BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Rendering Released and Site Location Revealed for the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple

Hello again, everyone! As anticipated, with President Nelson now in Cambodia, he revealed the site location for the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple. But he also released a rendering thereof to the Cambodian Saints at the same time. This post will share that information. The temple will be constructed on Russian Confederation Street, between the Cambodia Institute of Technology and the Institute of Foreign Languages near the Royal University of Phnom Penh. It looks to be a medium-sized or larger temple, and although the square footage thereof was not shared, I would not be shocked if the square footage was comparable or similar to the Richmond Virginia and Layton Utah Temples. Again, since that square footage was not specified at this time, I imagine that information will be released once plans are developed. And I will need to double-check, but I think that the number of temples that could now potentially have a groundbreaking within the next year or so has risen to 15 or 16. More on that as I learn about it.

That does it for now. 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.

Some Thoughts on the Developments of the Day (Including and Especially the Children and Youth Face-to-Face Event)

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to take an opportunity now to share my thoughts and analysis on Church news and events that were reported today. Before I do so, I wanted to note something in relation to the reports on this blog. As I have made mention in prior comments here recently, within the last 6 weeks, I have been dealing with horrific migraines, which at times have been the most intense and severe that I have experienced within the last decade or so. As a consequence of dealing with that, I have been more exhausted, stressed out, and in pain, and far less mentally clear than I usually am, which has made me less capable of keeping up the previous status quo of normal reports on this blog. That is why I have confined my reports on all non-breaking news developments and updates to the comments sections of recent blog post, and is also why the published posts have been more sporadic within that time. On the rare occasions where I have had sufficient capacities to do so within that time, I have prepared advanced copies of normally-scheduled content, such as apostolic birthday tributes and the most-recent apostolic milestone update. And by so doing, when I have a bad day, or a string of bad days, which has happened more frequently of late, I can focus on providing less-crucical updates through the comments as time and circumstances allow. In the meantime, having continued to work with a capable group of doctors and specialists, I have been prescribed treatment for the migraines and for other issues I am dealing with, and hopefully, I am on the mend from all of it.

But while efforts to resolve these issues are ongoing, I request your patience with me as I continue to go through this process. Within the next few weeks, hopefully I will be mended enough to resume normal reports on a regular basis. But until that time, of necessity, I must request your continued understanding and patience. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and understanding regarding this matter. With that said, let's get to the purpose of this newest post. Regarding my thoughts about the events of the day, first of all, as I reported in this comment earlier today, two members of the First Presidency and a total of 7 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (including those accompanying the two First Presidency members) were scattered throughout the United States and other parts of the world.

In reference to that earlier comment, with Elder Bednar in Africa, it is unclear whether he was in the Africa Southeast or Africa West Areas, or whether there was some overlap. But part of me wondered if he was perhaps sent to assess how soon Nairobi Kenya and Harare Zimbabwe might be ready to have their temple groundbreakings And if that was the case, I could see one or both of those two having that occur next month, before the end of this year. Next, of course, Elder Cook rededicated the Baton Rougue Lousiana Temple this morning.

Meanwhile, President Nelson made his first visit to Vietnam, accompanied by Sister Nelson and Elder and Sister Christofferson. Having stopped in Hanoi, the leaders now move to Ho Chi Minh City, also in Vietnam, where it is currently just past 1:00 PM on Monday afternoon. If the devotional in that city is held between 5:00-7:00 PM local time, then we could see reports on those within the next 4-8 hours or thereabouts. It will likely be around 12-14 hours before I am able to pass a report on that stop along to you all.

And also today, we had the largest global Face-to-Face event held, during which Elder Gong, accompanied by Brother Owen and Sisters Cordon and Jones, fielded a variety of FAQs about the ne Children and Youth Initiative, which will go into effect on January 1, 2020. During the October 2019 General Conference, Elder Cook and Sister Cordon, having been assigned to do so by President Nelson, outlined changes to Aaronic Priesthod Quorums and young women groups, while Brother Owen had announced a minor adjustment to the "Come Follow Me" curriculum for Youth. As part of Sister Cordon's remarks, she had introduced a new Young Women theme, which will be recited twice a month as young women meet.

