President Nelson and His Traveling Companions Share Important Messages with the Saints in Kenya

Hello again, everyone! During his visit to Kenya earlier today, President Nelson shared a message specifically directed to the people in attendance, which included thoughts about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how the Saints in attendance should prepare to receive the blessings of the temple (he particularly said that it is easier for Church leadership to prepare for and build a temple anywhere than it is to ensure that the people for whom the temple is being built are prepared for it by the time it is dedicated), He also indicated that he does not yet know how soon construction will begin on the Nairobi Kenya Temple, which was announced one year ago, but that he hoped the Saints who would hear and relay his message to others will ensure they are ready when the temple is dedicated.

He also gave a strong message: The practice of "bride price" should not be observed by those who have accepted the gospel. For those not aware, bride price is an arrangement wherein a prospective groom or his family will barter with the family of a prospective bride on a gift of either money or livestock for which the prospective groom will be able to marry the prospective bride. While there are many countries that still practice it, the idea is not, as President Nelson reminded those hearing his message, in keeping with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That message has been shared before in nations that still observe the practice of bride price, but President Nelson obviously felt that it needed to be reiterated as the word of the Lord to the people hearing it. I like that he observed that he might have missed out on 5 of his 10 children if he had to barter for his first wife, since he was only debt-free when his final 5 came along.

President Nelson's visit to Kenya is significant, as he becomes only the second Church president to ever visit there (the first was, of course, President Hinckley, who, during his visit in 1998 (for which Elder Holland was also his traveling companion) first publicly prophesied of a day when a temple would be built in Nairobi. He said, "Don't count on [a temple announcement] for a few years, but it will be so." President Monson fulfilled that prophecy last year in announcing the temple proposed by his predecessor, and his successor, President Nelson, has now visited that nation to reiterate the importance of preparing for the temple that has been announced.

Elder Holland also stressed the importance of preparing for the temple, and that the Saints listening to or relaying these messages should prepare for, be worthy of, and retain a temple recommend, and should, as frequently as circumstances permit, attend the nearest temple until the one in Nairobi is dedicated.

Sister Nelson focused her remarks on three prophets of the Lord: Nephi, who, in the Book of Mormon, had faith to build a boat even though he had never done so before; the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, at a time when it had not been done before, envisioned the original Nauvoo Temple with circular windows, and who lived to see such windows installed for the temple prior to his martyrdom, and President Russell M. Nelson, who trusted the Lord's inspiration rather than the natural laws of medicine, which discouraged a practice he pioneered that is still in use by heart surgeons today. Her message was that the Lord's wisdom should be trusted and His voice obeyed, even when He inspires things that seem impossible.

And Sister Holland's address provided a personal perspective on the wonderful qualities President and Sister Nelson have. She particularly highlighted the maternal instinct she sees in Sister Nelson, that will now be felt Church-wide as she ministers by her husband's side, and that President Nelson speaks strongly but never harshly, having the Savior's gentleness and compassion.

It was wonderful to read of the great impact the visit and these messages had on the people of Kenya. You can find a more complete report of that meeting for Kenyan Church members here. I am grateful that President Nelson and his companions were able to spend some time with the Saints in Kenya, and I hope that many of you will find this report of their time there to be helpful.

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.

A Look at My Projected Table of Contents for the May 2018 Ensign

Hello again, everyone! Having reported yesterday on my predictions for General Conference, in accordance with my usual tradition, I wanted to note that I have put together a projection for what the table of contents might potentially look like.

There were a couple of challenges around which I had to navigate in order to prepare this. First, with the Women's Session not occurring one week before the remainder of General Conference, there will be some extra space in the magazine that would have otherwise been devoted to those addresses. The second is that the Solemn Assembly and Sustaining of Church Officers were done separately, so I had to figure out how to split that.

