Some Additional Thoughts About New Leadership

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now with some thoughts and musings about new leadership. I am particularly going to be addressing some additional observations about the new members of the Quorum of the Twelve (Elders Gong and Soares) and those five new members of the Presidency of the Seventy (Elders Carl B. Cook, Robert C. Gay, Terence M. Vinson, Jose A. Teixeira, and Carlos A. Godoy) who have been called between the end of March and now. Let's get right into it.

First of all, I wanted to note that, with these changes, the Brethren of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles may be looking to expand their understanding of international issues. Elders Gong and Soares represent not only the first Asian-American and Latin American apostles called, but with Elder Gong having Asian ancestry and Elder Soares having been born in Brazil, these are the first apostles to have direct ties to nations outside the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

Additionally, since Elder Soares was called as a General Authority Seventy in April 2005, he has served in area presidencies in Brazil (from 2005-2011) and in the Africa Southeast Area (from 2011-2013, at which point he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy), while Elder Gong has served in Asia (from 2011-2016). And in recognition of their familiarity with those areas, Elder Gong has a supervisory role over the entire Asian continent, while Elder Soares oversees the Central America and Africa West Areas.

But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Elders Carl B. Cook (who has served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2011) and Robert C. Gay (who was called as a GA Seventy one year later), who were both called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy effective March 31 of this year have also had experiences serving outside the United States. Elder Cook served in the Africa Southeast Area from 2011-2016), while Elder Gay served in the Central America Area from 2012-2013, and was president of the Asia Area from August of last year until his call to the Presidency of the Seventy in March.

Of the three new members of the Presidency of the Seventy whose service became effective almost a week ago (on August 1), Elder Vinson was born in Australia (which currently falls under the Pacific Area of the Church) and has served as a General Authority Seventy since 2013, while Elder Teixeira and Elder Godoy have both served as General Authority Seventies since 2008, with the former born in Portugal and the latter born in Brazil.

Since Elders Godoy and Teixeira have served longer, let's start with them. Elder Godoy served in South America from 2008-2009, in Brazil from 2009-2012, and in the South America Northwest Area from 2015-2018 while Elder Teixeira served in the Europe Area from 2009-2015 and the South America South Area from 2015-2018. In the meantime, following his call as a General Authority, Elder Vinson has exclusively served in the presidency of the Africa West Area.

These changes suggest a few things to me. First, the Church has called as the two new apostles and five newest members of the Presidency of the Seventy men who have extensively experienced life outside of the United States, and it appears that the only international areas in which these new leaders have not had experience are the Caribbean, Europe East, Mexico, Middle East/Africa North, and Philippines Areas.

Therefore, the international ministry of these Brethren surely uniquely qualifies them for their new positions. But more than that, the First Presidency appears to be recognizing that with the Church being as global as it is, and with decisions being made in the top Church councils which will affect the Saints worldwide, there is a great need to call these leaders that have extensive international experience and would be able to weigh in on how such discussions and determinations may affect the members in the areas with which they are familiar.

It may be some time before we fully know specifics regarding the assignments for most of the members of the Presidency of the Seventy (who, as previously noted, have been released from the responsibility of overseeing the 10 North America Areas in order to more fully assist the apostles and fill other assignments as needed). That said, the LDS Church Growth Blog recently shared this message, which Elder Vinson wrote as he concluded his service in the Africa West Area Presidency and prepared to return to Church headquarters for his new assignment in the Presidency of the Seventy.

Among the things he mentions is that he has been asked to assist a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in overseeing the North America Southeast Area, along with the two main areas of the Church in Africa (Southeast and West). With that in mind, I wanted to note as well that, right now, what we know as of now is, as I mentioned above, that Elder Soares has oversight of the Africa West Area, but I do not have any indication right now which of the apostles oversees the Africa Southeast Area, or how oversight of the 10 North America Areas are divided among the apostles.

As of currently, the information about the Presidency of the Seventy to which I have access via the Church's official website has not yet been updated to exclude Elders Christensen, Robbins, and Uceda, who were released, and to add Elders Vinson, Teixeira, and Godoy, and the information available about Elders Clayton, Kearon, Cook, and Gay may not be current. But hopefully such changes will come in the weeks ahead.

Once I track down such updates, I will pass along anything I find out regarding the new assignments for the other members of the Presidency of the Seventy, including (if available) the apostle(s) which they are assisting in those roles. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time.

If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson Marks His 63rd Birthday

Hello again, everyone! As we are now just over 2 hours into August 6, I wanted to go ahead and post a tribute to Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who is marking his 63rd birthday today. Elder Gary Evan Stevenson was born on this day in 1955 in Ogden, Utah to Evan and Jean Stevenson. He grew up in the Cache Valley. He served full-time in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, after which he continued his secondary education at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.

