Important Personal Update: Job Terminated/Health Problems

Hello, all! Sad news to report on two personal fronts today. As some of you may be aware, I have had some severe health issues that have kept me from working for a couple of weeks, and which caused my work productivity to not be good when I was there the last couple of days I was able to come in to work. I found out this week that if I failed to come in today by 3, my supervisors would consider it job abandonment. I made every possible effort to come in, but as my team leader had directed me to not do so without a doctor's note covering my absences, I had to wait until I could get a note excusing me from work. So I met today with the project manager, Trent Ginnett, who had hired me, and with Nick Sharp, who is the boss of ROI's branches in this part of Utah County. Nick asked why I had not been in for the last little while without contacting anyone. I responded that I had let my team leader know every day as soon as I knew I wouldn't be able to come in. I explained what was happening with my health. They let me know that, while they sympathized with my health issues, the strict attendance policies at ROI had to be enforced, and that they felt it would be best for the project in general and ROI in particular if my employment was terminated.

It did not come as a great surprise.  Even though I had made every effort to inform my team leader when I would be absent as soon as I knew, she had not bothered to relay my messages to management. So I had known it would be just a matter of time before the termination happened.

Oddly enough, I am not broken up about it. While I will miss my renewed association with those I had worked with at both locations, it was simply not worth trying to force myself to be there when I felt so ill and when the doctor concurred that I should not come in.

So as of 7 hours ago, I am once again unemployed. My older sister, who seems to be intuitive about what's going on with me, had sent me a text earlier today to let me know that the call center her husband had previously worked for was hiring for at-home positions. I applied for that position, knowing that my termination from ROI would happen this afternoon. Unfortunately, my internet kicked me out of the application before I could save it or complete it, and by the time I got things fixed, the listing for the position was no longer on the website.

I have received a lead regarding another at-home position, and I think that would be ideal, if I can make it work. But I will also be meeting with many of my other doctors as I have been advised to do. When I went into urgent care on Monday, the attending doctor confirmed I had a double-infection, and voiced his concern that something else might be going on, including perhaps a shunt problem. He gave me a second antibiotic (I had finished my first one for this situation just a few days prior) and ordered some blood work to try and see if any other issues could be detected.

So now, I wait for those results. In the meantime, I am doing my very best to make sure we will be covered financially. We had fortunately gotten our annual tax refund a little while ago. And I see one of my main doctors on Friday. Hopefully she will have some insight as far as what else might be going on with me.

Prayers are, as always, appreciated. I also appreciate any comments on anything I post. I will keep you all updated as I can on things as they happen. In the meantime, given everything that is happening with us, we are in surprisingly good spirits. The Lord will bless us with what we need.

And when the time is right, I fully anticipate being able to work again, whether at home or in an office setting. Thanks to you all for your kindness, interest, and support.

April 2017 General Conference Predictions

Since the next general conference is less than a month away, it is once again time for me to post my predictions for what will happen during the 187th Annual General Conference. As I have before noted, these are not just random, off-the-cuff, uneducated guesses, but have been put together after extensive research and observation. Let me know your thoughts.

April 2017 General Conference Predictions

Speaking Order (Text in brackets indicated what actually happened.)

Session	Conducting	Speaker
General Women’s	Linda K. Burton	Bonnie H. Cordon
		Linda S. Reeves
		Carol F. McConkie
		President Henry B. Eyring
Saturday Morning	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	President Henry B. Eyring
		Ulisses Soares
		Linda K. Burton
		President Russell M. Nelson
		Elder O. Vincent Haleck
		Elder Weatherford T. Clayton
		Elder David A. Bednar
Saturday Afternoon	President Henry B. Eyring	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Sustaining of Church Officers)
	Church Auditing Department Report, 2016	Kevin R. Jergensen
	Statistical Report, 2016	Brook P. Hales
		Elder Robert D. Hales
		Elder M. Russell Ballard
		Elder Larry Y. Wilson
		Elder Ian S. Ardern
		Elder Ronald A. Rasband
		Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Saturday Priesthood	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	Elder Dale G. Renlund
		Douglas D. Holmes
		President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
		President Henry B. Eyring
		President Thomas S. Monson
Sunday Morning	President Henry B. Eyring	President Thomas S. Monson
		Elder L. Whitney Clayton
		Joy D. Jones
		Elder Neil L. Andersen
		Bishop Gerald Causse
		Elder Dallin H. Oaks
		President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Sunday Afternoon	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf	Elder Gary E. Stevenson
		Elder Gary B. Sabin
		Elder Yoon Hwan Choi
		Elder Quentin L. Cook
		Elder Jose A. Alonso
		Elder S. Mark Palmer
		Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Changes in General Church Leadership

