Miscellaneous Musings

Hello again, everyone, and Happy Leap Day 2020! It's not often that I have a chance to post new content on February 29, so I am grateful to be able to do so today. The last couple of days, I have benn running around physically, mentally, and in other respects, focusing on a wide variety of temporal and spiritual obligations. But I wanted to post again now to share some musings I have been having in the midst of all of it. First of all, let me say right out of the gate that what I share herein are no more and no less than my own thoughts, perspectives, and ideas based on the information I currently have available. And especially where matters relating to the Church are concerned, these thoughts that I offer are subject to either confirmation, denial, or correction through official channels. So the first thing that I wanted to share relates to temples. As some of you may know, the coronavirus outbreak, particularly as it is impacting the Asian continent, has had an impact on the operation of temples, and, I am sure, is also impacting the renovation efforts on the Tokyo Japan and Hong Kong China Temples. If the crews working on either or both temples have been advised to halt those efforts out of caution in relation to that virus, the duration of the delay in being able to resume that work may in turn impact the timing of the eventual completion of that work. Therefore, I am hazarding a guess that the rededication of the Tokyo temple may be deferred until early next year, though I don't know what that might mean for the timing of the anticipated rededication of the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Above and beyond that, however, with the Church having previously announced the opening dates and rededication for the Washington D.C. Temple, I had expresed surprise that there would be just over 6 weeks between the conclusion of the open house and the day of that temple's rededication. Yesterday, I came across an interesting article from someone currently living in the D.C. area, who posited the theory that the explanation for that lengthy gap (which could also explain the timing of the earlier-than-usual announcement of the information so far in advance of the relevant dates) could be the Church wanting to keep extra time open for tours, depending on the gauged interest in the open house process.

That in turn lead me to conclude that the Church may have initially put out a rededication date, but could subsequently determine to extend the rededication of that temple across multiple dates, in a reverse of the situation we saw for the Rome Italy Temple dedication last year, where 8 days of dedication were originally alloted, with the Brethren subsequently deciding to hold sessions over only 3 of the original 8. So I wouldn't be surprised if the rededication plans for this temple are also extended. On a separate note, I would also anticipate that the dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, with it being a smaller temple, might take place before the rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple, and when I post my latest revisions to my estimates for future temple events, all of that will be reflected therein.

Next, over the last week, as time and circumstances have allowed me to do so, I have taken time to watch the Face-to-Face event for youth on the new Children and Youth program, which featured President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and his wife, Kristen. While all of the broadcast was good, one thing in particular stuck out to me, which was a statement made by President Oaks. He said that one of his personal goals he's working on is putting together 7-8 talks, which will be given in various settings over the next six months, including in the upcoming April General Conference.

That statement led me to change my thoughts about the April 2020 General Conference yet again. And I realized that perhaps what would make the upcoming conference so unique would not be an increased number of addresses given by members of the Presidency of the Seventy and Presiding Bishopric of the Church, but the First Presidency having more opportunities to speak during this General Conference than we typically see. So in my newly-revised predictions, they will include only one speaker from the Presiding Bishopric, 2 from the Presidency of the Seventy, and 5 general officers of the Church, which will allow the First Presidency members more of an opportunity to speak.

I am taking my time with the revisions to my predictions, especially in light of the thoughts that came to me as detailed in the previous paragraphs. The insights I gleaned may delay the publication of those predictions 2-3 days beyond what I originally anticipated (as I had been planning on reposting them either later today or tomorrow sometime), so you can probably expect those to now be published later this week (by no later than Thursday or Friday, but hopefully on Tuesday or Wednesday).

And I have a variety of other projects coming down the pike in the near future, some of which I have outlined, others of which will be added to the plan going forward as I determine a need for them. Above and beyond anything else, I know that we are entering an unprecedented period of time, and I can't wait to see what's next. I am hopeful that between now and the weekend of General Conference that groundbreaking arrangements may be announced for at least 2 other temples, but that too is up to the discretion of the Lord and the inspiration He gives to His prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.

