BREAKING NEWS: Transcripts of General Conference Now Available

Hello again, everyone! This is just a quick note to confirm that the transcripts of talks given during last weekend's General Conference are now available. President Nelson has invited us to regularly review those addresses for the next six months, so I'd urge all mty readers to follow and take advantage of that invitation.

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: Temple Reopenings To Continue Throughout October

 Hello again, everyone! A shot time ago, the Church released its' weekly update on temple reopenings. Aside from the main Church News report, updates have also been relfected in the temple reopening status tracker and were documented in the updated Newsroom release.  Let's get into the details. Two temples, which had previously paused their reopening due to COVID-19 conditions, regulations, and restrictions, have reopened in phase 3: Duban South Africa and Papeete Tahiti.

Additionally, several weeks ago, the Church announced that, following the dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple (which is set to occur on Saturday November 7), that temple will open in phase 3 right off the bat. The Church also announced this morning that the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, which is scheduled to be dedicated on October 31 (with that announcement coming after the information about Pocatello's opening was announced) will also start operations in phase 3.

The Medford Oregon Temple, which had originally been projected to move to phase 3 in August,  has not yet transitioned to that phase, and no new updates are available on when that might occur.  The Church also has 7 temples remaining in phases 1 or 2 (neither of which opens those temples for proxy work), among which 2 temples are closed for renovations.

It may also be of interest to some of you that, with the recent renovation closure of the Manti Utah Temple going into effect over General Conference weekend, the Church has given that temple a phase 3 designation so that patrons within that temple district can schedule living and proxy ordinances at the temples nearest to them. 

The latest announcements leaves the reopening status of temples worldwide as follows: 9 closed for renovation (all but 2 of which of those districts have been granted phase 3 designations); with 3 more each either paused (2 in phase 3 and 1 in phase 2) or in phases 1 & 2; 4 temples operating in phase 2-B (allowing all living ordinances in priority order in addition to limited poxy baptisms by appointmen); and the remaining 146 are in phase 3.

The Church continues to monitor conditions and restrictions relating to COVID-19 and to adjust temple reopening plans accordingly in a cautious and carefully-coordinated manner, which continues to be wonderful to observe. I testify The inspired nature of thsese reopening announcements week-to-week have been both humbling and gratifying to see. I testify that the Lord, though inspiration and providing good information to our apostles in the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, is directly effecting the miraculous circumstances under which each week's announcements are made.

On my end, I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all 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: President Nelson Announces 13 New Temples As the October 2021 General Conference Concludes

Hello again, everyone! As the concluding moments of General Conference neared its' President Russell M. Nelson announced 13 new temples of the Church. Given this developing news, I am going to publish an initial version of this post, then update it as I can carry out that analysis thereof. I anticipate that most of these temples will be on the smaller side, to fill existing gaps. I am grateful that, on my own list, I had the following locations exactly correct: Tacloban City Philippines, Monrovia Liberia; Antananarivo Madagascar; Culiacan Mexico; La Paz Bolivia; Fort Worth Texas; Rexburg North Idaho; and Heber Valley Utah.

Meanwhile, I had the following general locations correct, but the specific city was not what I listed: Kaohsiung, Taiwan (I had predicted Taichung); Kananga Democratic Republic of the Congo (I had Mbuji-Mayi on my list, which could be the next one for that nation); Vitoria Brazil (I had prioitized other prospects); Santiago West Chile (I had prioritized Osorno and Vina del Mar); and Cody Wyoming (I had again prioritized Evanston).

It might take me a few days into this week before I can even post a preliiminary analysis of my General Conference predictions. For now, though, the other major development was the prophet announcing that, once the Orem Utah Temple is in operation, the Provo Utah Temple will be closed for an extensive reconstructive process. So that's a breaking news update I wasn't anticipating, though I am not as surprised by another double-digit number of new temples being announced. 

With these 13 announced temples, the total number of temples throughout the world in any phase has now risen to 265. It's also worth noting, I think, that the temples announced for Libeia and Madagascar will kick both of those nations off of the list of the top ten nations with the stongest Church presence without a temple. Liberia and Madagascar had been second and third on that list respectively.

