BREAKING NEWS: Church Announces Schedule for 2024 Churchwide Events

Hello again, everyone! The Church has announced the schedule for the 2024 Churchwide Events. Here are the relevant dates:

January 28: Worldwide Event for Youth: “I Am a Disciple of Jesus Christ”

February 4: Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults

February 29–March 2: RootsTech Family History Conference and Family Discovery Session

April 6–7: April 2024 General Conference

May 5: Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults

October 5–6: October 2024 General Conference

October 27: Worldwide Event for Youth

November 3: Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults

December 8: First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional

A few surprises: The Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults have typically been held in January, May, and August (the beginning of each third of the year). This year, they will be in February, May, and November. Likewise, although the First Presidency's Christmas Devotionals are typically held on the first Sunday in December, next year, it will be on the second Sunday, which may mean that new temples could be dedicated on the first and third Sundays of next year. The schedule otherwise speaks for itself.

Other noteworthy events are scheduled as follows:

January 26: Seminaries and Institutes Annual Broadcast

March 1: Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction

March 9: Friend to Friend for Children

March 31: Easter Sunday

June 18: CES Religious Educators Conference

June 20–23: Seminar for New Mission Leaders

July 19–20: Tabernacle Choir Summer Concert

August 10: Youth Music and Arts Festival

September 14: Friend to Friend for Children

November TBD: Seminaries and Institutes Annual Broadcast

November TBD:  Luz de Las Naciones

November 16: Church Music Festival from Temple Square

December 12–14: Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert at Temple Square

December 25: Christmas Day

Interestingly, there are two Seminaries and Institutes Annual Broadcasts scheduled next year, whereas there has typically been only one. There is also a CES Religious Educator's Conference, which I assume may allow several general Church leaders to provide training and counsel to seminary and institute instructors. 

I'm also fascinated that the Church has scheduled both a Youth Music and Arts Festival and a Church Music Festival, which I assume will be for all Church members. Although it was not specified, I assume that on Easter Sunday and the Sunday before Christmas, it will be Sacrament Meeting only. And I think we could potentially see a couple other Churchwide broadcasts as well. 

Looking ahead to 2024, I also wanted to put out a fun teaser of my own plans ahead for 2024. I have compiled a 2024 schedule showing content I will focus on in the new year. We will have several more apostolic milestones next year, as the current First Presidency will join the list of the longest-serviung First Presidencies and observe several milestones related to their tenure, unless there are forthcoming changes in the First Presidency that would prevent that.

So there will be a lot to look forward to in the next 14 months.  I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. 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. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple; Groundbreaking Set for the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, the First Presidency announced the opening arrangements for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple and groundbreaking arrangements for the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple. Let's get right into the details: Media tours will be held for the Red Cliffs Temple on Monday, January 29, 2024, with VIP tours held for the next two days. The public open house will occur from Tuesday, January 30-Saturday, March 2, 2024 (marking the first time that both VIP tours and public tours will be held at the same time).

The Red Cliffs Utah Temple will then be dedicated in two sessions (at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM) on Sunday, March 24, with President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, presiding over those sessions. I had assumed Elder Holland would preside at this dedication, but it could be he will be the apostolic companion to President Eyring, if he is able to be well enough to do so by that time. Since I had projected that the Red Cliffs dedication would only occur in May, this suggests an accelerated timeframe for temple dedications than what I had projected.

That being said, opening arrangements are easier to set for Utah temples than for many of their counterparts, so that's not surprising. Hopefully, by the end of this month, we see at least two more temple dedications set. In the meantime, if that wasn't reason enough for this post, as I stated, the Church has also set a groundbreaking for the Kaohsiung Taiwan Temple. That will occur on Saturday, November 23, 2023, with Asia Area President Elder Benjamin M. Z. Tai presiding. 

I also was surprised by the announced timing for the groundbreaking of Taiwan's second temple. I had projected that the groundbreaking would be in mid-2024 at the earliest. But I am grateful that the Lord once again proved to me today that His timing trumps any mortal reasoning or projections I might offer.  So I am going back to the drawing board on those projections. I will have updated thoughts published here in some form as soon as I can make that happen.

I am grateful for today's landmark announcements. I continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and temple construction updates and will be sure to pass those along to you all here as I become aware thereof. 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. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Sister Kathleen J. Eyring Passes Away

An initial version of this report was published at 2:00 PM, with additions and edits made around an hour later. My thanks once again to you all.

Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom and the Church News have reported that Sister Kathleen J. Eyring, wife of President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, passed away earlier today in Bountiful surrounded by family. As some of you might be aware, Sister Eyring has struggled with significant health challenges, but has stood by her husband in all of his high-profile Church assignments since his call to the Presiding Bishopric in 1985. Apparently, at some point in 2007, then-Elder Eyring had surgery for cancer.

With how much Sister Eyring has struggled in recent years, I'm sure this is a period of time where President Eyring's feelings may be part grieving the loss and part rejoicing that she no longer has to suffer and has returned home to her loved ones. The articles to which I linked above did an excellent job of summarizing her life. I will not attempt to add to that here. But I will note that, if recent practice is any indication, the funeral services for Sister Eyring may be held on Thursday or Friday of this week.

It is also worth noting that President Eyring is now the third current apostolic widower. The other two are his immediate apostolic seniors, President M. Russell Ballard and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I will also state that I am grateful that President Eyring's son Henry J. Eyring was released as both an area seventy and as president of BYU-Idaho, with Henry J. intending to relocate to Utah (unless he has already done so). That means each of his 3 children will be close by.

President Eyring always spoke warmly, but carefully, about his wife, who is, as he has said "a very private person". My prayers are with him and his family at this time. I continue to monitor all other Church News, Newsroom, and temple construction updates, and will be sure to pass those along to you all here as I become aware thereof. 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.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.