UPDATE: Post-Conference Documents

 Hello again, everyone! With tomorrow marking two weeks since the October 2022 General Conference convened, I wanted to share my post-conference document analysis. First, I wanted to provide a report on my predictions for General Conference. First up is the review of my predictions for the speaker lineup, the changes in general Church leadership, and the most like prospective temple locations. As a result of those predictions vs. what actually happened, I have taken the opportunity to analyze and score those predictions.

Some reminders on the scoring might be helpful. Regarding my projected speaker lineup, 3 points were awarded if I got the right speaker in the right position in the right session. Some examples of that are my correct predictions that President Henry B. Eyring would conduct the Saturday Morning Session, and that Elder Dale G. Renlund would speak in the exact spot he did in the same session. 

Two points were awarded if I got the right speaker in the right session but in the wrong position. Some examples of that were President Dallin H. Oaks and President Russell M. Nelson, who both spoke in the first session, but in the reverse order from what I predicted. One point was awarded when I correctly predicted that a leader would speak at any point in the conference, but had them both in the wrong session and the wrong order in that session. 

Examples of that are Tracy Y. Browning, who spoke Saturday Morning rather than Sunday Morning, and Bishop Causse, who spoke Saturday Evening rather than Saturday Morning. And of course, anything I had not predicted that occurred was given a score of 0. Examples of that would be the two counselors in the Relief Society General Presidency since I had predicted that Relief Society General President, Sister Camille N. Johnson, would speak.

Regarding my predictions for changes in general Church leadership, on the General Authority Seventies, each name was awarded 3 points, as I had all of those correct. Then there were 3 points apiece for the two changes (releases and sustaining) that were ratified as groups.  And on the temple locations, 3 points meant I had the correct location exactly right, with 2 points for having the correct general region but the wrong specific location. 

I gave myself a small margin of error on both the temple predictions and the speaker lineup since there were some things I couldn't have predicted, like President Nelson being the last speaker in the Saturday Morning Session, or the two temples in the Philippines and 4 locations around Mexico City. 

So, as reflected in the scorecard, even though there was a lot about this conference that I had no way to predict, what I put together yielded a 62.8% accuracy rate, and with all of the unknowns, I'm satisfied with that. If that was all I had to pass along tonight, I'd be satisfied therewith, but I do have a few more items. As I usually do, I have also been able to compile a document showing the lengths of each apostolic address. 

I have likewise updated the document showing the total number of General Conference addresses given by each of our current apostles. And I have also created a mock-up of what I think the table of contents might look like for the November 2022 Liahona. It appears as though the HTML version of that magazine is already available. It wouldn't shock me if the PDF version follows in the next week or two. Whenever that is officially available, I will cover that information here. I will also be sure to provide a follow-up on how my mock-up table of contents compares with the actual thing. I likewise continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to post here with the latest on that as I become aware thereof.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time.All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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. 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 Announces Locations and Initial Details for Temples in Singapore and California

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the Church announced locations and initial details for temples in Singapore and California. Let's get right into all of the details. A temple for the city of Singapore within the Republic of Singapore was first announced during the April General Conference last year. Today's news release only references this temple as the Singapore Temple, so a decision might have been made to reduce and simplify the name. 

Plans for this temple call for an 18,000-square-foot two-story temple and an adjacent meetinghouse and an arrival center to be built on a one-acre site at 33 Pasir Panjang Road in that city. The other temple for which the location and initial details were announced is the Modesto California Temple, announced in April of this year. will be a single-story 30,000 square-foot edifice that will be built on a vacant 17.63 site adjacent to the meetinghouse at 4300 Dale Road in Modesto. 

As a result of today's announcement, and bearing in mind that ground was broken for the Heber Valley Utah Temple on Saturday, there are currently 73 announced temples in the Church. Of those 73, a groundbreaking has been officially set for 1 (Willamette Valley Oregon, which is scheduled to take place later this month), and sites have been announced for an additional 13 (with exterior renderings released for all but 4 of those).

Therefore, the total number of announced temples for which no official information has been confirmed yet has now been lowered to 59. And hopefully, that number will continue to be lowered in the remaining weeks of 2022 ahead. I am grateful to have learned about and been able to share this development. And the timing thereof seems to indicate that Monday may indeed be a new standard day for such announcements.

