BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Text of the Washington D.C. Temple's Second Dedicatory Prayer Published Official Name Confrimed for Rexburg North Idaho Temple; Name Clarified for the Newest Temple in the United Kingdom

Hello again, everyone! I have three major temple announcements to cover in this post. First, as I mentioned in the comment threads of my previous post, I have been anticipating that the text of the second dedicatory prayer written by President Nelson and offered by him in the first session and each of his counselors in the final two sessions of yesterday's rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple has been published. 

In all honesty, although I expected that to happen this week, I was surprised to see it already released today. As I've previously noted, as a general rule, the links I provide for any content I share are usually for any of you to pick and choose which ones you'd actually like to read based on your personal interests, but from time to time, an article crosses my radar that I recommend to all of my readers. This is another such article.

However, that report is a secondary reason for this latest post. The primary reason is that a new announcement from the First Presidency has provided the first major temple update since yesterday's rededication. And contrary to what I had supposed, the update did not relate to any new temple groundbreakings, or opening or reopening arrangements for temples nearing completion. 

Instead, there has been an official confirmation of the name of the Rexburg North Idaho Temple, and a clarification of the name of the newest temple in the United Kingdom. As reflected on the official temple list, the new name of the second temple in Rexburg Idaho, set to be built in the northern part of that city, will be the Teton River Idaho Temple.

As previously mentioned, the current status of that temple and a similar status for the temple in Montpelier Idaho means those two top the list of the temples most likely to have a groundbreaking announced soon. That being said, for the Teton River Idaho Temple, we are also awaiting confirmation of the official site. Even so, I'm glad we at least have confirmation of the name now.

Now, regarding the newest temple in the United Kingdom, when President Nelson announced it in April, he referred to it as the Birmingham United Kingdom Temple. However, as we know, the other two temples in England use the name of England rather than the UK moniker. Either is technically correct. But conventionally, the other two temples use England. 

So the official name there is the Birmingham England Temple. While I'm glad that has been officially confirmed, we do not have a site confirmation on that temple yet. And thus we see that temple-by-temple, the Church is confirming official names for temples that only had generic or directional ones up to this point. I am pleased to have been able to provide this update.

I continue to monitor all such developments and will be sure to pass them along as I learn of them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

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

Hello again, everyone! I have three major temple announcements to cover in this post. First, as I mentioned in the comment threads of my previous post, I have been anticipating that the text of the second dedicatory prayer written by President Nelson and offered by him in the first session and each of his counselors in the final two sessions of yesterday's rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple has been published. 

In all honesty, although I expected that to happen this week, I was surprised to see it already released today. As I've previously noted, as a general rule, the links I provide for any content I share are usually for any of you to pick and choose which ones you'd actually like to read based on your personal interests, but from time to time, an article crosses my radar that I recommend to all of my readers. This is another such article.

However, that report is a secondary reason for this latest post. The primary reason is that a new announcement from the First Presidency has provided the first major temple update since yesterday's rededication. And contrary to what I had supposed, the update did not relate to any new temple groundbreakings, or opening or reopening arrangements for temples nearing completion. 

Instead, there has been an official confirmation of the name of the Rexburg North Idaho Temple, and a clarification of the name of the newest temple in the United Kingdom. As reflected on the official temple list, the new name of the second temple in Rexburg Idaho, set to be built in the northern part of that city, will be the Teton River Idaho Temple.

As previously mentioned, the current status of that temple and a similar status for the temple in Montpelier Idaho means those two top the list of the temples most likely to have a groundbreaking announced soon. That being said, for the Teton River Idaho Temple, we are also awaiting confirmation of the official site. Even so, I'm glad we at least have confirmation of the name now.

Now, regarding the newest temple in the United Kingdom, when President Nelson announced it in April, he referred to it as the Birmingham United Kingdom Temple. However, as we know, the other two temples in England use the name of England rather than the UK moniker. Either is technically correct. But conventionally, the other two temples use England. 

So the official name there is the Birmingham England Temple. While I'm glad that has been officially confirmed, we do not have a site confirmation on that temple yet. And thus we see that temple-by-temple, the Church is confirming official names for temples that only had generic or directional ones up to this point. I am pleased to have been able to provide this update.

I continue to monitor all such developments and will be sure to pass them along as I learn of them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

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

President Dallin H. Oaks Becomes the Third Current Apostolic Nonagenarian

Hello again, everyone! With today being August 12, it's time to pay tribute to the third (and last) apostle who has his birthday this month. With the observation of his birthday today,  President Dallin H. Oaks becomes the third current apostolic nonagenarian. Let's take a look at key highlights from his life. Dallin Harris Oaks was born on this day in 1932 to Dr. Lloyd E. and Stella Harris Oaks in Provo, Utah. Included in his mother's ancestry is Martin Harris, who, as we know, was one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. 