General Authority Seventies: New General Authorities sustained from Area Seventies or Church at large. NOTE: Since the Church has stopped differentiating between those of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, any new General Authorities will simply be sustained under the general title of General Authority Seventies. RESULT:

Relief Society General Presidency: Linda K. Burton, Carole M. Stephens, and Linda S. Reeves released as Relief Society General Presidency, new Relief Society General Presidency sustained. NOTE: It has been customary of late for general presidencies to be changed every 5 years. Since the above-named individuals have served since 2012, it would make sense if they were released and a new presidency called. It is anyone’s guess, however, as to if any of the current presidency will be retained in a new presidency. RESULT:

Area Seventies: Releases and sustainings. NOTE: It has been customary for most changes in area seventies to take place in April, when President Uchtdorf leads out in the sustaining vote, and for only a few to take place in October, when President Eyring leads out in the sustaining. Since we are talking about an April General Conference, it would make sense if a lot of changes happened this go-round. ADDITIONAL NOTE: The following Area Seventies have been called to serve as mission presidents and will be among the many releases: Pedro U. Adduru, Angel H. Alarcon, Winsor Balderrama (Sejas) and Abenir V. Pajaro. RESULT:

2016 Statistical Report

Stakes	3,266
Missions	421
Districts	545
Wards and Branches	30,207
Total Church Membership	15,932,508
Increase in Children of Record	114,655
Converts Baptized	310,646
Full-Time Missionaries	90,517
Church Service Missionaries	33,410
Temples Dedicated during 2016 (Provo City Center, Sapporo Japan, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Fort Collins Colorado, Star Valley Wyoming, Hartford Connecticut)	6
Temples Rededicated during 2016 (Suva Fiji, Freiberg Germany)	2
Temples in Operation by the end of 2016	155

Temple Predictions:

3+ temples announced in any of the following cities and states:

Managua Nicaragua (publicly proposed by Elder Russell M. Nelson in 2012; land has been purchased for such a temple there when Church membership and activity warrants it; it is the #1 country with the most LDS members without a temple)

Port Moresby Papua New Guinea (again, such a site has already been purchased and is awaiting the need for it; it is the #2 country with the most LDS members without a temple)

Bentonville Arkansas (site purchased and awaiting till Church membership and activity warrants it; appears to be the #1 contender for the next temple in the United States, outside of Utah)

Missoula Montana (according to reports, Elder Bednar publicly proposed this temple during a stake conference; while the facts and details surrounding this proposal are unverifiable at best, this appears to be a very likely city for Montana’s second temple; this argument is strengthened by the report that such a site has been purchased, and an announcement seems imminent here once Church growth and activity warrants it)

Freetown Sierra Leone (the #6 country with the most LDS members without a temple; may be needed due to extensive Church growth)

Kampala Uganda (the #8 country with the most LDS members without a temple; may be needed due to extensive Church growth)

Nairobi Kenya (the #10 country with the most LDS members without a temple; may be needed due to extensive Church growth; such a temple was proposed in February 1998 by President Gordon B. Hinckley)

NOTE: The three above are very likely, given Church growth that has recently been reported in Africa. What is not as clear is how soon such announcements might happen or how imminent any of them might be above the other two.

Lehi/Layton Utah (we have not had a new temple announced in Utah since 2015; among the many possibilities, Lehi and Layton seem to be the most imminent)

Budapest Hungary (according to a comment on my blog, this will be the next temple announced in Europe; seems to be the most imminent possibility)

Pocatello Idaho (this is the largest Idaho city without a temple and therefore makes the most sense as the home for the next temple in that state.)

La Paz Bolivia (I favor this location because my former bishop and good friend served his mission there)

Fort Worth Texas (this is the city in Texas with the largest LDS presence without a temple)

Puebla Mexico (according to a comment on my blog, this is the most likely city for the next temple in Mexico)

Brasilia/Belo Horizonte/Salvador Brazil (in the order listed, they are the top three Brazilian cities with the strongest Church presence without a temple)

Jacksonville Florida (this is, according to reports I have received, the most likely location for Florida’s third temple)

Benin City/Lagos/Port Harcourt Nigeria (in no particular order, they are the top three Nigerian cities that may be considered good candidates for temples)

Richmond Virginia (on my blog, three cities in Virginia were mentioned as possibilities to host a temple, and of the three, Richmond appears to be the best option, in addition to being the capital city)

