BREAKING NEWS: Church Releases Official Statement on Alleged Abuse Accusations Against a Former Mission President

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post now with some breaking news from the Church. In response to a request for comment about an ongoing police investigation of charges that a former MTC president may have abused one of the missionaries under his stewardship, the First Presidency has released this statement.

What impressed me as I read it was how balanced it was, making it clear that abuse of any kind by anyone is cause for immediate disciplinary action if the allegations are subsequently verified, but also making it clear that since the recollection of the two people involved (the accuser and the accused) differ so much, and since the police continue to investigate, there is not much Church leadership can do unless and until this is settled one way or the other.

And I for one appreciate the balance. While this may not be true in other nations, in the US, someone is believed innocent until proven guilty. So for that reason, until the allegations are verified as true or false, the situation needs to be in the hands of the law enforcement members involved in the investigation, and if and when the claims are verified as factual, the Church would, of course, take the necessary action on their part.

This measured response from the First Presidency shows clearly how much they intend to keep the balance between the love of the Lord and the law of the Lord, as they mentioned in the press conference on January 16. In my opinion, this is the best approach they could have taken to responding about this issue.

If and when more details are determined about the case, subsequent releases will follow, I am sure. In the meantime, for any of my readers who may have been or are currently being subjected to abuse of any kind, I wanted to post some links to official Church resources on that subject.

You can find resources on that subject, among others, from the Church's page on that subject from the gospel topics section, from Mormon Newsroom's additional resource page covering the subject, and these General Conference talks as well.

Perhaps my all-time favorite among those is the most recent one, given in April 2008 by Elder Richard G. Scott, who, as some of you might recall, committed his talks to memory so he could focus on making sure he was always looking right into whatever camera was covering him. And since the Church has released this statement today, perhaps another talk or two from this next General Conference may be added to that list.

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: Artist's Rendering Released for Bangkok Thailand Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news was just reported on KSL, which is partially or entirely owned by Bonneville Communications, the media entity that is in turn controlled by the Church. As confirmed by this official press release from Mormon Newsroom, an artist's rendering has been supplied for the Bangkok Thailand Temple.

It would appear that, rather than being a multi-purpose edifice as some members speculated, the temple itself will be a separate and distinct building from a dual office building and chapel that will be on the temple grounds. With this rendering released, and the site essentially confirmed, I feel reasonably certain that a groundbreaking will likely be announced in the near future.

I will be sure to keep my eyes open for news in that regard and will be sure to pass any 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.

Several Significant Temple Updates Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am posting in the early hours of this Monday morning to note some significant temple updates that have been reported from locations around the world. I would have gotten to this update sooner, but had some personal & health related issues that prevented me from doing so until now. So let's get right into those updates.

We start first with the Fortaleza Brazil Temple. My last update on that was received on February 1, which was that while exterior cladding continued, the interior was being painted, and ceilings and millwork were being installed. The new information of which I have become aware is that cladding is progressing around the exterior, interior finishes are also progressing, perimeter gardens are being planted, and sod is being laid around the meetinghouse parking area.

This brings me to an interesting thought: Some elements of the current status of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple are similar (if not exactly identical) to some elements an uof the statuses I reported for the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples on January 29 of this year, and a dedication for each of those temples was announced less than a month later (on the final day of February 28).

So it is my theory that the Church could take action to announce the dedication of that temple perhaps within the next few months. What will be interesting to see will be how and if the future dedication of this temple occurs before or after the dedications of both the Rome Italy and Barranquilla Colombia Temples. If any of you have any thoughts in this regard, let me know. I'd love to hear from you in the comments below..

We next turn our attention to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. Though I just barely reported on March 15 that scaffolding and netting had gone up around the temple's exterior, today I learned that while that is still the case, there has been a report that spire framework has been attached to the steeple walls. The last time I could find a report of that nature on any temple from my reports on this blog was when I reported that occurring for the Rome Italy Temple back in 2016.

And it turns out that many temples that were considered as being behind that temple in terms of their progress were dedicated firs, and we are still t. With that in mind, I can see why this temple's dedication is anticipated to be roughly 1.25-1.5 years away. Barring anything unexpected, I don't see that changing, although it is significant that its' estimated completion has moved up quite a bit from where it was.

Moving on now to Durban South Africa, I last reported an update on that temple exactly two weeks ago to the day, at which point I noted that precast concrete panels werere being attached to the exterior, while a ring beam had been poured for the front veranda of the missionary housing facility,  and that driveway curbing was being installed.

The new information I have on this temple shows that while the attachment of precast concrete panels is ongoing, first floor drywall is being hung, and at the missionary housing facility, roof trusses are being set. My mom, a native South African who came to the US on a "short vacation" that kept going until last year when she and my dad were able to visit there, has been kept in the loop about the progress (and at times the lack thereof, which doesn't surprise her) that has been reported on this temple. With that said, unless something unexpected occurs, I don't think the estimate for its' completion will be too far off, and this may be the last temple dedication held next year.

In connection with that, I may or may not have noted previously that the completion estimates for both the Arequipa Peru and Rio de Janeiro Templee have been pushed back to 2020. In the case of the Rio temple, that seems to be because it was determined that that temple would be bigger than originally thought. I still hope to see the Arequipa Peru Temple dedicated in late 2019, but we will have to see what happens.

Aside from these developments, there has been no other temple progress of which I have been able to learn. 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.

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.