Further Temple Development and Major Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I received word earlier today about one more temple development, and some major Church news. We will start with the latter subject, then conclude with the update for that temple. First of all, as some of you may recall, earlier this year, the Church announced that two of its' international Missionary Training Centers would be closing, with the facilities thereof to be re-purposed in the future as such determinations are made. Earlier today, the Church announced that, in an ongoing effort to reduce and simplify the work of the Church and the missionary training program, the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic MTC will also close in January 2019, and that plans for future use of that space are yet-to-be determined.

Some may not see the sense behind closing and re-purposing these MTCs, which have well served the purpose of training the missionary forces which have come from them, but for myself, I know that such decisions are inspired and motivated by the Lord, and that He and His servants, the prophets and apostles, know what we do not know, foresee what we cannot foresee, and therefore are acting in the best interests of moving the work forward in the most effective way possible. It will certainly be most interesting to learn in the future about how, in what manner, and within what time-frame these buildings will be re-purposed, and I will be sure to pass anything I find out about in that regard along to you all here ASAP.

In the meantime, Ron Jarrett (who serves as the president of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) and Mack Wilberg (the director of that Choir) joined guest artist Kristen Chenoweth at the Relief Society Building earlier today to talk to journalists and to provide some thoughts about the upcoming Christmas concert. Chenoweth has had a busy year already.

Among other acting roles, she was the special guest star of NBC's crime mockumentary, "Trial and Error", and, alongside Idina Menzel, she headlined an NBC tribute program held in honor of the 15th anniversary of "Wicked", the play that serves as a prequel to the events of "The Wizard of Oz", and tells the story of the initially friendly relationship between Glinda and Elphaba, who later became the Wicked Witch of the West.

Chenoweth noted that, growing up in Oklahoma, the Choir's annual Christmas Concert was something to which she always looked forward. She spoke of how honored and humbled she felt to be asked to perform with them this year. Brothers Jarrett and Wilberg in turn noted that the Choir had been hoping for years to get her booked as a guest at some point, and that they were glad to have been able to do so this year.

The Church News provided additional coverage of these developments, with articles about the MTC closure and the Christmas concert. And Elder LeGrand R. Curtis, who serves as both an Assistant Executive Director of the Church History Department and as First Counselor in the Presidencies of the Church's 3 Utah Areas, spoke at the BYU Management Society Devotional on the subject of how three objects taught him about business ethics.

Having discussed these latest Church news items, we conclude now with the temple development I mentioned. The process of cladding the exterior walls of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple has been ongoing for a while now. Earlier today, many of the sources I have available noted that that process was now focused on the front exterior walls and tower. As many of you will recall, the open house and dedication information for that temple was announced less than a month ago for that temple (the exact date was November 14).

Since that temple is a smaller one, the process of finalizing construction will come together a lot more swiftly than it has for larger temples, such as the one in Fortaleza Brazil, for which we are currently awaiting the official announcement of the open house and dedication information. So it makes sense that the Brethren would have set a dedication for the Haitian temple although the stone cladding process is still ongoing. If all that remains is to finish that cladding, add the angel Moroni, and turn it back over to the Church for furnishing, then it is little wonder that the temple's dedication has been set for May 19 of next year.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all as I receive it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.

Additional Temple Developments and Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! Some additional temple developments and Church news items have been reported. The nature of these updates is such that it is more practical for me to put them in a new post, rather than trying to share them in comments. So let's get right into all of that. We will start with the temple updates, then conclude with the Church news.

Progress has been reported on two temples undergoing renovation. On November 30 of this year, I had noted a minor update on the status of the renovation process for the Frankfurt Germany Temple. And today, just 10 days later, we have another update noted. Landscaping irrigation is being installed while trees and shrubs are being planted on the temple grounds.

I am hoping that, given the timing and nature of this update, there may be a chance (however slim it might be) that this temple might have its' general estimate moved up, which in turn would allow me to move my more specific estimate up. In the meantime, as I have mentioned a few different times in the past, I am anticipating that, whenever the First Presidency sets that rededication to occur, that they will ask Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, our native German, who is a senior member of the Twelve, and who has previously presided at many temple dedications and rededications during his decade in the First Presidency, to preside at this rededication.

We now turn to the other temple update. The last time progress was noted on the Washington D. C. Temple was on Monday November 12, at which time I noted that the interior had been completely dismantled and that exterior renovations were progressing. The new information I have today indicates that Christmas lights are now on display (as per the usual tradition for that temple) as renovation work continues.

