ASU Enters Partnership with BYU-Idaho and BYU-Pathway Worldwide

This article details a new partnership being put into place between ASU, BYU-Idaho, and BYU-Pathway Worldwide. Enjoy! Let me know your thoughts.

Elder Patrick Kearon, Europe Area President, Issues Statement on Attacks

Elder Patrick Kearon, who currently serves as president of the Europe Area and has been called to the Presidency of the Seventy (where he will start serving on August 1), issued a statement on the explosion at Manchester Arena that occurred last night. This article contains the Church News report of that statement, and an analysis of the situation, and of any affected Church members. Enjoy!

Progress Noted on the Durban South Africa Temple

Today, it was noted on the LDS Church Temples website that, at the Durban South Africa Temple site, walls are being constructed for the ancillary building. Elder Ronald A. Rasband recently visited that temple site and answered questions about the progress of the temple, which you can find here. Noting that the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple completed its open house last Saturday (the rededication will take place on June 4, less than two weeks from now), that is the latest on temple-related developments. As always, I am keeping an eye out for all developments, and will post those as soon as I can after learning of them. In the meantime, thanks for your readership and interest.

BREAKING NEWS: Church Issues Statement on President Monson's health

Hello, all! I am posting today to note this statement as an update on President Monson's condition. This is a change from what I previously reported about that. I am grateful for a system in place in the Church that allows the work to continue unhindered. In the days ahead, we will learn more about what this statement means in terms of President Monson's condition. More to come once more is known. Thanks to you all for your interest and support. Comments are welcome and appreciated, but any that are derogatory of the Church or our prophet will be deleted. In the meantime, I too am grateful that there is a system in place that allows the work to proceed uninterrupted. I pray also for the blessings of heaven for not only our prophet, but his noble counselors and our wonderful apostles. May God bless them all.

Update: My favorite local news, KSL, just released this article relating to the statement I linked to above. It provides a link to a great talk President Gordon B. Hinckley, as the only active member of the First Presidency for the last three years of President Kimball's life, gave relating to the condition of the Church. That talk can be found here. We have seen this before. The Church is in good hands. Instead of being concerned about that side of things, let us unite our prayers in behalf of President Monson, his counselors, and the other apostles that will carry on the work to the best of their ability, consulting with the prophet when needed. I would also like to remind everyone that we are still lead by a living prophet, so any talks of granting President Monson some kind of emeritus status is not helpful, nor is it the Lord's way. He may not be able to function actively as the prophet right now, but that no less diminishes his mantle as such. All major decisions will be under his direction. In the meantime, we can take comfort in knowing that there are 14 other apostles to carry on the work, most of whom are able to function fully, so the Church and its future are in good hands. Thanks again.

Additional note: The Church News published this article about that statement, including again a link to the talk that then-Elder Nelson gave on sustaining the prophets, and quoting President Monson himself from a talk he gave years ago. Enjoy, and thanks again.

Paris France Temple Dedicated by President Henry B. Eyring as the 156th operating temple of the Church

Hello, all! The Paris France Temple was dedicated earlier today by President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency. I have before spoken of not knowing about his connection to France, and I still can't believe I missed that. However, I was also gratified to hear that, in addition to Elder Neil L. Andersen (a former missionary in France) and Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse (our first French General Authority), Elder Paul V. Johnson, president of the Church's Europe Area, was in attendance, along with Elder Larry Y. Wilson, the executive director of the Temple Department.

It sounds like all went well and that the visiting brethren are on their way back to Church headquarters. Though not a lot of news has been released regarding the dedication, we do have this article from the Deseret News and this one from the newsroom on the Church's website. I am keeping an eye out for other articles to be published on this, and will post those in the coming days as I become aware of them.

For now, I wanted to note that there have not been many other significant developments in terms of temple construction, aside from the fact that we now have 156 operating temples, and that the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple open house concluded yesterday, with its rededication anticipated two weeks from today. I had thought that President Eyring, Elder Bednar, and Elder Andersen might be in attendance at that rededication, and it could still happen that way.

But I also know that the Church has seemed to like to rotate dedication attendance among all of the apostles so everyone gets a chance to participate. I am keeping an eye out for updates on all fronts of temple news and will post that information as soon as I have it. For now, thanks for your readership and support. Comments continue to be welcome and appreciated.