Apostolic Travels During July Recess/We Honor the Pioneers

As many of you may know, July is the one month of the calendar year that the leading Brethren (primarily the apostles) take off to spend time with their families, as their ecclesiastical duties don't allow them that much time to do so the rest of the year. As we have seen by what has happened with Church growth, this July has been one in which many stakes have been created. Additionally, on Facebook, Mormon Newsroom reported President Uchtdorf recently taking time to return to his native Europe to be with family. One of the things he is doing while in Europe is touring the temples announced or under construction. That was neat to hear about.

Then, I just found out that Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Angel's game on Friday July 15. The pitch was caught by Elder Ruben Acosta, an Area Seventy. To read more about this fun night, please click here.

That's the latest going on in apostolic news.

In the meantime, Brother Tad R. Callister, Sunday School General President, spoke on how we can honor our pioneer ancestors by the way we live. To read more about the event in which he spoke and what he said, click here.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. Thanks for your readership, friendship, and interest.

Down to the top 20 most likely temples/Feedback appreciated.

I have been working on whittling down my list. I have gotten the list down to 20. I have done the list by world region.

I hope to refine the list further to the top seven or so. Let me know if you disagree with any of my choices or if you feel there are any glaring oversights.

Refined list of cities that may receive a temple soon.
1. South America (1. Managua Nicaragua 2. La Paz Bolivia. 3. Quezon City Mexico. 4. Valparaiso Chile. 5. Brasilia Brazil)
2. Pacific (1. Port Moresby Papua New Guinea) 2. Tarawa Kiribati. 3. Auckland New Zealand. 4. Quezon City Philippines)
3. Caribbean (1. San Juan Puerto Rico)
4. Africa (1. Freetown Sierra Leone 2. Kampala Uganda. 3. Nairobi Kenya. 4. Lagos Nigeria)
5. USA (1. Bentonville Arkansas. 2. Missoula Montana. 3. Lehi Utah. 4. Pocatello Idaho)
6. Europe (1. Budapest Hungary 2. Edinburgh Scotland)

I find it really difficult to think about cutting this list further. I think I will go with all of them as possibilities. 20 temples is not that many. Let me know if there are any glaring oversights. Thanks.

Substantial posts by Matthew Martinich

Matthew Martinich reported on his blog that the Reaching the Nations Church growth almanacs are now on sale at amazon.com for a substantial price reduction. They are less than $2.00 each. I wasted no time in purchasing my Kindle copies of these landmark volumes. Please click here to read the information on how to purchase those volumes. He also announced plans to publish an update of those volumes hopefully at some point this year.

In the comments on that post, many stake and ward creations are made known.

Additionally, more new stakes and districts have been created. Please click here for details. This only strengthens my case for a second temple in Nigeria and a 2nd and possibly 3rd one for the Ivory Coast. Thanks so much to all of you for your interest and support.