With that noted, I wanted to mention something here to which I have previously referred. As many of you might recall, both the Washington D. C. and Mesa Arizona Temples closed earlier this year (the former on March 4, and the latter on May 20). Both are anticipated to have their renovations completed at some point in 2020. Based on the fact that both temples are also on the larger side (with the former being the larger of the two), I set a general estimate of mid-to-late 2020.

But in view of the fact that this is the second time the Mesa temple has been renovated, I have also offered my opinion that the rededication of that temple could occur before that of the Washington D. C. Temple. Since I have no verification of that through any other source I have available, it may be another 6-12 months before we know for sure whether or not that is a reasonable assumption. I will be monitoring all future temple developments and will be sure to make any adjustments to previously-offered general or specific estimates as more information comes to light.

We now turn to the Church news updates. First, a Church News contributor recently sat down for an interview with Val Chadwick Bagley. If that name sounds familiar to any of you, there is a good reason for that. He has contributed gospel-themed cartoons for the Church magazines for the last 40 years, in addition to authoring and providing illustrations for several Church-themed books. He has enjoyed drawing such cartoons throughout his entire life.

But because he had trouble originally getting anyone to take his talent seriously, the path leading to his current opportunity to create such cartoons for the Church magazines involved a couple of detours with jobs not related to cartoons, including adding labels to different cheese products. In the due course of time, he was able to transition to cartooning full-time, and, as already noted, he has had a prestigious 40-year career (thus far) drawing such cartoons for the Church magazines.

Moving on to the official Church website, from the News & Events page, we have a report on some additional resources which are now available relating to the ministering program of the Church. Also, I may or may not have mentioned this previously, but the Church has announced that Jake Shimabukuro, a viral ukulele musician, will keynote RootsTech on March 2, 2019.

And finally, from the official English Newsroom, today marks the 4th anniversary of the release of the fourth article in a five-part series on why faith matters to and makes a difference in society today. Since the five-part series on that subject is more relevant today than it ever has been, the links to the other four parts of that series can be found under the "Additional Resources" section at the bottom of that page.

I recognize that this post was a long one, and I apologize for that. But I hope the information herein is interesting to most if not all of you who read it. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all as soon as I can after I become aware of such things. It appears that I have bounced back enough from my most recent health ordeal that such updates will be as thorough as they have previously been in the past.

I have also not forgotten or neglected the projects which I have mentioned will be published on this blog by the end of this year (the latest apostolic milestone update, which will be published this next Sunday; the birthday tribute to Elder Gerrit W. Gong one week later; my April 2019 General Conference predictions, for which I am finalizing the necessary annotation; and a New Year's Eve look at temple progress which has occurred during 2018).

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are in harmony with the established guidelines. 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.

Barranquilla Colombia Temple Is Dedicated; Other Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I have some more Church news to report. First and foremost, official reports on the dedication of the Barranquilla Colombia Temple are now available. We have a report on the youth devotional, another from the Church News covering the dedication, and a report from the Newsroom covering both events. It is interesting to note that only 2 new temples were dedicated this year, but 6 others will be dedicated next year. As we know, 3 have already had a dedication scheduled, and we are almost certain to see the open house and dedication announced for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple within the next couple of weeks or less.

That said, let's discuss the other Church news. A Deseret News staff writer, who also covers news of the Church, shared his memory of how he and Elder Holland both saw their fathers pass away during the Christmas season, how Elder Holland comforted him after his father passed away, and how he (the Church News staffer) only learned about Elder Holland's experience as a result of the address he (Elder Holland) gave while Elder Holland gave a Christmas message at an Anglican chapel in Oxford, England.

And finally, Gerry Avant, the retired Church News editor, continued her retrospective look back at the highlights of her career by sharing her experience covering the then-Mormon Tabernacle Choir (now known as the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) in their tour of Israel in 1993. During that time, the Choir was approached by Franciscan monks who expressed appreciation for the opportunity to hear sacred songs celebrating the Savior's birth in the land in which He walked, ministered, and taught.

It is wonderful to see the inspiring Church news reported on a day-to-day basis. I continue to monitor those stories, and all temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I receive it. I continue to work as hard and quickly as I can on getting my General Conference predictions finalized so I can share those with you all here.

I am also still planning on posting the final apostolic age & tenure update for 2018 one week from today, and a birthday tribute to Elder Gong the following week. On the last day of 2018, I will be providing a look back at the progress made on temples. So I hope there will be a lot to which all of you are looking forward.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are in harmony with the established guidelines. 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.