The Unique Connection Between President Nelson and President Oaks/Verifying the Truth of Something I Previously Stated

Hello again, everyone! KSL aired a special tonight dedicated to President Nelson. In the course of that special, I learned about the unique personal connection that Presidents Nelson and Oaks have. Back when President Nelson was a practicing heart surgeon, President Oaks, a professor at the University of Chicago in the Law School Department was tasked with trying to convince President Nelson, a well respected surgeon, to relocate to Chicago and join that College's medical faculty. President Nelson was impressed by President Oaks's persuasion on the matter, but ultimately decided not to take that path. Several years later, when both were interviewed for the position of BYU President, President Oaks was appointed.

So by the time the two were both called to the apostleship at the April 1984 General Conference, they had known each other for years. They have been seatmates during the entire time they have served in the Quorum of the Twelve, and that personal affinity and camaraderie is no doubt what led to President Nelson picking President Oaks as his First Counselor.

Additionally, I wanted to confirm something I noted previously in a blog post: President Nelson looked haggard at President Monson's funeral because he had all the weight of being the senior apostle and not the mantle of Church leadership. But in watching the coverage of today, that mantle has clearly settled on him, and if he has anything to say about it, he'll be well enough to lead the Church for the next several years.

He will mark his 94th birthday on September 9 of this year, but I'm sure if the Lord wills it to be so, he could stick around not only to pass President Hinckley as the oldest living prophet and Elder Haight as the oldest living apostle in Church history, but we could even see him become the first centenarian prophet in the Church's history. And as previously mentioned, President Oaks has likely been praying for a while that his apostolic and now First Presidency colleague will outlive him.

Whatever might happen in that regard, you can depend on my ongoing reports here. 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.

Renovation Process Formally Begins For the Raleigh North Carolina Temple

Hello again, everyone! While I don't want to unduly detract from what occurred today with the reorganization of the First Presidency, at the same time, I wanted to note that formal efforts have reportedly begun for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple, where site clearing is underway, construction trailers are on-site, and a construction barrier has been put up before the process of  disassembling it occurs. Other than that, there have been no other developments in temple progress to report, so 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.

First New Stake Creation Reported for 2018

Hello again, everyone! This will be just a quick post to let you know that the Church has reported the creation of the first new stake in 2018, the Queen Creek Arizona Ocotillo Stake (unless I'm mistaken, the name is likely pronounced o-co-tee-o; correct me if I am wrong; I'm assuming it's Spanish). With as careful as I try to be not to step on the expert analysis of others on such subjects, I will not detail the affected units. You can catch analysis in that regard on the LDS Church Growth Blog in the coming days from Church growth expert Matthew Martinich. 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.

More Coverage & Thoughts on Today's Events (Including a Historical Perspective)

Hello again, everyone! Continuing my coverage of today's events, if I have not already shared this (the last 8 hours have been somewhat of a blur, so I'm honestly not sure), the Church News has shared this article which has provided a summary of the questions that were asked and answered during the press conference held earlier today.

I also wanted to put into perspective some data about President Nelson. During the process of researching content I posted today, I was reminded that while President Nelson ranks as the least tenured Church president thus far (it will be interesting to see how long he serves given his announced intention to live for at least the next several years), he is also the 16th in birth chronology (since President Monson was born roughly three years after he was), and his age makes him the second oldest man in Church history to ascend to the presidency (the oldest ever Church President at the time of his ordination was Joseph Fielding Smith, who took the mantle of Church President when he was 93 years, 6 months, and 4 days old (which occurred on January 23, 1970), meaning that President Smith was at that time just 2 months and 1 day older than President Nelson was when he was ordained and set apart as the 17th Church President on Sunday.

This last Sunday, President Nelson's ordination made him the 5th oldest Church President of the 17. It will be interesting to see what occurs in terms of how long he does live. All going well, I could see him at least passing President Hinckley as the oldest president in Church history, and if the Lord wills, I could also see him becoming the first ever centenarian prophet. What will be interesting to see is if he will outlive his current First Counselor, or whether President Oaks will succeed him. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that President Oaks would prefer the former over the latter, but time will tell what occurs in that regard.

Whatever the case might be, I will do my level best to bring the latest to you as it occurs. 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.