Another problem in putting this together was that the entire First Presidency spoke one after the other in the Sunday Morning Session in addition to their usual Priesthood Session addresses. Connected to that, of course, was the short introductory remarks President Nelson provided to make the major announcements in the Priesthood and Sunday Afternoon Sessions.

And with 5 of the 12 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in the final session of General Conference, there was that to consider as well. I also had to factor in how the lengths of the non-native English speakers might compare to those of their English-speaking counterparts.

Initially, I also considered putting the Statistical Report in its' traditional place within the Saturday Afternoon Session, but based on the fact that it wasn't read outloud during that time, it seemed safe to surmise that that report will likely appear at the back of the magazine with all other Church news.

With the many General Conference announcements and leadership changes, it also seemed safe to assume that that traditional Church news section in the back of the magazine will likely be longer than it has traditionally been. I cannot say for sure this will happen, but it would not surprise me in any way at all if this General Conference En sign has more than the 144 pages that has been traditional for the May edition each year.

With all of that in mind, and noting that it will likely turn out that my version of this might not be anywhere near what the actual table of contents for this Ensign will turn out to be, the version below represents my best-researched efforts to put it together. Hope you enjoy reading these thoughts on the subject.

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.

Session	Page	Title	Speaker
	2	Conference Summary for the 188th Annual General Conference
	4	Highlights from the 188th Annual General Conference
SAM	6	Solemn Assembly	President Henry B. Eyring
	9	Precious Gifts from God	President M. Russell Ballard
	13	Am I a Child of God?	Elder Brian K. Taylor
	16	Even As Christ Forgives You, So Also Do Ye	Elder Larry J. Echo Hawk
	19	The Heart of a Prophet	Elder Gary E. Stevenson
	23	Until Seventy Times Seven	Elder Lynn G. Robbins
	26	The Prophet of God	Elder Neil L. Andersen
SAA	30	The Sustaining of Church Officers	President Dallin H. Oaks
	32	Church Auditing Department Report, 2017	Robert W. Cantwell
	33	Meek and Lowly of Heart	Elder David A. Bednar
	37	One More Day	Elder Taylor G. Godoy
	39	Young Women in the Work	Bonnie L. Oscarson
	42	Saving Ordinances Will Bring Us Marvelous Light	Elder Taniela B. Wakolo
	45	Teaching in the Home—a Joyful and Sacred Responsibility	Devin G. Durrant
	48	Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing	Elder Dale G. Renlund
SPH	52	What Every Aaronic Priesthood Holder Needs to Understand	Douglas D. Holmes
	55	Introductory Remarks	President Russell M. Nelson
	56	The Elders’ Quorum	Elder D. Todd Christofferson
	59	Behold! A Royal Army	Elder Ronald A. Rasband
	62	Inspired Ministering	President Henry B. Eyring
	65	The Powers of the Priesthood	President Dallin H. Oaks
	68	Ministering with the Power and Authority of God	President Russell M. Nelson
SUM	76	Take the Holy Spirit As Your Guide	Elder Larry Y. Wilson
	79	With One Accord	Reyna I. Aburto
	82	Pure Love: the Sign of Every True Disciple	Elder Massimo De Feo
	85	He That Shall Endure unto the End, the Same Shall Be Saved	Elder Claudio D. Zivic
	88	His Spirit to Be with You	President Henry B. Eyring
	92	Small and Simple Things	President Dallin H. Oaks
	96	Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives	President Russell M. Nelson
SUA	101	Christ the Lord is Risen Today	Elder Gerrit W. Gong
	103	Prophets Speak by the Power of the Holy Spirit	Elder Ulisses Soares
	105	Ministering	President Russell M. Nelson
	106	Be With and Strengthen Them	Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
	110	Ministering as the Savior Does	Jean B. Bingham
	113	Behold the Man!	Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
	117	It Is All about People	Bishop Gerald Causse
	120	Prepare to Meet God	Elder Quentin L. Cook
	124	Let Us All Press On	President Russell M. Nelson
	72	General Authorities and General Officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
	126	They Spoke to Us: Making Conference Part of Our Lives
	128	Conference Story Index
	129	News of the Church (including new leader biographies, an overview of the announced policy and practice changes, new temples, and any other general Church news)
	144	Last Page of Conference Ensign

