7, 2015.

147. Trujillo Peru Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday June 21, 2015.

148. Indianapolis Indiana Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday August 23, 2015.

149. Tijuana Mexico Temple: Scheduled to be dedicated Sunday December 13, 2015.

154. Provo City Center Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2015-early 2016.

150. Rome Italy Temple: Projected to be completed in early 2016.

151. Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple: Projected to be completed in early-to-mid 2016.

155. Hartford Connecticut Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2016.

156. Fort Collins Colorado Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2016.

152. Sapporo Japan Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2016.

157. Paris France Temple: Projected to be completed in late 2016.

158. Meridian Idaho Temple: Projected to be completed in mid-2017.

153. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Projected to be completed in 2018.

Announced:

166. Star Valley Wyoming Temple: Building permit approved; groundbreaking scheduled for April 25, 2015.

167. Tucson Arizona Temple: Construction approval phase; general contractor selected; groundbreaking pending.

169. Cedar City Utah Temple: Local government approval phase; site plan presented at January 2015 meeting; groundbreaking pending.

159. Concepcion Chile Temple: Approval phase; temple and site design plans complete; groundbreaking pending.

160. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Planning and approval phase; land purchase finalized; groundbreaking pending.

168. Arequipa Peru Temple: Planning and approval phase; final piece of land for temple site acquired; groundbreaking pending.

163. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Planning and approval phase; temple and site designs complete; groundbreaking pending.

162. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.

165. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.

170. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Planning and approval phase; groundbreaking pending.

161. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

164. Durban South Africa Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

 Hope you enjoyed this post. I will be posting two other important updates in just a few minutes.