Church Issues Statement on Families Separated at the Border; Tabernacle Choir Embarks on "Classic Coast Tour"

Hello again, everyone! The Church News reported just a short while ago that the Church has issued an official statement on the separation of families at the US border. The full text of that statement can be found here. It is my fervent hope that the leaders of all governments, especially here in the US, will heed the petition for reason and fairness in this matter.

While Church leaders are typically neutral on political matters, they are justified in expressing their view that the separation of families at the border should not be occurring. It is my personal and fervent hope that both major parties in the US and their leaders will unitedly work to correct a situation that should never have arisen. It seems that the current approach, at least here in the US, is for both sides to shift blame onto the other side, while neither takes responsibility for affecting real change. And that is certainly not an ideal situation when families are needlessly separated from each other.

I would invite all my readers to join with me in praying for those who are making the decisions in this regard, that reason and compassion will prevail, and that efforts will be made by all concerned to cooperate rather than continuing to squabble and play the blame game.

In happier news, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir embarked today on their 2018 "Classic Coast Tour", and the initial report on that can be found here. I continue to monitor all Church news and will do my level best to pass word of developments along 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 thaat the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Temple Updates Provided

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now to pass along some temple updates. To start off our discussion of those developments, I wanted to first note an update on something which I have referenced repeatedly on this blog. As long-time readers of this blog may recall, I have previously offered my opinion that the Church will likely have a minimum of 200 operating temples by or before Saturday April 6, 2030, which will mark the Church's bicentennial celebration.

As I have also noted, there are 30 temples currently scheduled for dedication, under construction, or announced, and the total number of temples in any phase has now reached 189. This means that, for the Church to reach 200 temples in any phase, only 11 others need to be announced. The amount of time between today's date and the date mentioned above is now 11.80 decimal years. That means that the Church would need to dedicate an average 3.47 temples per year.

By way of reminder, there will only be 2 temples dedicated prior to the end of this year (unless something unexpected occurs), which is below that average I mentioned. But next year, the Church has already scheduled one temple dedication, and 5 others will likely be dedicated during 2019 as well. So 8 temple dedications in a 2-year period of time puts 2018 and 2019 above that average.

And that is, of course, not taking into account that 3 temples so far are anticipated to be dedicated in 2020. Additionally, any announced temples that have a groundbreaking within the next 18 months may be dedicated in 2020 and in the following years, so I have no doubt that, whether or not the Church makes an official goal to do so, there will be a minimum of 200 temples operating by that time, or perhaps even more than that.

That said, let's talk about some updates on the status of a couple of temples. The Church has identified 11 stakes, 1 district, and 2 missions throughout Italy and the surrounding nations that will be served by the Rome Italy Temple once it is dedicated next year.

And there has also been a change in the status of the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple renovation, where recent reports indicate that the spire is being sheathed. It appears that this temple is definitely on track to have its' renovation process completed within the first half of next year, and that a dedication will likely follow sometime between the beginning of May and the end of August.

While the LDS Church Temples site continues its' restoration process, all of us can easily keep up-to-date on temple developments via the Facebook page for that site. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all temple updates and Church News to the best of my ability, and I will pass those updates along to you all ASAP after 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 to Publish Unified New Editions of The Hymnbook and Children's Songbook

Hello again, everyone! Big news from the Church today. It has been announced that, in an effort to more fully unify Church members worldwide, plans are underway to completely revise both the hymnbook and the children's songbook. The intention is to provide one unified book of each that will have the same hymns or songs with the same numbers in all nations where the Church is established.

This also means that some of the lesser-known and more infrequently used hymns may be omitted in favor of hymns that are popular all around the world, and opens the possibility of some hymns and songs that are international staples being added to the new editions for all Church members.

For the first time ever, the Church is inviting feedback from members worldwide about this process. You can read more in this article, which was published by the Church News about 3.5 hours ago. I continue to monitor all Church and temple developments and will 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.

Additional Temple Updates Provided

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may be aware, although the LDS Church Temples site is still undergoing a restoration and redesign process, updates have continued to be published periodically on the site's Facebook page. So I am pleased to be able to pass these updates along to you all now.

First, I wanted to note that there are now 11.81 years remaining between today's date and April 6, 2030, when the Church will celebrate its' bicentennial anniversary. Although there has been no change in terms of the number of temples which, on average, would need to be dedicated between today and that day in order for the Church to have 200 in operation by that time, I hope that this update may be of interest to some of you.

