BREAKING NEWS: Major Changes Coming to Church Magazines Effective 2021

Hello again, everyoe! Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of most the current Church magazines, which were last renamed in 1971, with the titles thereof being The Ensign, The New Era, and the Friend. Later on, in May 1995, the Liahona as it is currently known was first published as a country-and-area specific magazine with targeted content for the same.

In the years that have passed between 1971 and 1995, and between 1995 and now, those 3 (and later 4) magazi.nes were the normal status quo with long-standing precedent in practice, but not in doctrine. In the interim, we have been the recipients of sieveral significant revelations from our current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. And the efforts he has undertaken have attempted to unify and streamline Church policies, procedures, and practices in a time when the reach of the Church is and will be ever further.

With those preceding paragraphs as a preamble to this post, I am pleased to share some breaking news that changes are again coming to the magazines of the Church. In this morning's announcement, the First Presidency noted that, effective January 2021, the Ensign magazine as we know it will be retired. The Liahona will now be the global magazine for all adult members of the Church. Similarly, the New Era name will also be changed, and the magazine for youth will now be known as For the Strength of Youth. The name of the magazine for Primary-aged children will continue to use the moniker: "The Friend."

In accordance with these changes, the length and format of each magazine will also change, with the Church expanding additional content that is available in digital formats. The First Presidency also noted that the now-three monthly magazines will be available in 23 languages, also expanding the Church's global reach. Bimonthly (six times per year), magazine content will be available in 24 other languages, with online content bridging the gap for months when no print edition is available. And in 40 other languages, the Church will provide content solely through digital means. 

The letter and associated FAQs sharing this development also notes subscription-specific information. For current subscribers to any magazines, at the end of this year, the time remaining on all current subscriptions will roll over onto the equivalent magazines. The Church also noted that, because the Liahona will now be the standard magazine for the adults of the Church, the previous content once conttained in the Liahona specifically for the children and youth of the Church will now appear in "For the Strength of Youth" and "The Friend" as part of the Church's process of streamlining all of this.

For that reason, subscriptions to any or all of the now-three magazines will need to be acquired. But if changes are coming to the format and layout of these magazines, and if the Church is reducing the number of magazines from 4 to 3 global editions, there may be adjustments made on the prices for these magazines. In either case, the digital versions will remain accessible to all free of charge. Additional information on these changes willl be made available through the Church's social media channels, through the Church website, and in the December 2020 issues of the current magazines.

It has been somewhat of a whirlwind 16 hours or so since I found out about the two Utah temple groundbreakings. In the interim, the Church has released the renderings for two temples in the Pacific Islands, and now this announcement of the changes to Church magazines. President Nelson truly was not kidding when he noted that things would be moving at an accelerated pace. I look forward to seeing whatever else may be ahead, and I will do my level best to keep bringing word of those to you all here as I become aware of all such developments.

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: Exterior Renderings Released and Site Locations Confirmed for Two Temples in the Pacific Islands

Hello again, everyone! I am back again now with another breaking temple development. From the Auckland New Zealand Newsroom comes information about the location, size, and renderings for two temples in the Pacific Islands, namely, the Neiafu Tonga and Pago Pago American Samoa Temples. With both temples announced in April 2019, the Church is wasting no time on getting more temples underway ASAP. That said, let's get into specifics about these temples.

The Neiafu Tonga Temple will be a single-story edifice of approximately 17,000 square feet. It will be built on the site of theChurch-owned Saineha High School in Neiafu. The project will also include a distribution center, missionary housing, and a residence for the temple president. It should be noted that none of the buildings pertaining to the high school will be impacted at all by the construction of these additional buildings at that location. Apparently, the high school configuration had been planned with room to grow.

