Miscellaneous Church News

Hello, everyone! With my concentrated efforts in the last few days on monitoring temple-related news, and with everything that has been going on for me personally, there were a few Church news items well worthy of a mention on this blog that I haven't focused on. I will do so now.

First, and most significantly, changes are coming to the visiting teaching program in which all women 18 years of age and older participate. This article describes what those changes are, and why they are being implemented. It seems that the Church is gradually shifting its focus to teaching by the Spirit for everyone, regardless of age, gender, or calling. And that is something with which I, and hopefully all other Church members, can easily get on board.

This article describes the modern-day application for President Kimball's directive phrase: "Every member a missionary." That article meant a lot to me, because I was one who did not wear a missionary badge or even serve my mission full-time. And that idea that every member can be a missionary is much of what drives me now to focus so much on Church-related news and information. In that way, I hope I am fulfilling that directive, which was given years before I was born.

This article, from a man who felt his deceased mother's presence at a temple wedding, rang true to me as well. By the time my future wife and I had been friends for a year, her mother had passed away several months prior. So when we started dating, she wasn't around at all, except in spirit. As our relationship blossomed, we both expressed the hope that we would feel her mother's presence during our wedding ceremony. And we did. We have also felt her with us at various times and in various places. If there is one thing I have learned from that, it is that the veil is truly very thin, for which I am fervently grateful.

LDS Business College marked the inauguration of its 13th president, Bruce C. Kusch this last week as well. This article describes who was going to be in attendance (which likely became who was actually there). That was good to read about.

BYU-Idaho is preparing for its annual Sacred Hymns Festival, and has issued a call for texts of such hymns. You can find the details on that here.

The Church News also published articles about the numerous Area Seventies who were released, and introducing the one new Area Seventy who was sustained during General Conference earlier this month. But as that information can currently be found in the General Conference Ensign.

That does it for this brief update. Any comments are always welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Updated time-frames for future temple-related events.

Hello again, everyone! Because of the changes noted yesterday on the completion time-frames for several temples, I thought I would post briefly to share the changes I have made to the rededication and dedication estimates. As always, any and all 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 that the Lord will bless you all in all that you do.

2018 Dedications and Rededications
May 20: Jordan River Utah Temple Rededication (official date announced by the Church)
August 12 or 19: Concepcion Chile Temple Dedication (158th operating temple)
September 9 or 16: Kinshasa DR Conge Temple Dedication (159th operating temple)
October 21or 28: Frankfurt Germany Temple Rededication
November 11 or 18: Rome Italy Temple Dedication (160th operating temple)
December 9 or 16: Barranquila Colombia Temple Dedication (161st operating temple)

2019 Dedications and Rededications
Early-to-mid May: Memphis Tennessee Temple Rededication
Mid-to-late May: Durban South Africa Temple Dedication (162nd operating temple)
Early-to-mid June: Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple Rededication
Early-to-mid August: Asuncion Paraguay Temple Rededication
Mid-to-late August: Fortaleza Brazil Temple Dedication (163rd operating temple)
Early-to-mid September: Raleigh North Carolina Temple Rededication
Mid-to-late September: Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple Rededication:
Mid-to-late October: Rio de Janeiro Temple Dedication (164th operating temple)
Mid-to-late November: Lisbon Portugal Temple Dedication (165th operating temple)
Mid-December: Oakland California Temple Rededication
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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.