Confirmation Provided for the Temporary Closure of the Edmonton Alberta Temple

Hello again, everyone! Some of you might recall that an anonymous comment on this blog just before General Conference suggested that the Edmonton Alberta Temple would be closing for several months later this year. At the time, because it had not been officially or even unofficially confirmed, many, /myself included, commented to note that until such confirmation was provided, the report could not be substantiated.

At some point today, a few of the sources I have available did note the confirmation of the closure details that were previously shared here. The temple closure is set to occur from June 23-November 6, 2018, for renovation and repairs that will be focused mainly on the baptistry. It would appear that news of this closure was sent to the Edmonton Saints via a First Presidency letter on February 8 of this year, and that patrons will be accommodated at other operating temples, including the one in Calgary.

The material problem I (and others) expressed when this closure was mentioned in an earlier comment on this blog was that it had not been officially verified through any sources in the public domain. But clearly, members in the area that would be affected would need more of an advanced notice than the rest of us.

So that information has now been confirmed. Until that confirmation occurred, those of us unconnected to this temple had only the word of the individual who commented on this blog on that subject, which is why it was difficult for myself (and likely many of you as well) to believe until it was confirmed by sources that are in the public domain.

I should also note that the schedule for this temple on the official Church website has not yet been updated to reflect this closure, but that will likely occur in the coming days. For my part, I continue to monitor all temple-related developments and will do my best to bring you word of them 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.

Report on April 2018 General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! It took me a while to do so, but yesterday, I finally had a chance to run some numbers and figure out how I did with my predictions for the April 2018 General Conference. Because of all of the unexpected things that occurred during that conference, even though I allowed myself a margin of error, as I indicated I would do, my calculations showed 54% accuracy this go-round.

That is only slightly less than the 60-80% range within which those usually fall, which, given all the unexpected things that occurred (such as President Nelson giving 5 total addresses during the last 3 sessions of the conference, the calling of the new apostles, 5 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in the last session, the entire First Presidency speaking during the Sunday Morning Session, etc.) is not too bad.

It will be interesting, to be sure, to see what unfolds with the next few conferences. I have begun the preliminary work of putting my predictions together for the October 2018 General Conference, which I may post within the next 3 months or so. In the meantime, I have a bunch of other projects underway, some of which will be posted here at some point.

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 Memphis Tennessee Temple Renovation Process

Hello again, everyone! With the many temple updates I provided yesterday, I did not anticipate having additional news in that regard to post today. I was therefore pleased a short while ago to discover that many sources I have available for temple news have shared an update on the Memphis Tennessee Temple renovation process.

As some of you might recall, the last update I posted for that temple showed that structural framing had been completed for the steeple. The new information of which I became aware today notes that sheathing plywood has been attached to the temple's exterior, while additional framing is being added to the steeple of this temple.

It was good to hear of the progress that has been made on that temple. I have previously noted that many of the sources I use for the reports I share here moved the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple ahead of this one in terms of its' likely future completion time-frame. As I have also observed, we have 3 temples being renovated (the two mentioned in this paragraph and the Frankfurt Germany Temple) and 2 new temples currently under construction (in Kinshasa DR Congo and Fortaleza Brazil) that are all anticipated to be completed in the early-to-middle part of next year.

At the moment, the 5 temples mentioned above could be considered as interchangeable in terms of their likely order of completion. What will certainly be interesting to see is if the Church will opt to schedule any of these for dedication or rededication prior to the already-scheduled dedication for the Rome Italy Temple in mid-March. I haven't done the research yet to verify this, but I seem to recall the Church scheduling the dedication of one temple prior to the previously-announced dedication of another temple.

