Another touching story from the Church News: Prayer, "guardian angel", protect a woman during airport shooting

In another touching story from the Church News, an LDS member from Fort Lauderdale related the account of how she was protected during the shooting at the Florida airport by prayer and the intervention of a "guardian angel" she said was sent there to save her life. Click here to read that remarkable story. Perhaps the most interesting part of this account is the fact that the woman's "guardian angel" doesn't view himself as a hero and says instead that he hopes he would have done the same thing for anyone else. But "hero" is a very appropriate designation for this remarkable man that sees himself as anything but. I loved reading about this, and it was my distinct honor to share it with you now. Thanks for your continued readership and support.

Another former General Authority Lost: Elder Lynn A. Sorensen Passes Away

Though I just found out about this a little while ago, I couldn't waste any time in reporting on it. The Church lost another great giant of the kingdom six days ago. Elder Lynn A. Sorensen, who served as a General Authority from 1987-1992, passed away on January 4. Called as a General Authority at the age of 67, he reached the age of 97 by the time of his death.This article details his service and stands as a tribute to his life. Funeral services will be held tomorrow. Click here to review his one conference talk, a masterful and inspirational address. It is a crazy time we live in, where so many of our leaders, current and former, are being called home. The Lord must need them. I hope this post, short though it is, serves as an adequate tribute to the life of a most remarkable man. Thanks for reading this. Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated.

Tucson Arizona Temple Advancements

Much progress has been reported in the construction of the Tucson Arizona Temple. This has rendered it necessary for me to include a full update to my temple construction progress report. As before, this is just a minor change, but I wanted to post it here from home so that I have access to it at work. Thanks for indulging me. Let me know if any of you have any feedback.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 1/9/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 11 under construction; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 10 announced. NOTE: There is a more than likely possibility for several announced temples to have a groundbreaking announced during 2017. Two are very close to that so far this year, and there may be many more before too much longer.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple: Exterior lighting system operating; interior work underway; scheduled to be dedicated on Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Patron plazas and water feature added to temple grounds; interior finish work underway; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Fencing progressing; entrance plaza created; landscaping areas defined; hanging drywall; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Trees on site for planting; patron plazas and water featured added; installing lamp posts and art glass windows; completion anticipated sometime during late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building the exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162. Concepcion Chile Temple: Attaching building wrap to exterior walls; adding landscaping structures; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Pouring temple foundation; setting rebar for missionary housing walls; palm trees planted along entrance road; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Pouring walls for steeple base; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

165. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

166. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Second floor exterior walls poured; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

167. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Excavation underway for temple and utility building; structural framing going up for meetinghouse; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

Scheduled for rededication:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between late 2017 and early 2018.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; some exterior stone removed; foundation exposed; old meetinghouse razed; rededication anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

Announced:

168. Arequipa Peru Temple: Construction preparation phase; awaiting groundbreaking announcement.

169. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Approval and construction preparation phase; official site announcement anticipated in early 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

170.  Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Governmental approval phase; preliminary environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking pending.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

173. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:

Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.

Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress report. 

Newest Apostolic Age Milestones

Hello, all! Just posting today to do my second update this year on the latest apostolic age milestones. In this post, I will review the tenure milestones President Nelson will reach as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 2017, where he sits in terms of age among the other nonagenarian apostles and those he will surpass among that group this year, the 2017 age and tenure milestones that Church President Thomas S. Monson will reach this year, and where the apostles are age-wise as of today. I will be throwing out a lot of facts, figures, and dates in this post, so hopefully none of you will get confused and it will be enjoyable to all.

Before I discuss all of that, I do want to note one thing: President Nelson's future milestones as Quorum President are subject to however long President Monson lives and serves as Church President. For the last two or three years, President Monson's health has been iffy, and the report has been that he is feeling the effects of advanced age However, he (President Monson) was reportedly able to summon enough strength to deliver a tribute at Elder Glen L. Rudd's funeral of a considerable and extensive length. Whether he forced himself to be well enough to do so remains to be seen. I prefer to see it as a very good indicator that President Monson's health has sorted itself out for the moment. More on that will be reported here as I learn of it.

As of today, President Nelson has been the Quorum President for just over 18 months, having served for 1 year, 6 months, and 5 days. As some of you may recall, he jumped two spots in terms of his service length just around the celebration of the Christmas season. He will jump several spots again this year. Assuming President Monson lasts throughout 2017, by the end of it, President Nelson will have lived to become the 16th longest serving Quorum President (he now holds the 21st spot.) For those curious about the specifics, he will reach the 20th spot on Friday May 5 (less than four months from now), passing up Brigham Young Jr.'s first tenure. Note that the latest milestone he observed was passing Brigham Young Jr.'s second tenure. The son of our second Church President served two nonconsecutive terms as Quorum President because he served around 6th Church President Joseph F. Smith taking his spot as Quorum President for about a week before his ascension to the Presidency. Young would have been the Acting President for his first tenure, if that practice had been in place at that time.)

President Nelson jumps to the 19th spot less than a month later on Sunday June 4, taking the spot currently held by George Albert Smith. He will become the 18th longest serving Quorum President on Sunday July 9, surpassing Heber J. Grant. He takes the 17th spot, now held by Anthon H. Lund, on Wednesday October 11. And he will reach the #16 spot, which is currently held by Harold B. Lee, on the same day Amy and I will celebrate 7 years of marriage on Monday December 18. As you can see, it will be quite a year in terms of Quorum Presidential milestones.

