BREAKING NEWS: Europe East Area Presidency Changes

A comment on my blog tipped me off to the information I had been seeking about what changes had taken place with the Europe East Area Presidency as a result of the release in early December and subsequent death of Elder Bruce D. Porter. As I had expected, Elder James B. Martino, who served as Elder Porter's First Counselor, succeeded him as the new area president. Elder Larry S. Kacher, Elder Porter's second counselor, is the new First Counselor. But what blew me away is that the new second counselor is an Area Seventy, Alexey V. Samaykin. As I observed in response to the comment that shared this news, I am not sure of how long it has been since we last had an area seventy serve as an area presidency member. In the days of President Hinckley, it was not that uncommon to have several Area Presidencies comprised either mostly or entirely of area seventies But that role has shifted again of late to General Authority seventies, presumably enabling  area seventies to focus more fully on their local occupations and Church service. I know that when an area seventy has served in recent years as an area presidency member, it is almost always a temporary assignment, lasting only until the annual area presidency changes happen in August. I fully anticipate the same being true for the assignment of Elder Samaykin. But time will tell. In the meantime, I am grateful to have learned of this and to have now been able to report it after waiting so long to do so. I welcome any feedback. Wonderful news!

Land has been purchased for a temple site in Missoula Montana

Hello.  I am doing this blog post to share that land has been purchased in Missoula Montana for  a temple. I have before mentioned in other blog posts how such a temple had been proposed in 2014 by Elder David A. Bednar during his assignment to a stake conference in the area. Missoula now joins three other locations that I know of in the world where land for a temple site has been purchased: Managua Nicaragua, Port Moresby Papua New Guinea, and Bentonville Arkansas. The report of the land purchase in Missoula has come from an unimpeachable source. And I know that some will argue that the purchasing of a temple site is in no way a solid indicator of how imminent a temple announcement might be for that site. But I disagree. Someone else, who has no small familiarity on the matter, has advised me that such sites will have a temple announced when Church unit growth and activity in the area such a temple would cover warrants that happening. So I have no doubts that we will see all of those temples announced soon, and that is why those four sites are at the top of my list of most imminent future temple announcements. Please let me know what your thoughts are on this developments. Thank you.

Churchwide Change in Calling Title/Elder Stevenson Visits South America

Due to some personal issues, now is my first opportunity to blog about two major Church news stories that I first became aware of a day or two ago when they were first published.

First, the Church officially announced a change in the title of a calling. Those presently referred to as "Family History Consultants" will now work under the designated expanded title of "Temple and Family History Consultants". The intent is that such consultants will be focused on working with the end goal of enabling people to take names to the temple. It has been a long time in coming, but the change is most welcome and definitely needed. As one who has previously served as a Family History Consultant, my main job was to help those members of my Elders' Quorum prepare and take names of their ancestors to the temple. The change was announced during the Family History Leadership Session at RootsTech, the annual family history gathering held by the Church. Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was the one who made the announcement. That was exciting to read about. Click here to read more on the change.

In the meantime, those who read my post about the apostles asked to represent the Church at the inauguration of now-President Donald Trump (got to get used to saying that, however much I hate to) will recall that one of them, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, departed directly after the inauguration to fill another assignment, an extensive visit to South America. The Church News ran a report on that visit. Click here to read about what he did during that visit. His experience there, returning as an apostle to a place he had visited as Presiding Bishop, was significant. And based on the Church News report, there is even more evidence than before that this particular apostle could truly claim international experience. If more evidence was needed that our apostles truly are apostles to the world, there it is.

Thanks for reading this, and, if you feel so inclined, commeting on it. I hope to do several blog posts this weekend, including a long-overdue report of the Seminar for New Mission Presidents. With everything that has happened in my personal life lately (which I hope I will share in another blog post), I somehow overlooked getting that taken care of sooner. So I will make it happen this weekend. Thanks again.