That said, let's talk about the updates I mentioned. To commemorate the start of the season within which the Mormon Miracle Pageant will be held in Manti, two articles have been shared, and you can find links to those on the aforementioned Facebook page. Next, I wanted to note that scaffolding has come down from the exterior of the Concepcion Chile Temple.

 Additionally, on that same Facebook page referenced above, you can view a panoramic video for the Barranquilla Colombia Temple, which was shot to show how it looked at night. And the final update I have found is that, although the extent of the progress is unclear, recent photographs, which were also posted on Facebook, show that work on the Fortaleza Brazil Temple continues at a steady pace.

It is worth noting here that, although I have taken more time in recent days to keep tabs on the aforementioned Facebook page so I can pass these temple updates along to you all, I have been giving myself an extended break from Facebook as part of my efforts to deal with some significant health issues I have been working to resolve. Some of those issues have included anxiety and depression, which I am working through to the best of my ability.

But long before President Nelson issued a challenge to youth worldwide to "take a break from fake" by participating in a seven-day "social media fast", I made the determination to cut back substantially on the amount of time I spend on Facebook. As a consequence, I have only been logging on to Facebook once or twice a month, if it has even been that frequently, and generally only long enough to pass along links to these blog posts. So if any of you have connected with me through Facebook and have wondered why I have not been on there recently, that is the reason.

I have found, however, that keeping tabs on Church and temple news and sharing those developments to the extent that I can has helped me in dealing with the anxiety, depression, and other health challenges. And I have certainly experienced more difficult things previously. So I am well enough for the moment, if not as well as I would like to be. And I will do my level best to continue to bring you all word of Church news and temple developments as I am able to learn more about 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 Reported: Part Two

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the second post I mentioned just a few moments ago, which will serve as the second part of my updates on recently reported Church News. So let's resume our discussion of those items.

Gerry Avant, who, as mentioned previously, is the recently-retired Church News editor, continues her series of articles taking a look back on highlights of her storied career. Although she will not be traveling with the Tabernacle Choir on their "2018 Classic Coast Tour", she shared how the Church's role in Russia was changed for the better through the Choir's 1991 European Tour.

Interestingly enough, then-Elder Nelson and his first wife Dantzel, who was a member of the Choir at that time, accompanied the Choir on their tour. As I have mentioned previously, for a number of years during his apostolic ministry, including during his tenure as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Nelson had the supervisory responsibility for the Europe East Area. In that capacity, he traveled to Russia many times.

It was likely his familiarity with Eastern Europe in general and Russia in particular that enabled him to be inspired to announce a temple for Russia, and I would not be surprised in any way if, because he has spent so much time there, he is able to facilitate expedited progress on finding a city and a specific site for that temple and the process of building it.

To round out the discussion of articles from the Church News, there are two more significant ones. In preparation for Father's Day this Sunday, the Church News published an article highlighting comments from the First Presidency about how their fathers had impacted their lives. And the Church News continued another series that has been published recently by sharing these highlights of Facebook posts by Church leaders.

Turning now to a few articles from Mormon Newsroom, this report highlights ongoing relief efforts underway by Church members following a volcanic eruption in Guatemala. Next, a Mormon Newsroom blog post highlights significant stories from the branches of Mormon Newsroom operating in other countries.

That same Mormon Newsroom Blog also shared this summary of a Family History event held at the Capitol building in California, which was held in honor of "Juneteenth." For those not aware of this, Juneteenth, which is observed on June 19th every year, marks the day on which a festival is held by African Americans to commemorate the emancipation of slaves on that day in 1885.

And finally, President Nelson continues to be honored for his prestigious career as a heart surgeon. Yesterday (June 15), the University of Utah's School of Medicine announced it had created the Dr. Russell M. Nelson and Dantzel W. Nelson Presidential Endowed Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery.

This is a well-deserved honor. Although President Nelson had pioneered newer, better, and more effective heart surgery procedures, it was his first wife Dantzel who, following the demise of one of the patients he had operated on, encouraged him to continue to operate and perfect that process so that others would not have to experience the grief that he was going through. And this honor is fitting since he was able to perfect life-saving practices that had not been successfully employed prior to that.

I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and developments, and will do my level best to bring those to you as I become aware of them. That does it for this post. Aneny 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.