Church Announces Additional New Temple Presidents

Hello again, everyone! The Church News noted earlier today that several more new temple presidents have been called. I have revised my list accordingly, and the revisions follow below. I should also note a couple of other things as well.

First, I had a feeling I needed to check the list again, and in doing so, I found some duplication (primarily in the fact that I had forgotten to remove a few temples for which new presidents have been announced from the section of the list which highlights those temples that may get a new president.

Second, among those that have been called are several current area seventies. In addition, the older brother of General Authority Seventy Elder Donald L. Hallstrom has been called as president of one of the temples in Hawaii.

With that said, the updated list follows below. Again, so as not to disturb the flow of that list, I will end now as I always do. 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.

New presidents have been called for the following temples:

1.      Manaus Brazil

2.      Boise Idaho

3.      Denver Colorado

4.      The Hague Netherlands

5.      Oquirrh Mountain Utah

6.      Helsinki Finland

7.      The Gila Valley Arizona

8.      Brigham City Utah

9.      Stockholm Sweden

10.  Palmyra New York

11.  Accra Ghana

12.  Papeete Tahiti

13.  Sao Paulo Brazil

14.  San Jose Costa Rica

15.  Albuquerque New Mexico

16.  Provo City Center

17.  Recife Brazil

18.  Cardston Alberta

19.  Payson Utah

20.  Porto Alegre Brazil

21.  Brisbane Australia

22.  Kansas City Missouri

23.  Oaxaca Mexico

24.  Regina Saskatchewan

25.  Cebu City Philippines

26.  Boston Massachusetts

27.  Colonia Juarez Chihuahua Mexico

28.  Billings Montana

29.  Houston Texas

30.  Sydney Australia

31.  Guatemala City Guatemala

32.  Hermosillo Sonora Mexico

33.  Montevideo Uruguay

34.  Indianapolis Indiana

35.  Laie Hawaii Temple (the new president of this temple is the older brother of General Authority Seventy Elder Donald L. Hallstrom)

36.  Las Vegas Nevada

37.  Atlanta Georgia

38.  Buenos Aires Argentina

The first presidents will likely be announced for the following new temples:

1.      Concepcion Chile

2.      Barranquilla Colombia

3.      Rome Italy

4.      Kinshasa DR Congo

5.      Fortaleza Brazil

6.      Port-au-Prince Haiti

New presidents may also be announced for the following temples:

1.      Bountiful Utah

2.      Cordoba Argentina

3.      Draper Utah

4.      Fukuoka Japan

5.      Manti Utah

6.      Monticello Utah

7.      Redlands California

8.      Sacramento California

9.      St. Louis Missouri

10.  Taipei Taiwan

11.  Tegucigalpa Honduras

12.  Tijuana Mexico

13.  Trujillo Peru

14.  Vancouver British Columbia

15.  Veracruz Mexico

16.  Villahermosa Mexico

17.  Washington D. C. Temple (Note: The Church may opt to wait on calling a new president for this temple until 2020 when it is rededicated)

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.

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.

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.