I'd probably defer to Matthew Matinich at the Church Growth Blog for any information on how the latest temples on the list haing temples announced has changed that top ten list. In any case, I am impressed by the announcement of 13 new temples today. Hopefully a lot of those temples will be smaller and more easily approved. And the more I think about that, the moe it occurs to me that maybe President Nelson doesn't need to spell out the specifics of his temple construction plans, since his fellow apostles have been open on that subject.

I am grateful to have learned about this development and to pass it along to you all here. I continue to monitor ongoing Church News and temple construction updates and will bring you all word of those 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.

First Day of General Conference Constitutes Some Surprising Developments

 Hello again, everyone! After trying to wrap my head around some of the nuances that occurred during the three Saturday Sessions of General Conference. In the first session, I correctly predicted that Presdient Nelson would open the first session, which would be closed with an address from President Oaks. I also correctly pinpointed the 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve, though I had them in the wrong order. In the afternoon session, I correctly predicted 3 apostles that would speak (though I had added a fourth that didn't), and that President Eyring would lead the sustaining vote.

And I was correct as well that President Ballard would be the member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in the Saturday Evening Session, and that President Henry B. Eyring spoke during that session. But I was incorrect about the other First Presidency members also speaking to close out that session. I was also not anticipating the high number of general officers, including more specifically the significantly-higher number of female speakers.. Additionally, I did not anticipate that so many GA Seventies, including one member of the Presidency of the Seventy, would also speak.

So, at the outset, it looks like I owe someone here an apology. In a previous thread, when I published my speaking order predictions, someone (wish I could recall who it was) mentioned a theory that the entire First Presidency would not speak to conclude the Saturday Evening Session. Although it seems unimportant right now, I apparently dismissed the idea because there wasn't any kind of precedent for such a prediction, and because it was not clear whether the entire First Presidency speaking during that session was more traditional than a doctrinally-based requirement. Since it has been noted by a previous apostle 

So here we are, about 9 hours from when the encore "Music & the Spoken Word" episode will immediately precede the Sunday Morning Session. Each counselor in the First Presidency has spoken once, but that's only if President Eyring presenting changes in Church leadership for a sustaining vote is not considered. President Nelson is going into the final two sessions of this General Conference with just his opening address, and it's not very clear at the moment whether either or both counselors will be giving one more address each.

But when I thought about this further, my mind was drawn to a statement made years ago by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, who was quoted in Doctrines of the Restoration as follows: "The proper course for all of us is to stay in the mainstream of the Church. This is the Lord’s Church, and it is led by the spirit of inspiration, and the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scripture”  

In view of the statement, if the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scriptures, then it waws clearly more tradition than official doctrine or policy that the entire First Presidency speaks in an evening meeting. What that mean for the concluding sessions of General Conference is that with 5 apostles left to speak, it seems likely that the Sunday Morning Session will see remarks from 3 apostles, since that has been standard, and that the 2 apsotles remaining will do so in the Sunday Afternoon Session.

But as a ChurchBeat email noted, with 8 addresses of a normal length occuring in the first 3 sessions, 8 speakers might also be featured in each of the Sunday Sessions. Whatever happens in the remaining 2 sessions, that will probably illustrate what we can expect from those sessions.going forward While it's possible that the speaker parameters could be changed conference-to-conference, that won't necessarily be taken as rote,. Hopefully there is enough consistency in the rotations to draw some conclusions. 

In any case, this conference has already blown the possiblities clearly out of the water, so I'm not sure what to expect or hope for. But whever happens, you can count on my analysis thereof ASAP. I fully anticipate that President Nelson will announce new temples tomorrow. What will be interesting to see is if he speaks in both sessions, whether either or both of his counselors will do so, and anything else that might point to new patterns and rotational traditions.

I remain committed to bringing you all word of those developments as they occur.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.

Honoring Elder Ulisses Soares on His 63rd Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With the first session of the October 2021 General Conference a little over an hour from now, I am pleased to bring you all a post honoring Elder Ulisses Soares, who is celebrating his 62nd birthday today. Unless I am mistaken on this, it has been several years since any General Conference has coincided with an apostle’s birthday. And among the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Soares is the only one who has not spoken in the first session since the April 2019 General Conference. If, as I have predicted, Elder Soares does wind up speaking in the Saturday Morning Session of General Conference, he would be the first apostle in a while (if not the first one ever) to have the opportunity to address the General Conference audience on his birthday.

