UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on February 20, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents. It's worth noting that, just 3 days after this update is published, current Church President Russell M. Nelson will officially pass President Gordon B. Hinckley as the oldest living President of the Church. The first part also includes updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document also shows information on three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the First Presidency as presently constituted until 2024), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles).

The latest version of that document also shows when the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as currently comprised will move up on the list of the longest-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to specifics on when the current members of that Quorum, along with the current First Presidency, will reach the next milestones on that list.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and the timing noted for when each of the other 13 apostles will join that list).

Hopefully this shared data will be of interest to you all, and again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such reports. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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 Announces Two New Missions for 2022; The Division of the 2 European Areas into 3; and the 2022 Area Leadership Assignments

Note: This post was originally published on 4/7/2022 at 3:57 PM, with additional analysis added on 4/8/2022 at 1:12 AM. 

Hello again, everyone! Around 10 minutes ago, the First Presidency made some remarkable announcements: effective July 1, two new missions are coming to Europe: one in the UK, and one in Spain. Additionally, the 2022-2023 area leadership assignments have been announced, with those changes going into effect on August 1. 

In conjunction with the area leadership assignments, the First Presidency additionally announced that the two current Europe Areas (Europe and Europe East) will be divided into 3: Europe Central, Europe East, and Europe North. The division of the European Areas is effective immediately. 

Additionally, for the time being, the nations of Ukraine and Moldova will be separate from the 3 new European Areas, and Elder Kyrylo Pokhylko, an area seventy, will oversee them as an assistant to the Europe North Area Presidency. As I mentioned previously, a separate Church area including Russia had been noted on Classic Maps a week or two ago. Today's announcement supersedes anything I have previously noted or conjectured here on this blog.

Obviously, there is a lot to break down here, but I am preparing for an appointment presently, so I will plan on publishing further analysis on this development later this evening. For now, my thanks once again to you all.

(Added on April 8 at 1:52 AM) Hello again, everyone! Much later than I intended, I am back with the additional analysis I promised. First, regarding the two newest missions of the Church, the Spain Madrid North Mission will be formed from a division of the Spain Madrid and Spain Barcelona Missions. Christopher L. Eastland and Trista S. Eastland have been called to preside over that mission, which will open in early July of this year.

Also opening in early July of this year is the England Bristol Mission, which is being reinstated. The mission will be reformed from parts of 3 other missions in England: England Birmingham, England Leeds, and England London. The Church has reassigned Kevin E. and Janine D. Gallacher, who have presided over the England Birmingham Mission since July of last year, to oversee the opening of this new mission, with Adam and Heather West set to preside over the England Birmingham Mission as replacements for President and Sister Gallacher. The creation of these two missions bring the total number of missions worldwide to 411.

That brings me to my analysis of the area leadership assignments. The Church has split the Europe and Europe East Areas into what will now be known as the Europe Central, Europe East, and Europe North Areas. The presidency of the Europe Area (Massimo De Feo, Erich W. Kopischke, and Ruben V. Alliaud) will serve as the presidency of the new Europe Central Area (with the headquarters remaining in Frankfurt Germany), with the Europe Central Area including the following nations: 

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The realigned Europe East Area will consist of the nations of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, with the area headquarters remaining in Moscow. 3 area seventies (Alexey V. Samaykin, Nikolai Ustyuzahaninov, and Aleksandr A. Drachyov) will serve as the presidency of that area. Meanwhile, Elders Hans T. Boom and Scott D. Whiting, who have been the President and First Counselor in the Europe East Area, will shift over to become the President and First Counselor in the Europe North Area, joined by Second Counselor Alan T. Phillips, an area seventy.

Elder Kyrylo Pokhylko, an area seventy who most recently was the Second Counselor in the Europe East Area presidency (working with Elders Boom and Whiting) has been reassigned as an assistant to the Europe North Area Presidency, where he will have primary oversight for the nations of Ukraine and Moldova, which will not be directly assigned to any of the three European areas for the time being.

The Europe North Area, with headquarters in the United Kingdom, will consist of the following nations: Cape Verde, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Aside from these notes, I have taken time to analyze the new area leadership assignments for the now-23 geographical areas of the Church. I have compiled the relevant data into two documents.

The first shows an alphabetical list (by last names) of General Authority Seventies and Area Seventies who are being called to and/or released from area leadership roles. The second shows the alphabetical order of the 23 areas of the Church and details the changes (or lack thereof) for each of those area presidencies. Hopefully both documents are informative to you all in providing the details about area leadership changes. And again, the changes in the 3 Europe Areas are effective immediately, with the changes to the other 20 presidencies being effective on August 1 of this year. I am grateful to have been able to analyze and report on these changes. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates. Unless there are 1 or more major Church news or temple updates provided later today (Friday), the next development will occur on Saturday, when ground will be broken for the Bahia Blanca Argentina Temple. Then on Sunday, it will be time for the next apostolic milestone update. I am reasonably certain other major updates will be provided later this month.

