Honoring Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf on His 81st Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being November 6, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf is celebrating his 80th birthday. Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf was born to Karl Albert and Hildegard Else Opelt Uchtdorf on this day in 1940 in the city of Ostrava, which, at that time, was known as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, but is now identified as the Czech Republic. With his family twice becoming refugees, he grew up in Germany, where his family joined the Church in 1947. 

Due to developing an early interest in airplane flying, he studied engineering, business administration, and international management, after which he joined the German Air Force in 1959, where he trained to be a fighter pilot. In 1965, he joined Lufthansa German Airlines as a pilot, working as an airline captain from 1970-1996. He held many responsible executive positions with German Airlines. He reported feeling discouraged about having to learn English, but has also described how he was able to do so.

He married Harriet Reich (whom he had met when the missionaries brought her and her family to Church while he was a young man) on December 14, 1962 ,and they both have different recollections of the details whereby they actually got together). They raised two children and now have several grandchildren, along with a few great-grandchildren. He served as a stake president before his call as a General Authority. During that time, he gave an instrumental interview to the press in which he tackled tough topics related to his faith as the Frankfurt Germany Temple prepared to open. 

He was subsequently sustained as a General Authority on April 2, 1994, and was initially assigned to the Second Quorum of the Seventy. Roughly two years later, on April 6, 1996, he was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy. He became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on August 15, 2002 and was sustained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 2, 2004 and ordained an apostle on October 7, 2004 (becoming the eleventhth apostle born outside the United States).

On February 3, 2008, he was set apart as the Second Counselor in the First Presidency to President Thomas S. Monson. Although 12 men born outside the United States have served as apostles, he became only the sixth apostle born outside the United States to be called to serve in the First Presidency. At the time of his call to the First Presidency, he was the thirteenth in apostolic seniority. During the period of almost a decade in which he served alongside President Monson and First Counselor President Henry B. Eyring, the deaths of six apostles senior to him meant he had become the seventh in apostolic seniority. 

And with the death of President Monson occurring just three months after the death of Elder Robert D. Hales, the First Presidency was dissolved.The new Church President, Russell M. Nelson, chose as his counselors his seatmate Elder Dallin H. Oaks and President Eyring. As a result, Elder Uchtdorf returned to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When he departed that Quorum to serve in the First Presidency, he had been the tenth most senior member of that Quorum, and he returned to it as the third in seniority, with only Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ahead of him. 

In recognition of his administrative capacities and capabilities, his assignments as a recently-reassigned Quorum member were those that had previously been held by the three who had been the most senior members of the Quorum prior to that time (Presidents Nelson, Oaks, and Ballard). Elder Uchtdorf has spoken frequently about ways in which Church members should consider themselves called to action. I enjoy hearing what he has to say in his General Conference addresses every six months.

Throughout his 26 years as a general authority, and his now-16 years as a special witness of the Savior, (including almost a decade of service in the First Presidency), he has now given 72 addresses in General Conference. Of those, 2 were given prior to his apostolic call, though the Church's list for some reason omits the first address he gave as a new General Authority Seventy.  He also gave 7 addresses between the time of his call to the apostleship and his subsequent call to the First Preidency. He then gave 57 more addresses in General Conference during the near-decade in the First Presidency, and has given 6 more addresses since resuming his position in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Uchtdorf is a man of great personal warmth and charm, and we are blessed indeed to have him among the Special Witnesses of Christ at this time. He has always struck a very warm and welcoming tone in his public discourses, and his current assignments are a clear testament to the great faith the Brethren have in him. In addition to being the third-most-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he is also the third-oldest, behind only President Ballard and Elder Quentin L. Cook. He is also the seventh-most-senior apostle overall, and the sixth-oldest of the 15 apostles overall. I am grateful for the life and ministry of this charismatic servant of the Lord, and appreciate the opportunity I had to offer this post in tribute to his 80th birthday today.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it. 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 all that you do.

Due to developing an early interest in airplane flying, he studied engineering, business administration, and international management, after which he joined the German Air Force in 1959, where he trained to be a fighter pilot. In 1965, he joined Lufthansa German Airlines as a pilot, working as an airline captain from 1970-1996. He held many responsible executive positions with German Airlines. He reported feeling discouraged about having to learn English, but has also described how he was able to do so.

He married Harriet Reich (whom he had met when the missionaries brought her and her family to Church while he was a young man) on December 14, 1962 ,and they both have different recollections of the details whereby they actually got together). They raised two children and now have several grandchildren, along with a few great-grandchildren.He served as a stake president before his call as a General Authority. During that time, he gave an instrumental interview to the press in which he tackled tough topics related to his faith as the Frankfurt Germany Temple prepared to open. 

He was subsequently sustained as a General Authority on April 2, 1994, and was initially assigned to the Second Quorum of the Seventy. Roughly two years later, on April 6, 1996, he was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy. He became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy on August 15, 2002 and was sustained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 2, 2004 and ordained an apostle on October 7, 2004 (becoming the eleventhth apostle born outside the United States).

