Honoring Elder Quentin L. Cook on His 84th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! I am back to share some thoughts about Elder Quentin L. Cook in honor of his 84th birthday today. Let's dive right into that subject. Quentin LaMar Cook was born to J. Vernon and Bernice Cook on this day in 1940 in Logan, Utah. His ancestry includes his great-great-grandfather, Elder Heber C. Kimball, who was one of the original apostles of the Church and who was instrumental in bringing the gospel to England and supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith at key moments when apostates made efforts to replace Brother Joseph as the Lord's mouthpiece.

Young Quentin was a middle child, having an older brother and a younger sister. He grew up in a very gospel-centered home, although his father eventually lost interest in Church activity .At age 15, he had a discussion with his brother Joe that changed his life. Joe was unsure whether to continue with his medical school studies, or to delay that in order to serve a mission, with their father favoring the former. During that conversation, they determined that either the gospel was true or it wasn't, and that if it was, serving a mission would be the best use of Joe's time. Joe’s decision to go resulted in young Quentin eventually accepting his own call to serve in the British Mission.

One of his two mission presidents was Elder Marion D. Hanks, who simultaneously served as a general authority. At one point during his mission, his companion was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Though the two didn't know it at the time, both would go on to serve as General Authority Seventies and as colleagues in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Cook later noted the following in relation to Elder Holland:

"Sometimes we receive revelation even when we do not know the Lord’s purposes. Shortly before Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was called to be an Apostle in June of 1994, I had a beautiful revelatory experience that he would be called. I was a regional representative and could see no reason I would be given that knowledge. But we were companions as young missionaries in England in the early 1960s, and I had a great love for him. I considered the experience a tender mercy for me. In recent years, I have wondered if the Lord was preparing me to be junior in the Twelve to an incredible missionary companion who was my junior companion when we were young missionaries. I sometimes warn young missionaries to be kind to their junior companions because they never know when they might be their senior companion."

Elder Cook returned from his mission with a strong testimony of the Savior and a resolve to associate with people who love the Savior, both within and outside of the Church. He married his high school sweetheart Mary Gaddie in the Logan Utah Temple on November 30, 1962. Their posterity includes three children and numerous grandchildren.

He graduated from Utah State University with a degree in political science and from Stanford University with a juris doctorate degree.As a managing partner in a San Francisco Bay area law firm, he specialized in business law. He later became president and chief executive officer of California Healthcare System, and vice chairman of Sutter Health Systems. His church service has included being a bishop, stake president’s counselor (during a period of time when his brother Joe was president of that same stake), stake president, regional representative, and area authority. While he was in the stake presidency, he was instilled with a love of people from all nations when he had responsibility for Spanish, Tongan, Samoan, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Cantonese congregations.

He was named a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, 1996, and as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 4, 1998. He served as a member of area presidencies in the Philippines, the Pacific, and North America, and he also served executive director of the Church Missionary Department during the period of time that "Preach My Gospel" was developed and instituted as the standard guidebook for missionaries, and was subsequently called to the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2007.

Nine days after that, the death of President James E. Faust, who had been serving as Second Counselor to Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, would wind up having an unexpected impact on Elder Cook's life. As the October General Conference rolled around, then-Elder Henry B. Eyring was called as President Hinckley's new Second Counselor, which created a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On October 6, 2007, Elder Cook was sustained to fill that vacancy, and he was ordained an apostle five days later.

Elder Cook has spoken 36 times in General Conference: twice as a General Authority Seventy and 32 additional times in the almost-17 years since his call to the apostleship. I am grateful for his service as a special witness of Christ, and I wholeheartedly sustain him and the other apostles.

I wanted to note here that, later today (September 8), I will also be publishing the latest current apostolic data update. Then tomorrow, I will publish a post in honor of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, who will then be the first prophetic and apostolic centenarian.

I continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. 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. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below.

If you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe. If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are never required but are always welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Updates Provided on Cagayan de Oro Philippines, Vancouver Washington, and Tallahassee Florida Temples

Hello again, everyone! As I was reminded in this comment on Saturday, Monday's Labor Day observance in the United States meant Church headquarters was closed. Therefore, the usual Monday major temple construction announcement was pushed to today. The First Presidency today confirmed that the groundbreaking for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple took place as scheduled on Saturday.

