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Monday, June 4, 2018

Positing a Theory Regarding the Likely Groundbreaking Time-frame for the Bangkok Thailand Temple

Hello again, everyone! As I am currently working on a handful of projects for this blog (at least one of which I hope to be able to post later this evening), I have also, as time has allowed, looked into some other things I have been considering. One of those paid off in a big way yesterday. As some of you may be aware, once an artist's rendering and site information are released for a temple, a groundbreaking generally follows within the next few months.

As you may also recall, the artist's rendering and site location was released for the Bangkok Thailand Temple on March 19 of this year. This indicates to me that a groundbreaking is just a matter of time. With that in mind, I have looked into the history of the Church in Thailand. In doing so, I was reminded that then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated Thailand for the preaching of the gospel in November 1966. So that leads me to believe that the Church may hold the groundbreaking ceremony for that temple in November of this year. The exact date of Elder Hinckley's prayer of dedication was November 2, but I am sure that it could happen anytime during the month of November, if not sooner.

I would love to hear from any of you that might have thoughts on this theory. Whatever might occur in that regard, you can count on my posting about it here as soon as I can after learning 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 everytihng you do.

BREAKING NEWS: Church Pulls All Remaining Missionaries Out of Nicaragua

Hello again, everyone! Less than an hour ago, KSL's website reported that the Church has, in further consideration of the political unrest in Nicaragua, pulled all remaining missionaries out of that nation. While one mission president (who has young children in his family) has been sent home, the other mission president and his wife will stay and oversee remaining ecclesiastical duties for Nicaragua.

The Church noted in Mormon Newsroom's official release on this subject that the Church continues to make the safety and well-being of its' missionaries and Saints worldwide a high priority, and that evaluations will be made on an ongoing basis as far as when and how soon missionaries might be able to return.

In the meantime, those missionaries that have been removed will either be sent home (for those nearing the end of their service periods) or reassigned to other Central or South American countries, North America, Africa, or elsewhere.

I appreciate this move on the part of Church leadership, to recognize a potentially dangerous situation and take steps to ensure that those who are giving of their time to share the gospel will be safe wherever they serve.

My heart also goes out to the Nicaraguan Saints, who rejoiced so greatly when a temple was announced for that nation two months ago. My hope is that all of us will unite in prayer for all those affected by the current political unrest in Nicaragua. I will continue to monitor the developments in this regard and will do my level best to pass those along as I receive word 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, June 2, 2018

New Blog Layout

Hello again, everyone! This is a personal post to share some news and to pass along plans for content that will be coming over the next four months. Over the last couple of months, I have been toying with the idea of tweaking the layout of this blog to try and make it more user-friendly, and to make particularly relevant content easier to find. Today I was able to make those adjustments. To me personally, those tweaks do make the sidebars easier to follow, and this new arrangement should allow all of my readers to more easily find content that is of interest to them. But that is just my opinion. I am inviting your feedback on these changes, and look forward to your thoughts, which are always welcome and appreciated.

I also wanted to just put this out there as well: Because I am still looking for ways to expand this blog's readership and audience (though I am continually impressed with how quickly the numbers of those reading these posts has gone up lately), there may be individuals who are newcomers to this blog. For that reason, I wanted to reiterate something I have said previously: Because of current health challenges that prevent me from working at the moment (which I hope will change in the next few months, or possibly sooner), blogging is one of many ways I fill my time.

So I do keep fairly close tabs on developments here on my blog, with particular attention to those comments that are being made. Since I have previously had experience moderating online discussions, my general practice has been to personally reply to every comment made on this blog. But I do worry that my doing so may be misunderstood. With that in mind, I wanted to just again let all of you know that I do appreciate any comments made on this blog.

Since I do personally reply to most comments made here, I hope that everyone understands that I do not mean to cut off future comments on these posts. If someone has provided insightful feedback here, I want to show my appreciation for those thoughts, and I also want to take time to address questions and corrections, and to clarify anything I have said that I have worried may be misunderstood.

So if any of you see one (or more) comments from me personally on these threads, I hope you all know that I am not trying to end feedback on the posts. If there are things I need to clarify, amend, or correct, I want to make sure that takes place. If anyone has felt that one or more comments from me in response to other comments made on the posts here are meant to either end the dialogue on these posts, or are meant to discourage future comments on them, that was never my intention, and if that is the case for any one of you, I sincerely apologize.

My hope is that, as people read the posts here and the conversations that take place in the comments (both by me and by others here), that "all may be edified and rejoice together." I also wanted to announce that, within the next month or two, as time, circumstances, and available information allows me to do so, I will likely be gathering data to begin a second round of posts on the most likely near-future temple prospects for each of the Church's geographical areas.

While I welcome any comments on any post at any time from anyone, for the posts about temple prospects, the intent will be to have an open commenting period for the next 3.5 months or so, which I hope will allow ample time for discussion of my thoughts (and your comments in response) on the most likely prospects for temples that may be announced in the October General Conference.

