BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 17 New Temples

Hello again, everyone! At the end of his address to conclude the April 2022 General Conference, our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, announced 17 new temples, which will be built in the following locations: Wellington New Zealand, Brazzaville Republic of the Congo, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Maceio and Santos Brazil, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City Benemérito, Tampa Florida, Knoxville Tennessee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, Missoula Montana, Montpelier Idaho, and Modesto California.

Regarding the temples that were announced today, I had the precise location correct for 10 of them (Wellington NZ, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Knoxville Tennesee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, and Missoula Montana. I had the right general location (nation, state, or region) for 5 others. I favored Pointe-Noire over Brazzaville and I was reasonably certain that temples in Brazil and Mexico would both be announced. I was surprised there were 2 each for each nation.

I believe that I can take credit for being partially right on the Mexico City Mexico Benemerito Temple, since I had a Mexico City South Mexico Temple on my list. Likewise, I was reasonably certain another temple was coming for Florida, but I had Pensacola/Jacksonville instead of Tampa. And I wasn't anticipating San Luis Potosi this soon, nor were Maceio and Santos on my radar. and the final 2 (Montpelier Idaho and Medesto California) weren't either. 

With today's announcement, the number of temples in any phase has increased from 265 to 282. And the total number of temples announced by President Nelson has now officially reached 100. Of course, that also raises the number of announced temples to 66. I am more impressed than ever to see how President Nelson's inspired announcements are constantly bringing temples closer to the people who have previously experienced undue hardship to get to their currently-assigned temples.

As previously noted, groundbreakings have been scheduled for the following 8 temples between April and June: Bahia Blanca Argentina, Grand Junction Colorado, Lindon Utah, Farmington New Mexico, Elko Nevada, Burley Idaho, Smithfield Utah, and Yorba Linda California. I have a feeling that before the last of these (Smithfield and Yorba Linda) have their groundbreakings on June 18, the Church will have scheduled others. I am not sure which temples could have groundbreaking arrangements announced by June 18, but wouldn't be shocked if the Willamette Valley Oregon, Ephraim Utah, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Torreon Mexico, and Cali Colombia Temples were among the next to have groundbreakings set.

I also anticipate that either before the end of June or in August or September, announcements would be made Greater Guatemala City Guatemala, Queretaro Mexico, Cape Town South Africa, Tarawa Kiribati, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. And of course, we can't rule out other unexpected announcements leading to groundbreakings for other temples.

Whatever might happen in terms of Church news updates or temple developments, you can count on my reporting those to you all as I become aware of all such reports. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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: New Guidelines and Parameters Set for Saturday Evening Session

Note: This post, composed on Tuesday April 5, was retroactively dated April 2, in view of a major announcement made during the Saturday Evening Session that was inadvertently overlooked. It bears the date and timestamp which would have originally been applied, had the post been published after the announcement as usual.

Hello again, everyone! President Dallin H. Oaks, who represented the First Presidency at the request of Church President and Prophet Russell M. Nelson, announced a "new direction" involving the new guidelines and parameters which will be in place for the Saturday Evening Sessions going forward. He noted that the parameters of all General Conference sessions, including speakers and music, have been approved by the First Presidency. He then noted that the Saturday Evening Session will continue "for now", but with a different direction and focus than prior Saturday Evening Sessions have had. 

In the same way that Women's Sessions have been conducted by the presidents of the female-led organizations of the Church, any of the 15 General Officers of the Church in the 5 General Presidencies thereof may be called upon to conduct future Saturday Evening Sessions of General Conference. This will reduce and simplify the workload of the First Presidency as well. In general, the First Presidency has always been responsible for conducting all general sessions of General Conference, with the obvious exception of the Women's Sessions. 

There was also a period of time between 1981 and 1985 wherein President Hinckley was the only active member of the First Presidency, and with the approval of President Spencer W. Kimball, called upon President Ezra Taft Benson, then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to assist in conducting the sessions of General Conference. 

So it will be interesting every April and October from now on to see what kind of session is held, to whom that session is directed, and how that will play into which of the 15 General Officers conduct that session. I am excited for the future of this session, and to see how long it might continue to be part of General Conference weekend. 

I am grateful to have been able to provide this report to you all here. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all as such updates are provided. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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.

UPDATE: April 2022 General Conference Predictions (Final Version)

Hello again, everyone! The window for discussion of my General Conference predictions closed 24 hours ago, so I wanted to provide a look at the final version of those. First up, as always, we have the projected speaker lineup. Given the fact that the Saturday Evening Session will be the Women's Session, in order to allow more general leaders to speak, I am predicting that 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak in each of the 4 general sessions. 

I have also discovered that, aside from doing so once as a member of the Primary General Presidency, outgoing Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham has not yet spoken in the Women's Session, so she could do so this go-round. What I don't know is whether this session will be different than its' predecessors as it will be held to honor the 180th anniversary of the formation of the Relief Society. 

I also think that, in view of this anniversary, the Church might opt to have the full First Presidency speak in that session. If that happens, then I assume neither of the counselors will speak in any other sessions. And I think that such an arrangement will allow more GA Seventies to speak during the other four sessions. Other than that, hopefully, the document detailing these predictions is self-explanatory. Feel free to post any questions you might have.

For my projected changes in general Church leadership, as noted in my post from earlier today, the Church presented releases for a few area seventies during the General Conference Leadership Session and presented a list of new area seventies who will begin serving. So that part of the predictions has already been resolved. 

But we don't know how many new GA Seventies will be sustained, whether any changes will be made in the Presidency of the Seventy, or what changes are coming to the Relief Society General Presidency and any other groups of general officers. Similarly, although I use a complex method to calculate the figures I've offered for the statistical report, there is no real way to tell how accurate those calculations might turn out to be. 

And although I do think it's safe to anticipate new temples as a sure thing, I have no idea how many (if any) new temples are on my general location list or the more specific list of the most likely locations. But I would in fact only be surprised if a hiatus on temple announcements occurs. It will be interesting to see just how accurate or inaccurate any part of these predictions could be.  Hopefully all of you, my readers, will enjoy following along with these.

You can count on my full report of the major announcements throughout this weekend. Stay tuned for all of that. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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.