Several Significant Church News Stories Reported

Hello again, everyone! Between the Church News website and the News & Mormon Newsroom pages on LDS.org, there have been a number of very significant Church News stories reported. All of them are worthy of mention, and I can recommend each one to you all without reservation. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get right into it all.

First, and most significantly, earlier today, the First Presidency met with leaders of the NAACP (whose annual organization meeting was held here in Utah for the first time), and during the time they were together, a press conference was held (which was conducted by Elder Ronald A. Rasband) in which President Nelson and the top man for the NAACP offered brief statements commending the efforts of each other and providing hope that the Church will continue to work with the NAACP. The Church News shared this report on the meeting and the statements, while Mormon Newsroom provided this summary. It was good to hear of this development.

Next, in view of the recently-announced new initiative for children between 8 and 11 years-old and for all youth of the Church, several questions have come in about what should be done between now and January 2020 when the new initiative takes effect. In this article. members of the Primary, Young Men, & Young Women General Presidencies shared insights about how to continue with the current programs while preparing to utilize the new initiative.

From the News section on lds.org, we have this remarkable story of a temple ordinance worker who has reached the age of 100. As someone who worked in the temple for six years, I can tell you that I have always been impressed with the good men and women who give of their time to serve in the temple, and this is especially true of those who are older but still desire with all their hearts to help in the work that takes place in temples. That was a wonderfully inspiring story.

Moving on now, I wanted to note that both the Church News and the News page on the Church's official website have continued to carry brief biographical introductions to new mission and temple presidents. Particularly of interest to me was that, in some of those biographies, an incoming new mission president and his wife were noted as replacing two mission presidents and their wives. That is not unexpected, given the consolidation of 19 missions, but it has been interesting. You can find the latest reports on those new leaders here and here.

And, of course, as I'm sure you are all aware, the Jordan River Utah Youth Cultural Celebration will be held two days from now, with the rededication of that temple taking place the following day, which will be carried by satellite to the Saints living in the Jordan River, Draper, and Oquirrh Mountain Temple districts. While I have not yet heard this officially confirmed, I remain convinced that President Nelson will preside over at least two of the three dedicatory sessions, and I am confident that many other Church leaders will participate in this event as well.

I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and will bring word of those developments to you all as I can after 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.

First Presidency Releases Additional FAQs Regarding Ministering

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency has released these additional answers to more frequently asked questions about the ministering announcement. There are several important clarifications on questions that have come up since the original material was released, and they are well worthy of your attention.

Most importantly, these questions clarify to which quorum individuals in some specific situations belong, the role of Elders' Quorum & Relief Society presidency members in supervising ministering efforts, and the fact that those who previously held positions in Elders' Quorums and Relief Societies in supervising home and visiting teaching are now discontinued, and that all ministering efforts are under the direct supervision of the Elders' Quorum and Relief Society Presidencies.

Additionally, the First Presidency has noted that this will be the last set of FAQs for which the answers will be posted online on the ministering website. Any other questions are being redirected to local Church leaders under the direction of the Spirit, which I think is a wise move. These changes are being implemented to enable all of us to minister under the direction of the Spirit, as the Savior did, and that cannot happen if every question ever asked has to be answered by the First Presidency.

With the originally released FAQs and the additional ones released today, all of us should have a very clear vision of what the work of ministering needs to look like. We are being given the opportunity to be guided by the spirit, both individually and with our ministering companions, in how best to meet the needs of those to whom we are asked to minister. What a wonderful opportunity!

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.

Some Musings About Future Temple Announcements

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now to share some musings I have had about future temple announcements. This post on that subject will include thoughts & observations regarding the timing and frequency of those announcements, other insights about future locations, and an exploration of any other pertinent information that may apply. There's a lot to digest here, so let's get to it.

First of all, the subject of timing and frequency. As we are all no doubt aware, temples can be announced at any time at the discretion of the prophet or his counselors whom he authorizes to make such announcements in his stead. As you may recall, while many people had expressed their opinions that new temples would likely not be announced during President Nelson's first General Conference in April, since he had a lot to prepare for, there were a few (myself included) who asserted that temples could (and likely would) be announced. And the number of temples that were part of the first such announcement of President Nelson's presidency (7 total) were, according to many sources, the second-highest number of temples ever announced at one time.

It is not surprising that, for a prophet that made he clear that he "[wanted] to begin with the end in mind". many of the first major announcements of his administration have been temple-related. With that in mind, I have no doubt that President Nelson will continue to evaluate the need for temples, and will not hesitate to announce any at any time he feels impressed to do so. As we also know, he had originally intended to only announce six temples last month, but felt impressed to add one for India to the list the night before General Conference began.

As we also know, the Church currently has one temple that has had a groundbreaking but has not had full-scale construction begin, and the announcement of the 7 new temples last month brought the total number of announced temples to 19, one of which was announced in October 2010, but for which a groundbreaking has not yet taken place. So President Nelson could (and might) wait to announce other temples until a few more of those currently announced have progressed to the construction phase.

But there is an equal or greater possibility that he will do what he can to accelerate the process of getting the currently announced temples to their groundbreaking ceremony. I have 5-9 of those temples on which I am keeping my eye for news of a groundbreaking, perhaps within the next year or two. My point in mentioning this is that recent developments seem to indicate that President Nelson may not be concerned about a backlog existing, as was the case in 2014, when attention was devoted to decreasing that backlog.

In fact, regardless of what happens with temple groundbreakings, the number of those under construction will go from its' current 11 (which have had a groundbreaking) to 3 by the end of next year. And if, as I have heard, this year and next year are big ones for temple groundbreakings, then a backlog shouldn't be an issue.

We also have Elder Larry Y. Wilson's statement, which was made in late April last year. The executive director of the Temple Department noted at that time that 80 locations were on a list for a possible temple announcement within the 15 years following that statement. We, of course, do not know how many of the other 6 locations announced last month were on that list of 80, but we do know that President Nelson had not planned to announce a temple in India, until the Lord instructed him to do so on the night before General Conference began.

If we were to take a literal interpretation of Elder Wilson's statement, and assume that all of the 6 other locations were on that list, then that means that roughly 74 other locations remain on the list, and since a year has come and gone since that statement was made, the Church has just under 14 years of the time he mentioned to announce those 74, which works out to 5 per year, and that does not include the 7 announced last month.

For that reason, I stand by my assertion that we might see a few announced every six months, with one or two possibly announced in between each April, October, and subsequent April. As for the timing, we saw with locations like India and Russia that the Lord inspired temple announcements in both nations well in advance of when many, myself included, had believed was possible. With that in mind, I imagine we will see temples announced in many anticipated locations, but also in a few unexpected locations

And that thought leads me into an exploration of the final point I wanted to cover, that of the most likely future temple locations. Of the 19 that have not progressed beyond an announcement, 3 are to be constructed in the Philippines; 2 others will be built in Asia, 4 others will be built in the US (3 of which are within the Mormon Corridor), 3 more will be in Africa, 1 will rise in Eastern Europe, and the remaining 6 will be built throughout Latin America.

Those numbers suggest to me that we are likely to see several more built in Latin America and on the African continent, while we are also likely to see others rise in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, but perhaps not to the same extent or with the same frequency. I would also anticipate a few others here and there throughout Asia.. I will continue to offer my thoughts about more specific locations as time and circumstances allow in the future.

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.