As I've mentioned previously, Elder Soares has a most unique life story and background, and I am grateful to share some thoughts about him with you all today. He was born on this day in 1958 in São Paulo Brazil to Apparecido Soares and Mercedes Carecho Soares. He has European and Amerindian ancestry. When an aunt joined the Church, that was how the Soares' family first learned of the gospel. His parents, after being taught by the missionaries, were baptized when young Ulisses was five years old.;

Regarding his experience with worshipping in the Church during his growing-up years, his small branch would meet in a tiny rental place that was located above a bakery. He served a full-time mission in Rio de Janeiro, Upon his return, he connected with;Rosana Fernandes Morgado, who had served in the same mission at around the same time, but whom he had not met until after they both had returned. The two were married in the Sao Paulo Temple, and together they raised three children

His academic experience involved studying at the;;Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, from which, in 1985, he received a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting. He then continued his studies at the;National Institute of Postgraduate Study, where he earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration. He spent his professional career working for several multinational companies (one of which was Pirelli Tire Company) as an accountant and an auditor. Donald L. Clark, who at that time was serving as director of temporal affairs for the Church in Brazil, convinced him to take a job with the Church as a senior auditor.

When Brother Clark was asked to serve as a mission president, Brother Soares took over for him as director of temporal affairs. He went on to fill a special assignment for the Church's Presiding Bishopric. Within the Church, Elder Soares has served as an elder's quorum president, counselor in a bishopric, stake high councilman, and as a regional welfare agent.

When the;São Paulo Brazil Cotia Stake was created in 1995, Elder Soares was called as the first president thereof. 5 years later, he served a three-year term as president of the Porto Portugal Mission. Less than two years after his return (during the April 2005 General Conference), he was called as a General Authority Seventy.

As a General Authority Seventy, he served as First Counselor in the Brazil South Area.from 2005-2007, as First Counselor in the Brazil Area from 2007-2009, and as President of that area from 2009-2011. He served from August 2011-January 2013 as First Counselor in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, at which point he was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the North America Southeast Area; Then, in November 2015, Elder Soares was reassigned to oversee the Idaho and North America Central Areas of the Church. He still had oversight of both of those areas in 2018.

On March 31, 2018, Elder Soares was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and he was ordained an apostle on Thursday April 5, 2018. He thus became both the first Latter-day Saint apostle from Brazil and the first one from Latin America. Elder Soares has had many opportunities to grow into his new assignment. In the last 1.5 decades in which has has served as a general authority, he has given a total of;12 General Conference addresses, with the first 2 given as a General Authority Seventy, 3 more as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 7 given since his 2018 call to the apostleship. He will, of course, be speaking to us again in General Conference either later today, or at some point tomorrow,, which will mark his eighth address as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his eleventh overall.

At this point, I wanted to mention one additional thing: Both the Deseret News and the Church News published articles about the recently-released biography of President Dallin H. Oaks. One of the elements featured in those articles about President Oaks’ biography detailed the conditions under which President Nelson called Presidents Oaks and Eyring as his counselors: Those callings were only made after President Nelson had personally met individually with each of his other 12 apostles. President Nelson requested these interviews with each of his fellow apostles with a desire to have his Brethren’s best thoughts about which two of them should serve as his counselors and who should be called to fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

While we don’t know specifically how Presidents Oaks and Eyring were selected, iit seems to be a safe conclusion that most of the apostles felt those two should be his counselors. And with that being the apparent outcome there, I am reasonably certain that a high percentage of those 12 apostles recommended that Elders Gong and Soares be called to fill the resulting vacancies in the apostleship.

In any case, if nothing else, we know that the Lord inspired the calls of Elders Gong and Soares. I gratefully and wholeheartedly sustain all 15 “special witnesses of Christ” in their divinely-inspired and doctrinally-supported roles prophets, seers, and revelators in their roles and responsibilities as special witnesses of Christ, and am grateful to have been able to provide this birthday tribute to him today. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to bring you all word of the major developments as I learn thereof, particularly those that will occur during this weekend of the October 2021 General Coferece.

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.