If it turns out that all of these 5 temples have dedications or rededications set after the Rome dedication concludes, then some of those 5 events may occur more towards the latter half of the year than the first half of it. It will be interesting to see how the Church handles all of that, since 2019 is, by all accounts, shaping up to be full of temple events.

Whatever might occur in that regard, you can count on my monitoring these developments as they occur, and that I will be passing those along to you all as I am able to do 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.

President Nelson's Tour Continues Slightly Ahead of Schedule; Temple Updates Provided

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to pass along to you all in this post a report of President Nelson's ministry efforts in Jerusalem as well as several temple updates. Let's get right into all of that.

First of all, Mormon Newsroom has shared this report of President Nelson's ministry in the Holy Land, including remarks he and Elder Holland shared with Church members there, among whom were those currently studying at BYU's Jerusalem Center. It was a homecoming of sorts for Elder Holland, who, as BYU-Provo president years ago, was one of many leaders who were able to help establish that Center.

The historic nature of the prophet's visit was not lost on anyone. An article I read earlier indicates that President Nelson is only the fourth Church president to visit Jerusalem. For all who are interested, this is Mormon Newsroom's official release on the time spent there.

One interesting thing I took away from that report was that the Nelsons and the Hollands wound up leaving Jerusalem slightly ahead of schedule. That was due to both tension in the region and concerns about available airspace. So they are now on their way to Africa. Their early departure should not affect their announced itinerary, but it is interesting that this has occurred. Reports of the tour will continue in the days ahead, which I will bring to you all as soon as I hear of them.

That said, we move on to the temple updates. After a couple of weeks in which not many updates have been provided regarding temple construction, we now have a lot of new information and changes of status for many temples. So let's talk about what those updates are.

We start first in Rome Italy, where, as we know, a visitor's information center recently opened, and where the process of landscaping and interior work continues. A new update to that temple shows that the plaza water feature is currently being tested. Although this temple's dedication is still 11 months or so away, it was good to hear of this development.

Moving on now to Fortaleza Brazil, the temple in that city is still having its' cladding being put up around its' exterior. In the meantime, trees are being planted and walkways and staircases are being poured on the temple grounds. As I mentioned a while ago, following the Rome Italy Temple dedication, there is reason to believe that this temple could be one of the next three dedicated next year. It will be interesting indeed to see exactly when that will occur.

Staying in Brazil, we turn our attention to the temple in Rio de Janeiro. The update I have found indicates that the steeple walls have been poured, and that work on the interior of the temple is now underway. Some of you may recall that, for a while last year, this temple was anticipated to be completed sometime during 2019, but in view of the fact that we have since learned this temple is going to be larger than originally thought, it makes sense that it will likely only be dedicated in the early part of 2020.

While there has been no report as of yet that would indicate full-scale efforts are underway for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, since we are not quite halfway through April, there is still time for that to occur. It is also worth noting that the private rededication for the Houston Texas Temple will occur one week from tomorrow, and that open house tours for the Jordan River Utah Temple are set to continue for the next two weeks, concluding on Saturday April 28.

There has not been any change to the status of any of the temples undergoing renovation, with one exception. It would appear that the temple in Asuncion Paraguay has run into further difficulties that have hindered its' renovation process from commencing. Whatever the extent of those difficulties might be, most sources from which I gather the information I share here have moved that temple to the bottom of the list of those undergoing renovation. In the days ahead, more might be made known about the extent of the delays, and any adjustments to the general or more specific completion estimates offered by myself and others can be altered as that becomes necessary.

I continue to monitor all Church and temple-related news and developments, and will do my level best to pass updates along to you all as I become aware of new information. 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.

Additional Church News--Part Two: An Exploration of Several Other Significant Stories

Hello again, everyone! As promised, I am back with a report on the remaining Church News stories that I found significant. First of all, in connection with the article published about Elder Soares, there was also this one regarding how a "chance meeting" (I put that in quotation marks because I don't believe it was in any way accidental) years ago between Elder Soares, his wife, and some members of the Church led to a life-long friendship. That was an amazing article to read.

