BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Location Confirmed, Exterior Rendering Released, and Groundbreaking Announced for Freetown Sierra Leone Temple

Hello again, eveyone! This morning, the Church has confirrm the location of, releaseed the exterior rnedering of, and set the groundbtreaking for the Freetown Sierra Leone Temple. That temple was one of the eight announced by President Nrlson during thr October 3019 Women's Session of General Conference. Before we get to the details here, I wanted to note that, aside from this first temple in Sierra Leone, groundbreakings have already takn place for 6 of the other 7 temples announced at that time. 

Those 6 are Orem Utah, Bentonville Arkansas, Bacolod Philippines, McAllen Texas, Coban Guatemala, and Taylorsville Utah. The remaining temple, Prot Moresby Papua New Guinea, has had a site location confirmed and an extieror rendering released and is awaiting a groundbreaking announcement, so official informtion for all eight temples announced in October 2019 has been confirmed.

We now turn to offivial information released today about the Freetown Sierra Leone Temple. The temple will be built at Jui Road, Kossah Town, Freetown, Sierra Leone on a 2.9 acre site. The temple project will include a two-story ancillary facility that has apartments for the templr presidency members and the orfinance workers, houing for temple patrons, utility buildings, and an arrival center. The temple proper will be an 18,000 square foot single-story ediface.

As far as the groundbreaking is concerned, Elder Hugo E. Martinez, President of thr Africa West Area, will presside therat on Saturday March 19. Barring any unexpected developments, I anticipate that will be the first temple groundbreaking to be held in 2022, but I beliece it will be the first of a double-digit number of temple groundbreakings in 2022.

I am monitoring all such updates and maor Church news updates, and will bring word of those to you all as I receive it. 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.

A Word About the Descendants of Joseph and Hyrum Smith

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to do a new post now to share some thoughts about the direct descendants of Joseph and Hytum Smith, It has been common for the Quorum of the Twelce Apostles to have at least one descendant of those brothers in the Quorum of the Twelce Apostles. In the 1900s, 4 apostles had direct connections to the Smith family line. Joseph F. Smith was the son of Hyrum Smith, and two of his sons, Hyrum Mack Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith. 

So for a time, there were 3 direct descendants of the Smith brothers serving rogether in the apostleship. Both Joseph F. and Joseph Fielding subsequently served as the respective sixth and tenth presidents of the Church. While Joseph Fielding Smith was serving as Church President, he promised his son-in-law, Elder Bruce R. McConkie (in a cconversation that took place in the early 1970s) that he (President Smith) would call him (Elder McConkie) to the apostleship when the next apostolic vacancy occurred. 

As it happened, President Smith himself was the next apostle to pass awdenay. Subsequently, President Harold B. Lee, as the new Church President, ascertained the validity of that account from Elder McConkie himself, and he (President Lee) chose to honor his predecessor's promise. In 1985, following the death of Elder McConkie, Elder M. Russell Ballard, a descendant of the Smith line through his mother, Geraldine (another daughter of Joseph Fielding Smith), was called to the apostleship. 

Although I hope it will be several more years before the next apostle passes away, I've come to the conclusion that either President Eyring or President Ballard may be the next apostle to pass away. While I know speculation is discouraged by the Church on many matters, if and when President Ballard passes away, i thought it might be worthwhile to be aware of the possibilities for the next Smith line descendants who could be called. 

Right now, I see 3 possibilities as most likely. They are President Ballard's oldest son, Craig B. Ballard (born in 1970), Peter M. Huntsman (President Ballard's son-in-law, born in 1963), or the one other known Smith descedant serving as a general leader of the Church, Brother Jan E. Newman (rn in April of 1960), Second Counselor in the current Sunday School General Presidency. Of the three, since I don't think the Church would want to be accused of nepotism, Brother Newman seems most likely to be called.

If Brother Newman does wind up being called to succeed President Ballard, in between now and whenever that occurs, he could be called full-time as a GA Seventy in the coming years, or could shift to an apostolic assignment from his current role. Again, I hope that all of our current apostles will serve together for a while yet, and I will sustain any new apostles going forward as fully as I sustain our current ones. Bur I hope this overview of the Smith famly line and apostolic descedants is helpful.

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Church Continues Cautiously-Coordinated Plan to Reopen Temples

Hello again, everyone! Another week has come and gone, and it is time once again to discuss the latest temple reopening adjustments from the Church. As always, the latest information can be found in the official release from the Newsroom, the Church News overview of those changes, and the temple reopening status tracker.

This week's updates note that the Mesa Arizona Temple, which was rededicated on Sunday, will reopen in phase 3 as early as December 21. Additionally, rhe Suva Fiji Temple, which was paused in its' rreopening since May of this year, will unpause but also will revert back to phase 1, only allowing living sealings of a previously-enodwed husband-and-wife. That temple joins the San Jose Costa Rica Temple in phase 1.

And the Sydney Australia Temple, which "paused" in its' reopening from mid-July until now will reopen to phase 3, allowing all living ordinances in priority order, and all other ordinances for the dead on a limited scale by appointment only.

As a result of these updates, the status of temples will stand as follows on Tuesday December 21: 8 temples are closed for renovation, with 1 more closed for what the Newsroom terms a "renovation" but for what the Church News calls "extended maintenance". I defer to the Newsroom's terminology because the Church's official page for Medford terms the current closure as a "renovation". 

Aside from Medford, the other 8 have all been granted phase 3 designations. No temples are currenrly "paused in their reopenings, and none are in phase 2 either. There is 1 temple in phase 1, 5 others operating in phase 2-B, and the remaining 155 temples are in phase 3. As I've noted in just about every temple reopening update in the last several weeks, I am grateful for the carefully-planned cautiously-coordinated reopening of temples around the world, and for the revelatory process that drives those announcements every week. 

Although no temples anywhere have reached phase 4 (a return to full normal operations), it is wonderful the Church has been prudent and wise in the announcements of changes each week. Having noted all of that, it's also worth noting that the newest strain of COVID-19 popping up in various world areas may, in subsequent weeks, lead to other temples being "paused" in their reopenings. I will be sure to watch for any such updates and will pass them along to you all as I become aware thereof. 

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.