In the meantime, if President Nelson lives through this entire year, he will jump three spots in terms of his rank as a nonagenarian apostle. He currently ranks as the 10th oldest of our 17 nonagenarians, being 92 years, 3 months, and 30 days old as of today. On Wednesday July 5, he will take the #9 spot now held by Elder L. Tom Perry. Though Elder Richard R. Lyman was excommunicated and lost his apostleship, history still notes him as living long enough to become the 8th oldest nonagenarian apostle. President Nelson will surpass Elder Lyman on Wednesday October 18. About two months later, President Nelson will achieve the distinction of becoming the 7th oldest apostle, taking the spot which is currently held by Charles W. Penrose. President Nelson appears by all reports to be well on track to become the oldest living apostle, which will happen on Monday August 8, 2022. What a banner year it will be for President Nelson!

In the meantime, President Monson, as noted above, seems to be doing better. Time will tell for sure, and I will do my best to keep up on that and report things as they develop. His tenure as prophet, which as of today has lasted 8 years, 11 months, and 5 days, leaves him as the 9th longest serving prophet. In the meantime he is the 7th oldest prophet of this dispensation, as today he is 89 years, 4 months, and 18 days old. His one and only milestone this year is in tenure length. He will become the 8th longest serving Church president, surpassing Wilford Woodruff, on Friday June 30. In the meantime, one age-related milestone will be marked this year for President Monson. He will join the ranks of the 17 other nonagenarian apostles 7 months and 13 days from now, on Monday August 21. 

Now, just a word about the apostles overall. The next apostolic birthday takes place later this month when Elder D. Todd Christofferson will celebrate his 72nd. The next one before a three-month break will be that for Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who will turn 66 on February 6.

With that said, what follows are the latest apostolic age averages. As of today, the average age of the members of the First Presidency is 83.05. President Eyring is closest to that average, having reached today the age of 83.61. President Monson is above that average, standing at the age of 89.38 years. And rounding out the First Presidency as its youngest member is President Ucthdorf at 76.17 years. 

As of today, the ages of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stand thusly: President Nelson is 92.33. Elder Oaks is 84.41. Elder Ballard, just younger than President Monson, is 88.25. Elder Hales, who is 12 days younger than Elder Oaks, is 84.38. The youngest and most senior of our apostles born in 1940 is Elder Holland, who marked 76.1 years as of today. Elder Bednar, the third youngest apostle, is 64.57. Elder Cook, the oldest of the three apostles born in 1940, is 76.33 years. Elder Christofferson, who as I mentioned, is preparing to mark his 72nd birthday in just 16 days, is 71.96 years old. Elder Andersen stands at 65.42 years. Elder Rasband, whose 66th birthday will be less than 2 weeks (13 days exactly) following Elder Christofferson's 72nd, is now 65.92 years. Elder Stevenson, the youngest of our 15 apostles, is now 61.42 years. And Elder Renlund, our second youngest apostle who is separated in age from Elder Bednar by less than five months, is 64.15 years. 

With those ages, we arrive at the fact that the average age for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is 74.6 years, with that average splitting the quorum directly in half, with Jeffrey R. Holland being the youngest of the oldest half and Elder Christofferson being the oldest of the youngest half. In the meantime, the average age of the 15 apostles overall stands, as of today, at 76.29 years. 7 of those 15 are older than that average, and 8 are younger. Those closest to that average include Elder Cook on the older side and President Uchtdorf on the younger side.

Hope this post has been interesting and informative to you all. Thanks for reading and, if you feel so inclined, commenting on this. I hope that I will have the opportunity for many more such updates this year, even though I can't promise all of them will be this extensive. I appreciate you all.

Funeral Services Held Today for Elder Bruce D. Porter

Hello, all! As anticipated, funeral services were held today for General Authority Seventy Elder Bruce D. Porter. Also as anticipated, the Deseret News gave a report on that commemoration of his life. But what was not expected was the difference between the report of the services honoring Elder Rudd yesterday and the same today for Elder Porter. Rather than listing specific General Authority attendees, as was done in the article about Elder Rudd the article about Elder Porter only vaguely made mention of those in attendance. I am sure those specifics may be added given time, if they become available, but for now, the article is not clear in that regard.

That being said, the General Authorities of the Church appear to have been well represented in terms of the number of them in attendance, even though specific attendees were not known. President Eyring represented the First Presidency. 75% (9 members) of the Quorum of the Twelve were also in attendance, as were four members (a clear majority) of the Presidency of the Seventy and many other unnamed General Authorities and general officers of the Church.

The most weird thing about the article reporting the services, in my opinion, was the fact that the article, written earlier today, was nowhere to be found on the main LDS Church News website. I only found it by running a search for it. Also, it is indicated in the article that the article itself was put together as press time approached and that a more full report would be contained in the next print edition of the Church News (though it indicated that the full report would be available instantly on the Church News website). For now, if any of you would like to read the version to which I am referring, click here. I will post the more complete report as soon as I am able to find it.

Well, with how very busy it has been at work today, it's time for me to go home. Depending on what I might learn in terms of other Church news and developments, I may be posting again as needed once I get there. Thanks, as always, for your kind readership and attention. Any and all comments continue to be welcome and appreciated.

(Added from home about 75 minutes later) Click here for the more extensive report I referenced above. Still no specific list of attendees from the various leadership groups mentioned in the article. But perhaps the numbers mentioned above are more indicative of Elder Porter's scope of influence than an actual list of participants would be. Hope this additional information is helpful to you.

(Still later) We have yet another source available to us in regard to Elder Porter's funeral services. This article from the Mormon Newsroom on lds.org, goes into greater detail than that which has been provided by the Church News. Still no official list of participants, but another amazing read nonetheless. Another great report of the events commemorating the life of this amazing spiritual giant. Stay tuned for more on all Church news and developments as I hear of them. Thanks again.