Minor Temple Updates

Hello again, everyone! I am back in the mid-afternoon today to share some updates, minor though they may be, relating to temple progress. So let's get right into discussing those. First of all, I have referenced before my feeling that the Church will have a minimum of 200 operating temples by the 200th anniversary of the Church. As of today, to make that possible, the Church would just need to announce and complete 18 more, in addition to dedicating the other 23 in various phases.

Since that is a total of 41 temples, and in view of the fact that there are 12.19 years as of today between now and that 200th anniversary, that means that the Church would just need to complete 3.36 temples per year to make that possible. And while it is becoming increasingly more likely that only 2 (the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples) will be dedicated by the end of this year, at minimum, the Church continues construction on 6 or 7 temples that could be completed in 2019, with 2 or 3 others that we know of so far that are anticipated to be completed the following year.

And if, as anticipated, the next two years are big ones for groundbreakings of temples currently announced, then that would extend the likelihood of other new temples being dedicated in 2020 or 2021. It will be interesting to see how those events unfold, and you can catch the latest in that regard here in subsequent posts.

In the meantime, I also wanted to note that new information I received earlier today on the Arequipa Peru Temple indicates that the construction crew is preparing to install the framework for the temple steeple. It was wonderful to hear about that progress.

Again, I will be posting any additional updates as I can after I become aware of them. 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.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson Celebrates His 73rd Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! I am back as promised on this 24th day of January to pay tribute on this blog to Elder D. Todd Christofferson, who today is celebrating his 73rd birthday. Elder Christofferson has been uniquely prepared by the Lord, both in those events that led up to his apostolic call, and also in the assignments he has since received. Let's talk about all of that.

David Todd Christofferson was born on January 24, 1945 in American Fork, Utah (a place I proudly claim as my hometown) to Paul Vickery and Jeanne Swenson Christofferson. He spent his years growing up in Pleasant Grove and Lindon, and his family subsequently relocated to Somerset New Jersey. While there, he participated in the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant, and, having been urged by his bishop to do so, he earnestly sought a personal testimony of the gospel. Although he felt for a while that his prayer at that time had not been answered, the witness he was seeking came about a month later.

At around this same time, his mother was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery for it. While his father learned later that he had gathered his brothers to pray for their mom, it would be years later before Elder Christofferson learned about his father's personal sacrifices to supply what his wife needed to help her with the housework.

Young Todd Christofferson also stepped in to help his mom by making homemade bread for his family, after having learned how to do so from his grandmother. After relocating to New Jersey and graduating from high school, he studied for a year at BYU prior to serving full-time in the Argentina North Mission, where he had two mission presidents, Ronald V. Stone, and his future colleague in the Quorum of the Twelve, Richard G. Scott.

Following the conclusion of his missionary service, Elder Christofferson returned to BYU, and there he met Kathy Jacob, whom he married in May 1968. He earned his bachelor's degree from BYU, and went on to get a doctor of law degree from the School of Law at Duke University. During his years as a young attorney, he clerked for Judge John J. Sirica at the time the Watergate hearings were occurring.

When his clerkship ended, he took active duty with the US Army for a year, after which he served in the Army reserves for 8 years, by which time, he had achieved the rank of Captain. His professional career took his family to Washington DC, Nashville Tennesee, and Charlotte North Carolina. During that same time, he would serve as a bishop, stake president, and in the now-defunct calling of regional representative.

Called as a general authority in April 1993, he served in a variety of capacities (including as a member of area presidencies outside the US( until his call to the Presidency of the Seventy in August 1998. During his service in that presidency, he first served as the executive director for the Church's Family and Church History Department, where he worked to negotiate with Jewish religious leaders on the matter of performing temple ordinances for Holocaust victims, which in turn shaped the policy of Church members only being allowed to perform such ordinances for direct-line family members.

In 2004, the First Presidency announced that the Presidency of the Seventy would oversee areas in the United States and Canada, and Elder Christofferson was given responsibility for the North America Southeast Area of the Church, holding that assignment from August 2004-August 2007, at which time he was reassigned to oversee the North America Northwest and North America West Areas. He continued that assignment for 8 months, and was, as we know, the first apostle called by President Thomas S. Monson in April 2008.

During his time as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as noted, Elder Christofferson served alongside his former mission president, Richard G. Scott. Since his ordination as an apostle, Elder Christofferson has filled a wide variety of assignments, and he is currently the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve assigned to oversee the Church Public Affairs Committee, which is why he was asked to conduct the meeting introducing President Nelson as the new Church President on January 16 of this year.

He has had 26 opportunities to speak in General Conference so far, and 6 of those addresses were given either as a General Authority Seventy or while serving in the Presidency of the Seventy. You can review any of these addresses here.

