Additional Developments Reported on the Concepcion Chile Temple

Hello, all! In addition to the groundbreaking announcement for Haiti's first temple (the second to be built in the Caribbean) and what was noted yesterday about the Arequipa Peru Temple foundation, I found out today that there has been progress on the Concepcion Chile Temple as well. While work remains to be done on the exterior cladding for the east and west walls, that for the north and south is almost completed. Precast stone cladding is also being attached to the base of the steeple. It is still unknown whether or not this temple will be completed by the end of next year. I always prefer to think and speak optimistically until I know otherwise. For now, that is all that is going on in terms of recent temple developments. Stay tuned this weekend for other posts as I am able to make them happen. I will also be working more on getting the commenting enabled properly again as well. Thanks for the privilege of your time.

Arequipa Peru Temple Foundation Walls Poured

There has only been one significant milestone noted in terms of temple progress since yesterday. The foundation walls have finished being poured for the Arequipa Peru Temple. As we have seen already, there have been a lot of developments in temple construction this month. So I have no doubt the remaining 2.5 weeks or so left in July will be full of many other milestones around the world. And you can depend on my passing those along as I become aware of them. Thanks.

Church News Update

Hello, all! In addition to the news about the scheduled groundbreaking for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, we also have these Church News Updates as well:

First, in missionary news, this weekend marks the anniversary of the arrival of the first LDS apostles to labor as missionaries in Great Britain. In view of this event, Elders Holland and Cook, now apostolic colleagues, reminisced recently about their days serving together as missionaries in Great Britain. Each praised the good qualities and brilliant missionary work of the other, and also paid tribute to their excellent mission president, Marion D. Hanks, who would later serve as a GA Seventy himself. For that article, click here. Elders Holland and Cook were joined by Elder Ballard, another apostle who served a mission in Great Britain, and who is related to some of those early missionaries to Great Britain (converts found from Parley P. Pratt's mission to Canada who later accompanied the apostles that opened up the work in Great Britain). Interestingly enough, Elder Ballard, after serving as a missionary in Great Britain, went on prior to his apostleship to become a mission president in Canada himself. To read what these three wonderful veterans of the Great Britain mission had to say further about this anniversary, click here.

With all this talk of missionaries, in light of this anniversary for the Church in Great Britain, it is also fitting that the Church, in company with Family Search, has developed an app that lets people who have a Family Search profile see which early missionaries are part of their family tree. For more on that, click here. The Church has also set up a database for missionary history. For information on how all that works, click here.

In other Church News, there was this article featuring interviews done with those actors that are part of the Book of Mormon video series filming process, this article detailing a new compilation of pioneer stories (as Utah's annual Pioneer Day is coming up in 11 days) and this article by Sister Carol F. McConkie, First Counselor in the Young Women's General Presidency who wrote about how young women can reach out to their peers who don't belong.

As a physically disabled man who often felt like a fish out of water as a youth who was surrounded by youth that were comparatively more capable and able, I will say that it is nice for me to see so many articles from general church leaders focusing on including those who are or seem to be different. My own experience was that the youth of my ward banded around me, made sure I was included, and even adapted planned activities to ensure they would be within my capabilities and comfort level. It is because of such youth that I had the infrastructure and support around me that enabled me to earn my Eagle Scout award and fill leadership roles just as well as any other youth in that ward. And that was the product of leaders who let the youth lead their quorums and groups, being on hand to advise and counsel with as necessary, but trusting that decisions would be made that would be the best for all of the youth within those groups. To me, the added emphasis on such ideas should indicate practices that are commonplace around the Church.

And, finally, the Church answered a question I had wondered about for a while now. With the planned renovation closure of the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple (set for February next year), there will be a change in the temple presidency, with the new presidency set to serve for a few short months prior to that closure, and likely for 2.5-3 years after it reopens in 2019. For more on that, click here.

That does it for this Church News update. Thanks for the privilege of your time. I appreciate your attention. I am still working on ironing out the problems with people being able to comment, but I will work on that more this weekend and hopefully get it resolved. If you have anything to share, please do so via my contact information on my blogger profile. Thanks again.