Church Loses Another Emeritus General Authority

A comment on my blog reminded me that I had forgotten to report on the death of another emeritus General Authority, Elder Rulon G. Craven. He died on Friday at the age of 92. He actively served for the six years spanning 1990-1996. Funeral arrangements are still pending. To read the Church News article published in tribute of his life, click here. Though I was still a toddler when he was called and a preteen at the time of his release, I  have some memories of having heard his name before, though I can't say how or why that is. Elder Craven gave two remarkable addresses in his years as an active General Authority. Click here to read those talks.

Another great one in the kingdom has fallen. He will be missed. Funeral arrangements are still pending.

Thanks to you all for your readership, interst, and support.

Yet Another Temple Construction Progress Report Update

Given the fact that my last temple construction progress report was just yesterday, and given the fact that there has not been all that much to note in that progress, I thought today would be one where I did not post an update on that subject. However, while not much has changed with temples under construction, there has been a slight alteration in the way announced temples are listed on the LDS Church Temples site. All of them, no matter how close to a groundbreaking they might be, have now been termed to be in planning and approval. In light of that change in wording, I have felt it wise to downgrade the order of the Urdaneta Philippines temple. Doing so made a lot of sense in view of the fact that any other temple now announced might potentially have a groundbreaking announced and done well before anything is resolved in terms of the factors affecting what is causing the construction to be stalled. Let me know in the comments below if you disagree on that point. That said, here's the new report:

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 2/7/17)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 4 scheduled for dedication; 8 under construction; 2 groundbreakings scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 8 announced. NOTE: In addition to the two groundbreakings already scheduled this year, the chances are very good that we will see several others also have a groundbreaking in 2017.

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple: Interior artwork being shipped for hanging inside the temple; dedication scheduled for Sunday May 21, 2017.

157. Tucson Arizona Temple: Exterior architectural details gilded; installation of interior art glass and millwork nearing completion; president’s home undergoing renovation; dedication scheduled for Sunday August 13, 2017.

158. Meridian Idaho Temple: Interior painting and millwork underway; dedication scheduled for Sunday November 19, 2017.

159. Cedar City Utah Temple: Installing art glass windows; hanging drywall on interior; dedication scheduled for Sunday December 10, 2017.

Under Construction:

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

161. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Applying waterproofing membrane to exterior walls; setting rebar; roughing in plumbing; completion anticipated sometime between early and mid-2018.

162.  Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Concrete walls poured for steeple; attaching waterproofing membrane to exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-2018.

163. Concepcion Chile Temple: Exterior cladding going up on north wall; framing the interior walls; completion anticipated sometime during mid-to-late 2018.

164. Durban South Africa Temple: Applying waterproof mastic to temple foundation; pouring exterior walls for missionary housing building; staking site for ancillary buildings; completion anticipated sometime during mid-to-late 2018.

165. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Setting concrete forms for parapet walls; completion anticipated sometime during 2019.

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

Construction pending:

167. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Groundbreaking held Saturday December 3, 2016; completion anticipated sometime between 2018 and 2019 (assuming the delays that may be preventing construction are sufficiently resolved.)

Groundbreaking Scheduled:

168. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; environmental license issued in November 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

169. Arequipa Peru Temple: Preparing for groundbreaking; Erecting construction barrier; clearing and leveling site; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday March 4, 2017.

Rededication Scheduled:

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

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime between early-and-mid 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:

170. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning and approval; official site announcement anticipated in 2017, with the groundbreaking anticipated to take place shortly following the site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: The LDS Church Temple website indicates that a potential site has been identified, though it has yet to be officially verified.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement. NOTE: As the above-mentioned website indicates for this temple, while no official temple site has been announced, there may be a possibility that a Church office building may be repurposed to function as a temple, meetinghouse, and office building under one roof, in a similar fashion to those temples in Hong Kong China and Manhattan New York. This is most likely to be confirmed sooner rather than later.

173. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning and approval; awaiting official site announcement. 177. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Stalled in planning and approval; 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.