Honoring Elder Jeffrey R. Holland on His 80th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being December 3, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is observing his 80th birthday. I know that the Lord is no respector of persons, and doesn't play favorites, but on a personal level, I wanted to reiterate again that Elder Holland is one of my favorite apostles. I have a couple of familial connections to him. My dad was born and raised in St. George, and his father (Dean Stokes), was Elder Holland's home teaching companion when "young Jeff" was an Aaronic Priesthood holder. According to my dad, his father often expressed his wonder that a boy like Elder Holland had been could become an apostle of the Lord.

I know that at times, it may seem that some members of the Church, to varying degrees, have put the leading Brethren of the Church on a pedestal, but I am reminded in accounts, such as that which was shared by my grandfather, that these men may have been foreordained to the apostleship, but they are no different than any other member of the Church; the Lord just ordered their lives based on their personal choices in such a way that when such calls came to them, they were qualified through years of service in the Church and living what they believe. That is important for all of us to remember.

My mom is a freelance proofreader, and in the early days of her marriage to my dad, she worked on many projects for the Church Educational System. Since that occurred at the time when Elder Holland was the Commissioner of the CES, he was essentially my mom's "boss." And she speaks warmly of the experiences she had working with him on such projects. Personal connections aside, I wanted to share a brief biographical sketch of Elder Holland.

Jeffrey Roy Holland was born in St. George, Utah to Frank D. and Alice Bentley Holland on December 3, 1940. He served a full-time mission in the British Isles. His mission president was Marion D. Hanks, (who at that time was a member of the now-defunct First Council of the Seventy and later served in the First Quorum and Presidency of the Seventy). One of young Elder Holland's missionary companions was Quentin L. Cook, alongside whom he would later serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Of Elder Holland, Elder Cook has remarked that it is interesting to him that he, as the previously-senior missionary companion to Elder Holland, is now the junior apostle to his former junior companion. Following the concusion of Elder Holland's missionary service, he attended BYU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in religious education.

Additionally, shortly after his release from missionary service, he married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Terry, in 1963. They are the parents of a daughter and two sons, one of whom, Matthew, has served as the President of Utah Valley University and as president of the North Carolina Raliegh Mission. During General Conference in April of this year, Matthew Holland was sustained as a General Authority Seventy, marking the first time a fahter-and-son duo have served together as general authorities since the July 2015 death of President Boyd K. Packer. 

Once Elder Holland earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, he went on to earn a doctorate degree in American studies from Yale. He then became a professor at BYU, serving as Dean of the College of Religion. He served as Commissioner of Church Education from 1976-1980. In 1980, President Dallin H. Oaks, who was then serving as President of BYU-Provo, announced his intention to move on to other opportunities. Commissioner Holland was put in charge of the committee to find the new BYU President. 

Two days later, he was stunned when the First Presidency appointment him to that assignment. He had reportedly been favored for the position by President N. Eldon Tanner, who was then serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency, and was the protege of then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, who at that time was the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles asssigned to the Church Board of Education. Elder Holland would go on to serve as president of BYU for 9 years himself, until his April 1, 1989 call as a General Authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. 

Prior to his call to general Church service, Elder Holland also served as a bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, and regional representative. After the First Presidency was reorganized following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson, President Howard W. Hunter took immediate action to fill the apostolic vacancy. In the space of a few short hours on Thursday June 23, President Hunter issued a call to the apostleship to Elder Holland, gave him his apostolic charge, set apart and ordained him to that calling,  and had him join the other 14 apostles in their weekly meeting at the temple. That action was sustained by Church membership during the Solemn Assembly that was held exactly 100 days later.

Elder Holland has given a total of 56 addresses in General Conference.  Of those, 3 were prior to his apostolic call. The first time he spoke during General Conference was in April 1983, while he was serving as the President of Brigham Young University. He spoke alongside his son during that session, and for unknown reasons, that talk is not listed with the others in the first link I shared at the start of this paragraph. He gave the remaining 53 General Conference addresses as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

To me, it always seems as though the talks given by Elder Holland are specifically focused on something I have been dealing with personally at the time. As a consequence, listening to him speak every six months is one of my favorite things about General Conference weekends. The last thing I want to mention about Elder Holland is that he is currently the second most-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the fourth in seniority among all current apostles. 