Some Thoughts About Current and Future Apostles

Hello again, everyone! I am back as promised, with some thoughts about current and future apostles. Let's get right to that.

With Elder Uchtdorf's return to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he rejoins the other two that, along with him, were born in 1940 (with Elder Cook on September 8, Elder Uchtdorf on November 6, and Elder Holland on December 3). It is also interesting to me that the three apostles born in 1940 were called in the reverse order, with Elder Holland in June 1994, Elder Uchtdorf in October 2004, and Elder Cook in October 2007.

We also, as you may be aware, have two apostles each that were born in 1951 (Elder Rasband on February 6, and his seatmate Elder Andersen roughly six months later on August 9) and 1952 (Elder Bednar on June 15 and Elder Renlund just under five months later on November 13).

The two born in 1951 were called in the opposite order, with Elder Andersen being called in April 2009 and Elder Rasband in October 2015. As for Elders Bednar and Renlund, the former was called in October 2004, and the latter in October 2015.

Now, if I may, I'd like to offer some thoughts about the ages at which our current apostles were called and at which future apostles may be called. As we know, President Monson, prior to his death, was the youngest apostle called of the group, having received his apostolic call at the age of 36. His death means that, of the current apostles, the oldest at the time of his call was Elder Cook at 67.1 years, with the new "youngest" apostle to be called being Elder Oaks, who was 51.7 years old at the time of his call.

In anticipation of the reorganization of the First Presidency that we saw today, I have begun the preliminary process of gathering some thoughts about who might be called to fill the two vacancies in the Quorum, the one resulting from the death of Elder Hales in October, the other from the reorganization process.

In doing so, I am looking at more recent apostles (primarily those called under President Monson's administration) for my guide on a rough target of ages to place my focus. There were five such appointments, which ranged in age from that of Elder Andersen (who was 57.7 years old at the time of his ordination) to his seatmate, Elder Christofferson, who was 63.3 years old when he was so ordained. For that reason, I will be centralizing my focus on those candidates who are in their early 50s-early 60s. There is a possibility that the two new apostles could be older or younger than that range, but it seems a safe assumption for now that that won't be the case.

I should also note that I liked the way the new First Presidency (who were all born in America) responded to the question about international outreach. The response was essentially an echo of what had previously been said by our three newest apostles at the October 2015 press conference held in which they addressed and took questions from the media: the three are called to represent the Lord to the people, not the other way around, and they are also called to minister worldwide, and not just to those within the US where they were all born.

Each has been tested by proven service and a ministry the scope of which has been worldwide. As President Nelson observed, he and his counselors have roughly (rounding up) 91 years of apostolic experience, in which they have traveled round the world quite extensively. With nearly a century's worth of worldwide ministry to Church members in their favor, no one should question their ability to relate to and receive revelation for all members.

By the same token, while it would be wonderful to see one (or both) new apostles being called from a foreign country, if those called are born in the US but have had international experiences either prior to or in conjunction with their calls as general authorities, and their subsequent assignment as apostles, no one can (or should) have reason to accuse those selected of being other American-born men.

Since President Nelson said he sees in the Church's future a day when there will be more diversity in terms of foreign apostles, until that time, it is our duty to gain a testimony that whomever will be called during any prophetic administration (whether born in the US or from a foreign country) are those the Lord would have come to those positions at those times.

Those regular readers of this blog will no doubt be aware that I am fiercely loyal to the leading Brethren of the Church, whomever they may be, and that I will not condone on the part of anyone within the scope of my influence any unjust criticism of such leaders or the process by which they are called. And I hope the same is true for each of you. If you do not have such a witness regarding the wonderful way such calls are issued and accepted (by both those receiving them and by those of us who should sustain them for the duration of that calling), I would implore such individuals to take the time to go through the necessary processes to obtain such a witness.

In my case, the minute I got the news of the new leaders, it felt right to me in that very moment. So I know those changes have been inspired. I leave these thoughts with you, along with my unshakable witness that the Lord guides the process of selecting his leaders, from the President of the Church on down to the newest deacon's quorum president or Young Women's class president, and it is our right and duty to gain a witness of that process and to share it when we have received it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.