Public Open House Tours Underway for Jordan River Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! As St. Patrick's Day is marked today, public tours are officially underway for the Jordan River Temple, and, as previously noted, they will continue to be offered for 36 of the 42 days between now and April 28. In an earlier post, I had mistakenly noted that those public tours would begin yesterday (March 16). I apologize for the unintentional error.

I have also repeatedly offered my opinion that, since this is the first major temple event of President Nelson's presidency (I should perhaps say that it is the first major public temple event of his presidency, as the rededication of the Houston Temple is private), and since he is in very good health, it is likely safe to assume that he will preside at this event.

What will be interesting to see going forward is if, how, and how soon President Nelson will divide responsibilities for presiding at temple events with his counselors. They have all had experiences presiding at such events (I seem to recall that then-Elder Nelson, as a senior apostle, presided over one or two rededications prior to becoming the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to presiding at the final session of the Provo City Center Temple dedication (with then-Elder Oaks presiding at the first two), and he (President Nelson) also presided at the dedication of the Sapporo Japan Temple.

But it is interesting to consider that during President Hinckley's tenure, he first delegated responsibility for presiding over temple dedications to his counselors and President Packer (then Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) around 4.5 years after he became Church president.

And it was around 3.5 years following President Monson's ordination that he began delegating the opportunity to preside at such events to his counselors (and later senior members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), and the last temple event at which President Monson himself presided was around 3.5 years prior to his death.

If we go further back, President Hunter presided at both of the temple dedications held during his brief administration, and President Benson was only well enough to preside over the second and third temple dedications of his administration. President Kimball's health only allowed him to preside at temple dedications for the first 3 years or so of his administration.

I hope that gives some insight into how recent Church presidents have handled temple events of their administration, and how early in such administrations those presidents shared responsibility with their counselors for presiding over such events.

Whatever President Nelson might opt to do in that regard, you can find more information on all of that here as I receive 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.

BREAKING NEWS: Church to discontinue monthly First Presidency Message

Hello again, everyone! Big news has come from the Church, likely as recently as today. President Nelson requested that the remarks he made from the temple on January 16 be reproduced in the April 2018 Ensign, which seems to replace the traditional article introducing the new Church leadership.

But that is not the big news. At the end of that message, a note was included from those editing the Church magazines that indicated that this message would be the last First Presidency message included in the Ensign, and that any major messages from the First Presidency would be shared via social media and Church websites.

There is nothing as of yet to verify this, but it seems safe to infer that this also means that the Church will move the home teaching program more in the direction of what has been done for visiting teaching, and that, rather than a prepared message, the emphasis for home teachers will be to share a message as inspired by the Spirit based on the principles that should govern home teaching.

If that is the case, then it is plain that the Church is wanting to encourage all members to rely more on the promptings of the Spirit than a written message. In the meantime, for those interested, you can review President Nelson's message 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.

Update Provided on Renovation Process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple

Hello again, everyone! Continuing the reports on temple updates I have somehow missed (due to illness & not currently having access to my document on which I track such progress), I wanted to note a major update on the renovation process for the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple. The last time I provided an update on that process was on February 22.

At that time, I noted that the new entrance lobby of the temple was being sheathed. The new information of which I have become aware is that the structural framing has been completed for the steeple and that the exterior is being waterproofed.

While this milestone is significant, to be sure, it does not appear that there is any justification to believe that the more general estimate provided by others or the more specific ones which I have felt safe in providing need to be altered at all.

With that said, it would not surprise me in any way if the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple was delayed until after both the Memphis Tennessee Temple and this one have their rededications.

As always, I am doing my level best to keep an eye on developments in this regard, and I will continue to the best of my ability to pass along any and all temple-related news and developments as I become aware of them, including and especially any alterations that may become necessary to any general or specific estimates provided by myself or others.

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.

Update Noted on the Lisbon Portugal Temple

Hello again, everyone! I don't know if this was reported earlier and I didn't notice it, or if this is new information, but I have found out about a status update for the Lisbon Portugal Temple.

The last time I reported a change in this temple's status was February 28, at which time I noted that the walls for its' steeple had been poured and that the scaffolding had been removed.

The new information indicates that scaffolding & netting has gone up around the temple's exterior. While this update is a good indication of this temple's progress, it is not significant enough to warrant a change in its' general or more specific completion estimate.

As always, I am doing my level best to stay on top of all temple progress and will continue to post all such updates as I receive 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.

Progress Noted on the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple

Hello again, everyone! The last time I posted an update on the status of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple was on February 1 of this year, at which point I had noted that the main floor concrete slab was being poured. New information received today indicates that that pouring process has been completed. So it would seem that the construction of that temple is moving along at a steady pace.

On February 28 of this year, I had offered my revised estimate that this temple's dedication could occur during mid-to-late May of next year. It will be interesting to see how that changes as this year progresses. It may be of interest to some of you to know that, as should be obvious, if the dedication for the Rome Italy Temple is not able to occur until early 2019, that would in turn push back the likely time-frames for the dedications of the temples in Kinshasa, Fortaleza, and Port-au-Prince.

That might also be the case for the rededications of the Memphis Tennessee and Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temples. And it will be interesting to see how soon the Frankfurt Germany Temple might be rededicated as well. At the moment, it would appear that the renovation of that temple has been delayed enough that venturing a general and therefore even a more specific time-frame for that temple's rededication may be more difficult than I have recently believed and asserted.

But I am keeping my eye on all temple-related developments and will be sure to post an update on all of that ASAP after I learn about 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.