BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Land Acquired for Quito Ecuador Temple/General Observations About Announced Temples

Hello again, everyone! I have breaking temple news to report, which I will get to in just a minute, but first, I wanted to pass along a personal update: I have taken time today to once again reevaluate the layout of this blog, and decided to tweak a few settings, which included doing some degree of optimization for those who read my blog on mobile devices. My hope in making these adjustments is to make the blog more user-friendly, with a goal to (hopefully) increase the revenue I get from running the ads on this blog. To achieve that end, I would appreciate hearing from any of you about whether these changes made a difference in the look and feel of your experiences as readers of this blog

One last note before I detail the news I have: I have conclusively verified that the Rome Italy Temple open house has officially ended. I say that because it is now roughly 7:20 AM Rome Italy time. That said, the update I have was unexpected but certainly welcome: Information found on the Quito Ecuador Temple page earlier today indicates that a site has been procured by the Church for that temple.

Until the First Presidency confirms that the site in question will be used for that temple, this is unofficial information. But it means that the Quito Ecuador Temple could be closer to a groundbreaking than I thought as recently as 8 days ago, when I last posted adjustments to my estimates for future temple groundbreakings. As a result, I have expanded my list of temples which seem to be in a "Groundbreaking anticipated" status.

That process involved weighing what I knew (including whether any of them had a potential or definitive site identified and anything I have heard from local members or other sources who are familiar with the situation of these temples) against what is unknown (based on how soon there might be a site identified or confirmed, and on any surprising developments which are possible to occur), and adapted my list accordingly.

One other note: with 4 additional groundbreaking ceremonies set to occur by the end of the first Saturday in May local time, there are only 24 temples remaining for which a groundbreaking has not been announced. With that in mind, the "Groundbreaking anticipated" section of my report now includes 16 announced temples, for all of which I am predicting a groundbreaking between now and the end of next year. And that leaves only 8 more temples for which I need more information before projecting a closer estimate for a groundbreaking ceremony.

If I am anywhere near correct in my theories as presented in both sections, then it appears likely that all temples which were announced by the end of 2018 could have a groundbreaking ceremony set to occur within the next 3.5 years, if not sooner. With that and all that has been said about President Nelson's temple-building intentions in mind, I have no doubt that, however long it takes to clear the current queue of announced temples, many others will have been announced.

And due to what I know now, I am more convinced than ever that President Nelson will almost certainly detail his plans and announce several new temples next April. But I am additionally and entirely sure that President Nelson will keep announcing new temples in General Conference for the foreseeable future, with each year marking an increased total number of temples announced than the year before. I have personally felt that the number of temples that will be announced this year could even be double or triple the 19 total we saw announced last year (which would be somewhere between 38 and 57 total for 2019).

But if Elder Cook's recent statement to the effect that a ten-fold increase in the number of temples is the approximate endgame is anywhere near correct, then it may be anyone's guess how many temples will be announced this year and in the years to come. Either way, if the revisions I have made prove to be anywhere close to what will actually occur, then the next 3.5 years and the years following that could be twice or 3 times more full of temple developments than we saw during the Hinckley-boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I had originally planned to end this post with the updates I have made to the two relevant and recently-reorganized sections of my temple construction progress report, but since I wanted to provide further insight and commentary on that, I will do it in a new post in just a few minutes. So 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.

Updated List of Potential Changes in Church Leadership & 2018 Year-End Statistics for the April 2019 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! I continue to work as I can on the edits to my list of prospective temple locations that may be announced during the April 2019 General Conference. In the meantime, I wanted to post again now to pass along updates I have made to the potential changes in Church leadership and my reworked  guesstimates for the 2018 Year-End Church statistics, which will be published on the Church's website immediately after the Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference.

Those updates follow below. So as to not disturb the flow of that information, I will end here and now as I always do: 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.

Predictions for Changes in Church Leadership

Presidency of the Seventy: Any changes effective August 1 sustained in advance.[i] Result:

General Authority Seventies: New General Authorities sustained from among the Area Seventies or the Church at large (including any current mission or temple president)[ii]; Elder Steven E. Snow released as Church Historian and Recorder, with a new Church Historian and Recorder called from among the current or newly-called General Authority Seventies[iii]. Result:

Area Seventies: Some area seventies released, others called[iv]. The following area seventies may be released for the following reasons: Called as mission presidents: Aley K. Auna, Walter Chatora, J. Kevin Ence, Jose L. Isaguierre,  Bryan R. Larsen, W. Jean-Pierre Lono, Khumbulani Mdletshe, Hoi Seng Leonard Woo Longest-tenured: Kevin J Worthen (sustained in April 2010; is serving as BYU-Provo President; if he is released, he may be sustained as General Authority Seventy) Result:

Sunday School General Presidency: Tad R. Callister, Devin G. Durrant, and Brian K. Ashton released, new Sunday School General Presidency called[v]. Result:

Additional note: Reid L. Neilson, who has been serving as Church historian and recorder and is not a General Authority, will likely be released from that assignment, since he has been called as a mission president as well. As far as I know, he was never sustained in that position, so his release may or may not be presented.

