UPDATED: Predictions for the October 2021 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! In the last couple of months since the Church reinstated the Saturday evening session , I have been pondering if, how, and to what extent thr typical General Conference patterns under President Nelsson might change. When it comes to the speaker lineup predictions, I ran some specific scenarios to see if they would potentially be better than what I had originally suggestied following that announcement.  

After running those simulations, I have come to the conclusion that my original version of the potential lineup was the best scenario of the bunch, so not a lot has changed there. Meanwhile, slight adjustments have been made to the list of the most likely changes in Church leadership. And although I still have some checking to do on the list of the most likely locations in which a temple could be announced, the fact that I might still have updates on that was not enough of a good reason to delay posting that information.

That's especially true given the fact that there are less than 2 weeks before General Conference. I am hoping to take any comments into account as I go, which would potentially enable me to push the end of the commenting period to Friday October1 @ 10:00 PM. If I might do so, I'd like to offer a few preliminary things to bear in mind as you review these updates. 

First, with the shift from focusing on a specific demographic group to an additional general session for all members and friends of the Church, the reasoning behind that change was to give more general leaders of the Church an apportunity to speak than there would have been had the session been discontinued. So when I was recently running some simulated scenarios, I had a lot to consider. 

I see no reason why President Nelson would not continue to offer 4 addresses (meaning the only session in which he will not speak is Saturday Afternoon, unless there is a reason to do so). As I ran the simulations, I also saw no reason why both counselors in the First Presidency would not offer remarks in the Saturday Evening Session alongside the prophet, while also alternating being the concluding speaker on Saturday Morning and the opening speaker on Sunday Afternoon. 

Additionally, we have seen the Church take action to shorten the length of time that is taken by the Sustaining of Church Officers, cutting that by half, which in April allowed 4 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to speak in the second session. And in all but 2 of the 7 General Conference held under President Nelson's prophetic guidance, 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have spoken in the Saturday Morning Session.

Therefore, as far as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is concerned, I am predicting 3 members speaking in the Saturday Morning Session, 4 others that afternoon, and 1 in the evening session, which leaves 2 members to speak in each of the two Sunday Sessions. Having a majority of the Quorum speak in the first 3 sessions will enable the Church to call upon more non-apostolic speakers in both of the Sunday Morning and Sunday Afternoon Sessions.

Overall, that scenario would enable the Church to hear from 2-4 more non-apostolic speakers than would be able to speak if  another pattern or scenario were followed. Other considerations weere the average number of general officers that could speak going forward (that works out to a total of 4), and the GA Seventies and member of the Presiding Bishopric. 

Given that Elder Teixeira (who has been a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since August 2018) and Elder Palmer (who started serving in the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1 of this year) both spoke in the Sunday Morning Session of the April General Conference, (after having only 1 member of that Presidency speak per General Conference since 2018 began), my theory is that no members of the Presidency of the Seventy will speak. 

Then it became a matter of determining which GA Seventies to add to that lineup. Of those tenured GA Seventies who have not spoken recently, 2 last did so in October 2012, with 2 others last doing so in April 2013, so I put those Brethren in the lineup, along with several of the newer GA Seventies who have not yet spoken in General Conference.

Next, when it came to changes in general Church leadership, I have made a specific prediction this time around about a few of the newest area seventies that appear likely to be sustained. I could be partially or completely wrong on that, but I thought that merited a mention.  I've also noted in the past that I anticipate another double-digit number of new temples to be announced, but that I anticipate that number will likely be below 20.

And again, the list of prospective locations might be edited in the midst of the discussion about these updates. That being said, I look forward to feedback from any of you who might care to offer some. It's also worth noting that I'm hopeful that, with only 3 days remaining in the workweek, that one or two breaking temple updates or other breaking developments might be reported. If that occurs, I will be sure to pass those items on as i become aware thereof.

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 TEMPLE NEWS: Phased Reopening of Temples to Continue Worldwide Through October

Hello again, everyone! Another Tuesday has rolled around, as a result of which the latest information about temple reopenings has been released by the Church. Since there is just over a week of September left, the latest update shares some details about reopenings that are planned through the rest of September and into October. The updates are, as always, detailed in the updated Newsroom release, and through the Church News, with the latter also linking to the area-by-area temple reopening status tracker.