President Oaks' first name was given in honor of the last name of an artist with whom his mother had worked (as the model) for a statue in Springville Utah. His father was an ophthalmologist, and he died when young Dallin was age 7 from complications of tuberculosis. Being the oldest child of his family, the death of his father gave young Dallin some unique opportunities to help his mother and to be an example to his younger siblings, which was one thing of which he has frequently spoken.

After his father died, his mother was able to earn a graduate degree at Columbia University and support her family by working to provide adult education opportunities for those who needed it. She also went to be the first woman elected to Provo's City Council, and she also served for a time as assistant mayor. In the meantime, young Dallin attended Brigham Young High School, where he played football and became a certified radio engineer.

Once he started attending BYU, he took many opportunities to be the radio announcer at high school games. At one of those games, he was introduced to June Dixon, whom he would later date and subsequently marry. He was unable to serve as a full-time missionary because he was a member of the National Guard, and there was a possibility he could have been called up to serve during the Korean War. Dallin and June were married in 1952, and he graduated from BYU two years later with a degree in accounting. 

He went on to study law at the University of Chicago, graduating with his degree 3 years later. He spent the early part of his professional career clerking for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the US Supreme Court. After that, he practiced law at Kirkland and Ellis. He left that job in 1961 to become a professor at Chicago Law, While in that capacity, he served as interim dean. During that same period of time, the University of Chicago was desperate to get Dr. Russell M. Nelson, a renowned heart surgeon, on their staff, and Professor Oaks was asked to represent the university in trying to convince Dr. Nelson to accept the offer. 

Although those efforts proved unsuccessful, that encounter resulted in lifelong friendships for the Nelsons and the Oaks. He also served on the foundational board of a Mormon thought periodical. He was also chairman of the university's disciplinary committee. He took a leave of absence from the University while serving as legal counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention. He left the law school for good in 1971 when he was appointed the new president of BYU (for which many candidates, including Brother Nelson, were considered), a position he held for nine years. 

He then went on to serve for five years as chairman of the board of directors for PBS, and eight years as chairman of the board of directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center. In 1980, he was appointed a justice of the Utah Supreme Court, an office he held for the next four years. He was rumored to have been considered by two US Presidents (Gerald Ford and later Ronald Regan) for a nomination to the US Supreme Court. He had made plans with his wife, June, to serve a mission after he had served on the Utah Supreme Court for a decade.

However, a surprise change in direction for him came in 1984. He was at a law conference fulfilling several judicial obligations when President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor to the ailing Church President, Spencer W. Kimball, tracked him down via phone call. The purpose of the call was to notify him that he'd been selected to become an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

At the time, there were two vacancies in the Quorum due to the deaths of Elders LeGrand Richards on January 11, 1983, and Mark E. Petersen exactly one year to the day later. Due to the ill health of President Spencer W. Kimball, neither vacancy had been filled prior to the April 1984 General Conference. Elder Oaks became the junior apostle to Elder Russell M. Nelson, though the two were sustained in the same General Conference. Although both were called at the same time, Elder Oaks was unable to be present at the General Conference at which the two were sustained.

President Hinckley, in leading that sustaining, offered the following explanation: "With reference to Dallin Oaks, I should like to say that while we nominate and sustain him today, he will not be ordained to the apostleship, nor will he be set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve, nor will he begin his apostolic service, until after he completes his present judicial commitments, which may require several weeks. He is absent from the city, and necessarily absent from the conference. We excuse him."

Elder Oaks was ordained an apostle just short of four weeks after being sustained, having been sustained on April 7 and being subsequently ordained to the apostleship on May 3. He had his first opportunity to respond to his apostolic call six months later, speaking on the importance of witnesses, within the context of his new assignment to be a special witness of Jesus Christ. He has now been an apostle for over 38 years, during which time he has filled a wide variety of assignments, and has had many opportunities to meet with and speak to Church members in various parts of the world. In addition to losing his father early on in his life, Elder Oaks also experienced the death of his wife June, who passed away in 1998.