In the meantime, for the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple, it will be built on the site of the Pago Pago Samoa Central Stake Center on Ottoville Road in Tafuna, American Samoa. The same ancillary facilities I described above relative to Tonga's next temple will also all be included in the plans for American Samoa's first temple (missionary housing, temple president's residence, and a distribution center). The Church is planning for the temple in Pago Pago to be a single-story edifice that will also be roughly 17,000 square feet in area.

The two temples have vaguely similar design styles, both to each other and to other temples that have been previously constructed. I will leave it to others far more qualified than I am to provide more specific analysis on these temples' designs. But given the release of these renderings, and the relatively straightforward site plans, it seems possible that one or both of these temples could have a groundbreaking within the next six months or less, if all goes well. In the meantime, that means that the total number of temples originally announced in April 2019 which have not had any official information confirmed yet down to two.

In the meantime, by way of a teaser, t.here are currently 38 announced temples. 6 of those (Orem Utah, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Brasilia Brazil, Taylorsville Utah, and Salta Argentina) have had groundbreakings officially confirmed. 21 of the remaining 32 temples have not yet had any official information confirmed. I do continue to monitor any and all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such things.

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: Church Announces Groundbreakings for Taylorsville and Red Cliffs Utah Temples

Hello again, everyone! Some of you may have already seen the comment from longtime reader Daniel in the threads of my previous post. For those that haven't yet seen that, and/or are interested in my analysis of the development in question, I am pleased to announce that the Church has set groundbreaking arrangements for two Utah temples, namely, Taylorsville and Red Cliffs. 

In conjunction with the announcement of these arrangements, an exterior rendering has been released for the Taylorsville Utah Temple, and it is another that will not include the Angel Moroni statue, demonstrating that the Church may be moving away from widely using that in the futhre. Today's announcement notes that the two Utah temple groundbreakings will be done by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Here's the interesting thing, though: for the first time, in conjunction with the groundbreaking announcements, no specific dates have been noted. Rather, the Church has instead indicated that the groundbreaking for the Taylorsville Utah Temple will occur in October, under the direction of Elder Gerrit W. Gong, with attendance at the site by invitation only. With the Taylorsville Utah Temple planned to be roughly 70,000 square feet, I'd estimate construction may take between 2-3 years.

Meanwhile, for the Red Cliffs Utah Temple, which will have a groundbreaking at some point in November, the Church has, as I previously conjectured would be the case, tapped Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a St. George native, to break ground for the city's second temple named after the prominent red cliffs in that area of Southern Utah.  That temple is planned to be roughly 90,000 square feet in area, for which I'd anticipate construction will take somewhere around 3 -4 years to complete.

With these announcements, the number of temple groundbreakings that will have occurred after these two now rises to a total of 11 of the 18 for which groundbreakings were anticipated to occur this year, as Elder Bednar indicated would be the case during General Conference roughly 4 months ago. The interesting thing is that, with no specific dates mentioned in connection with either groundbreaking, pinning down the specific iming for these two or any others this year may have just gotten more tricky.

That being said, with the very recent announcement of the somewhat unexpected timing for the groundbreaking of the Brasilia Brazil Temple, which will have that occurring 5 months after its' rendering was released, I don't think we can count out any international temples from that prospect this year either, whether there has been no information confirmed, a site announced, or a rendering released. I am particularly anticipating that the Phnom Pehn Cambodia Temple, which is set to be built in the nation that has done very well in handling COVID-19, could have a groundbreaking roughly a year after the release of its' rendering. 

We could see a scenario wherein all sorts of surprise announcements of an unexpected nature could be coming down the pike relative to any of the announced temples. It will be interesting to see what happens there. In the interim, while I was putting my thoughts together here, a Church News article covering this latest announcement, and that article noted that Sister Gong is a Taylorsville native, so the fact that Elder Gong is being assigned to preside at this groundbreaking also involves a personal connection.

Additionally, above and beyond that, although Elder D. Todd Christofferson had been originally assigned to preside at the Alabang Philippines Temple groundbreaking when it was to take place in early May, when those plans fell through, the Church has had a season of groundbreakings done by either area presidents or area seventies thus far this year.  So that means that these temples will be the first this year to have groundbreakings at which a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will have presided.

