An Apostolic Milestone and an Open House

Hello again, everyone! This weekend marks a couple of important dates in Church History. First of all, as many of you may be aware, the open house for the Concepcion Chile Temple is set to begin tomorrow (with tours continuing through October 13, with the exception of the relevant Sundays). This will, of course, mark the beginning of the first open house for a new temple in 2018.

Additionally, on Sunday September 16, President Dallin H. Oaks, who will have served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 8 months and 2 days, will pass David O. McKay to become the 26th longest-serving Quorum President in Church History.

As I previously noted, President Russell M. Nelson appears to be in very good health still, and all who have watched him out among the Saints report that he has often appeared to be 20-30 years younger than his actual age of 94. With that in mind, it seems entirely possible that we will see a fulfillment of Elder Andersen's expressed hope that President Nelson "will be with us another decade or two."

If that does turn out to be the case, then President Nelson will be around to observe several age and tenure milestones, and the same will likely hold true for President Oaks as well, who also appears to be in good health.

Whatever might happen in that regard, I will be tracking it all, and you can depend on my passing it along to you all as I am able to do so. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: Articles About Elders Gong, Soares Will Appear in the October 2018 Ensign

Hello again, everyone! I have periodically been checking for the last few days for any word on early access to the October 2018 Ensign. Just now, it paid off. The HTML version of that Ensign will, as anticipated, include articles honoring Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares as the new apostles of the Church.

I previously referenced that Elders D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Andersen had been assigned as the respective mentors to these new Brethren. So it is fitting and proper that Elder Christofferson wrote the one honoring Elder Gong and that Elder Andersen wrote the one honoring Elder Soares.

As I have also previously referenced, Elder Gong married the daughter of Elder Richard P. Lindsay, who also served as a general authority seventy. But what I didn't know until now is that Elder Soares has several connections to former and current general authorities himself. Elder Soares' mission president was Elder Helio Da Rocha Camargo, who was the first Brazilian general authority appointed. But more than that, Elder Soares' wife's sister married Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, who has been a general authority since the mid-1990s.

The articles about the new apostles shared many unique insights into how the Lord prepared these men, including extensive comments from their family members and Church leaders who have worked with them and who talk about how well these men have maintained a balance between family life, professional careers, and service in the Church. They are well worthy of your time and attention.

I am grateful that the Lord has called Elder Gerrit Walter Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares to the Quorum of the Twelve, and that we have a chance to learn more about them through these articles. I wholeheartedly sustain them. The moment their names were announced in General Conference, the Spirit confirmed to my soul that the Lord had directed their calls.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those along to you all as I receive 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. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: President & Sister Nelson, President Eyring to Visit Langley British Colombia

Hello again, everyone! In a previous post, I referenced the fact that President Nelson has made several stops in Canada recently because these were quick trips his staff could arrange while he continues to prepare for General Conference. In this article from a newspaper in British Colombia, it was mentioned that President Russell M. Nelson, along with his wife, Wendy W. Nelson, and his Second Counselor, President Henry B. Eyring, will be making another such trip this weekend to speak at a member devotional in Langley, British Colombia.

Here's how recent this development is: I happened to hear of it before the news was ever covered by the Church News website. This continues another leg of President Nelson's World Ministry Tour, which is ongoing. I was pleased to hear of this news.

Now, I just wanted to interject a word here about potential future temples: Until the extent of President Nelson's temple-building plans are known (whether those are detailed more fully in either the October General Conference or at other points in the remaining 3.5 months of this year), I am not assuming, as I once did, that every city to which President Nelson pays a visit is in the running for a temple in the near future. I am working on trimming down my personal list for next October to a more reasonable amount, and time will tell how thoroughly, to what extent, and within what kind of timing those plans will be implemented.

As always, I continue to monitor any Church news and all temple developments and will do my best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel feel 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.