During his studies there, he met Lesa Jean Higley, whom he later married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, and with whom he would raise four sons. He spent his professional career working as the COO of ICON Health & Fitness, and served on both the Marriott School of Management Advisory Council and also the USU Foundation Board.

In the Church, he has served as a bishop and a stake president's counselor. He went on to serve between 2004 and 2007 as the president of the Japan Nagoya Mission. Less than a year after his return, he was among the first general authority seventies called during President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic administration in April 2008.

In August of that same year, he was called to serve as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency. The following year, he became the president of that same area, and he served in that assignment until April 2012, at which point  he was released as a General Authority Seventy and sustained as the Church's 14th Presiding Bishop.

In October 2015, with three vacancies in the apostleship due to the deaths of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott, Elder Stevenson was unexpectedly summoned to meet with the First Presidency. He related that he felt sure that he was being notified that one of his counselors (Bishops Gerald Causse or Dean M. Davies) were being called to the apostleship. He was stunned when the apostolic call was extended to him.

He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015, and was ordained an apostle on October 8, then released as Presiding Bishop one day later. Elders Ronald A. Rasband and Dale G. Renlund, whom he sits between, were called to fill the other two apostolic vacancies, and shared the same sustaining and ordination dates.

Although he was the youngest of the three at that time, in a somewhat unusual move, he was called, sustained, and ordained to be senior to Elder Renlund, who is just short of 3 years older than he is. Typically, when more than one apostle is ordained at the same time, the oldest one is ordained first. At the age of 60, Elder Stevenson was the youngest man called to the apostleship since Elder David A. Bednar (who was 52 at the time of his October 2004 apostolic call).

With the recent apostolic calls of Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares, Elder Stevenson is the 9th in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 12th in seniority among all current apostles. In terms of his age, he is the second-youngest among both the Quorum of the Twelve and the apostles overall.

In just over a decade in which he has served as a general authority, he has given 9 talks in General Conference (1 as a General Authority Seventy, 1 as Presiding Bishop, and 6 since his call to the apostleship). All of these addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, are well worthy of your time, attention and review.

Though there is little to no chance he will ever read this, I am pleased to sustain him as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and to have had this opportunity to post this tribute to him for his birthday. I admire all of the Brethren we sustain in their apostolic office, and I am grateful to them for giving their time and talents to build up the kingdom of God, and to go wherever they are sent, bearing witness of the Savior at all times and in all circumstances. I share my witness that these men are called of God, and that we will be blessed as we give heed to their words.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to do so, please feel free to subscribe to stay informed of newly-added content. 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.

Second Face-to-Face Event Featuring Elder Stevenson To Be Held in Asia

Hello again, everyone! I am posting again now to share some interesting news. I had previously mentioned the Face-to-Face event for youth which would feature Elder Gary E. Stevenson and his wife, Lesa, and would originate from the Philippines on August 11, 5 days after his aforementioned 63rd birthday. The Church has recently announced that a second Face-to-Face Event featuring Elder and Sister Stevenson would be broadcast from Japan on Wednesday August 15. More complete details can be found here.

It is wonderful that Church leaders have been expanding their outreach on an unprecedented scale in recent years. Hopefully it will continue to be so, and for as long as it is, you can depend on my reports of such news as 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to do so, please feel free to subscribe to stay informed of newly-added content. 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.

An Interesting Anomaly Related to the Ages of Our Apostles

Hello again, everyone! I just wanted to post right now about an interesting anomaly related to the ages of our apostles. There have been a couple of times recently when, due to the number of days involved, an apostle has reached his next full decimal year a day before his birthday. This happened most recently with Elder Gary E. Stevenson's decimal age.

As I mentioned, he will be observing his 63rd birthday on Monday. Therefore, as of tomorrow, his decimal age will be calculated as 62.997. If that is rounded to the nearest hundredth, that works out to 63.00 decimal years, although he will not be observing his birthday until Monday.

And it is also worth noting that the 3 August apostolic birthdays (which I referenced in a post on this blog on August 1 of this year) will all have been observed within the week following Elder Stevenson's birthday.

I had toyed with the idea of passing along the latest apostolic statistics tomorrow, the last report of that nature I did was on July 1. And since I have also passed the self-imposed deadline within which I had committed to posting the updated list of the most likely temple prospects which may be announced in October, that will be my priority within the next week or so, which I hope to publish sooner rather than later.

With that in mind, and with the acknowledgement that, within the next week, I will also be passing along birthday posts for the three apostles, then a report on the latest apostolic statistics will then likely be deferred until the 19th (or the week prior, if I can make that happen on the same day I do the birthday tribute post for President Oaks).