As I've mentioned in most (if not all) of the latest posts I've published to cover these updates, the Church has done remarkably well in understanding issues that will affect the reopenings, and there have been very clear signs that the Lord is inspiring these efforts. Parenthetically, I'd norote that the reason the Church has been able to make these changes work so smoothly appears to be due in part to the apostles taking an active role in checking in weekly with the presidencies of each Church area for which each of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have direct supervisory roles.

I am grateful for that inspired process. It has been humbling to see how that has worked out week-to-week. With that preamble, let's now get into the specifics that were detailed this morning. First, the Church has announced that 4 temples, including 3 in Mexico (Hermosillo Sonora, Mexico City Mexico, and Villahermosa Mexico) and the Kyiv Ukraine Temple will transition to phase 3 as early as Tuesday September 28.

Above and beyond that, 2 temples are unpausing, but have been downgraded in their reopening processes as a result of COVID-19 conditions and restrictions. The Cebu City Philippines Temple has been shifted back to phase 1, allowing only limited husband-to-wife sealings where both have previously been endowed. And the Papeete Tahiti Temple has been downgraded to phase 2, which will allow all living ordiances in priority order.

The Church has also noted one other previously-announced change that has not yet gone into effect. The Medford Oregon Temple was anticipated to transition to phase 3 at some point in August, but that has not yet happened, though it hopefully will occur soon. The Church News release also reiterated the information about the 11 temples not allowing any proxy work, which includes the changes announced today, in addition to all other temples not currently offering any proxy work.

As of next Tuesday (September 28), the Church's temple reopenings will stand as follows: 8 closed for major renovations (all but 2 of which have had phase 3 status granted to those within their districts),  with 3 temples "paused" in their reopening process (2 of which had reached phase 3, with 1 in phase 2 at the time their reopenings were paused); 3 in phase 1; 6 in phase 2; 3 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 145 in phase 3.

I am grateful to have been able to learn about (and pass along) these updates. I continue to monitor all Church News reports and temple developments, and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all here as I become aware thereof.  

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 TEMPLE NEWS: Exterior Renderings Released for 4 US Temples

Hello again, everyone! We have breaking temple news this morning that I was not anticipating. In a stunning single announcement, the Church has officially released the exterior renderings for 4 US temples, as a clear sign of what the plans might be for the Church for the remainder of this year.  In addition to the Newsroom release, these updates were detailed by the Church News shortly after the Newsroom release was published.

The renderings in question are for the Yorba Linda California Temple (for which the location and preliminary information were announced in mid-July) the Grand Junction Colorado and Burley Idaho Temples (for which the site locations and preliminary details were confirmed in mid-to-late June), and the Elko Nevada Temple (for which the site location and preliminary details were confirmed in mid-June.

The Elko temple incorporates similar exterior design elements comparable to the Casper Wyoming and Helena Montana Temples, so I anticipate that it will also be built using modular components, and that construction on that temple will take 12-15 generally (around 13 specifically) once construction begins. The Grand Junction Coloard Temple is of a similar size and design to the Bentonville Arkansas Temple, so I assume that the construction period for the Grand Junction temple will be identical to Bentonville.

The Yorba Linda California Temple incorporates similar designs as temples of similar sizes (particularly it reminds me a lot of the McAllen Texas Temple), so given its' projected size of 30,000 square feet, I anticipate the construction time-frame will be similar to those temples. And at an anticipated 38,600 square feet, the Burley Idaho Temple appears to be similar to temples of around the same size and design.

Others more qualified than I am to do so are invited to provide additional context into the designs of the newest temples. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see what happens with US temple groundbreakings for the rest of this year. The order in which any of these temples could have groundbreakings may be hard to determine. There is also the fact that the details of each of these 4 temples have been announced gradually, unlike the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, which had a name, location, details, and rendering released all at once.

If I had to venture a guess, Elko would probably be first, given the quick approvals obtained for the similarly-designed Casper and Helena Temples.  Willamette Valley Oregon could be next, followed by Grand Junction Colorado, Burley Idaho, and Yorba Linda California. And that's just US temples. We also have more than a few international ones that could very well be interspersed with each of the 5 US temples. 

I will be taking time this weekend to reevaulate my previously-offered thoughts about temples for which a groundbreaking is anticipated, and I also will hopefully have my updated predictions for General Conference posted early next week, if not sooner. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware thereof.

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.