To the best of my ability, I will track them all and be sure to pass word of them along here as soon as I can once I learn about them. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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: Church Releases Transcripts of Addresses Given During the April 2022 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to report breaking news to you all tonight. The transcripts of all addresses given during last weekend's General Conference have been published today. I am grateful that the Church is now able to make those available so soon after each General Conference. I will publish another post with updated documents relating to this conference later this week.

Either by the end of this week or early next week, I hope to have my General Conference predictions analyzed and published here as well. In the meantime, I am also hard at work on the initial draft of my predictions for the October 2022 General Conference. So there are a lot of great projects coming down the pike for this blog. I also continue to monitor all Church news reports and temple construction updates and will pass along those updates ASAP 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 

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 17 New Temples

Hello again, everyone! At the end of his address to conclude the April 2022 General Conference, our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, announced 17 new temples, which will be built in the following locations: Wellington New Zealand, Brazzaville Republic of the Congo, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Maceio and Santos Brazil, San Luis Potosi and Mexico City Benemérito, Tampa Florida, Knoxville Tennessee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, Missoula Montana, Montpelier Idaho, and Modesto California.

Regarding the temples that were announced today, I had the precise location correct for 10 of them (Wellington NZ, Barcelona Spain, Birmingham England (UK), Cusco Peru, Knoxville Tennesee, Cleveland Ohio, Wichita Kansas, Austin Texas, and Missoula Montana. I had the right general location (nation, state, or region) for 5 others. I favored Pointe-Noire over Brazzaville and I was reasonably certain that temples in Brazil and Mexico would both be announced. I was surprised there were 2 each for each nation.

I believe that I can take credit for being partially right on the Mexico City Mexico Benemerito Temple, since I had a Mexico City South Mexico Temple on my list. Likewise, I was reasonably certain another temple was coming for Florida, but I had Pensacola/Jacksonville instead of Tampa. And I wasn't anticipating San Luis Potosi this soon, nor were Maceio and Santos on my radar. and the final 2 (Montpelier Idaho and Medesto California) weren't either. 

With today's announcement, the number of temples in any phase has increased from 265 to 282. And the total number of temples announced by President Nelson has now officially reached 100. Of course, that also raises the number of announced temples to 66. I am more impressed than ever to see how President Nelson's inspired announcements are constantly bringing temples closer to the people who have previously experienced undue hardship to get to their currently-assigned temples.

As previously noted, groundbreakings have been scheduled for the following 8 temples between April and June: Bahia Blanca Argentina, Grand Junction Colorado, Lindon Utah, Farmington New Mexico, Elko Nevada, Burley Idaho, Smithfield Utah, and Yorba Linda California. I have a feeling that before the last of these (Smithfield and Yorba Linda) have their groundbreakings on June 18, the Church will have scheduled others. I am not sure which temples could have groundbreaking arrangements announced by June 18, but wouldn't be shocked if the Willamette Valley Oregon, Ephraim Utah, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Torreon Mexico, and Cali Colombia Temples were among the next to have groundbreakings set.

I also anticipate that either before the end of June or in August or September, announcements would be made Greater Guatemala City Guatemala, Queretaro Mexico, Cape Town South Africa, Tarawa Kiribati, Port Vila Vanuatu, and Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. And of course, we can't rule out other unexpected announcements leading to groundbreakings for other temples.

Whatever might happen in terms of Church news updates or temple developments, you can count on my reporting those to you all as I become aware of all such reports. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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: New Guidelines and Parameters Set for Saturday Evening Session

Note: This post, composed on Tuesday April 5, was retroactively dated April 2, in view of a major announcement made during the Saturday Evening Session that was inadvertently overlooked. It bears the date and timestamp which would have originally been applied, had the post been published after the announcement as usual.

Hello again, everyone! President Dallin H. Oaks, who represented the First Presidency at the request of Church President and Prophet Russell M. Nelson, announced a "new direction" involving the new guidelines and parameters which will be in place for the Saturday Evening Sessions going forward. He noted that the parameters of all General Conference sessions, including speakers and music, have been approved by the First Presidency. He then noted that the Saturday Evening Session will continue "for now", but with a different direction and focus than prior Saturday Evening Sessions have had. 

In the same way that Women's Sessions have been conducted by the presidents of the female-led organizations of the Church, any of the 15 General Officers of the Church in the 5 General Presidencies thereof may be called upon to conduct future Saturday Evening Sessions of General Conference. This will reduce and simplify the workload of the First Presidency as well. In general, the First Presidency has always been responsible for conducting all general sessions of General Conference, with the obvious exception of the Women's Sessions. 

There was also a period of time between 1981 and 1985 wherein President Hinckley was the only active member of the First Presidency, and with the approval of President Spencer W. Kimball, called upon President Ezra Taft Benson, then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to assist in conducting the sessions of General Conference. 

So it will be interesting every April and October from now on to see what kind of session is held, to whom that session is directed, and how that will play into which of the 15 General Officers conduct that session. I am excited for the future of this session, and to see how long it might continue to be part of General Conference weekend. 

I am grateful to have been able to provide this report to you all here. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and remain committed to bringing word of those to you all as such updates are provided. 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines. 

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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.