In addition, I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and will continue to do my level best to bring word of those developments to you as I receive them. Stay tuned for all of that new content in the days ahead.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe for e-mail updates. 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.

Church News Updates

Hello again, everyone! The Church News website has provided several new articles which cover significant topics such as the ongoing ministry of our Church leaders and recount how the Church has made significant progress in several areas of the world. So let's jump right in to our discussion of those stories, all of which are well worthy of your attention.

We begin with the next article in the six-part series on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This article shares comments from the apostles on their divine mandate to be ministers rather than administrators, which takes them around the globe.

Just a general comment on that article. I recently shared my response to a question that was asked in advance of the September Face-to-Face Event at which Elder Quentin L. Cook and two representatives of the Church History Department will be addressing such questions. Just to recap what I said there,  it is no longer practical for the apostles to serve full-time missions (though the full-time missionaries whose calls are directed by inspiration given to members of that Quorum extend the influence of the apostles).

Additionally, I noted that, while one of their many roles is to administer the affairs of the Church, their primary roles involve a worldwide ministry in which they lift and encourage members and missionaries of the Church whom they encounter in their travels. And that agrees perfectly with what the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve were quoted as saying in the latest article in that series.

They have taught us as members to never let administering a Church program become more important than a person to be loved, saved, and ministered to, and they are living examples of how to make that work. An earlier article quoted one Quorum member who, shortly after his ordination to the apostleship, was advised by a senior apostle to always add at least half an hour to everything he did, as the members of the Church are always anxious to greet and chat with the apostles when they visit any congregation.

I have had several opportunities to observe the visiting Brethren put this into practice, so I know that ministering to Church members is (as it should be) a high focus that may be second only to their mandated obligation to testify of the Savior wherever they are sent. It is wonderful to see that in action.

Moving on now, the Church News also continued its' series "This Week on Social". Among the topics covered this week were Elder Renlund's family vacation to Iceland and a Christmas thank-you in July. You can read more about that here.

The Church News additionally shared this article in their "History Revisited" series, which continued to cover Elder Holland's recent opportunity to return to his native St. George and rededicate the Tabernacle there.

In terms of news about other Church leaders, Elder Kevin W. Pearson, who serves on both the Communication Services and Strengthening Church Members Committees, became the first General Authority of the Church to speak during the recently-held FairMormon Conference. Among the many important topics covered during that conference was the fact that women have had a far greater influence on the Church than many people realize, and that the contributions of such women should rightly be talked about and considered in their proper historical context. You can read more about that here

It was great to hear that this was a major focus of that conference. So many people have voiced their discontent with the fact that women have not had a more significant role in the Church, and therefore do not seem to be aware of the breadth and extent to which the influence of such women has been felt in molding so much of Church history as we know it today. You can read more on this story here. And this article covers Elder Pearson's particular remarks, which touched on how Latter-day Saints can use outlets such as social media or Youtube to be "voices of truth."

And finally this evening, I wanted to share this article, which highlights the friendship that has existed since the 1960's between the Church and the Colombian government. That article included quotes from Elder Enrique R. Falabella, who on August 1 of this year transitioned from being the First Counselor in the South America Northwest Area to being the Area President.

It is that existing friendship between Colombia and the Church which has enabled the Church to progress so well in the country, including the dedication of the temple in Bogota during the temple-building boom of the late 1990s-early 2000s. And we have since seen a second temple announced and constructed in the city of Barranquilla within that nation.

I have recently shared my feelings that a third temple for Colombia may soon be announced, and that such a temple could potentially likely rise in either Medellin or Cali. It may be just a matter of time before that occurs, and I can see a day very soon where temples will be dedicated in both cities. Right now, the two seem to be pretty evenly matched in terms of which might potentially get a temple first, but I will continue to watch for anything that would point to one or the other being more imminently likely.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple-related developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to do so, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Three Apostles to Mark Their Birthdays This Month/Some Thoughts About Changes in Area Leadership and the Presidency of the Seventy

Hello again, everyone! As longtime readers of my blog may recall, last year, at the beginning of August, I noted that 5 apostles would be celebrating their birthdays during that month. Since that time, two of those apostles with August birthdays (President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Robert D. Hales) have passed away. As neither of the two new apostles have August birthdays, that lowers the number of August apostolic birthdays to 3. So I wanted to post today to provide an overview of which 3 apostles will have a birthday later this month, and when that will happen.

Interestingly, the August apostolic birthdays are each 3 days apart, taking place over a period of six days (from August 6-12). Next Monday, the youngest of those 3, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, will mark his 63rd birthday. 3 days later (Thursday August 9), Elder Neil L. Andersen will celebrate his 67th birthday. And 3 days after that (Sunday August 12), President Dallin H. Oaks, the oldest of the 3, will be observing his 86th birthday. It will be my privilege to post tributes to these Brethren on each of those days. Stay tuned for that.