Before moving on, I did want to make another observation here about the diversity of those at the top of the Church's leadership hierarchy. If my memory serves me correctly, although Elder Dale G. Renlund was born in the US, his parents emigrated from Sweden, and he grew up speaking Swedish primarily, with English as a second language. So technically he is a first-generation American-born apostle.

Additionally, with the calls of Elders Gong and Soares, they join Elder Uchtdorf in the growing group of apostles born outside of the US. It is significant to me that now, 1/5 of the currently serving apostles were born outside the US. And if, as I have observed, President Nelson might be more open to the idea of considering internationally-born candidates for any future vacancy (or, if there are no others before his own passing, his successors might continue to be open to that prospect), we will likely see the number of international apostles grow in coming years as well. It will be interesting to see what happens there.

But in moving on, I wanted to next note that the Church has released a new PDF version of the chart showing the General Authorities and General Officers of the Church, which includes those changes sustained in April (Elders Gong and Soares to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elders Coook and Gay to the Presidency of the Seventy (although there will, as President Oaks noted, be three changes in that Presidency on August 1), the 8 new General Authority Seventies, the new Primary Presidency First Counselor, and the new members of the Young Women General Presidency).

The PDF version of the chart would seem to confirm that there are indeed 90 General Authority Seventies (unless I have somehow miscalculated), which, if we add the 25 men in the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, Presidency of the Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric, brings the total number of current General Authorities to 115 rather than the 116 President Oaks mentioned. Since we don't know how he arrived at that number, it is almost impossible to know if he was off by one.

But if he was, I am inclined to cut him some slack. If reports are correct, there is a lot of time and effort that goes into preparing each General Conference address, and for the members of the First Presidency who specifically speak more than once per conference, having to devote time and effort into multiple addresses, even those in which Church leadership changes are announced, takes even more preparation time. I for one have never had a problem with acknowledging that our leaders are not perfect. That should be obvious to everyone. Only one Man I know of was ever perfectly perfect. The rest of us, whatever our calling or station, are equally prone to err in this life. And rather than being discouraging, the idea that even those at the top of Church leadership make mistakes should be encouraging. These men's amazing lives have been characterized by their ability to move beyond their mistakes and become better, which is a lesson we could all take to heart.

Sorry. I rambled again. Getting back on track, the Church News released this article with brief biographies of the newly sustained Area Seventies. As another quick sidenote, it is worth mentioning that such information has traditionally been published on Mormon Newsroom directly following the Saturday Afternoon Session. For whatever reason (which was probably due to the many other major stories that took precedence), this Church News article was the first introduction to these new area seventies. An interesting tidbit, but that is to be expected.

The final two stories I wanted to share are connected to President Nelson's ongoing world tour. This one shares highlights of the time the Nelsons and the Hollands spent in London England. This was a homecoming of sorts for Elder Holland, who serve a mission in the British Isles. And, to wrap up the news stories I wanted to cover, this report shares some preliminary details about the Church members in Jerusalem Israel preparing to greet the prophet, who was set to visit there today. Hopefully more will be reported about that visit in the next few hours. If that occurs, I will pass the information along in another new post.

Before I close this one, however, I wanted to observe something. As anyone familiar with the signs of the Second Coming of the Savior knows, the scriptures speak of two apostles who, during the opening of the seventh seal, will be killed in Jerusalem, and whose bodies will be left in the streets there for three days before they arise again. Some sources I have read wondered if those two will be President Nelson and Elder Holland, and that this might occur on their current trip. While it is not out of the question, it seems unlikely that will be the case. I say that for a couple of reasons.

Among the signs preceding the Second Coming, there are many that have already been manifested, while there are others that could happen any day now, and still others may be a few years (if not indeed a few decades) out. A careful reading of the sequence of events would seem to indicate that there are still other signs that need to occur before the death of the two apostles in Jerusalem.