He is also the fourth-oldest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and is the seventh-oldest among all living apostles. Interestingly enough, although he is the most senior of the three apostles born in 1940 (with Elders Uchtdorf and Cook being the other two), he is the youngest of the three. His apostolic seatmate, Elder Uchtdorf,  obsrved his 80th birthday just under one month ago, with Elder Cook having done the same two months prior to that.

Given his age and current apostolic seniority, some, myself included, have suggested that Elder Holland could one day serve as Church President. Right now, the only apostles senior to him are Presidents Nelson, Oaks, and Ballard. If President Nelson does indeed the lead the Church for the next decade or two, our current prophet may outlive a few more of the apostles junior to him. So it will be interesting to see what happens there. I am grateful for the life and ministry of Elder Holland, and for the chance I had to write this post in his honor today 

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and will do my best to bring you all word on those developments as they occur  That does it for now. Any 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. 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 in Advance of the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional

Hello again, everyone! As many of you are no doubt aware, the First Presidency's 2020 Christmas Devotional is coming up on Sunday. Through 2012, the devotional featured addresses from the entire First Presidency. But in 2013, the Church announced that the format would change to allow other general Church leaders to participate. Beginning in 2014, and clear through last year, almost every year has seen 4 speakers: 1 member of the First Presidency, 1 member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 1 member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and 1 of the 15 General Officers of the Church.

The one exception to that general pattern occurred in 2017. For that year's devotional, aside from a member of the First Presidency, only 1 General Officer of the Church and 1 of the Church's General Authority Seventies were selected to speak. But since that was the sole exception to the general format, I have a rough standard template to draw on when considering who might speak each year. What might the general pattern tell us about the potential speaking lineup for this year's devotional? That is a question I will attempt to answer in this post.

Firstly, since the new format and general template for the Christmas Devotional was introduced in 2013, only the counselors in the First Presidency have conducted the devotional, generally alternating each year. We also know that since President Nelson became Church President, he has only opted to conduct 1 session of General Conference (the Sunday Morning Session in April 2018). 

Since his almost three years as Church President, he's done an excellent job of delegating things, so I think it may safely be assumed that, for the most part, President Nelson will leave the task of conducting each year's Christmas Devotional to either of his counselors on an alternating basis. With President Oaks having conducted the 2018 devotional and President Eyring conducting the one held last year, I am predicting that President Oaks will be the one to conduct this year's devotional. And since President Nelson spoke during the 2018 deovotional and President Oaks did so last year, it seems safe to predict that President Eyring will be the representative speaking on behalf of the First Presidency.

In terms of the speakers from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we have heard from then-Elders Nelson and Oaks, along with Elders Bednar, Christofferson, Stevenson, and Soares. Based on which Quorum mebers have spoken, among those who have not done so are President Ballard and Elders Holland, Cook, Andersen, Renlund, and Gong. You may note the omissions of Elders Uchtdorf and Rasband. In listing the current Quorum members who have not spoken, I didn't include Elder Uchtdorf, since he previously spoke twice during that devotional while he was serving as President Monson's Second Counselor in the First Presidency. 

While it is also true that Elder Rasband has not yet been tapped to speak in the Devotional since his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 2015, he was the first member of the Presidency of the Seventy assigned to speak when the noew format first took effect in 2013, so I'm considering that in my analysis. Although any of the others I mentioned could speak, for some reason, the thought occurred to me that Elder Neil L. Andersen might do so this go-round. But any of those who have not yet done so would be great to hear from this weekend.

Meanwhile, the mmbers of the Presidency of the Seventy who have spoken to us have included Elders Ronald A. Rasband (as noted above), Richard J. Maynes, L. Whitney Clayton, Craig C. Christensen, Terence M. Vinson, and Patrick Kearon. Only two of those just mentioned remain in the Presidency of the Seventy. In 2017, General Authority Seventy Elder Kevin R. Duncan was asked to speak. From among the ranks of the General Authorities of the Church, only the Presiding Bishopric has not been represented in aan assignment to speak during the devotional. In view of that fact, I am predicting this go-round that Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse may be tapped to do so this go-round. 

As far as general officers of the Church are concerned, we have heard twice from the Primary General President (the current one and her immediate predecessor), and once each from the since-released Young Women and Relief Society General Presidents and the since-released First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, the current Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency and First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency .

