A New Look for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple

Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to take the focus away from the General Conference announcement, I wanted to let you all know that I discovered more yesterday about what is anticipated to change for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. It is getting a new look. And what will it be? Many of you may remember the post I did earlier on this blog about the renovation process for the Memphis Tennessee Temple. It appears (unless I misunderstood what I was seeing) that the design for the Memphis renovation is identical to the new design for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. This appears to be a standard design for temples built in a similar era. So I anticipate that this may be the new look of the other more recently-dedicated temples that are closing for renovation. If I find information that indicates anything else, you can be sure I will pass that along, as I always do.

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

Church Announces Changes to General Conference

Hello, everyone! Big news from the Church today. There are major changes coming to General Conference starting in April. The priesthood and women's sessions will now be held annually, with a priesthood session every April, and a women's session in October, both to be held at 6:00 pm MT on general conference Saturday. It is anticipated that this will help streamline these meetings, and that will eliminate the need to have any sessions the week before General Conference weekend every six months. It will be amazing to see how all of that comes together. I will also have to figure out how this might change my semiannual predictions. It will be interesting to see this process unfold. For more details, click here. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Temple Progress Reported

Hello, everyone! I am posting today with an update on temple construction progress that has been reported by a few sources available to me. So, let's get right into what these changes are and how that might affect the sequence of temple-related events for the next year or so.

First, when posting a few days ago, I had noted that the lack of progress on the Rome Italy Temple would likely result in the Barranquilla Colombia Temple, which has progressed more consistently, being dedicated first. That opinion has now been verified. I for one hope that Rome will be dedicated before the end of 2018, but could see the Church pushing that dedication back to early 2019.

Until more is known, I think we will see the Concepcion Chile Temple dedicated in mid-August, with the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple following in mid-September, the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple in mid-to-late October (following General Conference), the dedication of the Barranquilla Temple in mid-November, and the Rome dedication in December to round out the year.

Additionally today, progress was noted on the Lisbon Portugal Temple, where the upper walls of the temple are now being poured. And finally, the private rededication that will take place for the Houston Texas Temple may happen closer to the middle of next year than the early part. As with every temple-related development, I am keeping an eye out for news to the best of my ability, and will be sure to post any updates as I become aware of them.

That does it for this update. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best and pray the Lord's blessings upon you in all that you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Houston Texas Temple Officially Closes for Renovation; Private Rededication to be held next year

Hello, everyone! After a day in which not much new Church news has been released, I happened upon this update indicating that the repairs on the Houston Texas Temple now require some minor renovation work, which, when completed at some point early next year, will be followed by a private rededication, There will not be a need for an open house, cultural celebration, or public rededication because the work is restorative. Just wanted to pass that information along. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Three Important Items from Mormon Newsroom

Hello again, everyone! Mormon Newsroom has published a few significant news stories in the last several days that are worth a mention. In this article, a California congregation describes their experience of sharing their Church building for a year with a local Jewish congregation, which culminated in a Shabbat Service in which people from both faiths were in attendance. I appreciate very much how the Church is cultivating relationships with friends of other faiths in various ways.

In the meantime, Elder David A. Bednar, who is the member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles assigned to oversee the Africa West Area, traveled to Ghana to dedicate the brand new Missionary Training Center. You can read more about that here.

And finally, from the Newsroom Blog, we have this story detailing how Sister Carol F. McConkie of the Young Women General Presidency and Sister Sharon Eubank, who is both the director of LDS Charities and the First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, met with the First Lady of Peru regarding her desire to thank the Church for the Mormon Helping Hands that helped with local projects. They also presented the First lady with a framed copy of The Living Christ in Spanish.

That does it for this Church news update. 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.

Significant Development Reported on Construction of the Durban South Africa Temple

Hello, everyone! Earlier today, I heard of significant developments for the Durban South Africa Temple, and this is the first chance I have had to post about it. For anyone following along, the previously detailed status of that temple has now been replaced with the note that roof trusses are being set for that temple.

That said, there are still some questions to settle in terms of the potential sequence of temple-related events, and I am working on that side of things as speedily as I can. I hope to post a concrete result of that study ASAP. Until that time, 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.

Blog Report: How My Projected Version of the November 2017 Ensign Table of Contents Compared with the Actual Result

Hello again, everyone! Now that the PDF version of the November 2017 Ensign is available for all to see, I thought I would post about how the projected table of contents I put together compares to the actual thing. I hope this information may prove interesting to at least some of you. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Possible Table of Contents for the November 2017 Ensign (Parentheses indicate actual page numbers and content.)