Chile (Antofagasta/Valparaiso/Santiago (2nd temple), any of which may be excellent candidates for the next Chilean temple)

Kumasi Ghana (#1 Ghana city with the strongest LDS presence without a temple)

Neuquen Argentina (mentioned as a possibility on my blog)

Edinburgh Scotland (someone mentioned on my blog that a temple was likely in the near future for either Scotland or Ireland; of the two, Scotland seems more likely)

Rapid City South Dakota (while a possible temple might serve only one or two stakes at best, the temple in Winnipeg makes this a very likely possibility; I personally favor this city for a temple because my dad served his mission there)

Salem Oregon (mentioned as a near-future possibility through a comment on my blog; also is the capital city, which makes a great center for a future temple)

Tacoma Washington (the same comment that mentioned the previous city mentioned this one as well, which appears to be as good as any other possibility)

Montpelier Vermont (as the capital city, seems to be the best place for Vermont’s first temple)

RESULT: The following (# of temples goes here) were announced, much to my great delight:

The most extensive apostolic milestone update I have ever done

Some may say that the title I have given this post is boastful, but my intention in writing this one really is to give the most extensive apostolic milestone update I have ever done. I will be throwing out a lot of information here, so please bear with me. Since the preparation of this post spanned several days, the information shared is current as of yesterday. I hope you will pardon my delay in getting this post done once you read it.

First of all, President Russell M. Nelson, who holds the dual distinction of being both the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (which makes him next in the line of succession for the presidency of the Church) and being the oldest currently living apostle, has served as Quorum President for 1 year, 7 months, and 23 days. I have mentioned before that he is currently the 21st longest-serving Quorum President of the 27 we have had, and that by the time that my wife and I celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary (December 18), he will have jumped 5 spots to become the 16th longest-serving Quorum President.

He will take the 20th spot from Brigham Young Jr., who, as before noted, had two separate tenures as Quorum President. President Nelson, as some of you might recall, passed President Young Jr.'s second (and shortest) tenure during the last few days of last year. President Young Jr.'s first (and longest) tenure record is the one that President Nelson will break next. That will happen 2 months and 9 days from today, on Friday May 5. He won't have to wait long to reach the next milestones. Merely 30 days later, on Sunday June 4, he will take the spot currently held by George Albert Smith. Then he will pass Heber J. Grant 5 weeks later, on Sunday July 9 (less than a week after commemorating two years as Quorum President). Just over three months later, on Wednesday October 11, President Nelson will pass Anthon H. Lund. And by two months and one week later, he will reach the spot now held by Harold B. Lee. By all accounts, President Nelson is doing very well and is still actively involved in traveling and filling assignments around the world. So I have no doubts that he will live long enough to become the oldest living apostle. More on that in a moment.

For now, we turn our attention to President Thomas S. Monson. Having celebrated his 9th anniversary as Church President just 23 days ago, he seems to be doing a bit better health-wise. We will have to see how he is looking during General Conference. He is less than 6 months away from celebrating his 90th birthday, which will happen a mere 8 days following the dedication of the Tucson Arizona Temple. He now stands as the 9th longest-serving Church President, and he will take the #8 spot now held by Wilford Woodruff on the last day of June of this year. Other than these two, he will not mark any other tenure or age milestones before the end of this year.

Now, before going on to give some apostolic age statistics, I did want to mention a couple of other things. With the downtime I had this weekend, as I had strength to do so, I did some additional research. And I was able to verify that our current First Presidency is the fifth in the top five longest continuous serving First Presidency in Church history. Presidents Monson, Eyring, and Uchtdorf will jump two spots up the list by the end of the July recess. They will become the 4th longest serving First Presidency on Wednesday June 28, passing the First Presidency that was composed of Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith. When they take the #3 spot on July 31, they will pass the First Presidency that was composed of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells. And in just one day less than three years from then, they will have become the longest serving First Presidency in Church history. Oddly enough, the record they will break on that day will be the one set by a presidency in which President Monson also served, along with Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and James E. Faust. There is every possibility that could happen.

As to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I have only been able to find information on 13 such groups that could be termed to be the longest-serving without interruption or change. Given that our current apostles would need to serve until January 17, 2019 to take that 13th spot and even be on the list, I am not sure how likely that might be to happen. I won't dismiss it as impossible, but given what I know about the health of at least one or two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, it seems like it might not happen for a while.

