November 2017 Ensign Supplement Pays Tribute to Elder Robert D. Hales

Hello, everyone! As has been the case in recent years, the Church has provided a supplement to the November 2017 Ensign,  which honors the life and teachings of Elder Robert D. Hales. You can find that supplement in text form here. In the coming days, the full layout of it will be made available. Just wanted to note that. 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.

Groundbreaking Held for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple; Changes Made to Announced Temples Section of Report

Hello again, everyone! It is a busy season indeed for temple-related developments. In addition to the ongoing open houses for the Meridian Idaho and Cedar City Utah Temples, today ground was broken for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple.

That groundbreaking happened 6.5 hours ago, and Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, who presides over the Church's Caribbean Area, presided over that ceremony. Barring anything unexpected, full-scale construction is anticipated to begin sometime next week. The look of this temple is anticipated to be comparable to the look of the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple.

In terms of a potential completion time-frame, while some have said that could happen before the end of 2019, because there are so many new temples and existing temples that are being or shortly will be renovated and are anticipated to be dedicated or rededicated during 2019, it has seemed more likely that this temple could be dedicated sometime during 2020. The exact time-frame will depend on what happens between now and then,

As also noted, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple should be closing for renovation at the end of the day today. The weird thing is that, while I have looked at it every day, the only closure dates on the Church's official website for this temple are during 2018. As far as the plans go, if I am correct, then the design will be in the style of the renovation plans for the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples.

Additionally, I wanted to note that I have revised the section of my temple construction progress report for announced temples. As I thought about the information in that section, I felt impressed to alter the organization of that section. The potential future groundbreaking estimates seem a little too speculative to me until more information is provided.

We do know that the Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple may be the next to have a groundbreaking, if, as previously mentioned, the year of pre-planning that the contractor said was needed began in March of this year. Additionally, since the Brasilia Brazil and Greater Manila Philippines Temples have had a site announced, it has seemed wiser to have those further up on the list, while all other temples have now been grouped by the order in which they were announced.

As always, I will keep my eyes open for any other temple-related developments and will be sure to pass those along as I hear of them. That does it for this post. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and until my next post, may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.

Church releases October 2017 General Authorities Chart

Hello again, everyone! Among other big news of the day, I wanted to report that the Church has released the October 2017 General Authorities Chart. As expected, with the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the first six members of that Quorum (ranging from those called in the time of President Kimball to those called during President Hinckley's administration) are on the top row, with the 5 called during President Monson's tenure below. You can find that chart here; it will also be available in a smaller format in the November 2017 Ensign. As always, 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.

Cedar City Utah Temple Open House Begins; Asuncion Paraguay Temple closes for renovation on Sunday

Hello, everyone! In keeping with my new tradition of reporting minor updates in temple construction progress, I am pleased to report that open house tours for the Cedar City Utah Temple officially began today. Additionally, as already noted, on Sunday, the Asuncion Paraguay Temple is scheduled to close for renovation. And, as I noted in my last post, if the design being used for the Memphis and Oklahoma City renovations is intended to be the new standard, then we know what the Asuncion Paraguay Temple will look like once renovated. Just wanted to pass that information along. Except for those things, there is no new progress to report. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and until my next post, I wish each of you all the best.

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.