Some Thoughts About Apostles' Assignments to World Areas

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post some thoughts regarding the assignments of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. First of all, I have heard (but have no personal knowledge of this) that shortly after the ordination of a new Church president, he assigns various areas of the world to the members of the Quorum of the Twelve. In some cases, that involves a mere extension of an assignment given by previous Church presidents, but in others, the Church president may be inspired to change it.

We have seen that occur recently. As we know, following the announcement of the new First Presidency in mid-January, it was announced that Elder Uchtdorf, in addition to chairing key Church committees, would also supervise the Europe and Europe East areas of the Church, assignments formerly held by Presidents Ballard and Nelson respectively.

I also know that at some point last year, I found information that indicated that then-Elder Oaks was supervising the Mexico Area, and if this article (which shares how Elder Andersen recently ministered to Mexican Saints impacted by an earthquake) is any indication, I feel safe in surmising that Elder Andersen may have been asked now to supervise the Mexico Area in President Oaks' place.

That would mean in turn that Elder Andersen, who last year had had some role in supervising the Philippines (and also perhaps the Pacific Area as well), no longer has that assignment. And wit my report earlier today of Elder Rasband's visit to the Philippines, it may be safe to assume that he now has the assignment to supervise at least the Philippines Area.

I am keeping my eyes on these developments, and if previous tradition holds, shortly after General Conference next April, following the announced changes in Church leadership and subsequent changes in area assignments, the biographies of our Church leaders will be updated to reflect the latest assignments, and I will bring the details of those changes to you all as I learn 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.

Elder Rasband's Philippines Tour Includes Visits to Temple Sites

Hello again, everyone! I became aware earlier today of a report that Elder Rasband, while on assignment in the Church's Philippines Area, has visited the site locations for the planned temples in the cities of Urdaneta and Alabang. What that means is that we now have confirmation of the official location for the Urdaneta temple site, which is just off the MacArthur Highway, to the south of the city of Urdaneta.

I have not been able to confirm this through official sources, but it seems safe to surmise that part of Elder Rasband's assignment may have been to look over both sites and to try to determine how close they might be to being ready for a groundbreaking. I am keeping my eyes open for more information on this, and will post any updates in that regard as I become aware of them. That said, it is great to have heard of this news, and I am grateful for the chance to pass it 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.

Progress Continues on the Rome Italy Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to be able to post today to pass along some significant news about the progress on the construction efforts for the Rome Italy Temple. In a previous post or two, I have referenced the article in that Italian newspaper which quoted one of the construction workers assigned to the project as saying that the Church may be able to dedicate that temple in or around October of this year, if all goes according to schedule.

In light of that assertion, I was gratified to learn just a few moments ago that, while landscaping and interior work continues, the art glass installation for the Rome Italy Temple has now been completed. Since I have followed temple-related events and news so extensively, I can say with great confidence that the completion of the art glass installation generally signifies that any temple is that much closer to completion.

Let me be clear on this point: I do not in any way claim to have any special knowledge regarding how temple construction works. I base the assertions in progress reports such as these purely on observation and (when available) information I can gather from either experts on the subject of temple construction or from the available news sources that might give some indication of whether or not such assertions are accurate and justifiable.

It is also worth noting that the Rome Italy Temple has been subjected to numerous delays. On President Monson's birthday (August 21, 2013), the Italian Mormon Newsroom put out a release with a statement from Elder Massimo De Feo, then an Area Seventy living in Italy, who would be called as a General Authority Seventy less than three years after that, which clarified the point that no dates put out by unofficial sources should be taken as accurate, and that only an official announcement from the First Presidency would serve as justifiable verification that any dates are accurate.

So for the next little while, we continue to wait patiently for official word on when this temple will be dedicated. And I hope it is clearly understood that the more specific estimates I provide for temple events anticipated in the near future are based on my own thoughts and study, and the progress (or lack thereof) which I see on such temples everywhere in the world.

I will continue to provide updates to those estimates as I feel I can, but until those time-frames are confirmed or denied by an official announcement from the Church, they are merely my own thoughts and musings on the subject.

With that said, I did want to note one other piece of information which may be of interest to some of you. I have previously taken many opportunities to reference my opinion that the Church could (and likely will) have at least 200 operating temples by the 200th anniversary of the Church, which will occur on Saturday April 6, 2030.

Because there are 159 temples that have been dedicated so far, the Church would just need to dedicate 41 others (which includes the 23 in various phases of construction currently, and 18 others that would also need to be announced, constructed and dedicated by that time).

Between today's date (February 24, 2018) and April 6, 2030, there are 12.11 years remaining for the Church to do all that. And that could easily be done if the Church dedicates an average of 3.39 temples each year during that time.

We also know that the Church will be dedicating at least 2 temples this year (and perhaps as many as 4), and that any temples that could be dedicated this year and are not will likely have that occur in the early months of next year. Aside from those, there are at least 4 (and possibly 1 or 2 others) that may be dedicated next year as well.

And right now, it looks like there may be 2 others (so far) that could be dedicated in 2020. I have likewise heard that this year and the next will be significant ones in terms of potential groundbreakings for temples currently announced. If that proves true, then 2020 and the year or two after that will also be full of such dedications.

Whatever might occur in terms of all of that, you can be sure I will be keeping my eyes open for such updates and will be doing my best to pass them along to you all here. I also wanted to note personally that, despite dealing with flu symptoms for the last little while, as I have been able to do so, I have worked on fine-tuning my list of temple site possibilities that I will be including for the next General Conference, and I hope to be able to post that either later today, tomorrow, or Monday. It all depends on how quickly I am able to get that done.

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.