April 2018 General Conference Predictions Alterations: Part One---Who Will Conduct Each Session, Timing of Solemn Assembly, and Who Will Lead That

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may recall, I put up my initial predictions for the April 2018 General Conference not long after the conclusion of the October 2017 General Conference. But as a result of President Monson's death, the reorganization of the First Presidency, the two apostolic vacancies, and Elder Uchtdorf's return to the membership of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I had to rethink things a bit. This post will set the background reasoning behind the alterations I have made, and will be followed with another post detailing the altered predictions.

First, some preliminary observations about those alterations: It was customary during the administrations of Presidents Hinckley and Monson that, for at least the first several General Conferences of their presidencies, they would conduct three sessions, and their other two counselors would conduct one each. President Monson's first conference was only slightly different, since President Eyring's ankle injury prevented him from being able to conduct any of those five sessions, leaving President Monson to conduct three and President Uchtdorf to conduct the other two.

If that pattern holds true for President Nelson's first conference, I would anticipated President Nelson will opt to conduct the Saturday Morning, Priesthood, and Sunday Morning Sessions, leaving Presidents Oaks and Eyring to conduct one each, and it seems to make the most sense if President Oaks, being senior to President Eyring, conducts the first of those two (Saturday Afternoon), leaving President Eyring to conduct the final session.

Next, as I have previously noted in earlier posts, there are no hard and fast rules mandating that a Solemn Assembly for a new Church president needs to be held during the Saturday Morning Session of his first General Conference as such, nor is it absolutely necessary that the First Counselor lead out in that process. That said, there has only been one occasion recently (with the Solemn Assembly for President Monson) where the First Counselor did not led out. President Eyring's aforementioned ankle injury precluded him from being able to fill that role.

So I feel reasonably certain that President Nelson has asked (or will ask) his longtime apostolic seatmate and dear friend President Dallin H. Oaks to lead out in the Solemn Assembly, and that that will occur for President Nelson during its' somewhat traditional time at the top of the Saturday Morning Session, at which time President Oaks will likely also be asked to announce the new apostles and other Church leadership changes. More on the specifics of those likely changes will follow later tonight.

But that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

CORRECTION: Temple Dedications Announced in 2017

Hello again, everyone! I am posting very briefly tonight to note a self-correction of a previous assertion made on this blog. Earlier today, I had noted that tomorrow (January 30) would mark one year since the final three temple dedications of 2017 were announced. A double-check of the facts on my part verified that the announcement of those three events (for Tucson Arizona, Meridian Idaho, and Cedar City Utah) were actually announced on January 26, so it has been over a year since that time.

It could very well be that it was easier for the First Presidency to determine last year that all three US temples most recently dedicated were making sufficient enough progress to allow the announcement of the final two over three-quarters of a year prior to their actual occurrence than it would be to gauge how soon temples outside the US might be ready. We also saw the Jordan River Utah Temple rededication announced in early August last year, even though that will not occur until mid-May.

With all of that in mind, I would hope that we will be seeing a few future temple events for this year officially announced in the near future, but there are no hard and fast set rules about when that could occur. I will do my best to bring you the latest developments in that regard and will be sure to pass along any updates as I become aware of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

Update Provided on Raleigh North Carolina Temple

Hello again, everyone! Although I somehow managed to overlook reporting this when I originally became aware of it a few days ago, I wanted to post again now and pass along an update on the renovation process for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple.

The update shows that that temple has had its steeple and entrance canopy removed, and that the temple's exterior marble cladding is coming down. It is good to have found out about this, and I am grateful I can now pass that along to you.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.