Hello again, everyone! The Church News has just released this article describing how President Nelson's recent visit to the Dominican Republic, and his visit to the missionaries there, was in response to a direct prompting from the Lord. How blessed we are to have a prophet that continues to receive and respond to regular revelation!
I am sure that President Nelson will continue to be out among the people as long as he can be, and that, based on what other leaders (particularly his Brethren in the apostleship) have said about his health and stamina, he will be around for many years to come. Someone (Elder Andersen, I believe), suggested last General Conference that the Brethren hope he will be around for another decade or two, and I think it would be awesome if that happens.
I also wanted to pass along some not-so-good news: the latest information I have found in the matter of a former missionary who accused her former MTC president of sexually assaulting her. It appears that, rather than taking the high road and letting justice take its' natural course through the proper legal and religious channels, she apparently chose to disrupt a fast and testimony meeting to "air her personal grievances" and to call out her accuser in his congregation.
Someone took a video of what she said, including the fact that she was asked repeatedly by the leaders of that congregation to stand down and that she claimed they were assaulting her when she failed to comply. You can find more on that here. In view of what occurred here, as verified by the video, I am not sure what to make of the situation.
But in this and in all other cases where abuse allegedly occurred, I will say that I trust the general and local leaders of the Church to make the right calls in such situations, and I agree with the statement of a Church spokesman that this was a highly inappropriate way to advance her cause, if that was her objective.
I continue to monitor the ministry of our Church leaders and all other Church news and developments and will do my best to pass word of those along to you all here 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Additional Church News Reported
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Miscellaneous Church News Reported
Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to post again now to bring you some additional Church news stories which have been reported recently. Earlier today, the Church held a news conference to pass along information about the first of a four-volume set containing the new narrative history entitled Saints.
Speakers during that news conference included Elders Dale G. Renlund and Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (who spoke respectively at the beginning and the end of that news conference), Elder Steven E. Snow, a General Authority Seventy who is also serving as Church Historian and Recorder, and Matthew J. Grow, who serves as the Director of Publications for the Church History Department, and who oversaw the publication of this volume.
The entire news conference, along with corroborating comments from the conference, can be found here, and those resources are well worthy of your time and attention. I can endorse them without the slightest hesitation.
The other news of which I spoke was published by the Church News, and includes this article highlighting tips from the Sunday School General Presidency about 3 easy things all of us can do to get more out of Sunday School, and this article, which provides more information about the home curriculum which Church members will be invited to use next year.
Based on these two articles, we have now received confirmation that the goal of the new home curriculum is to supplement and enhance rather than replace the Sunday School hour, which should put to rest any rumors about a 2-hour Church block possibly being announced next October.
As I previously mentioned, the intent of these new resources seems to be to place greater emphasis on the individual preparation each of us do for Church every week. And it appears the manual for home use will actually be replacing the "Class Member Study Guides"which each of us receive at the beginning of each year that did not previously go beyond suggesting which scriptural passages to study in advance.
I also wanted to report one additional temple development which has come to my attention. The Facebook page for the (now-renamed) Church of Jesus Christ Temples site (which site, as previously noted, is currently anticipated to be back up and running again on the last day of this month) has shared a picture taken on September 2 of this year which shows the continual progress on the meetinghouse adjacent to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. That temple, as I previously noted, is currently anticipated to be dedicated in mid-2019, and I have offered my opinion that that could occur in mid-to-late August.
All of these developments are most significant, and it will be interesting to see what will occur in the coming days, weeks, months, and years as more news comes in, and as the new resources which the Church has recently provided are more fully utilized by the entire membership of the Church. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Speakers during that news conference included Elders Dale G. Renlund and Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (who spoke respectively at the beginning and the end of that news conference), Elder Steven E. Snow, a General Authority Seventy who is also serving as Church Historian and Recorder, and Matthew J. Grow, who serves as the Director of Publications for the Church History Department, and who oversaw the publication of this volume.
The entire news conference, along with corroborating comments from the conference, can be found here, and those resources are well worthy of your time and attention. I can endorse them without the slightest hesitation.
The other news of which I spoke was published by the Church News, and includes this article highlighting tips from the Sunday School General Presidency about 3 easy things all of us can do to get more out of Sunday School, and this article, which provides more information about the home curriculum which Church members will be invited to use next year.
Based on these two articles, we have now received confirmation that the goal of the new home curriculum is to supplement and enhance rather than replace the Sunday School hour, which should put to rest any rumors about a 2-hour Church block possibly being announced next October.
