UPDATED: October 2020 General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! Although I have a few other projects on my plate for the future, given that the October 2020 General Conference will occur in just over 3 weeks, and because the arrangements for it have been officially confirmed, I wanted to provide today an updated version of my predictions for that, which I finally was able to complete.Again, given that I can now share those predictions here with links to the appropriate documents, I have separated my predictions out into three subsections: predicted speaking order, anticipated changes in general Church leadership, and potential locations in which a temple could be announced this go-round.

Each document includes relevant notes with explanations that I kept as brief as they could be for context. The open commenting period on these revised predictions remains in effect for the next 3.5 weeks, until 10:00 PM MDT on Thursday October 1, which will then allow me roughly 36 hours to make any necessary adjustments. I look forward to your feedback. Also coming up soon here are Elder Quentin L. Cook's 80th birthday on Tuesday and the 96th birthday of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. I have those tributes ready and set to publish on the applicable days. I also hope to soon have updates available once again to many of my temple files, which are outdated as a result of the latest developments.

I will continue to additionally monitor all major Church news and temple updates and pass those along to you all here ASAP after I learn 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 TEMPLE NEWS: Church Postpones Opening of Winnipeg Manitoba Temple

 Hello again, everyone! This just in from the Church's official Newsroom. The open house, youth devotional, and dedication arrangements for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple  have been postponed until large public gatherings are deemed safe once COVID-19 conditions ease. At this point, due to the unpredictable naturue of COVID-19, it appears that the Church will likely defer all temple open houses and dedications/rededications until large public gatherings are once again deemed safe.

On the upside, however, with President Nelson extending opportunities to his fellow apostles to preside at temple dedications or rededications, it seems certain that, once COVID-19 is under control globally, apostles could be sent out individually, or iin various groups, to dedicate or rededicate temples in the queue. My personal thought was that with Winnipeg being a smaller temple, a smaller-scale open house and dedication could occur, but obviously, the Church doesn't feel comfortable about doing that.

As a consequence, it may be almost impossible for any of us to gauge how soon each dedication/rededication may be able to occur. I am not personally worried about this, however, because the Lord's hand has obviously been involved and His inspiration present in this decision. Whenever the dedication is reset to occur, I am sure that Elder Gerrit W. Gong will preside thereat as previously arranged.  In the meantime, I continue to monitor 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 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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Statistics

Hello again, everyone! Recently on this blog, it has become traditional for me to publish updated apostolic statistics relating to both the age and tenures of our current apostles roughly every 7 weeks. Since I last did so on Sunday July 12, it is now time to do so again today. Those updates, as has also been customary, will be featured in two parts: the first and the second. The information speaks for itself. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those developments along to you all as I become aware of any such reports.

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: First Presidency Confirms Arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! A long-time reader of this blog, Nigel, commented here a short while ago on the arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference. Based on that feedback, I did some digging on my end, and found an official letter from the First Presidency, which confirms the details for that General Conference. It appears that the General Conference will follow the typical October pattern, with four general sessions for all Church members on Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon, with the standard Women's Session being held Saturday evening. 

The announcement through this letter constitutes a correction to any information I have previously offered on the upcoming General Conference. Accordingly, I will neeed to take some time to update my predictions for the upcoming General Conference, which will be published here ASAP after the appropriate changes are made. In the interim, it seems more likely than not that, with the sessions being closed to the public, that the conference will still originate from the small auditorium on Temple Square, with the First Presidency presiding at the sessions, and only those speaking or praying during each session will be in attendance. 

For the Women's Session, I imagine that it will additionally be attended by whichever General President will conduct the session this go-round. I also imagine, per information that was previously released, that the Tabernacle Choir will participate in all sessions with prerecorded music, unless music is pulled from prior Women's Sessions. There will be a lot to consider in terms of the necessary readjustments to my predictions, and I will be sure to make and pass along those updates as I am able to make them. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such information. 

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: Groundbreakings Set for Two US Temples; Location Specified for One Other

Hello again, everyone! Today, the Church announced the groundbreakings for two US temples and identified the location of one other. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started. With the site for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple having been announced in April of this year, and the site for the McAllen Texas Temple having been announced in December of last year, renderings were released for both temples today, and it was also announced that groundbreakings for both will be held in November of this year, again, with no definitive or specific date clarified.

Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will preside over the Bentonville Arkansas Temple groundbreaking remotely. The apostle was the first president of the Bentonville Arkansas Stake after it was split off from the Rogers Arkansas Stake, over which he had been presiding at the time that split occurred. I am not sure how the remote ceremony will work, but I imagine due to local travel restrictions amidst COVID-19, Elder Bednar will offer the prayer to dedicate the site from wherever he will be, and then someone standing in for him (proably an area seventy) will do the actual groundbreaking part of that ceremony. The temple will be a single-story edifice of roughly 25,000 feet, and will share a plot of land with an exisiting meetinghouse.

Meanwhile, for the McAllen Texas Temple, ground will be broken for the single-story edifice of 25,000 feet and an adjacent meetinghouse by Elder Art Rascon, an area seventy living and serving in the greater Houston Texas Area. That groundbreaking will also occur in November. The latest two groundbreakings announced for these temples by the Church will be the twelfth and thirteenth to be held in 2020, leaving a total of 5 temple groundbreakings that will need to occur before the end of this year, as Elder Bednar had indicated would be the case in April. I am grateful for these latest announcements.

Both of those temples were originally announced last year, Bentonville Arkansas in April, and McAllen Texas in October, so two more 2019 temples are out of the queue of those announced. If that was the only temple news, it would be wonderful enough, but the Church has also today identified the site location of and shared the initial details for the Syracuse Utah Temple, which was announced four months ago during the April 2020 General Conference by President Nelson. 

Utah's newest temple will be built on a 12-acre site at the corner of 2500 West 1025 South in Syracuse. Plans call for a three-story edifice of roughly 89,000 square feet. Since the plans are stil in the approval phase for that temple, a rendering and groundbreaking information will be announced later. But at least we have a location and initial details for the newest Utah Temple. The latest announcements mean I will once again need to reconsider thoughts I have previously offered in my temple files. 

But I am grateful to have learned of these latest developments and to have been able to share them with you all here. I continue to monitor all such updates and Church news developments, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as 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.