Additionally, KSL aired this special highlighting how Elder Christofferson and his brothers extended unconditional love and support to their brother Tom as he dealt with same-sex attraction that caused a distance between him and the Church for a time. The unconditional love the brothers showed for Tom, and the efforts leaders of the local congregation went to was in line with President Monson's prophetic counsel to "reach out and rescue", and Tom has since come back to full activity in the Church.

This is but one example demonstrating how "in tune" with the issues members face the Brethren actually are. Their decades of life experience, including adapting to changing technologies and climates, qualifies all of them, in a unique way, to understand the issues members of the Church face, and to give counsel that will enable those issues to be properly dealt with.

A few last notes on Elder Christofferson. He currently ranks as the most junior  of the six most senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and he is the 5th oldest of the 10 current members of that Quorum. He is also the 9th in overall apostolic seniority and the 8th oldest in terms of his age. He is also the oldest of the five that were called by President Monson.

I am grateful for the opportunity to, in this very small way, pay tribute to Elder Christofferson on his birthday. Whatever Church or temple or apostolic news crosses my radar, you can count on my bringing that to you as soon as I can after learning of it.

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.

Another Update Provided for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple

Hello again, everyone! I am posting today to note a few updates for temples. First, I wanted to note a status change for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple. When the status of that temple was last updated, it had been noted that hard landscaping was underway, that the exterior walls were being plastered, and that a moisture barrier was being added to the eaves of the temple roof. The update given today shows that hard landscaping continues and that the paint that is being applied to the exterior is nearing completion.

I should also note briefly here that I found out that the renovation currently underway for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple will alter its' exterior appearance to look like the other temples originally built during the temple building boom of the late 1990's and early 2000's. Based on that, I would assume that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, for which building permits are being acquired, will be altered in a similar manner. I will be keeping an eye on that and passing along any updates as I receive them.

In the meantime, we also know that full-scale efforts are still pending for the temple in Winnipeg, which is 13 months removed from its' groundbreaking. This time last year, the primary holdup for the commencement of construction efforts was due to a severe Canadian winter. While I cannot say with any certainty that winter this year is factoring into the decision to wait, I am hoping that by the time winter 2018 clears from the northern hemisphere, full scale efforts will have begun on that temple.

And finally, I wanted to note that while there has not yet been any additional news of groundbreakings or dedications for temples, I am keeping my eyes open for information in this regard and will pass any such updates along as I become aware of them.

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.

Elder Uchtdorf's New Assignments Identified

Hello again, everyone! Many of you may recall President Nelson's statement during the press conference last week that Elder Uchtdorf had already been given major assignments, for which he is uniquely qualified based on his service in the First Presidency. Today we got a look at what those assignments will be.

According to this article, the First Presidency has announced that he will chair the Missionary and Correlation Executive Councils (for the first, he will oversee most issues relating to the missions and missionaries of the Church, and for the second, he will have a role in reviewing and approving all Church materials.

Additionally, he will take over oversight of the Europe and Europe East areas of the Church. Those two areas were previously overseen by Presidents Nelson and Ballard respectively, and in view of their new roles, it makes sense they would hand those off to someone who is very familiar with that continent.

There may or may not be other assignments which we have yet to learn about. But it is wonderful to see that President Nelson is trusting Elder Uchtdorf with all of these things. It will be awesome to see how these assignments allow Elder Uchtdorf to make recommendations to the First Presidency and to see those come to fruition.

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.

Updates Made Yet Again to Completion Estimates for Temples Under Construction

Hello again, everyone! As I did yet another check on my favorite Church websites, I learned about additional changes that have been noted for the completion estimates for several temples. So I wanted to post right now to discuss what has changed and what that means for the sequence of events in the near future. Let's dive in to all of that.

First, a quick preliminary note: While I have continued to voice my opinion that the Rome Italy Temple will likely be dedicated prior to the end of this year, and while that still could happen, in view of its recent lack of progress, I now concur fully with the opinion of those who have indicated that, while the construction team may have the temple completed by the end of this year, it appears more than likely that its' dedication may only take place in the early months of 2019.

Additionally, it is also worth noting that the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple, as I may or may not have noted here previously, is now anticipated to be the third temple dedicated this year, which moved the Durban South Africa Temple down. At some point earlier today, there was apparently reason to shift Durban down again, which resulted in the Lisbon Portugal Temple's dedication anticipated sometime between those for Port-au-Prince and Durban.

In another post yesterday, I noted the fact that the renovation for the Raleigh North Carolina Temple has formally begun, and that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, which is further behind in the process, although it closed first, is anticipated to have its renovation wrapped up after that of the Raleigh Temple.

With all of that said, I want to conclude by noting that I am working on revising the more specific estimates based on these changes. Once I have that ready, I will put it up 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.