BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: New Reopning Phase Announced for Several Temples

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has been reported at this hour. As the First Presidency continues to evaluate temple reopenings worldwide, there has been a renewed desire to allow as much proxy work as possible to continue. As a result, a new phase of reopening has been announced this morning. Some temples already in phases 1 or 2 will transition to phase 2-B. This new phase allows temple baptistries to reopen for small groups where it is safe to do so, while also allowing the performance of all living ordinances in the priority order spelled out previously.

The new phase will go into effect as soon as 2 weeks from now, and will apply to the following temples: 7 in North America (Calgary Alberta, Edmonton Alberta, Kansas City Missouri, Medford Oregon, Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, and Twin Falls Idaho); 3 in Europe (Bern Switzerland, Copenhagen Denmark, Frankfurt Germany); 3 in South America (Asunción Paraguay, Córdoba Argentina, and Guayaquil Ecuador); and 1 in the Philippines (Manila),

Additionally, 3 temples which had been in phase 2 of reopening, will now be "paused" in the reopening status due to local COVID-19 conditions and regulations. The three are all in South America, with 2 in Brazil (Campinas and São Paulo) and 1 more in Chile (Santiago). But additionally, on the good news side of things, due to the easing of local restrictions, the Curitiba Brazil Temple will now resume phase 2 of reopening.

As of March 22, when all changes except the 2-B reopenings, will go into effect, the Church will have 19 temples in phase 3, allowing all living ordinances and proxy ordinances in priority order by appointment. 122 others will be operating under phase 2, with a total of 10 remaining in phase 1. 8 other temples will be paused in their reopening status, and the Kyiv Ukraine Temple remains the only operating temple of the Church that has not yet reopened in any phase. The Church also has the 8 temples currently closed for renovation (with 2 that have been completed) and 1 other renovation currently planned.

The Church's area-by-area status tracker has also been updated to reflect these changes. I am grateful to have been able to learn about these updates and pass them along to you all here. I continue to monitor all other temple updates and Church news reports of any kind and will also bring you the latest on those as I become aware of such developments.

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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! As most of you are almost certainly aware, I have provided updates on the latest apostolic data (specifically relating to lifespan or tenure length milestones) roughly every seven weeks. Having last done so on January 24 (through utilizing two consolidated documents), it is time to publish the second update for this year. 

As with that last update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and information on the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the First Presidency as presently constituted until 2024), in addition to the longestg-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). Since my last u4pdate, it is worth noting thas of at the current Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as constituted beginning on March 31, 2018 (when Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares were sustained), have officially become the 14th group listed among the longest continuously-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They will move up on that list 3 times throughout the rest of the year.

In a similar manner, the current members of the First Presidency, together with the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with that group of 15 apostles as it has been constituted as of the last day in March of 2018, have not only served long enough to make the list of longest, continuously-serving apostolic groups, but they have already moved up from the 14th to the 12th position on that list, and are set to move up 3 more times by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the second part  of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and the timing noted for when each of the other 13 apostles will join that list).

Hopefully this shared data will be of interest to you all, and again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, conFitinue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such reports.

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: 6 Women in Europe Called as International Area Organization Advisers

Hello again, everyone! This morning, in addition to the update about the renovation of pioneer-era temples, the Church News shared that the First Presidency has authorized the creation of a new position for female leaders at the area level, which was first reported in United Kingdom edition of the Church's official Newsroom page. Six women in the Europe Area of the Church wil now serve as international area advisers. What does this mean? Let's break it down.

Area presidencies outside the United States, at their discretion and with the approval of Church headquarters, may recommend and call women to serve as international area advisers. Women called to these positions will participate in area councils ad will coordinate with leaders at the ward and stake levels to provide training and support for all women serving at the ward and stake level as leaders in the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary organizations. 

The hope is that those who are called to serve in that capcity will be able to give women more of a voice and bridge that gap in reprensation between the general Church level and at the congregational level. Insofar as I can ascertain, those called to that position in Europe are the first to be publicly announced. Other international areas may subsequently call women to these roles. It is not clear why that applies specifically to areas outside North America and not to the 6 areas that cover the continent. It has been an exciting day for reported breaking developments, and it's not very far into this Friday afternoon. 

I continue to monitor all such Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass along word of those developments as I become aware of 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.