On February 3, 2008, he was set apart as the Second Counselor in the First Presidency to President Thomas S. Monson. Although 12 men born outside the United States have served as apostles, he became only the sixth apostle born outside the United States to be called to serve in the First Presidency. At the time of his call to the First Presidency, he was the thirteenth in apostolic seniority. During the period of almost a decade in which he served alongside President Monson and First Counselor President Henry B. Eyring, the deaths of six apostles senior to him meant he had become the seventh in apostolic seniority. 

And with the death of President Monson occurring just three months after the death of Elder Robert D. Hales, the First Presidency was dissolved.The new Church President, Russell M. Nelson, chose as his counselors his seatmate Elder Dallin H. Oaks and President Eyring. As a result, Elder Uchtdorf returned to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When he departed that Quorum to serve in the First Presidency, he had been the tenth most senior member of that Quorum, and he returned to it as the third in seniority, with only Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland ahead of him. 

In recognition of his administrative capacities and capabilities, his assignments as a recently-reassigned Quorum member were those that had previously been held by the three who had been the most senior members of the Quorum prior to that time (Presidents Nelson, Oaks, and Ballard). Elder Uchtdorf has spoken frequently about ways in which Church members should consider themselves called to action. I enjoy hearing what he has to say in his General Conference addresses every six months.

Throughout his 26 years as a general authority, and his now-17 years as a special witness of the Savior, (including almost a decade of service in the First Presidency), he has now given 74 addresses in General Conference. Of those, 2 were given prior to his apostolic call, though the Church's list for some reason omits the first address he gave as a new General Authority Seventy.  He also gave 7 addresses between the time of his call to the apostleship and his subsequent call to the First Preidency. He then gave 57 more addresses in General Conference during the near-decade in the First Presidency, and has given 8 more addresses since resuming his position in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Uchtdorf is a man of great personal warmth and charm, and we are blessed indeed to have him among the Special Witnesses of Christ at this time. He has always struck a very warm and welcoming tone in his public discourses, and his current assignments are a clear testament to the great faith the Brethren have in him. In addition to being the third-most-senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he is also the third-oldest, behind only President Ballard and Elder Quentin L. Cook. He is also the seventh-most-senior apostle overall, and the sixth-oldest of the 15 apostles overall. I am grateful for the life and ministry of this charismatic servant of the Lord, and appreciate the opportunity I had to offer this post in tribute to his 81st birthday today.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it. 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 all that you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: All Temple Cafeterias Will Close, Effective in Early 2022

Hello again, everyone! As some of you are no doubt aware. several temples of the Church around the world have had caeterias in operation for their patrons and workers to obtain good food as they worship and work in the temple. But one of the top initial temple updates on the renovation process for the Salt Lake Temple, as reported in March of this year, was a decision to close the cafetera in that temple and repurpose it for temple worship spaces.

Today, a second major temple development announced by the Church was that, effective in early 2022, all temple cafeterias will pernmanently close. The two exceptions are for the Guayaquil Ecuador and Hamilton New Zealand Temples, where a longer transitionary period will be required. The announcement also noted that the Church has already closed some temple cafeterias due to COVID-19, and that those will not reopen. This move comes as the result of the Church continuing its' steady efforts to reduce and simplify the day-to-day operations of the Church on a global scale.

But more than that, based on the fact that a major focus of President Nelson's prophetic priorities for the Church is to determine what is most needful for the members thereof, and how the Church can focus on whar really matters (the work for the living and the dead that is performed in temples). This also opens up the prospect that for the temples that had operated cafeterias, current or future renovations could repurpose those spaces for temple worship.

Makes perfect sense to me. While I wouldn't have traded my experiences as a worker in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple (which included regular stops at the cafeteria and numerous memories in the early 2010s when I met my wife in that temple and we had numerous opportunities to eat together while we served together, I can understand the reasoning behind these decisions.

And in the future, if the Church no longer is needing to plan to include temple cafeterias in some of the larger temples, that would create more space for temple worship to occur.rega I am grateful for this inspired directive and testify that it was the result of revelation to those 15 men I gratefully sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators.ark

I will be back tomorrow with another new post, honoring Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who will then be celebrating his 81st birthday. The following Saturday, Elder Dale G. Renlund will mark his 69th birthday, and the day after that will mark the last 2021 update I will share regarding apostolic age and tenure milestones.

So 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: Revised Opening Arrangements Announced for Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple

Hello again, everyone! In a stunning announcement that I did not see coming at all, the First Presidency has announced the revised opening arrangements for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, Open house tours will occur between Saturday March 26 and Saturday April 16, with the exceptions of Sunday March 27, Saturday and Sunday April 2 and 3 (General Conference weekend), and Sunday April 10.

A youth devotional wilnl take place on Saturday May 7, 2022, and the temple will be dedicated in 3 sessions the following day (at 9:00 AM, 12:00 PM, and 3:00 PM Rio de Janeiro time). Elder Gary E. Stevenson, the only remaining member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who has not yet presided at a temple dedication, will preside at this one.

