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Thursday, May 10, 2018

Details Released Regarding the Renovation Plans for the Mesa Arizona Temple

Hello again, everyone! Mormon Newsroom just published this release that provides more details on the renovation plans for the Mesa Arizona Temple. As most of you might be aware, the closure of that temple was announced roughly a year ago, and will be effective on May 20 (the same day on which the rededication of the Jordan River Utah Temple will occur). As some of you may also know, there was supposed to be a meeting held for citizens concerned about those plans. While I have not yet learned whether that meeting has taken place, the fact that these details have been announced via a Mormon Newsroom released indicates to me that all potential obstacles have been dealt with.

I continue to monitor all temple news and developments and will do my best to pass those along to you 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.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Article Published for New General Authority Seventy Elder Mathias Held

Hello again, everyone! With the need to focus on other topics in blog posts published yesterday (namely the discontinuation of the Church's involvement with the BSA, the new activity program, and the LDS Church Temples website issues), I had to hold off on reporting other developments until now.

But I am pleased to be able to pass along to you all now this article about new General Authority Seventy Elder Mathias Held. My biggest take-away from reading that was amazement about the number of nations in which he and his family have resided. It is easy to see why he was called, as he will have a unique understanding of the issues faced by Church members in several nations.

While not directly related to that article, I did want to mention one other thing as well: The Church has been very good about putting new General Authority Seventies right to work. This has been particularly true in recent years, when at least half of the newly called leaders have been given major assignments not long after they are sustained, whether those assignments are to serve in an area presidency, or to take on other responsibilities at Church headquarters.

As I have also noted previously, since President Nelson became the president of the Church, we have seen a long list of examples demonstrating that he and his presidency want the Church to be more transparent. Among the ways that is occurring have been the facts that major news has been reported on Mormon Newsroom on a more significant scale than we have previously seen, and that more information has been released regarding the ministry of all leaders.

The Church website is also currently in the process of updating the biographies of all general authorities with their latest assignments, which have traditionally been given each year sometime after the April General Conference. So we will likely know more within the next couple of months about what has changed in that regard.

I will do my best to keep you all posted on developments in that regard 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.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

BREAKING NEWS: Church Will Terminate Relationship with the BSA by 2020; New Program for Youth and Children to Be Implemented

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news tonight from the LDS Church. In a joint statement from the BSA and the LDS Church, an announcement has been made that the Church will be terminating all involvement with the BSA by the end of 2019. This comes as a follow-up to the previously announced news that the Church would be evaluating the needs of children and youth and make any changes or adaptations that might be needed to general and specific activities for those 8-18 years old.

Mormon Newsroom also published this release highlighting what is currently known about the new program for those of that age range, saying that more details would be forthcoming. Mormon Newsroom has also provided these answers to frequently asked questions about the extent of  those changes and how they will be implemented.

Here yet again we have clear evidence that modern revelation is occurring, and that the Brethren have evaluated how to streamline and unify the guidelines for activity programs for children and youth all over the world, fulfilling a promise made last year that they would be doing so.

I look forward to finding out more about this monumental change, and I will bring you word of any new information as I learn 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.

LDS Church Temples Site Accessibility Issues

Hello again, everyone! For the last week or so, the LDS Church Temples site has been down. I have heard widespread concern about what is going on there, and today, we got some answers. It appears that due to a server error, the site data is temporarily inaccessible. I heard in passing that efforts are underway to restore the data, but depending on the extent of the problems, it may be impossible to do so.

So I wanted to prepare any of you reading this post for the possibility that the site may eventually be completely taken down. What does that mean for future discussions on this blog about temple progress (including the analysis of the latest developments)? I am not sure about that.

The Church has published every six months or so status updates on the temples currently under construction, and I imagine that will continue. And I am also sure that any major announcements, such as dedications, rededications, new temples, or groundbreakings will be a major focus on this blog going forward.

But if the site winds up going down permanently, it will certainly be more difficult to determine how close each temple is to reaching the next phase, and it will also be difficult (but not impossible) to access information about the size of each temple district, and any relevant information about how such districts may need to be split.

Once I have any additional information on this, I will be sure to pass that along. But I would be remiss indeed in failing to acknowledge how the developments reported on that site have enabled me to pass those along to all of you who read the posts on this blog. It is clear that ongoing temple developments are a highly important subject of interest to many. With that in mind, I will do everything I can on my end to find out what I can about temple progress going forward.

In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers go out to all who are involved in the process of trying to fix this issue, and I am sure that continued prayers in that regard would be beneficial to that process. If the issues, such as they may be, can be fixed, I am sure they will be.

Rest assured that I am keeping my eyes on this and all other temple developments, and I will do the best I can to pass any additional news along as I become aware 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.

Upcoming Topics That Will Be Covered On This Blog In the Near Future

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post right now with a preview of some topics I will be covering over the next several months on this blog. I will not be offering a potential timeline for when those topics will be covered, since the best-laid plans are often altered.

It goes without saying that I will continue to provide Church and temple news as I become aware of such reports. Additionally, I have plans in place to post at least once every month or two with an update on the latest apostolic statistics, which I feel is very important information.

The jury is still out on how extensively I will cover potential temple possibilities in the near future. With the success I saw in doing so previously, it is an attractive prospect and a very worthy subject that has wide interest. But the form and extent to which such coverage will occur largely depends on the amount of time I can devote to such posts and the future availability of information that would mold the information I share in that regard.

I will, of course, also be looking forward to passing along my predictions for each General Conference, including the potential speaking order, changes in Church leadership, and temple prospects. I also fully intend to continue to provide birthday tributes to our apostles on this blog as well.

There are likewise several projects I have in my personal files at the moment in various stages of completion which may also be the subject of future posts on this blog. And I am certain we will continue to see some breaking news developments, whether those are related to the ministry of our apostles, the death of a Church leader, or any major policy announcements.

I have previously shared my opinion that news and updates related to the day-to-day spreading of the gospel are being reported on a larger scale, to a much greater extent, and with much increased regularity. So I have no doubt that we will likely see many developments that deserve extensive coverage.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I cannot put a time-frame or expected frequency on how and when these posts will be published here. But I can promise to continue to bring you the latest developments as I receive word of them. And in that regard, I wanted to note that Elder Patrick Kearon of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke last night at a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults. Mormon Newsroom shared this report of the remarks he made, in which he urged millennials to "rise out of [and above] themselves."

That is a timely message. As I have observed a few times before, the one downside of modern technology is that so many who utilize it extensively do not take time for human interactions, or to focus on the more important things. The Church has for years urged all of us to maintain the important connections in our lives with family, friends, and others through personal communication.

One reason I imagine that the Church retired home and visiting teaching and has replaced it with ministering, which is intended to be more governed by general principles and adaptations as the Spirit directs. That accomplishes two things: it places more accountability on the ministering brothers and sisters for figuring out how best to minister to every individual to whom they are assigned to minister, and it encourages some form of personal contact, no matter what form that contact takes.

So we can see that Elder Kearon's message continues a theme that has been prevalent since the ministering announcement, that all of us can, should, and must do more to minister to those around us and to take time to put aside things that might drown out the voice of the Spirit. A timely message indeed.

I am committed to continuing to monitor all Church and temple news, and to bringing those updates to you all soon after learning of them. Whatever that might involve, you can count on 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.