BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Church Reconfirms the Groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, in an earlier post this month, I had shared the report about the groundbreaking being set for the Salta Argentina Temple, and provided details about the temple at that time. Subsequently, the news release about that groundbreaking seemed to disappear, and I was not sure why that was. Then today, the Church News and the Newsroom provided the information again, with the Church Temples site providing additional context and corroboration. Aside from these corroborations, the releases additionally provided insight into how the Church will handle the groundbreaking in the midst of COVID-19. So, to sum up, the groundbreaking will take place on Sautrday August 15. The rendering is the same as it was at the time of the orignial release of this information. I still anticipate construction taking 2.5-3 years or so, based on the rendering of the temple, which will put its' general completion sometime around mid-2023 And the temple will be built on the location that had previously been widely speculated as the spot for it: a large grassy field across the street from the airport in southern Salta. It is good to have this gorundbreaking reconfirmed today through multiple sources. I do continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will bring you all word of those as I become aware of such things.

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: First Presidency Announces Preliminary Changes to October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! Just under an hour ago, the First Presidency announced that the October 2020 General Conference will follow the same health parameters of the April 2020 General Conference, with the conference originating from a small auditorium on Temple Square, and only those speaking or praying invited to attend each session. This is being done out of an abudance of caution as COVID-19 conditions continue to widely impact the world. Additional details will be announced at at later date. There are at this point a few unknowns in that respect. First, the First Presidency earlier this year had announced the six-month postponement of General Conference Leadership meetings, usually held before the April General Conference each year. I am assuming this announcement will delay those meetings another six months, or that the information may be disseminated in pre-recordedmay take  material. I am also assuming that the music will be prerecorded from prior performances, and that leaders serving outside the United States would again be excused from coming.

But perhaps the biggest unknown in all of this is whether another adult session held on Saturday evening will replace the traditional Women's Session. If that happens, then we could be looking at an entirely different format from either of the scenarios I have previously presented. I assume here as well that the intent was to put the information out there with what could be announced at this time, with other announcements in the coming days clarifying more on that. And if this announcement is being made 4 months prior to General Conference, that suggests to me that there may be quite a bit more information forthcoming about that, but it also suggests that most of the traditional training sessions, usually held later this year, for mission and temple leadership, among others,  may similarly take a small-scale virtual format. So these are just a few of the thoughts I had at the time I read the announcement.

As I wind down on my coverage of this development, I wanted to thank regular commenter Nigel for sharing this news in the threads of another post. Nigel, your comment was made not long after I got the information from a Church News alert on my phone, so I appreciate you sharing that there.  Just a quick update from me as well about ongoing comment moderation: It appears that that process has, for the moment, put a stop to the frequent spam comments that had been coming in. But I don't feel at this point as though pausiing or discontinuing comment moderation would be a wise move until I am sure there will be no further problems. With that in mind, my thanks to all of you for your patience in terms of giving me time to find and approve the genuine comments, especially those from my regular readers who comment frequently. I wish I could pull the plug on moderation now for the time being, but want to be cautious with it and ensure that there will be no opportunity for the same kind of spam comments I was getting en masse before I determined to enable that moderation.

I will, of course, be monitoring any and all Church news and temple updates and will bring you all word of such developments as I learn about them. 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: Multiple Church and Temple News Developments Reported; Changes in Area Seventies Quorums to Go Into Effect Today

Hello again, everyone! As you'll notice from this post's title, multiple developments have been noted by the Church today. Let's get right into all of those developments. Firstly, it appears that around 5 days ago, the Church noted in some respect that the groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple will occur on Saturday August 15, with Elder Bejamin De Hoyos, president of the Soutth America South Area, presiding. The Newsroom had published that release on their main page earlier today to note that officially, but it appears that the release has since been taken down from its' original location on the website. 

As a result, in order to confirm this information, I refer you to the relevant news page for that temple from the Church Temples site. Hopefully the Church will fix that release at some point later today, and when that happens, I will provide that update through an edit to this post or through a comment hereon. Based on the rendering provided on that page, I am estimating that construction will take 2.5-3 years or so. That news will necessiate another revision to any previous thoughts about temple events this year that I have provided up to this point. Stay tuned for more on that as I figure it all out. In the meantime, the Church News website has reported that the phased reopening of temples will continue, with 11 more temples set to reopen next Monday. 

This latest announcement will bring the number of temples open under phase 1 to a total of 77 by Monday June 8. Among those reopening next week will include the sole temples in Ghana, Nigeria, Portugal, and Tahiti,  and the temples in Sapporo Japan; Fort Lauiderdale Florida; Meridian and Rexburg Idaho; Indianapolis India; Lubbock Texas; and Reno Nevada. I love to see how the Church is truly being cautious when it comes to the approach towards reopening temples. Hopefully in the coming weeks, others will move into phase 1, while some which have successfully been in phase 1 for a while may be able to go to phase 2. Stay tuned for more information as I become aware of such newsx on that front.

Let's turn now to the last new development. Earlier today, the Newsroom announced a streamlining to the process whereby Church news will be covered thereon. The previously-separate News and Events page has been absorbed into the Newsroom page, where all News and Events will now be featured. Additionally, some coverage provided by the Church News will be shared in that central Newsroom page, which will now in essence become the main hub for all such developments. The image posted with this announcement showed Elder Soares, apparently seen somewhere in Latin America. I am not sure if that is meant to indicate that Elder Soares now has some role in the Church Public Affairs Department, but that is a possibility.

And the final item I wanted to mention in this post is regarding a previously-announced development.  On May 19, the First Presidency had announced changes in the demographic composition of Area Seventies' Quorums, along with the creation of 4 new Quorums of the Seventy. Since that announcement noted that those changes would take effect on June 1, they have now become official. Although the Church website staff may be busy making other updaites that are needed relating to the other developments reported in this post, it's my hope that the official list of area seventies might soon be updated.

In conclusion, I want to note that when President Nelson mentioned things moving foroward at an accelerated pace, he was definitively not kidding. I look forward to seeing whatever may be next in that respect.