I think I would be remiss if I didn't share some thoughts about the timing of the dedication arrangements here. As some of you might recall, back in July, the First Presidency announced revised reopening arrangements for the Washington D.C. Temple, which will see that temple rededicated on June 19. With the Rio de Janeiro dedication now set for My 7, that will occur before the Washington D.C. Temple rededication.

It's also worth noting that, with this temple dedication set in May, there seems to be a high likelihood that the opening arrangements for the Yigo Guam and Qutio Ecuador Temple could be set to occur before this dedication of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple. But for temples outside the United States, COVID-19 is the big variable in play here. It's also worth noting that I am more than slghtly surprised that the Church isn't sending native Brazilian apostle Elder Ulisses Soares to dedicate this temple.

And with Elder Stevenson being assigned to preside at this dedication instead, it will be interesting to see who actually is assigned to preside at the dedications of the Yigo Guam and Quito Ecuador Temple. With President Ballard set to dedicate the Pocatello Idaho Temple this weekend, and Elder Stevenson designated to dedicate the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, it will be interesting to see what unfolds going forward with the scheduling of other temple openings and which apostles might be assigned to preside at each of those events.

The announcement of the Rio de Janeiro Temple's revised opening arrangements also gives me hope that the Church will be able to  set the reopenings for Tojkyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand soon as well. And it will be interesting to see how COVID-19 might impact the scheduling of other temple openings as well. I remain cautiously optimistic that the Church might have some groundbreaking announcements made soon for other temples.

I will monitor all such developments and bring you word thereof here as i become aware of it.

In the meantime, 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: PDF Version of November 2021 Church Magazines Are Now Available

Hello again, everyone! This will just be a very brief post from me. I am pleased to share that the Church has made the PDF versions of the November 2021 Church Magazines available. This will enable me to cover how my pdrojected version of the Liahona table of contents for Noember compared to the actual corresponding page numbers. I am also taking time to look at the list of magazine editors and advisers for each magazine to see what (if anything) has changed in that respect. This post will be updated with those details as I complete that analysis. 

(The remaining content of this post was added just prior to noon on November 4): Having completed my analysis, it appears that, in some cases where the First Presidency talks have taken 3-4 pages each, they are now each taking about 2-3 pages, and that the shorter time each member of the Quorum of the Twelve is alloted means that most of them will have talks of 2-3 pages in length as well. It seems safe to assume that the Church will keep this format going forward. The corrected page numbers are listed on the document to which I linked above.

Additionally, I have done some analysis on the changes in  magazine editors and advisers. The advisers listed for the Liahona and the Friend remain unchanged, and with Elder Adrian Ochoa now serving in the Mexico Area Presidency, the Church has called Elder Valeri V. Cordono to replace Elder Ochoa as an adviser to the "For the Strength of Youth" magazine. Looking ahead to next year, Elders Randy D. Funk and Walter F. Gonzalez are both set to observe their 70th birthdays during 2022, which will mean both will be granted emeritus status in the October 2022 General Conference.

So there will likely be a significant turnover of assignments next year. Among those turning 70 next year are one member each from the Africa Central (Joseph W. Sitati), Africa West (Larry S. Kacher), Africa South (Christoffel Golden), and Middle East/Africa North (Randy D. Funk), the current Church Historian and Recorder (LeGrand R. Curtis). It will be interesting to see what happens going forward in the next few months with those assignments.

In the meantime, 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: Temple Construction Progress Report

Hello again, everyone! As almost of you are obviously aware, the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple was dedicated on Sunday by Elder Gerrit W. Gong, and this Sunday,  Acting President M. Russell Ballard will preside at the dedication of the Pocatello Idaho Temple. Construction has also concluded for the Yigo Guam Temple, and with the first president and matron of that temple having arrived, hopefully the announcement of opening arrangements for that temple will be made by the end of this month. In addition to having the final stages of construction wrapping up, there has not yet been an announcement about the first president and matron for the Quito Ecuador Temple. 

Similarly, we are awaiting the announcement of opening arrangements for both the Tokyo Japan and Hamilton New Zealand Temples. Hopefully those arrangements are forthcoming.  While those opening (or reopening) arrangements are pending for four temples (two new, and two for which renovations have been completed), a new report from the Church Temples site includes a stunning update on the Helena Montana Temple, including a move up the queue so it is now below Saratoga Springs Utah. 

The resulting adjustments that I've made to my temple construction progress report show changes in the queue and several updated and revised estimates for dedication windows, in addition to new reports on the status of Moses Lake Washington and Puebla Mexico Temples. Other than these preliminary notes, the changes in the temple construction progress report speak for themselves, and I was grateful to be able to provide them for you now. I am hopefully that on at least one of the final two days of this week, a breaking update will be shared on at least one temple, though I can't rule out the prospect of two days straight wherein new temple updates are shared.

In the meantime, 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.