Session	Page	Title	Speaker
	2	Conference Summary for the 187th Semiannual General Conference
	3	Indexes
	4	Highlights from the 186th Semiannual General Conference
GW	8 (6)	Turn On Your Light	Sharon Eubank
	11 (10)	Abiding in God and Repairing the Breach	Neill F. Marriott
	14 (13)	Value beyond Measure	Joy D. Jones
	17 (16)	Three Sisters	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
SAM	22 (21)	A Yearning for Home	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
	26 (25)	The Needs before Us	Bonnie L. Oscarson
	28	The Plan and the Proclamation	Elder Dallin H. Oaks
	32	“I Have a Work for Thee”	Elder John C. Pingree Jr.
	35 (36)	The Living Bread Which Came Down from Heaven	Elder D. Todd Christofferson
	39 (40)	Be Ye Therefore Perfect—Eventually	Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
SAA	43	The Sustaining of Church Officers	President Henry B. Eyring
	45 (44)	Spiritual Eclipse	Elder Gary E. Stevenson
	49 (48)	Repentance Is Always Positive	Stephen W. Owen
	52 (51)	The Eternal Everyday	Elder Quentin L. Cook
	56 (55)	By Divine Design	Elder Ronald A. Rasband
	60 (58)	The Heart of the Widow	Elder O. Vincent Haleck
	62 (60)	The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life be Like Without It?	President Russell M. Nelson
SPH	67 (64)	The Priesthood and the Savior’s Atoning Power	Elder Dale G. Renlund
	70 (68)	The Truth of All Things	Elder David F. Evans
	77 (75)	Earning the Trust of the Lord and Your Family	Elder Richard J. Maynes
	79 (78)	Bearers of Heavenly Light	President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
	82 (81)	The Lord Leads His Church	President Henry B. Eyring
SUM	85	That Your Joy Might Be Full	Jean B. Bingham
	87 (88)	Has the Day of Miracles Ceased?	Elder Donald L. Hallstrom
	90	Exceeding Great & Precious Promises	Elder David A. Bednar
	94	Turn to the Lord	Bishop W. Christopher Waddell
	97	Lord, Wilt Thou Cause That My Eyes May Be Opened	Elder W. Craig Zwick
	100	Fear Not To Do Good	President Henry B. Eyring
SUA	104	The Trek Continues!	Elder M. Russell Ballard
	107	God’s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon	Tad R. Callister
	109 (110)	Apart, but Still One	Elder Joni L. Koch
	111 (112)	Do We Trust Him? Hard Is Good	Elder Stanley G. Ellis
	114 (115)	Essential Truths—Our Need to Act	Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella
	116 (117)	Seek Ye Out of the Best Books	Elder Ian S. Ardern
	118 (119)	Love One Another as He Has Loved Us	Elder Jose L. Alonso
	121 (122)	The Voice of the Lord	Elder Neil L. Andersen
	72	General Authorities and General Officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
	125 (127)	Conference Story Index
	126	In Memoriam: Elder Robert D. Hales	[Not included in this Ensign; such a tribute will be included as a supplemental publication accompanying the Ensign]
	130	They Spoke To Us: Making General Conference Part of Our Lives	[Not included in this Ensign]
	132 [126]	News of the Church 132: Report of General Conference [Not included in this Ensign] 133 [126]: Juan A. Uceda/Patrick Kearon 134 [127-136]: Other Church News (Temple Updates, etc.)	[Help in Times of Trouble; Three Temples Dedicated; Prophets, Apostles Minister Worldwide; Resources for the Hearing Impaired; New Scripture Translations; Missionary Training Centers; Sister Bingham at the United Nations]
	137	Come Follow Me—For Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society (Introduction to and Instructions for New Curriculum)	[A New Direction for Sunday Meetings; Come Follow Me—For Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society; What Is Different; First Sunday Council Meetings; Second and Third Sunday Meetings; Fourth Sunday Meetings]
	144	Last page of General Conference Ensign

NOTE: When putting this together originally, I had forgotten that the Church would be including a supplement to the Ensign to honor the life of Elder Robert D. Hales. The days when mentions of apostolic deaths are made in the regular magazines are passed. Just wanted to note that..             

Additional Temple Update: Progress noted in Lisbon Portugal

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to report a development that came to my attention recently. Progress was noted on the Lisbon Portugal Temple. With the main floor poured, pouring is underway for the second floor of that temple. In the meantime, meetinghouse cladding continues. What an amazing time we live in, where reported progress on temples can even occur in a matter of hours. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to note such updates here. Any comments on this are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each of you all the best.

Pictures and Videos Released by the Church for Meridian Idaho and Cedar City Utah Temples

Hello, everyone! For those of us who are not within a reasonable driving distance from both the Meridian Idaho and Cedar City Utah Temples, the Church has allowed us to vicariously be part of that experience through sharing video and pictures of what both temples look like on the interior and exterior. Click here for that information on Meridian, and here for the information on Cedar City. Enjoy! Comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

More Temple News

Hello again, everyone! Hope you are all well today. I wanted to pass on some temple news that, to me, is significant. I hope that many of you may find this information interesting. Let's dive right in to that subject.

First of all, while open house tours continue for the Meridian Idaho Temple, the Cedar City Utah Temple, where open house tours will begin this Friday, is currently having media and VIP tours. That was great to find out about.

Secondly, there has been a change in the sconstruction status of the Barranquilla Colombia Temple. It has now been noted that the cladding for the tower is being added, and that the shingling is being completed for the housing facility. Based on that new information, and on the fact that the Rome Italy temple has not progressed in a while, I am wondering how likely it is that Barranquilla could be the last temple dedicated next year, while Rome is pushed back into 2019. We know that Rome has experienced delays during its lengthy construction period. It is interesting to think about. Please let me know your thoughts on that.

Aside from that, and noting that the Church's main site for the Asuncion Paraguay Temple still does not mention its closure, which was originally anticipated to happen this upcoming Sunday, there have not been any other developments of any kind in terms of temple news.

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.