Just over two years later, Elder Oaks married Kristen M. McMain, who has been by his side ever since. In 2002, he and Elder Holland were asked to be the first apostles in around 100 years to live on-location in two of the Church's geographical areas, with then-Elder Oaks being based in the Philippines, and Elder Holland being assigned to preside in Chile. With the death of President Thomas S. Monson in January 2018, Elder Oaks became the second most-senior apostle.;

President Nelson, in becoming the new Church president, felt impressed to call his apostolic seat-mate, Elder Oaks, to serve as First Counselor in the First Presidency. He was set apart in both that capacity and as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on January 14, 2018. President Oaks has given a total of 91 addresses in General Conference, the first of which was given during his service as BYU-Provo President. Interestingly enough, that address from the early 1970s is somehow not listed in the Church's repository webpage of his General Conference addresses). He gave 68 additional addresses in General Conference as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the remaining 22 (so far) as a member of the First Presidency. He currently ranks as both the second most senior member and the second oldest member of the First Presidency, while he is the second in overall apostolic seniority, and the third oldest apostle who is currently serving.

As previously mentioned, he has now become the third current apostolic nonagenarian, and I am honored to have been able to pay tribute to him as he observes this milestone. I testify that his apostolic call, along with the calls of all other apostles, have indeed been divinely directed and inspired, as has how and when they have each moved up in the ranks thereof.

That does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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: "Tithing Settlement" to be Retired & Replaced with "Tithing Declaration"; Bishops Can Begin Annual Reviews In September

 Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has been announced by the First Presidency this morning. For years, at the end of each year, members have been invited to meet with the bishops of their congregations yearly to declare their tithe-paying status. These interviews have been known as "Tithing Settlement". But in a continued effort to differentiate between doctrinally-defined practices and traditions, that term will now be retired.

Instead, members will be invited to meet with bishops, and may begin doing so as early as September of every year, for a "Tithing Declaration" interview. The rationale offered for the change in terminology is that those interviews are not meant to "settle" anything, but instead are intended to enable each Church member once a year to declare the degree to which they have followed the doctrinal practice of paying tithes and offerings. 

I originally became aware of this update courtesy of a Church News report to which I was alerted on my phone. This change makes perfect sense to me, and it of course follows the other recent announcement about the simplification of the categories for other offerings. This change makes perfect sense to me, and I'm grateful to have been able to learn of it and pass it along to you all here. 

I continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and temple construction updates, and will do my best to pass those along here as I become aware thereof. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 

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

Tribute to Elder Neil L. Andersen, In Celebration of His 71st Birthday

Hello again, everyone! Let's get right into the latest birthday tribute I'm posting in honor of Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Neil Linden Andersen was born on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen in Logan Utah. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics.

During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children. He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president (assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission) from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

Through the next couple of decades as a Seventy, he served in a wide variety of Church assignments, including as executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West ,Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he also served as the area president).

In 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy, where he was assigned to preside over the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007). By the time his stewardship switched to the North America Southwest Area (2007-2009), he had gone from being the second-least senior member of that Presidency to being the third-most-senior member. In 2008, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in April) and the release of Senior President Elder Earl C. Tingey (in August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference), Elder Andersen then became the Senior President of the Seventy, a role in which he would only serve for around 8 months.

With the December 2008 death of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference. An interesting bit of trivia is the fact that Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband were all seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy as of August 2007, and they would all go on to be apostolic seatmates, with their apostolic calls occurring in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015 respectively.

Since Elder Andersen's original call as a General Authority Seventy in April 1993, he has given a total of 32 addresses in General Conference (3 of which he gave as a General Authority Seventy, with 2 others given while he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 27 since his call to the QuorIum of the Twelve Apostles).

Elder Andersen continues to be the seventh in both senirotiy and chronological birth order among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ranks tenth among the 15 total apostles in both seniority and birth chronology. I gladly sustain him and each of his 14 apostolic colleagues as prophets, seers, and revelators, and am grateful to have been able to publish this tribute in honor of his birthday today. 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: President Nelson Officially Becomes the Oldest Living Apostle in This Dispensation

Hello again, everyone! I do have a breaking news development to get to this morning. From his death on the last day of July 2004 until today, Elder David B. Haight has distinguished himself as the oldest living apostle. Effective today, the age of our current prophet, Church President Russell M. Nelson, has officially surpassed that of Elder Haight, who died at the exact age of 97 years, 10 months, and 29 days. With President Nelson officially reaching the age of 97 years, 10 months, and 30 days today, that is the official new record for the oldest living apostle, which will continue to be broken as long as he lives.

By all reports, our prophet continues to be healthy, and every Church leader has reported having trouble keeping up with him. I have also not heard anything currently to contradict previous reports I've mentioned that his public appearances, vigor, and energy match or exceed that of someone 20-30 years younger than he is. So I have no doubts whatsoever that he will continue to set a new record for the oldest living apostle every day for the foreseeable future.

If I hear anything to contradict that impression, I will be sure to post a correction ASAP. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware thereof. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. 

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