As I previously mentioned, the intent of these new resources seems to be to place greater emphasis on the individual preparation each of us do for Church every week. And it appears the manual for home use will actually be replacing the "Class Member Study Guides"which each of us receive at the beginning of each year that did not previously go beyond suggesting which scriptural passages to study in advance.
I also wanted to report one additional temple development which has come to my attention. The Facebook page for the (now-renamed) Church of Jesus Christ Temples site (which site, as previously noted, is currently anticipated to be back up and running again on the last day of this month) has shared a picture taken on September 2 of this year which shows the continual progress on the meetinghouse adjacent to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. That temple, as I previously noted, is currently anticipated to be dedicated in mid-2019, and I have offered my opinion that that could occur in mid-to-late August.
All of these developments are most significant, and it will be interesting to see what will occur in the coming days, weeks, months, and years as more news comes in, and as the new resources which the Church has recently provided are more fully utilized by the entire membership of the Church. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Monday, September 3, 2018
President Nelson in the Dominican Republic
Hello again, everyone! On this Labor Day 2018, I am posting for a very significant reason. Although technically, President Nelson visited the Saints in the Dominican Republic on Saturday before visiting the Saints in Puerto Rico yesterday, the Church News did not publish an account of his remarks from the first visit until earlier today.
In this article, the devotional held in the Dominican Republic (which was also broadcast by satellite to other islands in the Caribbean Area, is highlighted. And that article specifically mentioned that the remarks President Nelson gave at that devotional are believed to mark the first time a Church president has spoken to a congregation in their native language. It was nice to have that confirmed.
I also wanted to post a correction and clarification to something I reported earlier. When I originally detailed President Nelson's plans to visit the Caribbean, I was almost certain I had read that his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, was coming along on the trip this weekend. But the article above specifically noted that Sister Nelson opted to stay home for this trip. I apologize for the misinformation I unintentionally provided.
In the meantime, as President Nelson follows in the tradition previously set by President Hinckley of just stopping between trips long enough to rest briefly and to pick up a new apostolic companion for the next destination, it makes sense that at times, the wife of the Church president would opt to sit out at least a few of those trips. While President Nelson reportedly has great energy (and continues to appear as though he is 20-30 years younger than his actual age of almost 94), the rigors of constant travel might take their toll on both his apostolic companion and on his wife.
I have not heard that this was the reason, but I make what seems to be a logical assumption. It is interesting to me that President Nelson would plan a weekend trip to the Caribbean Area around a month before General Conference, especially since he noted during his recent Canadian trips that his staff felt those would be brief stops he could make to continue his worldwide ministry tour while that would not interfere with his preparation for General Conference.
Anyways, getting back to the article cited earlier in this post, President Nelson's remarks, along with another address (in English) from Elder Dale G. Renlund and brief remarks from Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Caribbean Area President and General Authority Seventy Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, and his wife, Sister Zulma Gonzalez, comprised the layout of the devotional. You can read highlights of what was said by each in that article.
I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will, to the best of my ability, pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such updates. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
In this article, the devotional held in the Dominican Republic (which was also broadcast by satellite to other islands in the Caribbean Area, is highlighted. And that article specifically mentioned that the remarks President Nelson gave at that devotional are believed to mark the first time a Church president has spoken to a congregation in their native language. It was nice to have that confirmed.
I also wanted to post a correction and clarification to something I reported earlier. When I originally detailed President Nelson's plans to visit the Caribbean, I was almost certain I had read that his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, was coming along on the trip this weekend. But the article above specifically noted that Sister Nelson opted to stay home for this trip. I apologize for the misinformation I unintentionally provided.
In the meantime, as President Nelson follows in the tradition previously set by President Hinckley of just stopping between trips long enough to rest briefly and to pick up a new apostolic companion for the next destination, it makes sense that at times, the wife of the Church president would opt to sit out at least a few of those trips. While President Nelson reportedly has great energy (and continues to appear as though he is 20-30 years younger than his actual age of almost 94), the rigors of constant travel might take their toll on both his apostolic companion and on his wife.
I have not heard that this was the reason, but I make what seems to be a logical assumption. It is interesting to me that President Nelson would plan a weekend trip to the Caribbean Area around a month before General Conference, especially since he noted during his recent Canadian trips that his staff felt those would be brief stops he could make to continue his worldwide ministry tour while that would not interfere with his preparation for General Conference.
Anyways, getting back to the article cited earlier in this post, President Nelson's remarks, along with another address (in English) from Elder Dale G. Renlund and brief remarks from Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Caribbean Area President and General Authority Seventy Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, and his wife, Sister Zulma Gonzalez, comprised the layout of the devotional. You can read highlights of what was said by each in that article.
I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will, to the best of my ability, pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such updates. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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