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Sunday, May 20, 2018

Mesa Arizona Temple Closes for Renovation

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post now to note that I have confirmed that the Mesa Arizona Temple has officially closed for renovation. As I mentioned earlier, this is the second renovation for this temple, which was the 7th one dedicated during this dispensation that is still operating today.

With the knowledge that this temple has been renovated previously, I have felt safe in assuming and asserting that its' rededication (which is anticipated to occur sometime during 2020) will fall somewhere in between the rededication of the Tokyo Japan Temple (which is a smaller one from the Kimball era) and the Washington D. C. Temple (which is larger and is just barely having its' first renovation done).

The one unknown in that regard is the status of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple. As many of you might recall my mentioning previously, there has still not been any confirmation that the renovation process has formally begun for that temple. While I hope to find out soon that it has, unless a miracle occurs, the rededication of that temple might be pushed back from sometime during 2019 to either the early or even middle part of 2020.

To the best of my ability, I continue to monitor all temple developments, and I will be sure to pass those along to you 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.

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Cultural Celebration Held for Jordan River Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! Tonight, the Church held the cultural celebration for the Jordan River Utah Temple. President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, presided at the event. It makes sense that President Nelson asked President Eyring to be there, since he has had experience presiding over such events.

What I am not sure of is whether that means that President Eyring will also dedicate the temple tomorrow. I noted earlier my feeling that President Nelson would likely preside at this event since it is the first major temple event of his administration. But if President Nelson felt inclined to defer to President Eyring in view of his having had more time in the First Presidency, that would not surprise me either. You can find the Church News summary of that cultural celebration here.

I wanted to offer some additional thoughts not directly related to this rededication. We have seen President Nelson delegating things very early in his presidency. President Ballard presided at the private rededication of the Houston Texas Temple last month at the request of President Nelson, and, of the five general conference sessions held last month, he only conducted the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow in terms of whether President Eyring or someone else might preside over the rededication of this temple, and what might occur with the dedications of the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples later this year. I continue to monitor all such developments and will do my best to post those here as I become aware of any news in that regard.

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.

Friday, May 18, 2018

Church Announces Additional New Temple Presidents

Hello again, everyone! The Church News continues to report the calls of new temple presidents. With several more of those calls having been announced today, I have updated the list I am keeping to track that information. It is worth noting that two of the temples added to the list today (Freiberg Germany and Oakland California) were not on my original list of temples that were likely to get a new president this year.

That was the case because the Freiberg temple was just rededicated last year, and because the Oakland temple is currently closed for renovation. But it makes sense on another level that the Church would issue those calls now, since the outgoing presidents of those temples have served at least three years total.

The updates follow below. 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
39.  Redlands California
40.  Draper Utah
41.  Tijuana Mexico
42.  Sacramento California
43.  Monticello Utah
44.  Bountiful Utah
45.  Freiberg Germany
46.  Oakland California

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.      Cordoba Argentina
2.      Fukuoka Japan
3.      Manti Utah
4.      St. Louis Missouri
5.      Taipei Taiwan
6.      Tegucigalpa Honduras
7.      Trujillo Peru
8.      Vancouver British Columbia
9.      Veracruz Mexico
10.  Villahermosa Mexico

11.  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)


BREAKING NEWS: Brook P. Hales Called as General Authority Seventy; Will Continue As First Presidency Secretary

Hello again, everyone! The Church News reported earlier today that Brook P. Hales, Secretary to the First Presidency, will continue in that capacity, but has been called as a General Authority Seventy, and will have additional responsibilities as well. His new assignment was effective yesterday, and I have no doubt his call will be confirmed by sustaining vote during the October General Conference.

It is also worth noting that, after I had repeatedly gone over my list of General Authority Seventies and always came back with the conclusion that we have 90 men currently serving in that capacity, I reached out to the Church. Unless they have responded since I last checked my e-mail, I assume they are still working to answer my question. But unless I am mistaken, with word of Elder Hales' call today, that does indeed bring the number of General Authority Seventies to 91, which would also bring the number of General Authorities to 116, just as President Oaks indicated.

I am not dismissing the possibility that the First Presidency could have been considering calling Elder Hales and that that would explain why President Oaks referenced 116 rather than the 115 that were serving at that time. I will keep you posted on all of this 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.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Several Significant Church News Stories Reported

Hello again, everyone! Between the Church News website and the News & Mormon Newsroom pages on LDS.org, there have been a number of very significant Church News stories reported. All of them are worthy of mention, and I can recommend each one to you all without reservation. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get right into it all.

First, and most significantly, earlier today, the First Presidency met with leaders of the NAACP (whose annual organization meeting was held here in Utah for the first time), and during the time they were together, a press conference was held (which was conducted by Elder Ronald A. Rasband) in which President Nelson and the top man for the NAACP offered brief statements commending the efforts of each other and providing hope that the Church will continue to work with the NAACP. The Church News shared this report on the meeting and the statements, while Mormon Newsroom provided this summary. It was good to hear of this development.

Next, in view of the recently-announced new initiative for children between 8 and 11 years-old and for all youth of the Church, several questions have come in about what should be done between now and January 2020 when the new initiative takes effect. In this article. members of the Primary, Young Men, & Young Women General Presidencies shared insights about how to continue with the current programs while preparing to utilize the new initiative.

From the News section on lds.org, we have this remarkable story of a temple ordinance worker who has reached the age of 100. As someone who worked in the temple for six years, I can tell you that I have always been impressed with the good men and women who give of their time to serve in the temple, and this is especially true of those who are older but still desire with all their hearts to help in the work that takes place in temples. That was a wonderfully inspiring story.

Moving on now, I wanted to note that both the Church News and the News page on the Church's official website have continued to carry brief biographical introductions to new mission and temple presidents. Particularly of interest to me was that, in some of those biographies, an incoming new mission president and his wife were noted as replacing two mission presidents and their wives. That is not unexpected, given the consolidation of 19 missions, but it has been interesting. You can find the latest reports on those new leaders here and here.

And, of course, as I'm sure you are all aware, the Jordan River Utah Youth Cultural Celebration will be held two days from now, with the rededication of that temple taking place the following day, which will be carried by satellite to the Saints living in the Jordan River, Draper, and Oquirrh Mountain Temple districts. While I have not yet heard this officially confirmed, I remain convinced that President Nelson will preside over at least two of the three dedicatory sessions, and I am confident that many other Church leaders will participate in this event as well.

I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and will bring word of those developments to you all as I can after I learn 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.