Further, they released a rendering for the Vancouver Washington Temple, The first update speaks for itself. If any of you reading this update know more about temple architecture and design than I do, please feel free to make any comments you like about this newest rendering. It reminds me a lot of the Burley Idaho and Temples. I will restrict my own comments on that rendering to that observation.

Finally, a change was announced to the previously scheduled dedication of the Tallahassee Florida Temple. While the open house and dedication dates remain the same, the dedication will now consist of a single session at 10:00 AM EST rather than two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM EST. As I mentioned in my original report on the Tallahassee Florida Temple's dedicatory arrangements, the dedication in question comes on the same day as the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. 

While the previously announced arrangements wouldn't have allowed Elder Kearon to attend or speak at that devotional, the new arrangements might. Something I will definitely take into consideration when making my predictions for that devotional later this year. So, the only really "new" news was the updated arrangements for the Tallahassee dedication and the exterior rendering for Vancouver.

Since the finishing touches are still being added to the Antofagasta Chile Temple, I assume the earliest the temple could be dedicated is February or March of next year. I was also somewhat disappointed by the lack of temple groundbreaking announcements, more exterior renderings released, or site locations confirmed. Hopefully, those will come next week. I will also correct what I said elsewhere about there likely not being such an announcement next week since the Church will, at minimum, cover the media day for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple.

Stay tuned here for all updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites, as I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all ASAP after I learn about 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 all such feedback is made per 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe for the applicable updates. If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are always welcome and appreciated but never required. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Casper Wyoming Temple Open House Commences; Dedication Arrangements Updated (2,400th Blog Post)

Hello again, everyone! On this Monday, the open house for the Casper Wyoming Temple has commenced. Elder Randall K. Bennett, North America Central Area President, Elder James R. Rasband, Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department, and Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson were on hand to welcome guests.

Ordinarily, that update would not require a new post and a comment on my previous post would suffice. But with this media day being held, the dedication arrangements for the Casper Wyoming Temple have been updated. Previously scheduled to occur on October 13 in two sessions at 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM MDT, the dedication will now occur in one session at 10:00 AM MDT on Sunday, November 24. 

No reason was given for the adjustment to the dedication arrangements. But what this means is that the dedications of the Salvador Brazil and Deseret Peak Utah Temples will actually precede the dedication of the Casper Wyoming Temple. And this also means that the Deseret Peak Utah Temple will be the 200th dedicated temple of the Church rather than the Salvador Brazil Temple.

Since the open house commencement was reported during this 10:00 AM hour, I fully expect and believe that an additional major temple construction announcement will be made as usual during the 2:00 PM hour. I will have another breaking news report on that announcement as soon as possible after it is made. 

I also continue to monitor any and all other Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. With that in mind, while this post was being prepared for publication, the Church News also covered this update.

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

If you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe. If you would like to support the work done on this blog, donations in any amount are never required but are always welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Location and Preliminary Information Released for the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple

Hello again, everyone! In a comment I posted earlier today, I noted the open house commencing for the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple and theorized that it would not be the only major temple construction announcement today. As it happens, I was correct. The First Presidency has confirmed the site location and preliminary information for the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple. Let's get right into the details:

As you might recall, the Tulsa Oklahoma Temple was announced by President Nelson last October. Unless I am mistaken, Tulsa is the first US temple originally announced at that time to have a site confirmed. At the northwest corner of a 25.7-acre site at 51st St. and 136th E Avenue, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, the Church plans to build a single-story temple of approximately 29,600 square feet.

As a result of this update, the Church now has 105 announced temples, 5 of which have groundbreakings scheduled (with 3 of those groundbreakings set to take place this weekend). Of the remaining 100, sites have been confirmed for 54 others (with renderings having been released for 22 of those 54), and the remaining 46 lack official information.

Those numbers are getting better all the time. I am grateful for today's announcement and the opportunity to share it with you all here. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. 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. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time.

Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

President Dallin H. Oaks Celebrates His 92nd Birthday

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. President Dallin H. Oaks is celebrating his 91st birthday. 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 39 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 97 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 27 (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 second-oldest apostle who is currently serving.

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. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.