2018 Statistical Report (corrected figures in parentheses)[vi]

Stakes	3,383
Missions	407
Districts	550
Wards & Branches	30,710
Total Church Membership	16,385,309
Increase in Children of Record	104,150
Converts Baptized	228,987
Full-Time Missionaries	64,543
Church Service Missionaries	30,339
Temples Dedicated during 2018 (Concepcion Chile, Barranquilla Colombia)	2
Temples Rededicated during 2018 (Houston Texas, Jordan River Utah)	2
Temples in Operation by the end of 2018	161

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[i]Last April, two immediate changes (as a result of two members of the Presidency of the Seventy having been called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) were presented for sustaining vote, along with an advanced sustaining of 3 other changes that would go into effect on August 1 of last year. If any changes are planned for August 1 of this year, those will be sustained in advance as well. While such changes might be hard to anticipate, the only one for which I see a need in the near future is the release of Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who currently serves as Senior President of the Seventy, and he may retain that assignment until August of next year, since he is likely to be granted emeritus status in October 2020, by which time he will be 70.

[ii]It is traditional for new General Authority Seventies to be sustained each April, so I would anticipate that occurring for this General Conference.

[iii]Elder Steven E. Snow, who has served as Church Historian and Recorder since 2012, will be 70 in November 2019, so the Church will likely sustain a current or new General Authority in that assignment to succeed him.

[iv] Although there have been exceptions in recent years, April General Conference has generally seen a large number of area seventies called, and a few released, especially if any of the new General Authorities are currently serving as area seventies. I am anticipating the same will be true for this General Conference.

[v]Brothers Callister and Durrant have served together in the Sunday School General Presidency since April 2014, and Brother Ashton joined this presidency in June 2015. For the most part within the last couple of decades, the Church has generally released each general auxiliary presidency 5 years after they were sustained, I would anticipate that a new presidency will be called, which may be comprised of either or both of the current counselors, members of the current Sunday School General Board, members of the current Young Men General Presidency or General Board, area seventies, or the Church at large.

[vi]As per the tradition established in the April 2018 General Conference, the Statistical Report will not be read out loud during the Saturday Afternoon Session, but will instead be published on the Church website directly after that session.

BREAKING NEWS: Changes In Communication Between Missionaries and Their Families

Hello again, everyone! The First Presidency today announced adjustments to the protocol whereby missionaries can contact their family members. Previously, missionaries could only speak directly to their families via phone or video chat on Mothers' Day and Christmas Day. The announcement notes that missionaries will now be permitted to have such contact opportunities with their families once weekly on their preparation day. This adjustment will allow families to have a more active part in the details (including successes and challenges) of their missionaries' labor.

Also released on the Newsroom was the official notice from the Missionary Department. While missionaries are the ones that should initiate these additional contact opportunities, the families of missionaries can reach out to their elders and sisters directly as needed with the approval of the mission president. The Church News featured an article on this development, which included several quotes relating to the change from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who chairs the Missionary Executive Council.

And Church members responded to these adjustments on Twitter. Some who had served missions in the past noted that they wished this had been an option while they were serving, while others said they were glad this adjustment wasn't made during their service, since it might have been more of a distraction for them from their labor.

But the announcement clarifies that with this change, missionaries should be considerate of their companions, and that family members should be considerate of their missionary's time. All indications point to the idea that this adjustment will enable families to have more of an active role and impact in the lives of their missionaries serving around the world.

It is awesome for me to see the way the Church has been balancing announcements about the missionary program with temple-related news and announcements and coverage of the ongoing ministry of our apostles. And it is amazing to realize that having a very healthy and vigorous Church President representing the Lord in conveying His will to the Church has enabled these changes to occur at a much larger scale than we have seen within the last 15 months versus what we saw in the 3-5 years prior to 2018.

I do continue to monitor all such developments, and will bring word of those to you all here as I receive word of them, either through new posts (for breaking or more significant developments like this one) or through comments on existing posts on this blog. 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.