BREAKING NEWS: 18 Temples Will Have a Groundbreaking This Year; President Nelson Introduces a New Proclamation in Honor of the Restoration's Bicentennial Anniversary

Hello again, everyone! In late February of this year, congregational mission leadership had been invited to participate in the Temple and Family History Leadership Training, The training focused on the correlation between missionary efforts and temple worship. Fast forward to the Sunday Morning Session which has just wrapped up. With a temple/missionary theme, I felt even more certain that this Sunday Morning Session would bring the announcement of new temples. But the Lord had something else in mind. Elder David A. Bednar, who, as noted previously, chairs the Temple and Family History Executive Council, did announce that the Church is planning on breaking ground for 18 new temples this year. That means that, in addition to the 4 already scheduled (in Richmond Virgninia, Alabang Philippines, Layton Utah, and Auckland New Zealand), 14 other temples will also see groundbreakings this year. While it may be too early to tell which temples might have that happen, I have a fair idea. The Church is also likely to break ground for the following temples: Orem, Taylorsville, and Tooele Valley Utah, Brasilia Brazil, Feather River California, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Coban Guatemala, Managua Nicaragua, Nairobi Kenya, Harare Zimbabwe, Moses Lake Washington, Washington County Utah, McAllen Texas, and either Phnom Pehn Cambodia or Bengaluru India. So we have many more temple-related announcements to which we can look forward, including the likely announcement of a at least a few new temples at the conclusion of this General Conference by President Nelson.

After a session during which missionary work and temple worship was a dual focus, the Solemn Assembly portion of General Conference was prefaced by President Nelson through the release of a new official proclamation in honor of this bicentennial milestone of the Restoration. The prophet noted that that Proclamation would be made available online directly after the session in which it was introduced. While the proclamation is currently available in 14 languages and will soon be available through the Gospel Libery app is many other languages, I wanted to share a link to the English text thereof, as it was read by President Nelson.

It is a wonderfully inspirational document, and I hope we will all take time to review it repeatedly over the next little while. In the meantime, barring anything very unexpected, I am anticipating that any number of new temples will be announced by President Nelson during his remarks that will conclude this bicentennial General Conference, and I will bring word of and analysis about that announcement ASAP after it it made. In the meantime, 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.

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson Announces New Symbol For the Church; New Initiative

Hello again, everyone! During this Saturday Evening Session, President Nelson announced a new symbol for the Church and extended an invitation for all Church members to participate in another worldwide fast on Good Friday, April 10.  The Newsroom also provided some additional historical context  on times when the youth of the Church have participated in General Conference. I am grateful to have been able to bring word of these developments to you. It has indeed been a most unprecedented conference, and there will be more to come tomorrow for sure. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: Solemn Assembly to Be Held During Sunday Morning Session

Hello again, everyone! Less than a few minutes into this April 2020 General Conference, Church President Russell M. Nelson made the first of many major announcements for this conference. He announced that a Solemn Assembly of the Church would be held during the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference tomorrow. While other elements of that Solemn Assembly are unknown as of yet, what we do know is that, at the conclusion of the session, President Nelson will lead the Church in the traditional Hosanna Shout, which has traditionally been offered at temple dedications, at the dedication of the Conference Center in 2000, and at the rededication of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. That in turn will be followed by the Tabernacle Choir (whose members are indeed providing prerecorded or archived music for each session), joined by the congregation, will sing "The Spirit of God." I'd just note here that I dos not know if the traditional Sustaining of Church Officers will be part of that session, or might occur in any of the other 3 general sessions. But we'll soon find out.

I am grateful for this opportunity to have shared this development with you. I continue to monitor the events of this General Conference weekend and will bring you all the latest reports as that information becomes available. 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.