And I think that in the same breath, we can also say that our current 15 apostles don't have much chance, if any, of becoming the longest serving such group. To reach even the second longest such time period, there will have to be no apostolic deaths whatsoever for the next 5 years, 1 month, and 7 days. And if, by some miracle, they make that milestone, to have the distinction of the longest such time period, there would have to be no apostolic deaths until mid-January 2025, four months after President Nelson would become the first centenarian apostle.

That said, the longevity of service and how well our apostles are pressing on and getting the work of the Lord done in spite of difficulties relating to age and health cannot be overstated. So let's talk a few numbers there. In doing so, I will be mentioning not only the decimal ages and averages of our apostles by the three groups under which they fall (First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and 15 apostles in total), but also break down how old they are in terms of years, months, and days, which I have not done before in any previous update.

I would also like to mention (for what it's worth) that we will have somewhat of a "dry season" in terms of upcoming apostolic birthdays. Elder Rasband's was the last such birthday (20 days ago), and the next one will be President Eyring's on May 31 (94 days away, which works out to three months and five days). That said, let's get to specifics.

President Monson today stands at 89 years, 6 months, and 5 days old (being the decimal age of 89.52). President Eyring is 83 years, 8 months, and 26 days old (83.74). And President Uchtdorf is 76 years, 3 months, and 20 days old, which puts his decimal age at 76.31. Our First Presidency has 249.57 years of combined life experience, which puts the average age of the three at 83.19 years.

Now for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: President Nelson, the oldest and most senior of that number, stands at 92 years, 5 months, and 17 days, or 92.47 years, putting him very close to his half-year mark. Elder Oaks is 84 years, 6 months, and 14 days, or 84.54 years. Elder Ballard, who is the second oldest in the Quorum (being just over a year younger than President Monson) is 88 years, 4 months, and 18 days old, which puts his decimal age at 88.39 years old. Elder Hales, just 12 days younger than Elder Oaks, is 84 years, 6 months, and 2 days old, or the decimal age of 84.51 years. This rounds out the first third of the quorum.

As for the next third, Elder Holland is the most senior, but the second oldest of that quarter. The last of our three apostles born in 1940, he is 76 years, 2 months, and 23 days old, or 76.23 years old (I have no doubt he will be at least a quarter of a year past his birthday during my next update.) Elder Bednar is the next senior but the youngest of the four (being the third youngest of our 15 apostles as a group) being 64 years, 8 months, and 11 days years old, or 64.70 years. Elder Cook is the oldest of these four, being 76 years, 5 months, and 18 days old, which makes him 76.47 years old. He will not likely reach the half-year mark until around two weeks from now (as it seems that, for the most part, our apostles gain .02 years each week. There are obvious exceptions to that, but that seems to be the general rule.) And rounding out the second third of the quorum is Elder Christofferson, just about 4.75 years younger than Elder Cook. Elder Christofferson stands at 72 years, 1 month, and 2 days old, or 72.09 in decimal years.

That brings us to the final third of the quorum. That third is the youngest it's been in a while, despite the fact that only two of the four are younger than Elder Bednar. So let's talk specifics. The first two apostles were born just six months apart. The younger and most senior of the two, Elder Andersen, is 65 years, 6 months, and 17 days old, which works out to 65.55 decimal years old.

Sidenote here: Elder Rasband, called to the apostleship 6.5 years after Elder Andersen, was, like Elder Andersen, the senior president of the Seventy at the time of his call. Oddly enough, Elder Andersen and Elder Rasband were both called to the Presidency of the Seventy in August 2005, and their paths to the apostleship were markedly different. Elder Andersen had 12 years in the First Quorum prior to his call to the Presidency of the Seventy (as a further coincidence, Elder Andersen was called as a General Authority during the same General Conference as Elder Christofferson, the next most senior apostle). Elder Andersen's service in the Presidency of the Seventy spanned just over three years, from August 2005 to his apostolic call in April 2009, and he spent the last four months of his tenure in the Presidency of the Seventy as the Senior President thereof.

Elder Rasband, on the other hand, served in the Presidency of the Seventy for just over 10 years, from August 2005 until his apostolic call in October 2015. He had become the Senior President when his predecessor in that position was called to the apostleship. And he served as the Senior President for 6.5 years before his own apostolic call.

With all that side information, Elder Rasband's exact age is 66 years, 0 months, and 20 days, putting his decimal age at 66.05 years old. The second most junior apostle is also currently our youngest one, being exactly 4.5 years younger than Elder Rasband, to the day. That puts him at 61 years, 6 months, and 20 days old, or 61.56 years old. And our most junior apostle, Elder Renlund, is just under 5 months younger than Elder Bednar, being 64 years, 3 months, and 13 days old, or 64.29 years old.

