BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Additional Phase 4 Transitions Announced; More than Half of Temples Worldwide Now Open in that Phase

Hello again, everyone! On the heels of yesterday's announcement that the number of temples in Phase 4 was almost doubling, I am stunned and thrilled to be posting with yet another update: A new announcement made this afternoon indicates that more temples have been set to start transitioning to Phase 4. The latest changes are also outlined in the newly-updated status tracker. With that said, let's get to the details of today's unexpected additional update: 

11 more temples began that transition as of today. The temples in question are: Calgary and Edmonton Alberta; Baton Rouge Louisiana; Detroit Michigan; Johannesburg South Africa; Palmyra New York; Philadelphia Pennsylvania; Regina Saskatchewan; Toronto Ontario; Vancouver British Columbia; and Winnipeg Manitoba. 

As a result of today's announcement the reopening status for each of our current temples breaks down as follows: 8 are closed for major renovations (all of which have been designated a phase 3 status, allowing patrons within those districts to schedule living and proxy work at temples closest to them); 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) continues to have operations paused/suspended; 1 more is in phase 1; and with 0 in either phases 2 or 2-B, that leaves 77 temples in phase 3, and the remaining 83 in phase 4.

Although this announcement was unexpected today, I am grateful to have been able to learn about this and to pass the information along to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will do my best to pass all such updates along as 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 TEMPLE NEWS: Number of Temples Announced for Phase 4 Reopening Almost Doubles

Hello again, everyone! Last week, we got the unexpected announcement that 37 temples had begun or would soon begin a transition to phase 4 operations (marking a return back to pre-pandemic temple operations). I shared my opinion in that previous report that other temples could also soon start to transition to more normal operations.So I am pleased to report this morning that another significant update from the Church on temple reopenings has been provided. With today's announcement, the number of temples transitioning to phase 4 will almost double from 37 to 72 of the Church's current 170 operating temples. Let's break down the details: 

4 of the 35 additional temples actually began that process before today's announcement. The four temples (and the dates the transitions began, listed in parentheses) are Newport Beach California (March 27), Kona Hawai.i (April 4), Raleigh North Carolina (April 13), and Sacramento California (April 16). The remaining 31 all started their transition today. 

Those temples are: Gilbert, Mesa, Phoenix, Snowflake, and The Gila Valley Arizona;  Bountiful, Brigham City, and Ogden Utah;  Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio Texas; Arequipa, Lima, and Trujillo Peru;  Boise, Idaho Falls, and Twin Falls Idaho; Barranquilla and Bogota Colombia; Los Angeles and Oakland California; Las Vegas and Reno Nevada; Albuquerque New Mexico; Caracas Venezuela; Cardston Alberta; Cochabamba Bolivia; Fort Collins Colorado;  Guayaquil Ecuador; Kona Hawaii;  Oklahoma City Oklahoma; and Raleigh North Carolina.

As a result of these changes, the phase breakdown for the 170 temples of the Church is as follows: 8 are closed for major renovations (with all 8 being granted phase 3 designations, allowing patrons in those districts to schedule phase 3 ordinances at the nearest open temple); 1 more (Kyiv Ukraine) continues to have its' reopening suspended until further notice; 1 in phase 1; 0 in phases 2 and 2-B; 88 remaining in phase 3; and, of course, the remaining 72 are now beginning to return to normal operations. 

These updates have also been detailed in the status tracker for temple reopenings. Oddly enough, the Newsroom release for temple reopenings has not yet been updated with this information. As always, I am grateful for the inspired way that temple reopenings have been handled, and I am pleased to have been able to pass those updates along. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple updates and will do my best to pass those along to you all as I become aware thereof.

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.

April 2022 Post-Conference Document Update

Hello again, everyone! Since tomorrow (Saturday April 16) marks two weeks since the April 2022 General Conference, as time has allowed, I have updated several documents I have that relate to that conference. This post will share those documents. So first, I have a look back at my projections for the speaker lineup and how that compared with what we actually saw; my projections (and the results thereof) for changes in general Church leadership; and the list I had compiled of potential temple locations, with a look at what was actually announced.

I also went through and scored those predictions. For the speaker lineup, the changes in general Church leadership, and the potential temples, 3 points were possible for each element. A score of 3 for the speaker lineup meant I had the right person in the right slot in the right session. A score of 2 was awarded if I had a speaker in the correct session but the wrong order therein. A score of 1 was awarded if I was correct that an individual would speak at all during the conference, and a score of 0 meant someone I had predicted would speak did not do so.

Meanwhile, for the changes in general Church leadership, each possible element was worth 3 points. If an element I had predicted was not included, that was not considered in the scoring. I did not venture any predictions specific to individuals, and each predicted element was scored on a scale from 0-3, depending on how wrong or right I was about the element in question. That document also included the statistical elements I had projected vs. what was in the official release. Each of those elements was also scored from 0-3 within a margin of error that was individualized to the element involved.

As for the temple predictions, for each of the 17 announced, if I had the exact location, that was 3 points. 2 points were awarded if I had the right general location (nation, island, state, etc.) but the wrong specific location (city). And there were a few surprise locations (both of the Brazilian temples are an example), so allowances were also made for that. 

Having posted that explanation, I have created a scoring overview accounting for the individual elements, then with a grand total. The results of that scoring have the accuracy of those predictions at a very respectable 64.5%, which, given all the surprises involved, is something I will gladly take. That would ordinarily conclude the analysis of my conference documents, but I am including some other documents with this analysis as well.

