UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, September 4, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, in addition to updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the current First Presidency until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), in addition to when each of those current groups will move up on the list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 3 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and th>

Hopefully, this shared data will be of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to ask anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and I will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such reports. 

In the meantime, that does it for now. 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. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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: Groundbreaking Dates Announced for Four Latin American Temples; Official Details Released for the Managua Nicaragua Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has once again been announced by the Church. And this announcement is a huge one. The announcement includes a site confirmation, the release of an exterior rendering, and the groundbreaking announcement for the Managua Nicaragua Temple, which was announced by President Nelson in April 2018.  Let's break down the details:

The single-story 25,000 square foot Managua Nicaragua Temple will be built in the area of Departamento de Managua, Nicaragua, at km 9.3 Carretera Masaya, between 2nd and 3rd entrance streets to Residencial Las Colinas, Distrito V – (5).  Elder Taylor G. Godoy, First Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency, will preside at the temple groundbreaking on Saturday, November 20, 2022. I don't know at this point if the site location in question is in fact the one the Church has been holding in reserve for years, but we may find that out later.

If that was the only temple update today, it would be wonderful enough. But groundbreakings have also been confirmed for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple (first announced in October 2020) and the Torreon and Queretaro Mexico Temples (which were both announced in April 2021). The site locations and exterior renderings were revealed for the Torreon Mexico and Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temples on September 23 of last year, with the official name for Guatemala City's second temple being confirmed on July 1 of this year.  

As you might recall my mentioning, the Torreon Mexico Temple will be the first built outside the United States to use the 10,000 square-foot modular components. Oficial information was released for the Queretaro Mexico Temple on December 7, 2021. So, having reviewed the history of the stage-by-stage announcements for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala, Torreon Mexico, and Queretaro Mexico Temples, when will those groundbreakings take place? And who will oversee them?

The groundbreaking for the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple will take place on Saturday, December 3, 2022, under the direction of Elder Patricio M. Giuffra, Second Counselor in the Central America Area Presidency. One week later, the groundbreaking for the Torreon Mexico Temple will take place under the direction of Mexico Area President Elder Hugo Montoya (his biography mistakenly notes him as serving in the South America Northwest Area Presidency, which has not been true for several years).

And the groundbreaking services for the Queretaro Mexico Temple are set to take place on Saturday, January 7 of next year, with Elder Adrian Ochoa, First Counselor in the Mexico Area Presidency, set to preside thereat.

Having shared this information, if I might do so, I'd like to interject a few other general comments: While I've been hoping for 3 of these temples to have groundbreakings in the near term,  Managua Nicaragua was not on my radar as a temple that could have a site location confirmed, a rendering released, and a groundbreaking set in one fell swoop.

Above and beyond that, however, I do not necessarily believe that the Torreon Mexico Temple will be the last one to have a groundbreaking announced and set to occur by the end of this year. I fully anticipate that more official information (particularly exterior renderings and groundbreaking arrangements) could be set for both the Teton River Idaho and Montpelier Idaho Temples in the coming weeks and that either or both could still potentially occur this year. Other temple groundbreakings could also be set to occur before the end of this year as well. 

A few prospects there: we know that the Port Moresby Papua New Guinea Temple site is being cleared and that the Tarawa Kiribati and Port Vila Vanuatu could also see groundbreakings in the near term. And it's still possible that the Belo Horizonte Brazil and Cali Colombia Temples, which had their sites confirmed and exterior renderings released at the same time that both the Torreon Mexico and Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temples had their official information announced, could see groundbreakings set soon as well.

If I had to venture a guess as to the most likely other temples that might have a groundbreaking before the end of this year, I think that the Teton River and Montpelier Idaho Temples, and the Port Moresby Papua. New Guinea Temple top that list. Whether or not any or all of them might actually see that occur remains to be seen. But in any case, I continue to monitor all such updates, in addition to anything else relating to temple construction or general Church news, and will be sure to pass those updates along as they cross my radar. I am grateful to have been able to find out about this announcement and to share the analysis thereof here with you all.

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.

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.