BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Dates Announce for Pocatello Idaho Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news has just been reported by the Church. The opening dates have been announced for the Pocatello Idaho Temple Given the fact that COVID-19 transmission rates have been considerably lowered and that vaccination numbers are up in Idaho, it is fully safe for the Church to plan this temple opening. And barring something extremely miraculous, I imagine that this may be the first temple dedication, if not the first temple reopening, for this year.

I say that because regardless of what happens with COVID-19 elsewhere, New Zealand also has the virus well under control, and that could mean the Hamilton temple will be the first to reopen after the pandemic. As I've previously observed, when the Church has set temple dedications in the past, it's not unheard of for rededications to be subseuqnetly announcced and scheduled to occur before temple dedications. My gut feeling is that the Church may be able to rededicate the Hamlton Temple in the weeks after the October 2021 General Conference, but we will see what happens there.

Either way,  this officially bumps the Pocatello Idaho Temple ahead in the queue of  both Rio de Janeiro Brazil and Winnipeg Manitoba, and I wouldn't be shocked if Winnipeg were scheduled wither for the end of this year or early next year. From what I understand, Brazil is still a mess in terms of the pandemic, so it could be the early months of next year before the Rio de Janeiro temple is finally able to reopen. But determinations on both temples, or any of those for which renovations have been completed, will come at another time. With those preliminary musings out of the way, let's jump right into the details on the opening arrangements for Pocatello.

The temple in that city will host public tours in the open house, which will occur from Saturday September 19-Saturday October 23, with the obvious exception of the dates for the relevant Sundays and General Conference weekend. The specific dates on which tours will not occur are September 19 and 26, and October 2-3, 10, and 17. Following the conclusion of the temple open house and a 2-week final cleaning of the temple, a yoouth devotional will be held on the evening of Saturday November 6, followed by the dedicated on Sunday Novembeer 7 by Acting President M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. There will be three dedcatory sessions for that temple, which will be held at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM.

Barring anything unexpected, the Pocatello Idaho Temple will thus become the 169th operating temple of the Churb. I continue to monitor all Church news and updates and will be sure to pass along that informaton to you all here as I become aware thereof.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: Phased Reopening of Temples Continues with Additional Adjustments Announced Today

Hello again, everyone! Within the last few minutes, I have been able to confirm that the the Newsroom has provided this week's updates on temple reopenings. But in what I believe is a first for me, I am sharing the Newsroom updates before today's updates are reflected in the Church News or shown in the status tracker by the same source. This post will be updated to include those resources as they are made available. 

Additional note (updated at roughly 10:40 AM): While I was making preparations to publish updates on this post, the Church News covered that as well, in addition to updating their weekly status tracker. Those updates reflected the changes I noted later in ths post. Having acknowledged that update, we now reutrn to the previoously-composed content of the post.

As has become a weekly tradition, I will detail those adjustments in this post. Before speaking in terms of the specifics regarding today's announcement, I did want to note that the Church continues to use a measured and cautious approach in the weekly determinations that are made and announced. So when our prophet notes that the safety of Church members around the world is foremost in their minds as they consider how to safely reopen tesmples on a week-to-week basis. 

I am grateful for the way those reopenings have been allowed to occur, and I testify that the Lord knows what needs to be done, and inspires His servantss the apostles and prophets Having acknoleged that right at the outset, we now explore the specifics of the temple status changes announced by the Church this morning.

Effective next Monday  (June 21), the following  10 temples will begin phase 2-B, allowing all living ordinances in priority order, in addition to limited proxy baptisms as scheduled: Ciudad Juarez, Colonia Juarez Chihuahua, and Villahermosa Mexico; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando Florida; Detroit Michigan; Manhattan New York; St. Paul Minnesota; Freiberg Germany; and Lima Peru. 

Meanwhile, the following 11 temples have moved to phase 3 this week: Bountiful, Cedar City, Logan, Provo City Center, Provo, and St. George Utah (the latter of which is closed for renovation, but for which the Church's page for that temple can schedule phase 3 ordiances at the nearest phase 3 temple open to them); Dallas and San Antonio Texas; Albuquerque New Mexico and Twin Falls Idaho. And due to changing conditions in Peru and Chile, the temples in Arequipa and Santiago will be pausing in their phased reopening.

