Cultural Celebration Held for Jordan River Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! Tonight, the Church held the cultural celebration for the Jordan River Utah Temple. President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, presided at the event. It makes sense that President Nelson asked President Eyring to be there, since he has had experience presiding over such events.

What I am not sure of is whether that means that President Eyring will also dedicate the temple tomorrow. I noted earlier my feeling that President Nelson would likely preside at this event since it is the first major temple event of his administration. But if President Nelson felt inclined to defer to President Eyring in view of his having had more time in the First Presidency, that would not surprise me either. You can find the Church News summary of that cultural celebration here.

I wanted to offer some additional thoughts not directly related to this rededication. We have seen President Nelson delegating things very early in his presidency. President Ballard presided at the private rededication of the Houston Texas Temple last month at the request of President Nelson, and, of the five general conference sessions held last month, he only conducted the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow in terms of whether President Eyring or someone else might preside over the rededication of this temple, and what might occur with the dedications of the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples later this year. I continue to monitor all such developments and will do my best to post those here as I become aware of any news in that regard.

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.

Church Announces Additional New Temple Presidents

Hello again, everyone! The Church News continues to report the calls of new temple presidents. With several more of those calls having been announced today, I have updated the list I am keeping to track that information. It is worth noting that two of the temples added to the list today (Freiberg Germany and Oakland California) were not on my original list of temples that were likely to get a new president this year.

That was the case because the Freiberg temple was just rededicated last year, and because the Oakland temple is currently closed for renovation. But it makes sense on another level that the Church would issue those calls now, since the outgoing presidents of those temples have served at least three years total.

The updates follow below. 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.

New presidents have been called for the following temples:

1.      Manaus Brazil

2.      Boise Idaho

3.      Denver Colorado

4.      The Hague Netherlands

5.      Oquirrh Mountain Utah

6.      Helsinki Finland

7.      The Gila Valley Arizona

8.      Brigham City Utah

9.      Stockholm Sweden

10.  Palmyra New York

11.  Accra Ghana

12.  Papeete Tahiti

13.  Sao Paulo Brazil

14.  San Jose Costa Rica

15.  Albuquerque New Mexico

16.  Provo City Center

17.  Recife Brazil

18.  Cardston Alberta

19.  Payson Utah

20.  Porto Alegre Brazil

21.  Brisbane Australia

22.  Kansas City Missouri

23.  Oaxaca Mexico

24.  Regina Saskatchewan

25.  Cebu City Philippines

26.  Boston Massachusetts

27.  Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Mexico

28.  Billings Montana

29.  Houston Texas

30.  Sydney Australia

31.  Guatemala City Guatemala

32.  Hermosillo Sonora Mexico

33.  Montevideo Uruguay

34.  Indianapolis Indiana

35.  Laie Hawaii Temple (the new president of this temple is the older brother of General Authority Seventy Elder Donald L. Hallstrom)

36.  Las Vegas Nevada

37.  Atlanta Georgia

38.  Buenos Aires Argentina

39.  Redlands California

40.  Draper Utah

41.  Tijuana Mexico

42.  Sacramento California

43.  Monticello Utah

44.  Bountiful Utah

45.  Freiberg Germany

46.  Oakland California

The first presidents will likely be announced for the following new temples:

1.      Concepcion Chile

2.      Barranquilla Colombia

3.      Rome Italy

4.      Kinshasa DR Congo

5.      Fortaleza Brazil

6.      Port-au-Prince Haiti

New presidents may also be announced for the following temples:

1.      Cordoba Argentina

2.      Fukuoka Japan

3.      Manti Utah

4.      St. Louis Missouri

5.      Taipei Taiwan

6.      Tegucigalpa Honduras

7.      Trujillo Peru

8.      Vancouver British Columbia

9.      Veracruz Mexico

10.  Villahermosa Mexico

11.  Washington D. C. Temple (Note: The Church may opt to wait on calling a new president for this temple until 2020 when it is rededicated)

BREAKING NEWS: Brook P. Hales Called as General Authority Seventy; Will Continue As First Presidency Secretary

Hello again, everyone! The Church News reported earlier today that Brook P. Hales, Secretary to the First Presidency, will continue in that capacity, but has been called as a General Authority Seventy, and will have additional responsibilities as well. His new assignment was effective yesterday, and I have no doubt his call will be confirmed by sustaining vote during the October General Conference.

It is also worth noting that, after I had repeatedly gone over my list of General Authority Seventies and always came back with the conclusion that we have 90 men currently serving in that capacity, I reached out to the Church. Unless they have responded since I last checked my e-mail, I assume they are still working to answer my question. But unless I am mistaken, with word of Elder Hales' call today, that does indeed bring the number of General Authority Seventies to 91, which would also bring the number of General Authorities to 116, just as President Oaks indicated.

I am not dismissing the possibility that the First Presidency could have been considering calling Elder Hales and that that would explain why President Oaks referenced 116 rather than the 115 that were serving at that time. I will keep you posted on all of this as I learn of it.

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.