BREAKING NEWS: PDF Version of November 2021 Church Magazines Are Now Available

Hello again, everyone! This will just be a very brief post from me. I am pleased to share that the Church has made the PDF versions of the November 2021 Church Magazines available. This will enable me to cover how my pdrojected version of the Liahona table of contents for Noember compared to the actual corresponding page numbers. I am also taking time to look at the list of magazine editors and advisers for each magazine to see what (if anything) has changed in that respect. This post will be updated with those details as I complete that analysis. 

(The remaining content of this post was added just prior to noon on November 4): Having completed my analysis, it appears that, in some cases where the First Presidency talks have taken 3-4 pages each, they are now each taking about 2-3 pages, and that the shorter time each member of the Quorum of the Twelve is alloted means that most of them will have talks of 2-3 pages in length as well. It seems safe to assume that the Church will keep this format going forward. The corrected page numbers are listed on the document to which I linked above.

Additionally, I have done some analysis on the changes in  magazine editors and advisers. The advisers listed for the Liahona and the Friend remain unchanged, and with Elder Adrian Ochoa now serving in the Mexico Area Presidency, the Church has called Elder Valeri V. Cordono to replace Elder Ochoa as an adviser to the "For the Strength of Youth" magazine. Looking ahead to next year, Elders Randy D. Funk and Walter F. Gonzalez are both set to observe their 70th birthdays during 2022, which will mean both will be granted emeritus status in the October 2022 General Conference.

So there will likely be a significant turnover of assignments next year. Among those turning 70 next year are one member each from the Africa Central (Joseph W. Sitati), Africa West (Larry S. Kacher), Africa South (Christoffel Golden), and Middle East/Africa North (Randy D. Funk), the current Church Historian and Recorder (LeGrand R. Curtis). It will be interesting to see what happens going forward in the next few months with those assignments.

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.

UPDATED: Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! As almost of you are obviously aware, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple was dedicated on Sunday by Elder Gerrit W. Gong, and this Sunday,  Acting President M. Russell Ballard will preside at the dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple. Construction has also concluded for the Yigo Guam Temple, and with the first president and matron of that temple having arrived, hopefully the announcement of opening arrangements for that temple will be made by the end of this month. In addition to having the final stages of construction wrapping up, there has not yet been an announcement about the first president and matron for the Quito Ecuador Temple. 

Similarly, we are awaiting the announcement of opening arrangements for both the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples. Hopefully those arrangements are forthcoming.  While those opening (or reopening) arrangements are pending for four temples (two new, and two for which renovations have been completed), a new report from the Church Temples site includes a stunning update on the Helena Montana Temple, including a move up the queue so it is now below Saratoga Springs Utah. 

The resulting adjustments that I've made to my temple construction progress report show changes in the queue and several updated and revised estimates for dedication windows, in addition to new reports on the status of Moses Lake Washington and Puebla Mexico Temples. Other than these preliminary notes, the changes in the temple construction progress report speak for themselves, and I was grateful to be able to provide them for you now. I am hopefully that on at least one of the final two days of this week, a breaking update will be shared on at least one temple, though I can't rule out the prospect of two days straight wherein new temple updates are shared.

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. 

POTENTIAL BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Could Several Temple Groundbreakings Occur Privately?

Hello again, everyone! Although we are still waiting on official announcements for quite a few temples, an article from a newspaper that has no ties to the Church has used the now-discouraged terminology of "Mormon" in the article title before sharing the correct name of the Church in the article. The article, published in September, related to the site location, rendering, and name being released for Oregon's newest temple, features the following intriguing sentence: "A private groundbreaking ceremony will be announced at a later time, according to communicatiodn director and temple media liaison Jeff Robinson." (bold text highlighted by me to undercore a point).

We have seen the Church being able to broadcast temple groundbreakings on the same day or within a week after a temple groundbreaking takes place. That has allowed a limited number of invited guests to attend each of the 11 groundbreakings held this year while allowing others to view the ceremonies after the fact. Each of those 11 groundbreakings were announced in advance for specific dates as well. And for each of those 11, coverage was made available a few hours after those events took place.

But temple groundbreakings, even with limited invitied guests, can be informally attended by those nearest to the temple who know when those groundbreakings take place. And given the fact that some parts of the US and elsewhere in the world are struggling with COVID-19 to a much higher degree than those in the "Mormon corridor", it did occur to me to wonder, as I've often mused in the past, whether it would be possible for the Church to hold private temple groundbreakings without an advanced announcement that would be followed by an official Church acknowledgement that it has taken place.

Given the fact that there will be 6 weeks between the October 30 groundbreaking for the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple and the December 11 groundbreaking for the Bacolod Philippines Temple, I'd be very shocked if no other temples had a groundbreaking in the 5 Saturdays between the two dates. Maybe I'm mistaken in all of this, and the Church might just opt to hold off on any other US temple groundbreakings until next year, but I'm hard-pressed to believe that.

For my part, I will be diligent in checking for any such acknowledgements, and I will be sure to provide anything that is reported in that respect here. Just wanted to mention the possibility, given the wording of the article. 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.