That said, I am not in any way authorized to interpret the scriptures or to speak for the Lord. If the Lord wants that sign to occur during this trip, I have no doubt that we would hear of it at some point perhaps before today is over. I will not be surprised either way. And I for one hope the Lord will come sooner rather than later.

I likewise hope that my analysis of this news has been helpful to at least some of you reading 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.

Additional Church News--Part One: Article Published to Introduce Elder Soares; Some Additional Thoughts and Observations About the Calling of an Apostle

Hello again, everyone! In yet another example of how quickly new Church developments can be reported, I am pleased to post now in order to pass along many additional Church News stories that are worthy of a mention here. I became aware of many of these news articles earlier today, but due to taking care of some personal obligations, I was not able to pass those along before now. I should also note that this will be done in two parts. In this first part, I will be highlighting an article about new apostle Elder Ulisses Soares, and I will also touch on some observations regarding the administration of the Church, the handling of day-to-day questions from Church members, and how the calls of Elders Gong and Soares were handled differently than apostolic calls in the recent past. So let's get right to it.

In posting some Church news stories yesterday, I had referenced an article the Church news published to introduce Elder Gong. Today it was Elder Soares' turn. One common theme that I really appreciated in yesterday's article about Elder Gong was also present in this article about Elder Soares. Both articles mention the fact that, while our two newest apostles recognize that their appointments are historic for the Church (as Elder Gong is the first Asian American apostle, and Elder Soares is the the first Latin American apostle), they recognize that they have not been called to represent Asian or Brazilian Saints in the leading councils of the Church or to the Lord, but rather to represent the Lord's will to the people wherever they are sent.

And it is a point well taken. Many people seem to feel that there should be more diversity among the leading councils of the Church, and such people also found fault with President Nelson for the way he answered the question about diversity in Church leadership. While the Brethren we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators do manifest the Lord's will to us, and are the only ones authorized to speak in the Lord's behalf, as someone who has been a lay member of the Church for just over 31 years now, I know there is truth in what President Nelson said during the press conference.

The Brethren would not be as free as they currently are to discern, determine, and proclaim the will of the Lord if they were constantly being called upon to make determinations about local issues. Many people seem to feel that they have a right to discuss whatever their concerns or issues are with the leading Brethren of the Church, but overlook the fact that such things are now handled by local leaders. The fact is that if every concern was handled on a general level in this global Church, hardly any of the Brethren would be free to do much else than that. If local leaders are given the chance to resolve such things, as should be occurring, that will leave the Brethren free to not just settle important issues on a Churchwide scale, but, more importantly, to be out among the people of the world, and gaining more of an understanding about what Church members and friends of other faiths in various nations are experiencing, that they might more effectively minister and administer to people of all backgrounds.

And while it is significant, to be sure, that the first two apostles selected during President Nelson's administration were from minority groups in the Church, I would hope that the point made by both Elder Gong and Elder Soares is not lost: their focus will be representing the Lord's will to the people, and they are anxious to go wherever they are sent.

One other take-away I got from these articles about our newest apostles is that, for the first time of which I am aware, both Elders Gong and Soares, in reporting the circumstances of their calls, noted that they and their wives were asked to meet with President Nelson. That is somewhat unprecedented, in my experience. We have heard new apostles previously say that after they met with the Church president, they then shared the unexpected news of their new callings with their wives. But this is yet another example of how President Nelson is demonstrating his clear understanding of how such calls will affect the spouses involved as well, and also, by extension, how important the wives of these new apostles will be in terms of allowing their husbands to serve. That was great to read about.

As noted above, I had started this post intending to cover many news stories in one go, but the commentary I felt to provide on this article introducing Elder Soares makes it necessary to put the other stories in a post of their own. Therefore, 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 (which should be published within the next half hour or so and will touch on other important Church news), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.