Aside from these notes, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such things. 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.

POSSIBLE BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Annexation of Church-Owned Land May Eliminate Possible Dealys for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may recall, I had recently reported on how citizens in the Tooele Valley who objected to the residential development as planned to surround the Toeele Valley Utah Temple, but who did not necessarily object to the temple itself, were gathering signatures for a possible referendum on the matter for the ballot, which would have potentially delayed the construction process beginning on that temple for as much as a year or more. Today, I have an update to provide on that situation.The Tooele Transcript Bulletin published a new article yesterday on the Church's efforts to strike a compromise in the matter. 

The Church owns additional land in Grantsville, which is immediately adjacent to the planned spot for the temple in Erda. One week ago today, Grantsville approved a Church-sponsored request to annex 548.85 acres from Grantsville over to Erda.

With that request approved by Grantsville, barring any unexpected obstacles, that annexed land can then be used by the Church to spread out the residential development so it's not so compact. which means that, depending on how quickly the Church can submit revised plans for that development to the city of Erda, a groundbreaking could still occur within the next several months, if not more immediately than that. I'd like to accordingly note here that, with two Utah temples (Red Cliffs and Taylrsville) waiting in the wings for a groundbreaking announcement, depending on what happens with the Tooele Valley Utah Temple plans in the interim, there could be a scenario wherein any or all of those three temples could have their groundbreakings at any point between the already-scheduled groundbreakings for the Orem Utah and San Pedro Sula Honduras Temples (both of which are currently set to occur on Saturday September 5) and that of the Brasilia Brazil Temple (which is set to occur on Saturday September 26).

Of course, nothing is official until the Brethren make it so through official announcements, but given my first-hand knowledge of COVID-19 conditions here in Utah (since I monitor the daily reports that are given), the numbers here are trending downward to a degree that temple groundbreakings here in Utah won't need to be delayed in a similar manner to what we saw occur with the Alabang Philippines Temple earlier this year, and the announcement from earlier today relative to the delay for the Salta Argentina Temple's groundbreaking.And, as I have noted very recently as well, I have a feeling that the Lord will reward the efforts and good intentions of the Brethren in planning for 18 temple groundbreakings this year by opening a way for at least that many temples to have a groundbreaking, if not more. Time will tell in that respect.

In the meantime, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of all such developments. 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: Groundbreaking for Salta Argeinta Temple Delayed Due to COVID-19 Precautions

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has just been reported. Due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the First Presidency has rescheduled the groundbreaking for the Salta Argentina Temple. The groundbreaking, which had originally been scheduled to occur this Saturday, August 15, will now take place on Friday October 9, marking the second time this year the Church has rescheduled a previously-announced groundbreaking from a date on a Saturday to a date mid-week. The previous time this occurred was with the groundbreaking for the Alabang Philippines Temple, which had been originally set for Saturday May 2 but was rescheduled to occur on Thursday June 4, when government regulations would allow that to occur.

The scenario is probably similar for the reasoning behind the rescheduling of this temple's groundbreaking. Among other changes, this means that groundbreaking willl take place after the groundbreakings occur for the San Pedro Sula Honduras, Orem Utah, and Brasilia Brazil Temples. It is not yet clear how, if at all, the adjusted timing for this groundbreaking might impact its' anticipated completion. And that measn that the Salta Argentina Temple will become the ninth to have a groundbreaking this year, unlesss any other gjroundbreakings are scheduled to occur between now and then. Other than the date change and the possible resulting delay in the construction timetable, it appears the other arrangements (Elder Benjamin De Hoyos, a General Authority Seventy and President of the South America South Area, will preside, and in-person attendance will be limited due to COVID-19 precautionary measures) remain unchangedc.

I am grateful to have been able to find out about this report and to pass the information on to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such things. 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.