So what does all this mean in terms of the average ages of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 15 apostles as a group? Well, the Twelve Apostles have a total of 896.85 years of life experience, working out to an average of 74.74 years. And the 15 apostles have a whopping total life experience spanning 1146.42 years, which averages out to 76.43 years.

Let's now talk about where President Nelson stands among our other 17 nonagenarian apostles, and how close the other 14 currently serving apostles are to having that distinction. I have mentioned President Nelson's stats in this regard before, but this is the first time that I will mention where the other current ones are in terms of joining that list. President Nelson is, as I have before noted, ranks as the 10th of those 17 nonagenarians. In just over 4 months, and coincidentally just one day after my wife and I mark the 7th anniversary of our engagement (Wednesday July 5), President Nelson jumps to the #9 spot, which is currently held by Elder L. Tom Perry.

About three and a half months later, on Wednesday October 18, President Nelson will become the 8th oldest living apostle, taking the spot held by Richard R. Lyman (who was the most recent apostle to be excommunicated; that happened jut over a month after Spencer W. Kimball and Ezra Taft Benson became apostles in October 1943; Elder Lyman was rebaptized just under 11 years later and died 20 years after that; as another side note, many of his former apostolic colleagues urged him to have his blessings restored, but he never did so; it appears he may be the only excommunicated former apostle in Church history that reportedly felt so unworthy about the idea of having all that restored that even now, just over 53 years after his death, that has not happened and may not ever happen.) In spite of Elder Lyman's tragic circumstances, he still technically lived long enough to rank as the 8th oldest of the nonagenarian apostles, even if he was no longer an apostle at the time of his death.

The last milestone President Nelson will observe this year in his current on-track path to become the oldest living apostle in Church history will happen 2 months and 4 days after the last one (which will also be 3 days before Christmas). Assuming he is still alive at that time (which wouldn't surprise me at all), he will take the #7 spot, which is currently held by Charles W. Penrose. And all he would need to do to become the oldest living apostle, to which I had previously made mention, is live until the second Monday of August 2022. And that seems very doable.

That said, as I have mentioned earlier on in this post, President Monson seems to be on track to become the 18th nonagenarian apostle, which will happen in less than six months. President Monson will jump one spot on that list 1 month and 6 days after his 90th birthday, passing J. Reuben Clark.

In the meantime, Elder Ballard will join the ranks of the nonagenarians in 1 year, 7 months, and 12 days. He will be joined by Elder Oaks and Elder Hales about 4 years after that (making 5 years, 5 months, and 17 days for Elder Oaks, and 12 days after that for Elder Hales). Less than a year later, it will be President Eyring's turn (as right now his 90th birthday is 6 years, 3 months, and 5 days away). The next apostles to reach the nonagenarian mark will be Elder Cook (13 years, 6 months, and 13 days from now); President Uchtdorf (1 month and 28 days after Elder Cook), and Elder Holland (27 days after President Uchtdorf).

It will be 4 years, 1 month and 21 days after Elder Holland's 90th that Elder Christofferson will join the nonagenarians. And the birthdays of Elders Christofferson and Rasband are only separated by 13 days on the calendar, in spite of the fact that they are additionally six years apart, so Elder Rasband's 90th is 23 years, 11 months, and 11 days away. And Elder Andersen is 6 months and 3 days younger than Elder Rasband, so he will have his 90th in the same year. The next year will see two additional apostles join the list of nonagenarians, Elder Bednar's 90th will take place in just over a quarter-century, in 25 years, 3 months, and 20 days. Just two days short of five months after that, it will be Elder Renlund's turn. And our youngest apostle, Elder Stevenson, will mark his 90th birthday in 28 years, 5 months, and 11 days.

Well, there you have it. I hope it is now obvious why I said at the beginning of this post that it would be the most extensive update in terms of apostolic statistics that I have ever done. I hope that at least a few of you enjoyed reading all of this information even partially as much as I enjoyed putting it together. It took me several days to actually get it done.

That said, I again express my absolute appreciation and admiration to all of you who continually read every post I do, whatever subjects I "sound off" about. I hope that the information, statistics, and insights I share are helpful to even a very small number of you. It is because of your appreciation for what I have to say that I am able to continue to share what I do, and that is something I hope I will never take for granted. Any comments are welcome. Whether you want to share your feedback on my work, ask for or give clarification and/or correction about information I share, or want to bring to my attention something I should have blogged about but have not yet focused on, I am reading your comments. Even on days when I don't post new content, I do try to at least check for new comments. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks again.