The changes that will be effective on Monday will result in the following dmographic changes: 1 temple (Kyiv Ukraine) has not reopened in any phase since last year; 8 others are closed for major renovations (with 2 given phase 3 status, and 4 others given phase 2-B status); 8 temples paused (3 in phase 3; 2 in phase 2-B; and 3 in phase 2); 2 in phase 1; 18 in phase 2; 80 in phase 2-B; and the remaining 51 in phase 3.

With these updates having been detailed, I continue to monitor all other Church news and temple updates, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you alll as I become aware thereof. 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.

Elder David A. Bednar Marks His 69th Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! Given that today is June 15, I wanted to take an opportunity to pay tribute to Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who today is marking his 69th birthday today. So let's get into some details about his life experiences. David Allan Bednar was born in Oakland California on this day in 1952 to Anthony George and Lavina Whitney Bednar. His mother came from a long line of Latter-day Saint ancestors, but his father was not a member of the Church. Despite not having a formal Church membership, Anthony Bednar fully supported the rest of his family participating actively in the Church, and he would often step in and participate in meetings and Church activities, including various service projects, whereby he was in essence functioning in the same supportive way as other Church members did, but as one who was not a Church member. Young David would often ask Anthony when he would be baptized, to which his father replied that he would do so when he felt it was right.

Elder Bednar served a mission in southern Germany, during which time, then-Elder Boyd K. Packer visited his mission, and was advised that, in order to get through the necessary border security, he would need money. The future President Packer would later recount in General Conference that a young missionary provided him with the money he needed, and later revealed that Elder Bednar had been that missionary. Elder Bednar attended BYU-Provo, where he earned a bachelor's degree in communication and a master's in organizational communication. He went on to earn a doctoral degree in organizational behavior from the prestigious Purdue University. He met Susan Kae Robinson at an activity for young adults. He recounts that they were playing flag football, and that he threw a pass, which she caught. Susan would later note that, incidentally, that was the only time she could remember catching a pass. That experience left a positive impression on both of them, and the two started dating not long afterward. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975, and would go on to raise 3 sons together.

One major highlight of Elder Bednar's life came long after his marriage. Anthony called his son one day and asked, "Would you be free on (and he named a date in the near future)? I would like you to come and baptize me." He was able to baptize and confirm his father, and also ordained him to the priesthood.

He spent his vocational career as an educator at several secondary schools. For a four-year period (1980-1984), he was an assistant professor of management at what was then the College of Business Administration at the University of Arkansas. He spent the next two years as an assistant professor at Texas Tech University, after which he returned to Arkansas, where he served first as the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, then the Director of the Management Decision-Making Lab. During this time, he was recognized as being an outstanding educator through the receipt of many prestigious awards and honors.

He also had a few ecclesiastical responsibilities within the Church at around the same time. He spent several months as a bishop, then went on to serve first as the president of what was then the Fort Smith Arkansas Stake, then as the first president of the newly-established Rogers Arkansas Stake. During the final months of his service as a stake president, he was called to serve as a regional representative. In 1997, he was among the first men called to serve in the new position of area seventy. That same year, he was also called by the Church Board of Education to serve as president of Ricks College. His tenure there spanned from 1997-2004, during which time he led the transition of that college to BYU-Idaho. In October 2004, as a result of the apostolic vacancies which resulted from the July deaths of Elders Neal A. Maxwell and David B. Haight (which occurred 10 days apart), Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced that the vacancies would be filled by Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf and David A. Bednar.

Interestingly enough, Elders Uchtdorf and Bednar joined only two other current apostles (now-Presidents Nelson and Oaks) who were called to the apostleship without having previously served as a general authority. At the time of his call to the apostleship, Elder Bednar, who was 52 at that time, was the youngest apostle to have been called since then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks (who had been called to the apostleship in 1984 Although he immediately commenced his service in the apostleship, he also continued to serve as president of BYU-Idaho for several weeks prior to the appointment of an interim president. Elder Bednar's tenure as an educator has molded how he speaks and ministers as an apostle. One of his common traditions as he speaks in General Conference is to invite the Holy Ghost to bless him and the rest of us as we listen to his remarks.

Since his October 2004 call to he has given 34 General Conference addresses, which are always well crafted and insightful, and are well worthy of review by all of us. He is currently the fourth-most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (which, including the current members of the First Presidency, makes him the seventh in apostolic seniority), and is still among the younger apostles, being the fifth-youngest both among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and all 15 ordained apostles as well. While I have never had the honor of personally meeting him, from the moment his apostolic call was first announced and onward since then, I have had a testimony that his apostolic call has been inspired and directed by the Lord, which I reiterate to you all today.

