BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 8 New Temples As the April 2020 General Conference Concludes

Hello again, everyone! The final session of the April 2020 General Conference has just concluded, and in its' closing moments, our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, announced that 8 new temples will be built in the following locations: Bahia Blanca, Argentina; Tallahassee Florida; Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Benin City, Nigeria; Syracuse, Utah; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The Newsroom release is likely going to be updated over the next little while, but in the interim, further context has been provided by President Nelson, as relayed by the Church News. While acknowledging that it may seem strange to talk about announcing new temples while all operating temples are currently closed, the languge in the final 3 paragraphs of the Salt Lake Temple dedicatory prayer provides insight and perspective about the time in which we are currently living. With that background in mind, I have a few other thoughts to share on the monumental significance of this latest slate of announced temples. It was specifically also mentioned by President Nelson that the Saints in the Dubai area had specifically requested a temple. Based on information I had previously received, the Saints in Bahia Blanca Argentina have also been lobbying the Church for a temple of their own. A few other comments on these announced temples. I had anticipated that the next Florida temple would go to Jacksonville, but recognize that one is needed in Tallahassee, so I'm not surprised by that announcement. It is also tremendous to consider that, less than a full year following the dedication of the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple, a second one is being announced for that nation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which currently falls in the boundaries of the Africa Southeast Area, will become part of the new Africa Central Area in August of 2020. I am grateful that the Lord verified my choices of Bahia Blanca, Lubumbashi, Pittsburgh, Benin City, and Dubai. Another Utah temple is not a surprise. I was absolutely blown away, however, by the announcement of a temple for the People's Republic of China.

The nature of the Church''s current relationship with and arrangements for members of the Church in China remains unchanged, as confirmed by President Nelson, but it is nice that the Chinese government is willing to work with the Church in this particular case, and I have no doubts whatsoever that having a temple in Shanghai will greatly assist the Church and its' members in that relationship with the Chinese government, especially during this period of time when the Hong Kong China temple remains closed for its' renovation. It sounds to me as though the Church plans to move quickly on the Shanghai China Temple, and it will be interesting to see what specifically happens there. But the nature of what President Nelson said when he announced these 8 newest temples does lead me to wonder whether any of those that were announced today are going to move quickly enough through the approval process to be among the 16 that will have a groundbreaking this year, as mentioned by Elder Bednar. It will be interesting to see what happens with all of these temples, in addition to all others currently announced or under construction.

Understandably, due to the nature of the required updates, it may take the Church a little while into this evening to expand the official Newsroom release on these temples, and also, the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site appears to be down for the moment while the data, information, and pages for this and other temples are updated. Two other observations, if I may offer them: First, in April and October of last year, and in April of this year, 8 temples were announced each time. This suggests to me that 8 temples may continued to be announced per General Conference for the foreesable future. And secondly, with 8 temples added to the current queue, there are 43 announced temples. When we subtract the 4 for which a groundbreaking has already been scheduled, and the 12 others which will have a groundbreaking by the end of this year, depending on the timing for those 12, the queue of announced temples may continue to hover around 30, which is more or less what we have been told about President Nelson's plans. For my part, I continue to monitor all such developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such things.

I should also note here that I will be publishing another post within the next hour to share the latest apostolic statistics, as the standard 7 weeks have passed since my last update. So stay tuned for 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 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 NEWS: 18 Temples Will Have a Groundbreaking This Year; President Nelson Introduces a New Proclamation in Honor of the Restoration's Bicentennial Anniversary

Hello again, everyone! In late February of this year, congregational mission leadership had been invited to participate in the Temple and Family History Leadership Training, The training focused on the correlation between missionary efforts and temple worship. Fast forward to the Sunday Morning Session which has just wrapped up. With a temple/missionary theme, I felt even more certain that this Sunday Morning Session would bring the announcement of new temples. But the Lord had something else in mind. Elder David A. Bednar, who, as noted previously, chairs the Temple and Family History Executive Council, did announce that the Church is planning on breaking ground for 18 new temples this year. That means that, in addition to the 4 already scheduled (in Richmond Virgninia, Alabang Philippines, Layton Utah, and Auckland New Zealand), 14 other temples will also see groundbreakings this year. While it may be too early to tell which temples might have that happen, I have a fair idea. The Church is also likely to break ground for the following temples: Orem, Taylorsville, and Tooele Valley Utah, Brasilia Brazil, Feather River California, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Coban Guatemala, Managua Nicaragua, Nairobi Kenya, Harare Zimbabwe, Moses Lake Washington, Washington County Utah, McAllen Texas, and either Phnom Pehn Cambodia or Bengaluru India. So we have many more temple-related announcements to which we can look forward, including the likely announcement of a at least a few new temples at the conclusion of this General Conference by President Nelson.

After a session during which missionary work and temple worship was a dual focus, the Solemn Assembly portion of General Conference was prefaced by President Nelson through the release of a new official proclamation in honor of this bicentennial milestone of the Restoration. The prophet noted that that Proclamation would be made available online directly after the session in which it was introduced. While the proclamation is currently available in 14 languages and will soon be available through the Gospel Libery app is many other languages, I wanted to share a link to the English text thereof, as it was read by President Nelson.

It is a wonderfully inspirational document, and I hope we will all take time to review it repeatedly over the next little while. In the meantime, barring anything very unexpected, I am anticipating that any number of new temples will be announced by President Nelson during his remarks that will conclude this bicentennial General Conference, and I will bring word of and analysis about that announcement ASAP after it it 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 NEWS: President Nelson Announces New Symbol For the Church; New Initiative

Hello again, everyone! During this Saturday Evening Session, President Nelson announced a new symbol for the Church and extended an invitation for all Church members to participate in another worldwide fast on Good Friday, April 10.  The Newsroom also provided some additional historical context  on times when the youth of the Church have participated in General Conference. I am grateful to have been able to bring word of these developments to you. It has indeed been a most unprecedented conference, and there will be more to come tomorrow for sure. 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 NEWS: Solemn Assembly to Be Held During Sunday Morning Session

Hello again, everyone! Less than a few minutes into this April 2020 General Conference, Church President Russell M. Nelson made the first of many major announcements for this conference. He announced that a Solemn Assembly of the Church would be held during the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference tomorrow. While other elements of that Solemn Assembly are unknown as of yet, what we do know is that, at the conclusion of the session, President Nelson will lead the Church in the traditional Hosanna Shout, which has traditionally been offered at temple dedications, at the dedication of the Conference Center in 2000, and at the rededication of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. That in turn will be followed by the Tabernacle Choir (whose members are indeed providing prerecorded or archived music for each session), joined by the congregation, will sing "The Spirit of God." I'd just note here that I dos not know if the traditional Sustaining of Church Officers will be part of that session, or might occur in any of the other 3 general sessions. But we'll soon find out.

I am grateful for this opportunity to have shared this development with you. I continue to monitor the events of this General Conference weekend and will bring you all the latest reports as that information becomes available. 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 Review During the First Quarter of 2020

Hello again, everyone! As this last day of March comes to its' close, while I continue to welcome comments on my General Conference predictions for the next few days, as this first quarter of 2020 draws to its' conclusion, I am pleased to take this opportunity to look back on the progress which has been made on temples worldwide during this quarter. As per my usual tradition, I will be providing links to which any who clinck on them will have access to the full reports. What I'd like to present at this time is the report that I provided as 2020 began and the one that shows how that progress looks at this first quarter's end. I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of them. In the meantime, in addition to finalizing my predictions for this General Conference and covering any of the major developments and updates that are reported, I am also planning on posting my next apostolic milestone update at some point on Sunday April. 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.