Church Announces Upcoming Changes in Missionary Efforts Worldwide/Missions will be streamlined and consolidated

Hello, everyone! I am sure by now you have all heard the news, but I still feel it is worthy of a blog post. Church leaders today announced changes that will affect the efforts and labors of missionaries worldwide. These changes were alluded to by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in his opening address at the Seminar for New Mission Presidents. As some of you may remember my mentioning when I first posted about that address, Elder Oaks is the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles serving on the Missionary Executive Council.

While these changes were not specifically spelled out at that time, it appears that the Church's plan in this regard consists of three parts: issuing a list of standard questions (along with a cover letter signed by the First Presidency) detailing specific interview questions prospective missionaries will answer in interviews; the tablets many missionaries now use will be replaced with smart phones, and the Church will also, over time (the extent of which has not yet been specified) be consolidating missions. In the meantime, the Church is also expanding the outreach of missionaries by enabling them to use social media to find and communicate with people who are genuinely interested in the Church and to answer any questions they might have.

As most of you are aware, the original result of the missionary age change was an upsurge of missionaries, from around 58,000 to 88,000. According to recent reports, there are around 70,000 missionaries, not as high as it was when the age change was announced, but still considerably higher than it was prior to the age change.

With this announcement, it is clear that the Church is determined to move missionary efforts into the 21st century. These changes will also deal with the concerns our missionaries have expressed as a result of the survey the Church had them do. The intent is to allow greater numbers of missionaries in each mission, which in turn provides an opportunity for modern-day technology to play its proper role in advancing the gospel. And what this will do is allow the missionaries who have access to technology to teach those who are genuinely interested in the Church: the focus can then be more about reaching those with a genuine interest in the Church, rather than trying to find such people through door-to-door tracting.

And all of these changes make sense. We have been in the 21st century for the last 17 years. The Church has long evaluated how to enable missionaries to be effective in their ministry, and these changes will allow that to happen in much greater abundance than ever before,

Sorry for the long post. But this is wonderful news that is well worth the amount of detail given. It will be interesting to see what happens in missionary efforts worldwide as a result. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Church Statement on Missionaries Temporarily Being Transferred from Madagascar

Hello, everyone! In the wake of an outbreak of the plague in Madagascar, as a precautionary measure to preserve the safety and health of missionaries, the Church has released this statement regarding that. Just wanted to pass that along. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.

Massive Temple News Update

Hello, everyone! Much to my surprise, my first check of favorite Church websites today revealed some massive changes in terms of temple developments. I don't want to post a full version of my report, because that would be too much clutter, But these are certainly developments that deserve mentions. So I hope you'll bear with me as I try to briefly share what has changed.

For starters,  with today being the 19th, there are now only 12.46 years for the Church to announce 18 temples and complete the other 25 in various stages, which would give us the 200 temples before April 6, 2030, when the Church will mark its bicentennial.

I was also reminded that the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple will start this weekend. The Church News reported that Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who may have some role on the Temple and Family Council, has been in Meridian Idaho conducting VIP and media tours for that temple. In the meantime, open house tents are going up in preparation for the Cedar City Utah Temple open house.

Now here come the more significant updates: the temples that may be completed at some point next year have all shifted positions. Where I was sure as recently as yesterday that the Rome Italy Temple would be the first new temple dedicated next year, followed by Concepcion Chile and the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple, and that the Barranquilla Colombia Temple would be the last to be dedicated next year, it now appears that the temples have changed positions in the following way (note that nothing has changed in terms of the status of these temples, just the completion timeframes):

The Concepcion Chile and Kinshasa DR Congo Temples are now anticipated to be the first ones dedicated in 2018, and that is anticipated to happen sometime during mid-to-late 2018, the same time-frame given for the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. In the meantime, it appears that the estimates for both Rome Italy and Barranquilla Colombia have been pushed back to occur sometime between late 2018 and early 2019. The final changed estimate is for the Durban South Africa Temple, which was anticipated as recently as yesterday to be completed in the early months of 2019. It has now been noted that it might be completed sometime during early-to-mid 2019.

Aside from what has been noted above, there have not been no notable changes to report in terms of temple construction. I will take time as I am able to do so this weekend to put together a revised timeline for future temple-related developments. For now, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.

Minor Temple Updates (Including a status change for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple)

Hello, everyone! As I previously mentioned, a new tradition on this blog will be brief updates relating to temple construction progress. In that regard, there are a couple of great things to report.. Let's get right into those details.

First of all, I have mentioned previously on this blog that I have been tracking the amount of time the Church has between the current date and Saturday April 6, 2030, when the Church will mark the 200th anniversary of its restoration. I have offered my opinion previously that the Church could easily have a minimum of 200 operating temples by that time. All it would take is for the Church to announce 18 additional temples and complete the other 25 in various stages. There are 12.47 years between now and then, which means the Church could easily have those 200 temples if 3 or 4 are dedicated per year within that time.

Additionally, as previously mentioned on this blog, we know that the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple is set to begin this Saturday, and that the open house for the Cedar City Utah Temple will start a week from this Friday. Additionally, we also know that the groundbreaking for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple is set to take place ten days from now.

I also learned today that Elder David A. Bednar, who has been traveling in the Africa Southeast Area conducting an area review, has visited the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple,  where the steeple is being cladded and where roof shingles are being laid.

Aside from these updates, there has been no notable temple progress to report. Any and all comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. May the Lord be with and bless you all until my next post. Until that time, I wish you all the best.

PDF of the November 2017 Ensign is finally available

Hello, everyone! I am pleased to report that I found out earlier today that the PDF version of the November 2017 Ensign is finally available on the Church's website. I am still going over it as time allows, and will post within the next couple of days about how the table of contents I put together compares with what that actually looks like. In the meantime, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord be with you all until my next post. Until that time, I wish you all the best.