First up, I have compiled a list of the length of each talk given by our apostles during the April 2022 General Conference. Next, I have updated the total number of talks given by each of our apostles, along with a grand total of talks given by our current apostles, including those given before each became an apostle of the Church. And finally, based on the talk transcripts that have been released for the conference, I have crafted another document in which I offer projections for the table of contents for the May 2022 Liahona.

Regarding all of these documents, some may be concerned that the projections on my end are too speculative. But I continue to analyze patterns from the past in an effort to see how effectively I can predict the future on the known elements. This started out as something for just my own enjoyment, and I'm glad I can share such things with you all here. I am just as excited about any element of General Conference whether I have correctly or incorrectly predicted it. So hopefully, some of you might find these documents interesting.

I continue to monitor all major Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass along word thereof to you all as those developments cross my radar. 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 TEMPLE NEWS: First 37 Temples Will Gradually Return to Normal Operations (Phase 4)

Hello again, everyone! This just in from the Church News: the first 37 temples will gradually return to phase 4 (normal operations). The Memphis Tennessee Temple was the first to do so, starting that process on March 17; followed by the St. Paul Minnesota Temple on March 19; the Bismarck North Dakota, Denver Colorado, and Winter Quarters Nebraska Temples on March 29; the Tucson Arizona Temple on April 4; and the Columbia South Carolina and Kansas City Missouri Temples on April 5.

As of yesterday (April 11), the following temples are also phasing in a return to normal operations: Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Oquirrh Mountain, Payson, Provo, Provo City Center, and Vernal Utah; Campinas, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Recife, and São Paulo Brazil; Frankfurt and Freiberg Germany; Redlands and San Diego California; Bern Switzerland; Laie Hawaii; Portland Oregon; and Stockholm Sweden. And today, the Billings Montana and Chicago Illinois Temples began the transition to phase 4.

Effective today, 8 temples are closed for major renovations, all of which are in phase 3; 1 (Kyiv Ukraine) has operations paused/suspended having reached phase 3 previously; 1 more is operating in phase 1; 0 are in phases 2 and 2-B; 123 are now in phase 3; and, as noted, the remaining 37 are gradually returning to regular operations. These updates are reflected in the temple reopening status tracker.

I have a feeling more temples will begin the transition to normal operations in the coming weeks. I will keep my eyes open for those updates, and all other major Church news and temple developments. 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 TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for Hamilton New Zealand Temple

Note: An original version of this post was published on 4/11/22 @ 2:15 PM, with subsequent additional analysis added between 6:35 and 7:35 PM.

Hello again, everyone! This afternoon,  the First Presidency announced reopening arrangements for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. Before getting into the details of the announcement, I'd like to note that the reopening is occurring later this year than I had thought it might. 

Given the fact that New Zealand has quickly locked down its' borders in the face of COVID-19 and its' variants, I had thought the reopening arrangements could occur soon after New Zealand reopens its' borders, which is due to happen at some point in the next 3-6 weeks, based on the information I found online about 2 weeks ago.

But I've mentioned in the past that, because of my ongoing preparation to cover major Church news updates and temple developments, anytime the Church announces anything, as soon as I hear or read any such announcement, in that same instance, the Lord confirms to me through His Spirit that what has been announced is His will for His Church at this time. 

And as I share further analysis on the details of today's announcement, I hope you will all remember this statement: The Lord has proven yet again that His ways and thoughts will, as they always do, trump any analysis or prediction I have offered at any point pertaining to the timing of any temple event, including, in this particular case, the reopening of the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. 

The arrangements, though unexpected in timing to this mortal mind of mine, are exactly what they need to be and are inspired, full stop. Monday August 22 has been designated a media day, with VIP tours for invited guests from Tuesday August 22-Thursday August 24. The public open house will run from Friday August 26-Saturday September 17, 2022, with the exception of the relevant Sundays (August 28 and September 4 and 11).

At the conclusion of the open house, final preparations will be made for the dedication in the four intervening weeks. A youth devotional for those within the Hamilton New Zealand temple district will be held on Saturday October 15, and the temple will be rededicated in three sessions held the following day at 9:00 AM, noon, and 3:00 PM Hamilton time, which will be 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, and 9:00 PM on Saturday October 15 here in Utah. 

By assignment from the First Presidency, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the youth devotional and rededication. I take that as further proof of my theory that the responsibility for presiding at temple rededications will continue to be delegated to either the First Presidency counselors or the senior half of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

It's also worth noting that, beginning last year, there was a bit of a rotation of assignments in councils, committees, and area supervision for the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I seem to recall (but could not find again) a report from last year in which it was noted that Elder Uchtdorf had conducted the annual area review for one of the Asia Areas. 

So it's possible that if his area supervisory responsibilities have shifted to part of Asia, that the regions he oversees are geographically closer to the Pacific than any of the other senior apostles. But that's just my personal theory. As with anything else I share on this blog, unless it is specifically backed by official Church sources, please take any theories I offer with the proverbial grain of salt. 

And unless and until they are confirmed or corrected by official sources, they are no more and no less than my own opinion. Having noted that, I present a new theory: with the Hamilton New Zealand Temple rededication not taking place until October, I fully anticipate that August and September could be big months for the dedications of new temples. 

We now have two (Belem Brazil and San Juan Puerto Rico) which are nearing completion, and the Saratoga Springs Utah and Helena Montana Temples might not be too far behind. I also think it's safe to anticipate that the rededication of the Columbus Ohio Temple could occur between the already-announced rededications of the Washington D.C. Temple (on August 14) and the October 16 rededication for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple.

There are a lot more temple announcements that are anticipated to come down the pike in the coming weeks and months. To the best of my ability, I will continue to cover those and any other major announcements from the Church. 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.