Given his relatively younger age in comparison to both the six apostles senior to him, and four of the eight apostles who are junior to him, I fully believe that, at some point in the future, Elder Bednar may serve as Church President. That, of course, will be up to the Lord’s will and the health and longevity of Presidents Nelson, Oaks, Eyring, and Ballard, and that of Elders Holland and Uchtdorf. And I want to make it very clear that such a prospect is merely my own personal opinion, and not anything I can attribute to anyone else. That being said, some of you will no doubt notice that one of the labels attachked to this post is "Temple Construction Update". That may warrant additional context from me.

Generally, when a new president of the Church is ordained, he has the prophetic prerogative to make assignment changes for his fellow apostles. Prior to the passing of President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Quentin L. Cook was serving as the Chairman of the Temple and Family History Executive Council. Within a couple of months after President Nelson's ordination and setting apart as Church President, Elder Cook was reassigned as the Chairman of the Priesthood and family Exeuctive Council, with Elder Bednar succeeding his immediate apostolic junior and seatmate as the Chairman of the Church's Temple Department. While Elder Bednar has served in that capacity, President Nelson has announced an unprecedented 70 nw temples, so there has been a lot for that council to consider throughout the last several years, and which will likely continue to be true for the forseeable future.

I am grateful to have been able to provide this tribute to Elder Bednar as he marks he 69th birthday today. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to bring you word of thos as I receve 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: Site Locations Announced and Preliminary Details Confirmed for Three Temples in the Western United Statles

Hello again, everyone! More breaking temple news has been reported by the Church this morning. The site locations and preliminary details have been confirmed for 3 temples in the Western United States. Each of the three were announced by President Nelson in last April's General Conference, and two of them will be a similar size to the Helena Montana Temple, so I'd anticipate on those two that the site announcements will be followed fairly shortly by released renderings and groundbreakings set to occur in coming months. Let's get to the details.

The Casper Wyoming and Elkn Nevada Temples are each planned to be 10,000 square foot edfices, which will be the sole buildings on the sites in question. The Casper temple will rise at a 9.5 acre site at the intersection of southwest Wyoming Boulevard and Eagle Drive. Meanwhile, the temple in Elko will be buillt adjacent to the southeast corner of Ruby View golf course.

Meanwhile, the tthird temple to have preliminary details unveiled is the Smithfield Utah Temple, which is planned to be a 3-story temple of roughly 81,000 square feet. It is planned to be built on a 13.3 acre site at the interxection of 800 West and 100 North. It appears that the Smithfield Temple will be around the same size as the Lindon Utah Temple, so the exterior rendering for Smithfield, when that is released, may look similar or identical to (or at least have some similar elementsx to) that temple.

Based on the timing of this announcement, it would not shock me in any way if all 3 temples were underway by the end of the year. And again, if swift approval can be obtained for the Casper Wyoming and Elko Nevada Temples, then theey might be likely to also use the modular design and be ready for dedication within 12-15 months of when those projects begin.

On my end, I continue to monitor all such updates and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here. 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 Date Set for Helena Montana Temple

Hello again, everyone! In early May, when the Church announced an August groundbreaking for the Salvation Brazil Temple, I had theorized that other temple groundbreakings could be scheduled to occur. At the time, I was thinking about the Pago Pago, Neiafu, and Port Moresby Temples in the Pacific. However, I was open to the idea that others could be scheduledl as well.

I am pleased, therefore, to report this mroning that, two months after being announced in the last General Conference, and around 6 weeks after having its' site confirmed and rendering released, a groundbreaking date has been released for the Helena Montana Temple. By contrast to other temples which have had or will have a groundbreaking in the midst of COVID-19, an exact date has been announced for this event. It will take place before the end of this month, on  Saturday June 26.

Elder Vern P. Stanfill, a native of Montana, who is currently serving as First Counselor in the North America Southeast Area and will become the area president in August, will preside at this groundbreaking for the temple  Since he was born and raised in an area less than 35 miles from where the temple will be built, he has various personal connections to the area, which is why he will oversee this groundbreaking outside of his area assignment.

As noted previously, the Helena Montana Temple is anticipated to use modular parts that can be put together on-site and hasten construction on the temple. The construction process is anticipated to take 12-15 months, so a dedication for this temple could easily occur in mid-to-late 2022. As I previously noted, I anticipate that this temple will be a pilot test for how quickly temples of a similar size, design, and used materials can be built.

It will be interesting to see what happens there. 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.