Tonight, as part of the Face-to-Face event, Brother Owen, again with the approval of President Nelson and upon invitation from Elder Gong, introduced a  new Young Men theme, which will also be recited twice a month as Aaronic Priesthood Quorums meet together. Further, as explained by Elder Gong, Brother Owen, and Sisters Jones and Cordon, there are solid reasons why the new initiative is formulated the way it has been: individuals, families, Primary-aged groups (which can meet as separate male and female groups or co-ed groups divided by age as determined by local leaders), Aaronic Priesthood Quorums, Young Women groups, and the combined youth groups (as scheduled) can determine, with the approval of the Lord and their local leaders, how best to formulate activities that will enable them to grow phsysically, spiritually, intellectually, and socially.

This will be a concentrated effort that continues to be home-centered and Church-supported, and focuses on how the individual children and youth and their families and relevant Church gropus can be guided by the Spirit in best determining how to achieve that kind of growth. And the process will be another extension of the Church's efforts to unify programs and practices on a Church-wide basis. Children age 4 years will continue to receive a CTR ring as they enter Primary. At 8 years of age, they will receive a new ring that will turn their focus towards the temple. Young men will receive rings and the young women a necklace to encourage them to remember the goals of their programs. As a young man prepares to turn 18 and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, the bishopric will now provide him with a vial in which he can hold and carry the consecrated oil he will use in giving priesthood blessings.

And the specifics provided this evening were laid out and expanded on in a logical way that highlighted the reasoning this new approach was being implemented, and how it can support Church curriculum and help individuals to grow the way the Lord wants them to, while also serving to unify families, age-groups, congregations, and the Church as a whole. Based on what was described in that meeting, I echo the sentiment offered by President Ballard in the meeting introducing this initiative in late September: Although I am grateful for the programs and guidelines that were in place when I was 8-18, I am very envious of the opportunity children and youth on a Church-wide basis will have to embrace this new program, and the challenges and blessings that will come from participating therein.

The program itself is a continued effort to emphasize the importance of personal, group, congregational, and Church-wide revelation, which is something President Nelson has urged from the very start of his prophetic administration, and is further evidence and an additional witness of the inspiration that attends the decisions made by apostles that will affect the global Church in a time where the circumstances of the world are becoming increasingly more complex and dangerous. As President Nelson observed during that address, "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."

And if any of you reading this have not had experiences with receiving personal revelation, the guidance of the Lord as found here and here are a helpful start, as would be a careful review of the aforementioned first address to general Church membership by President Nelson as Church President. The Lord is anxious to speak to us and distill His knowledge, inspiration, and direction upon us. In fact, as I watched that broadcast (which I did a few hours after it originally aired), I felt the Spirit whispering some very personal things to me about what I needed to do in my own life as a result of what was said there.

As the leaders also noted, all of us have days when we may fall short of what we want to do and what we want to become. The key in all such cases is to allow ourselves to not get discouraged about any personal failures we may encounter in our day-to-day lives, and to try our best to get back on track the next day in every way that we can. It will be our persistent efforts to try, be, and do each day that will, in the end, count for or against us. My hope is that we may continue to do that. The Lord will hep us in those endeavors, For my part, I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and will endeavor to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of them, either through  comments on existing posts or (in terms of major developments) through brand new posts here.

That does it for now. 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.