Although we have not yet heard from a member of the Sunday School General Presidency, the last time we heard from the Young Women General President in the Christmas Devotional was 6 years ago, so I'm predicting that Sister Bonnie H. Cordon may be tapped to speak this time around, though I would not in any way be shocked to see something else happen. 

In summary, I am predicting that, for this year's devotional, which will be held this Sunday, that President Oaks will conduct, and that the speakers will be Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency.

Anyone interested in doing so is more than welcome to look over the history I have kept on these Christmas Devotionals, and if any of you have any thoughts on the predictions I've laid out for this year, I'd love to hear from you. I look forward to this Sunday's devotioynal regardless of whether or not I correctly predicted any or all aspects of this devotional. Whatever might happen in that respect, you can count on my passing along whatever is reported after that is made 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.

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Announces 2021 Dates for Churchwide Events; Provides Phased Reopening Updates for Templesa

Hello again, everyone! In these early morning hours, I have two breaking news developments to report. Firstly, I have previously mentioned that the Church had not yet released a formal schedule of Churchwide events for next year, and as recently as within the last week, I had suggested that the scheduled events being added to the Newsroom events page apparently replaced the formal announcment of events for 2021. Any theories I previously offered in that respect are now incorrect and irrelevant.

This morning, the First Presidency authorized the release of the official list of Churchwide Events for 2021. The lsit of events inluce the following highlights:

January 10, May 2, and September 12: Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults. Additionally, the speakers for the January 10 event have been announced as Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Susanr, and that the September 12 event will be combined with a Face-to-Face Event.

February 21: New Event for the children of the Church entitled "Friend-to-Friend", the equivalent for Face-to-Face events for Youth and Young Adults of the Church. The event will feature Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, alongside the Primary General Presidency (Sisters Joy D. Jones, Lisa L. Harkness, and Cristina B. Franco). 

Parenthetically, I should note that since Sister Jones will have served as Primary General President for five years in April, despite the changes to her First and Second Counselors in 2016 and 2017, some change may be made to the Primary General Presidency during the April 2021 General Conference. With that said, here are some other events that will occur in 2021:

February 25-27: RootsTech Connect (to be held virtually, with Temple and Family History Leadership Training set to occur on February 25, as previously detailed)

,March 17, 2021: Youth Music Festival

March 26-27: Handel's Messiah

April 3-4 and October 2-3, 2021: General Conference Weekend, with the Priesthood Session in April and the Women's Session in October as usual. The April General Conference will again coincide with Easter Sunday, as it did in 2018, so the speaking lineup may be altered from what has been typicl.

April 29-30: 2021 BYU Women's Conference

June 13, 2021: Face-to-Face Event for Single Adults, which is another new event for a specific group in the Church.

July 22 & 23: Music for a Summer Evening (Pioneer Day Commemoration)

November 14: Face-to-Face for Youth

December 5: First Presidency Christmas Devotional

So that is the overview of the 2021 Churchwide events, as provided today. But temple reopenings have been announced this week, with the Newsroom and the Church News have also provided this week's update on temple reopenings, which, given the substance thereof, I thought would be best mentioned in this new post as well rather than the commentsts. 2 more temples will reopen under phase 1 next Monday, which allows husband-to-wife sealings where both have been previously endowed, with limited guests in attendance. The two temples are Barranquilla Colombia and Caracas Venezuuela.

Additionally, one temple (Guatemala City Guatemala) is shifting from phase 1 to phase 2, which allows the performance of all living ordinances, in the following priority order: indviduals preparing to be married who have not yet received their own endowments, missionaries already out in the field who departed before receiving their own endowments, those preparing to enter the mission field who need to receive their own endowments, and then any others who may need that done for any other reason.

And finally, on a not-so-postivie front, the Church has reported thath four temples previously upgraded to phase 2 will be downgraded to phase 1: Calgary and Ednomton Alberta, Baton Rouge Louisiana, and Ceub City Philippines. Additionally, seven other temples have gone back into a "puased" status in their reopenings due to local COVID-19 conditions and govermental regulations. Those seven temples include the following: 3 in California (Fresno, Newport Beach, and Oakland); 2 in England (London and Preston), along with the Haifax Nova Scotia and Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temples.

So, it's a bit of a mixed bag of good news, interesting news, and some difficult news this morning. I continue to montitor all Church news and temple updates and will keep doing my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of 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.