Exploring Where President Nelson Will Rank Among His Prophetic Predecessors

Hello again, everyone! With just short of a week left until funeral services are held to honor the life of President Thomas S. Monson, and noting that it will, at earliest, be a couple of days after that (Sunday January 14) before the First Presidency is reorganized, and still another day before the new First Presidency will meet the press and take questions from media representatives, I wanted to take a moment in this post to pass along some data I have compiled regarding where President Nelson will fit in with his prophetic predecessors in terms of his age and tenure.

Obviously, in doing so, I am working off the assumption that President Nelson will become the next President of the Church. At times like these, the Church's doctrines and policies indicate that if the senior apostle consults with the Lord and feels impressed to do so, he could announce his feeling that someone junior to him should be appointed in his stead. But that has never once happened in any of the 15 (soon to be 16) transitions there have been in the Church presidency, so while it is possible, it is unlikely.

With that said, I am going to note the obvious here: that is, that President Nelson will be the Church president with the shortest tenure for the first 9 months or so he serves, and because of the varying tenure lengths of his predecessors, he will mark only one tenure milestone before the end of this year,

In terms of his age, his birth date makes him the 16th in chronological order, while his age will put him at the bottom of the five oldest Church presidents. And if he is still living roughly a week after the April 2022 General Conference, he will have already become the oldest prophet in the Church's history. About one year previous to that time, his tenure length will have reached the 13th longest such period in Church history.

It continually amazes me to consider how Church presidents come to these callings ready to do the Lord's will for as long as his service in that capacity is needed, and also how and when the Lord enables other apostles to move up in apostolic seniority, with some passing away before they become Church president, and others outliving those senior to them, whether they are older or younger than those who have gone before.

I hope this information was helpful to at least some of you. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

President Monson's Ministry By the Numbers

Hello again, everyone! This will just be a brief post to share how the Mormon Newsroom's website just released this article, which looks at President Monson's ministry by the numbers. It is interesting to see the last decade of Church progress and how that has related to other major achievements of our dear prophet. I hope many (if not all) of you will find that interesting as well. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

An Interesting Anomaly Regarding Upcoming Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults

Hello again, everyone! Yesterday or the day before (I'm honestly not sure which), I had posted a few thoughts about how assignments given or approved by a prophet who subsequently passes away prior to such events occurring are generally honored by his successor in the Church presidency. And it appears that is the case with the assignment given to the Uchtdorfs to speak during the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults.

There is an interesting anomaly about that assignment, along with a unique invitation associated with it that I thought  was worth mentioning. In regards to the unique invitation, the Uchtdorfs have invited many young adults in Utah to be with them in the Conference Center as the devotional is held. But they have also announced that the devotional will include activities for their involvement, the encouragement to use social media during the course of that devotional, and refreshments and an informal get-together after the devotional.

Now that I have discussed the unique invitation, here is the anomaly: This Church News article uses the honorific title for President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, but this article from the Church's official website is virtually a verbatim copy of that article, with one exception: it refers to him as "Elder Uchtdorf".

In an earlier comment in which I offered my response to a question about the use of the honorific title, I mentioned that it is generally customary for counselors of a deceased Church president to retain the use of their honorific titles at least through the funeral services, if they do not go on to be retained in the First Presidency under the new Church president.

So I thought it was interesting that two almost identical sources about this devotional have different designations for President Monson's Second Counselor. With that said, that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all  the best and pray that the Lord will bless you  all in everything you do.

Slight Update Provided For the Completion Time-frame for the Houston Texas Temple

Hello again, everyone! While there have not been any major Church or temple news items in the last 36 hours or so, I did find one update, albeit a minor one, to the estimated time-frame for when the restoration or renovation process will be completed this year for the Houston Texas Temple. A few of the sources I have available for temple-related information have updated that time-frame from early 2018 to spring 2018. That development makes sense. Early 2018 can be considered as the first 3-5 months of the year, whereas spring (at least in the northern hemisphere), goes from mid-March to mid-June. So that is only a slight difference. And I did want to note, for what it's worth, that I don't see this change as reason enough to alter my estimate for that event (which I have said could occur on either April 15 or 22). Just wanted to pass that update along to you all.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Potential Speakers at Funeral Services for President Monson

Hello again, everyone! In the late-night hours where the 3rd has become the 4th, I am back to pass along some thoughts about whom we might hear from during the funeral services for President Thomas S. Monson. Based on the outline for President Hinckley's funeral 10 years ago, I have felt the outline could look something like this:

Presiding: President Russell M. Nelson
Conducting: President Henry B. Eyring
Speakers: Sister Ann M. Dibb (representing the family)
Bishop Gerald Causse
Elder L. Whitney Clayton
President Russell M. Nelson
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
President Henry B. Eyring

Again, these are no more and no less than my own personal thoughts, based on what we saw with President Hinckley's funeral services almost 10 years ago. The funeral for President Howard W. Hunter saw a slightly different formula, with addresses from Jon M. Huntsman Sr., Elder James E. Faust, President Boyd K. Packer, President Thomas S. Monson, and President Gordon B. Hinckley. Since this funeral will be put together in the way the Monson family prefers, we could see something different happen. Whatever might happen in terms of that funeral, you can depend on my report on it here after the fact.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.