That is the intent, but if I am unable to track down information on the sizes of current temple districts, or other pertinent information that may factor into those discussions, that will be a challenge to work around when the timing is right. Stay tuned for more on that as I figure all of that out. I cannot say for certain, but if all goes well, I will hope to start on that series within the next couple of weeks or so.

That does it for this post. As mentioned above, and as always, any and all comments are 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, June 1, 2018

"Be One" Celebration Held

Hello again, everyone. The "Be One" Celebration, which, as previously mentioned, was held tonight to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the landmark revelation that extended the priesthood to all worthy males, wrapped up about half an hour ago. And what a celebration it was! In music and spoken word, the history of many Saints of African and other descent was reviewed. Among those highlighted were Elijah Abel, who was the first black man to join the Church, and who served as a seventy in the early Church, Jane Manning James, a faithful black woman who was shown great kindness by the prophet Joseph Smith and his family, and Elder Helvecio Martins, who was the first general authority of black African descent.

The celebration began with President Eyring conducting and noting that the event had been planned by a committee chaired by Elders Claudio R. M. Costa (of Brazil), Edward Dube (the first Zimbabwean general authority seventy) and Joseph W. Sitati (who is the first Kenyan general authority seventy).

The event also featured addresses from Presidents Dallin H. Oaks (to open the event) and Russell M. Nelson (to conclude it). President Oaks focused his remarks on both the personal impact the announcement had on him and on Presidents Nelson and Eyring, and by sharing his hope that all Church members will focus less on the problems of the past and more on moving forward in the future. President Nelson endorsed President Oaks's remarks and provided his own message of hope that the Church will work towards greater unity, and also reiterated that the blessings of the gospel are available to everyone, because all are equal in the eyes of God.

I was very impressed with and touched by this event, which at times brought tears to my eyes. But I was also suitably impressed by how quickly reports of the event came in. You can find an article from the Church News here, and the one from Mormon Newsroom here. I am also pleased to provide links to the full text versions of the addresses from President Dallin H. Oaks and President Russell M. Nelson which speak for themselves.

I continue to monitor all Church news and will pass updates 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.

Additional Church News Stories Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am back again in the early hours of June 1 to pass along some additional Church news stories that have recently been reported. Let's get right into all of those. First of all, Mormon Newsroom shared this report detailing the plans the Church has released regarding redevelopment plans for the residential area near the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Mormon Newsroom additionally reported that two stars from Broadway's "Finding Neverland". Matthew Morrison and Laura Michelle Kelly will headline the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's 2018 Pioneer Day Concert. Additionally, to narrate the program, the Choir is welcoming back Oscar Hammerstein III, who is the grandson of Oscar Hammerstein II. The latter, as some of you may be aware, provided the music to the lyrics of Richard Rogers, with the two collaborating on many famous and well-loved Broadway musicals. Hammerstein III will be the narrator of that Pioneer Day program, which will, in part, include a tribute to the music of his grandfather.

Moving on now to the Church News, we start with an update on the worldwide ministry efforts of our apostles. I may or may not have shared this already, but Elder Uchtdorf recently spent some time in Berlin, and the Church News shared this report on what he did there.

In the meantime, President Ballard and Elder Stevenson recently traveled together to the Pacific Area of the Church. President Ballard's message was an important one: While modern technology is important and has its' place, our usage of it should not be allowed to interfere with our connection to heaven.You can find the article reporting more details on that visit here.

And Elder Renlund recently journeyed to the Asia Area. While there on assignment, he not only held meetings with members, Church leaders, and missionaries, which enabled him to spiritually touch people's hearts, but he was also able to reconnect with several individuals whose physical hearts he had literally touched during his career as a heart surgeon. The Church News published this article

I may or may not have mentioned this before, but with the Church getting ready to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the revelation that extended the priesthood to all worthy males, the June 2018 Ensign will be a special edition with many articles on that subject. And in addition to the commemoration broadcast that will air at 7:30 PM tonight MDT, the Church News has also published a few articles in honor of the anniversary.

We first have this one, detailing the conversion of a Nigerian man, who in turn facilitated the conversion of others to the gospel, although they were unable to be baptized into the faith they had embraced until the revelation on the priesthood was given. They never once gave up on their hope that they would, in due time, have claim to all of the blessings of Church membership. Their consistent faith and patience paid off, and once word of the revelation reached them, they all immediately lined up for baptism. That is an awesome story.

Next, from retired former Church News editor Gerry Avant, we have this collection of first-hand accounts she collected once the revelation was announced. How wonderful it was to read about so many who were so anxious to take full advantage of all gospel blessings once word of the revelation reached them.

That article also included comments from President Kimball, which were originally made on December 5, 1978, regarding the circumstances that led up to his receiving the revelation and having it ratified by the other apostles. And finally, there was this article, which shared three answers to the question: Where were you when you heard about the revelation?

I continue to monitor all Church news and will do my best to pass updates along as I receive them. If not before, I will be back later this evening to pass along my thoughts about the commemorative broadcast.

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.