Two tender mercies from the Lord

Events that have happened personally to my wife and me this month have reminded us clearly that the Lord is aware of us, that He is truly a God of miracles, and that in His tender mercy, He puts unexpected events in our path.

As many of you who have followed this blog with any frequency or regularity are aware, in October 2015, we relocated from American Fork and the stake where I had lived for 17 years to Orem. It was so hard for me to move knowing I was leaving behind an area and lots of people I had grown to love very much. This was especially true in terms of the fact that I have not handled change very well in my life.

In the first Church calling we together had served in since our temple service ended in 2012, we were asked to serve as Primary teachers. This we did until some health issues necessitated our release about a year later. We had been shut off from getting to know anyone in the ward. While we are continuing to get our health in order, we had to allow some major things to slip through our fingers. Our temple recommends expired for the first time since either of us had first received one.

When the second week in January found us well enough to attend Church for the first time in about two months, we resolved to find out what was involved in this stake in getting our temple recommends renewed. On January 8, we had our interviews on the ward and stake level within a matter of a few short hours.

Backtrack a bit with me now to when we were preparing to move. It so happened that I had done my research on the leaders of the stake we were moving into. When I heard that the second counselor in the stake presidency (a  man named President Burr) worked for the BYU police department, one clear thought entered my mind. The thought was that my sister Joanna, who worked for several years as a dispatcher for that police department, might know him. I mentioned his name to Joanna, who confirmed that she had worked for him on numerous occasions.

So getting back to our temple recommend renewal, I had hoped for the opportunity to have my interview with that man. We waited in line for a few minutes before I was called back by someone I obviously did not know. When we started the interview, I took the time to explain that I was relatively new to the stake and did not know his name. When he told me what it was, my heart leaped with joy. This was the very man my sister had worked with. So I mentioned that we had a personal connection, but I didn't have time to elaborate on that before he looked at my recommend and said, "Your last name is Stokes? You aren't Lynn Stokes's boy are you?" I told him that no, Lynn was my dad's brother. He was able to tell me that he and Uncle Lynn were still working together, but in a private security company he (President Burr) had started, which was news to me. I had not been aware of that.

But undeterred, I told him we also had another mutual acquaintance. I said, "Joanna Hickman is my sister." He told me that he had loved working with Joanna, and we chatted for a bit about the adventure she is now on with her young family. This was news to him. He knew she was no longer dispatching for BYU, but he hadn't heard why she'd moved on. He thanked me for that, and after the interview, I promised that I would tell Joanna hello from him the next time I saw her, and he pledged to do the same for me to Uncle Lynn.

The way that happened warmed my heart. But the miracle surrounding people we know in our new stake was not limited to that one occurrence. I happened to be looking over the list of the leaders of our stake, searching seemingly in vain for any other familiar name. It was in so doing that I happened upon the fact that there was one other couple in our stake, in addition to those we have become acquainted with in our new ward, that I knew very well. Their names are Lynn and Bonnie Vernon.

I had the happy opportunity to serve alongside them both in the course of my temple service, around the same period of time that my wife started working at the temple herself and as we dated and were married. Additionally, I had found out that Brother Lynn Vernon had grown up with my father-in-law, Gene Nuttall. While we served at the temple, once he knew that I was working with Lynn Vernon, Dad Nuttall would regularly take the opportunity to ask me how he was doing. I was pleased to be able to answer his questions.

One of my greatest regrets in having to be released as a temple worker was that I was thus losing my association with so many good friends. And now, in discovering that Lynn and Bonnie Vernon are members of the stake we moved into almost a year and a half ago, I have this further evidence of what Amy has told me a lot.

She has always said that with my many associates from the temple, we likely couldn't go anywhere in the surrounding area without being sure of running into someone I knew somehow. Once again, big surprise, she was right.

I wasted no time in dashing off an e-mail to Brother and Sister Vernon, and I am hoping to hear from them soon. I hope they are glad to hear from me.

In the meantime, as I said at the beginning of this post, these are two tender mercies from the Lord that I never could have expected or anticipated when this move became necessary. It is amazing to see how the Lord allows us to run again into people who have either associated with other members of our family or with us personally. I now understand more fully what it was Elder David A. Bednar was talking about when he spoke in his second apostolic General Conference address on the subject of the tender mercies of the Lord.

I needed the reminder today that the Lord was mindful of me and will not leave me alone. Thanks for letting me post about this.

Official Church Statement of Concern for Those Fleeing Violence, War, and Religious Persecution

The Church put out yesterday an official statement of concern for those who are fleeing violence, war, and religious persecution. Click here to read that statement. It is brief, short, succinct, and gets right to the point. I want you all to know that I know this statement has been inspired to come out from the Church at this time, and it has never been needed more than now in the world, especially with everything going on. Thanks for letting me share this with you today. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. That said, a word of caution. Any comments that are too critical, impolite or inconsiderate of the views of other people on this issue will be deleted as soon as they are made. Thank you for continuing to keep the comments on my blog post friendly and free of contention or discord. You are all appreciated!

Temple Construction Progress Report Update

This will be a quick update to report on some developments in temple construction progress. As always, after reading the report and noting the updates I have indicated in red print, I hope any one of you who wants to will feel free to share your thoughts on this post. I look forward to the ongoing discussion of these developments. Thanks!

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/29/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 4 scheduled for dedication; 8 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 9 announced. NOTE: With one groundbreaking announced already this year, two more have the potential to be announced and scheduled very soon, and there may be several more groundbreakings than that in the year ahead.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple: Inscription gilded over baptistery; finish work underway on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.

157. Tucson Arizona Temple: Exterior lighting tests underway; installation of interior art glass and millwork nearing completion; president’s home undergoing renovation; dedication scheduled for Sunday August 13, 2017.

158. Meridian Idaho Temple: Interior painting and millwork underway; dedication scheduled for Sunday November 19, 2017.

159. Cedar City Utah Temple: Installing art glass windows; hanging drywall on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday December 10, 2017.

Under Construction:

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building concrete block exterior walls; roughing in plumbing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162. Concepcion Chile Temple: Exterior cladding going up on north wall; framing the interior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Applying waterproof mastic to temple foundation; setting concrete forms for missionary housing exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Exterior concrete walls completed; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Setting concrete forms for parapet walls; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

167. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Excavation underway for temple; structural framing going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Groundbreaking Scheduled:

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

Rededication Scheduled:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between early-and-mid 2018.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed; old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early-and mid-2018.

Announced:

169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Erecting construction barrier; clearing and leveling site; awaiting groundbreaking announcement; groundbreaking anticipated in early 2017.

170. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been identified, though it has yet to be officially verified.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office building may be repurposed to function as a temple, meetinghouse, and office building under one roof, in a similar fashion to those temples in Hong Kong China and Manhattan New York. This is most likely to be confirmed sooner rather than later.

173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:

Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.

Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report.