To the best of my ability, I continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple developments, and will pass along all such updates ASAP after I become aware of them. 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 NEWS: Church Postpones April 2020 General Conference Leadership Meetings; Issues Guidelines for General Conference

Hello again, everyone! I posted a few different times in the last few days that I didn't know how or if General Conference would be impacted by the coronavirus. The Newsroom recently published guidelines and recommendations for the upcoming April 2020 General Conference. First and most notably, the leadership sessions for General Conference that have typically been held prior to each April's General Conference will now be postponed until the week before the October 2020 General Conference. Further, General Authority Seventies and Area Seventies serving outside the United States are being formally excused from attending General Conference, which means that I will have to take that into account with my revised predictions for this General Conference. And for Church members outside the United States, the First Presidency is encouraging them to not travel to Utah for General Conference weekend. The statement specifically notes: "This postponement applies only to pre-conference leadership meetings. Present plans call for the general sessions of the April 2020 conference to be held as previously announced."

The First Presidency ends the announcement with this statement: "We are grateful that all members who do not travel to Salt Lake City will be able to view the proceedings of April general conference through technology. With great compassion, we pray for all whose lives have been affected by this illness." So this would seem to settle the question of General Conference: those who are here in the United n and who have not been impacted by the virus will attend General Conference, while any General Authorities, Area Seventies, or other Church leaders and members who are serving outside the United States will be excused from doing so.

So that's the latest official information on General Conference, which of course preempts any information, analysis, or reasoning I may have previously offered. The work truly is moving forward at an accelerated pace, and I am grateful to see that process continuing to unfold.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: Open House and Dediation Dates Announced for the Washington D.C. Temple

Hello again, everyone! Just after 8:00 AM Utah time this morning, as anticipated, the open house and rededication dates were announced for the Washington D.C. Temple. I was blessed to have been able to read about these details not long after they were reported, but I was not able to post my analysis on this announcement until now. Right out of the gate, I will say that some elements of the announcement were unexpectted to me. First of all, by all reports, the open house was going to be on the more lengthy side, lasting at least a month or two, with the rededication anticipated over a few days or perhaps even as long as a week. So I had anticipated that being the case. What I didn't anticipate is that the open house would be held from September 24-October 31 (with the exception of September 27, October 3-4 (General Conference weekend), and October 11, 18, and 25, spanning roughly 4 weeks in total (when the days on which tours will not be available are not included in that count). Next, I wanted to note that it does make sense to me that, following the conclusion of the open house tours, the Church would need sufficient time to do a final clethaning process on that larger temple before its' rededication. So the fact that there will be more than a month between the end of the open house and its' rededication is not too surprising. But another surprise to me was the fact that the rededication itself would only involve 3 sessions on a single day, Sunday December 13. I had been sure that the rededication would span at least 3 days, and that at least 8 sessions would be held. The release also noted that a media tour day would be available on September 15, with VIP tours taking place September 16-23. Additional details will, according to the release, be shared closer to the time of this temple's open house and rededication.

I am assuming that those details will involve information about a youth devotional, among other developments. I don't know who might be sent to rededicate that temple, but I imagine that it could be President Nelson, or perhaps Elder D. Todd Christofferson, who has ties to DC, having been the law clerk to John J. Sirica, the judge who presided over the Watergate trials that eventually led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon. I will also be interested to see how the timing of this temple's open house and dedication might impact the timing of the dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, and also the possible windows within which the Tokyo Japan and Mesa Arizona Temples might be rededicated. It appears that the window for the former is still anticipated to be late 2020, while the window for the latter two has shifted to late 2020-early 2021. I will have to reevaluate my estimates for known temple estimates yet again.

In the meantime, given yesterday's announcement of the rendering for the Brasilia Brazil Temple, I am hopeful more official information may be coming down the pike soon for the Nairobi Kenya and Harare Zimbabwe Temples. And given what I know currently, I believe more information may also be forthcoming on the San Pedro Sula Honduras, Coban Guatemala, Managua Nicaragua, and Orem Utah Temples, among others. On an ongoing basis, I am also monitoring all major Church news and other temple developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such things. As time and circumstances allow, I am also working as quickly as I can on the revisions to my April 2020 General Conference predictions, and I hope to have something published in relation to those predictions by no later than Monday.

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.