Elder Dale G. Renlund Celebrates His 67th Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! I am back with a post in tribute of Elder Dale G. Renlund, who, as noted, is marking his 67th birthday today. Let's get right into all of that. Elder Dale Gunnar Renlund was born to Mats Ake and Marianna Andersson, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on this day in 1952. His parents had emigrated from Finland (Mats) and Sweden (Marianna) respectively in order to be married in the temple. In view of that, Elder Renlund grew up primarily speaking Swedish. The fact that he did not speak English as a primary language gives him a certain degree of international appeal. In his teenage years, Elder Renlund lived with his family in Sweden while his father was a building missionary. Several years later, Elder Renlud returned to Sweden, this time as a full-time missionary. Following his missionary service, Elder Renlund continued his scholastic endeavors at the University of Utah, where he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and his M. D. Approximately 3 or 4 years after he concluded his missionary service, he met and married his eternal companion, Ruth Lybbert, who was the daughter of another General Authority Seventy, Merlin R. Lybbert. Elder Renlund went on to do a three-year cardiology residency and a three-year fellowship in cardiology, both at Johns Hopkins University, and served as a bishop while he did so.

During that very same period of time, his wife was earning her law degree, and Ruth also gave birth to their only child, a daughter, Ashley. At some point in 1986, Elder Renlund became a professor at the University of Utah. From 1991 to the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy in 2009, he served as the medical director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program. In 2000, he was also appointed the director of the Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment Program at Intermountain Health Center headquartered in Salt Lake, while his wife was working as a law partner in the firm of Dewsnup, King and Olsen.

In the Church, in addition to serving as a bishop, Elder Renlund also served locally as ward Sunday School president, high councilman, and as a stake president. From 2000 to 2009, Elder Renlund served as an area seventy. He became a general authority seventy in April 2009, at the same conference in which Elder Neil L. Andersen was sustained as an apostle. The August after his call, Elder Renlund began serving in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, which was headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. He concluded that service by as the area president from 2011 to 2014.

Just over a year after concluding that service (during which time he served in other general capacities at Church headquarters), he was the third man to be called to fill the three vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve in the wake of the passing of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scot (with his call occurring the same day as that of Elders Ronald A. Rasband and Gary E. Stevenson). Some have claimed (rightfully so, in my opinion) that since Elder Scott was the last of the three to pass away, Elder Renlund, as the last of the three new apostles called, was the one filling the apostolic vacancy occurring from the death of Elder Scott. Others may disagree on that, as is their right, but I think that is a fair statement.

Elder Renlund's apostolic call was significant for a few reasons. The calls of Elders Rasband, Stevenson, and Renlund made them the 98th, 99th, and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called in this dispensation. There have been more men ordained as apostles, but only 102 of those men have officially served in the Quorum of the Twelve. There is another significant aspect of Elder Renlund's call.

As most of you are probably aware, at times in the past where 2 or more apostles have been called, tradition is that they will be called, sustained, and ordained according to their age, from oldest to youngest. That tradition, as has been the case a couple of times before, was slightly adjusted, as Elder Stevenson, almost three years younger than Elder Renlund, was called, sustained, and ordained as the senior apostle to Elder Renlund. That kind of thing is not in any way unprecedented, but it is a significant anomaly to note.

As some of you are also aware, the Church has previously come under fire for a lack of cultural diversity in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While all apostles from Elder David A. Bednar to Elder Renlund were born within the United States, almost to a man, each has had varying degrees of international experience. In January of this year, we saw President Nelson mention that there would be "more flavors in the mix", and his first apostolic appointees were the first Asian American (Elder Gong) and Latin American (Elder Soares).

But as was observed in this article, Elder Renlund's diverse background certainly qualifies him as having strong international ties and experiences. Elder Renlund had 2 opportunities to speak in General Conference prior to his apostolic call (1 of which occurred six months prior to his first address as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), and gave his 9th talk as an apostle just over a month ago. You can review any of those 11 addresses at your convenience.

I am grateful to have been able to offer this birthday tribute in his honor, and am also grateful for his service. I gladly sustain him and the other 14 apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will keep doing my level best to bring word of those to you all as I receive it. That does it for now. 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.