I am a bit surprised that the next temple announcement was not reopening arrangements for the Columbus Ohio Temple or opening arrangements for the Saratoga Springs Utah, Bangkok Thailand, and/or Richmond Virginia Temples, but I am assuming that there is a reason for the delay in all of those announcements. I continue to track such updates and will be sure to pass those along to you all as I become aware thereof.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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.  

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.

President M. Russell Ballard Observes His 94th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With the wonderful spirit of the October 2021 General Confeence still strongly impacting all of us, I wanted to post in honor of President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is observing his 94th birthday today. Among the 20 total nonagenarian apostles, President Ballard is currently the eighth-oldest and he will next move up on that list in August of next year. That said, let's get to some biographical details: Melvin Russell Ballard Jr. was born in Salt Lake City Utah to Melvin Russell Sr. & Geraldine Smith Ballard, on this day in 1928. Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers (Melvin J. Ballard and Hyrum M. Smith) were apostles, and Elder Ballard is thus a direct descendant of the early leaders of the Church (Hyrum M. was the son of Joseph F., who was the son of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph).

As I previously mentioned, the Church has, by tradition, had at least one apostle currently serving who has ancestral ties to the Smith family. It is further interesting to note that Bruce R. McConkie, who was the last apostle indirectly related to the Smith family (being the son-in-law of Joseph Fielding Smith, who was the son of Joseph F. who was the son of Hyrum, who was the brother of the Prophet Joseph Smith), was the apostle whose death resulted in the apostolic vacancy that necessitated Elder Ballard's call.

As a young man, now-President Ballard served as a missionary in England, as has been noted in previous blog posts. Upon his return, he served in the US Army Reserves, where he rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. As a result of obtaining his secondary education from the University of Utah, he met a young lady named Barbara Bowen, whom he married on August 8, 1951 in the Salt Lake Temple. Sister Ballard passed away roughly three years ago.

They became the parents of 7 children, and one of their daughters, Brynn, married Peter Huntsman, whose mother, Karen Haight Huntsman, is the daughter of Elder David B. Haight, one of Elder Ballard's apostolic colleagues. It is interesting to see the additional relationship Elder Ballard has to other LDS apostles. Brother Ballard worked professionally in auto sales. His Church service included serving as a counselor to his mission president, as a bishop twice, and as president of the Canada Toronto Mission. He completed the final year of that assignment as a General Authority Seventy, having received that call in April 1976.

Less than four years later, on February 20, 1980, he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. Both before and as a result of that assignment, he served in a wide variety of capacities. Particularly, the Church had established an International Mission in the late 1970s, and in 1985 then-Elder M. Russsell Ballard was called to serve as president of that mission, overseeing the isolated congregations within it from Church headquarters. During his roughly 5 years and 7 months or so in the Presidency of the Seventy, he had moved up in that Presidency from being the junior member thereof to the third most senior member.

A few short weeks after rising from his sickbed to give his powerful final testimony, Elder Bruce R. McConkie passed away, and Elder Ballard was then called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Now-President Ballard is known and respected for the emphasis he has placed on missionary work in his apostolic ministry. Since October 1985, he has moved from the position of the junior apostle to now being the third in apostolic seniority. In his 43 years as a general authority (with 36 years as an apostle), he has given a grand total of  86 addresses in General Conference, including the one he gave just this last weekend. Of those 86, 7 were given prior to his apostolic call.

And, as we know, the death of President Thomas S. Monson in early January of 2018 resulted in the First Presidency being reorganized on January 14, with President Russell M. Nelson choosing his apostolic seatmate and the new President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Dallin H. Oaks, as his First Counselor. Consequently, President M. Russell Ballard was set apart as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve. He thus is tasked, with the approval of the First Presidency, with giving the other 11 members of that Quorum their various assignments around the world and at Church headquarters. I am grateful for the life and apostolic ministry of President M. Russell Ballard, and on this, his 94th birthday, testify of the divine inspiration that attended both his apostolic call and the way and timing by which he has moved up in ranks of apostolic seniority and among all apostolic nonagenarians. I gladly sustain him and the other apostles in their foreordained roles. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will bring word of all such developments to you all here as I learn about them.

In the meantime, that does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per 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. 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.