On an unrelated note, the changes in area leadership, which were announced a few days after the April General Conference, have now gone into effect. This means that the Presidency of the Seventy has now been relieved from their service overseeing the Church's 10 North America areas, which are now under the supervision of 3-man presidencies, two of which are overseeing 2 areas each, and 1 of which will oversee the 3 Utah Areas.

The changes also mean that, for the first time in Church history, the Presidency of the Seventy is comprised of 4 members born outside the United States: Elder Patrick Kearon (who was born in England), Elder Terence M. Vinson (who was born in Australia), Elder Jose A. Teixeira (who was born in Portugal), and Elder Carlos A. Godoy (who was born in Brazil).

As I previously mentioned, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who serves as the Senior President of the Seventy, will mark his 70th birthday in 2020, which means that, unless Elder Kearon has been released from the Presidency by that time (which does not seem likely), he could become the first foreign-born Senior President of the Seventy at that time.

It is also interesting to note that, with the exception of Elder Clayton, the other 6 members of that Presidency have all come into that assignment within the last year. To have a majority of that Presidency so new to the assignment is significant anyway it's considered.

It will be interesting to see how soon the Church identifies the "other assignments" which the Presidency of the Seventy will be taking on now that they no longer are responsible for the oversight of the North American Areas. Whatever might occur in that regard, you can find more information on that through this blog 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

2019 Mutual Theme Announced

Hello again, everyone! In a letter from the Young Men and Young Women General Presidencies which was sent to leaders around the world, the 2019 Mutual Theme was announced. The theme comes from the words of the Savior in John 14:15, which reads: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." A simple and concise yet powerful injunction, which the leaders hope the youth will keep in mind this year as activities are planned and carried out, and as the Come, Follow Me curriculum is discussed every Sunday. You can read more about this development here.

Two additional Church News stories are significant as well. This one highlights remarks from BYU professor Lori L. Wadsworth, who highlighted 7 ways each of us can recognize the divinity of others. C. S. Lewis, in his "The Weight of Glory", was quoted as saying "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship." It is a wonderful thought that each of us has a divine nature, heritage, and potential, and the remarks shared during this devotional exemplify these principles.

For those of us who are Church members, we either directly know someone or know someone who knows someone who has, through no fault of their own, had to come home early from their missionary service. One such individual, now a player for an NFL team, shared his experience in that regard, and some insights into how all of us can help such individuals.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will pass those along to you all as I receive word of them. I should also note that I am still working on combining the two lists of temple locations, and once I get that done (within the next 2-3 days or so), I will publish that here, so stay tuned for that.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed about newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Miscellaneous Church and Temple News

Hello again, everyone! I am posting again now to pass along miscellaneous Church and temple news. First, regarding temples, I wanted to report that the LDS Church Temples site, which had a massive data loss earlier this year, continues its' restoration process. The updated estimate for when the site might be up and running again is now listed for September. As we continue to unite our prayers in behalf of all of those working on this issue, hopefully it will again be available sooner rather than later.

Next, the updates from the Church News. This article reports on the sacrifices made by Saints in Brazil to reach the first temple in that nation (which was located in Sao Paulo), and talks about how temples have since started dotting that nation. With 6 in operation, 2 under construction, and 2 others announced, and other potential locations have become a real possibility.

I currently have 4 Brazilian candidates on my list for the near future, namely: Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Florianopolis, and a second in the Sao Paulo area).  Thanks to the increase in the number of temples in that nation, hose Saints no longer have to make great sacrifices to attend the temple., and the first South American apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares, comes from Brazil.

As I have previously observed, the Lord seems to be mindful of Brazil, and of how valuable that nation has been in increasing the strength of the Church worldwide in many ways. I am sure we will certainly see many other Brazilian temples announced in the not-too-distant future, and that we might even see a day when the number of temples operating in Brazil matches or exceeds the number of temples in Utah. It will be interesting to see in what manner and how swiftly all of that unfolds.

Salt Lake City, where the Church's worldwide headquarters is located, is home to many "hidden jewels and gems" which are popular attractions for those who are visiting the city, whether for General Conference, the Lights on Temple Square during the Christmas season, or at other times. This article describes some of the most frequently-visited locations which fit that description.

And finally, the Church News again reported on "Mormon Night with the Angels", which is a Monday night each July in which members and friends of the LDS Church are given a special opportunity to attend a baseball game for the Los Angeles Angels. The team gives an invitation for  the Church to have one of its' leaders throw out the ceremonial first pitch. This year, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had that honor, which  you can read more about here.

I continue to monitor all temple and Church news and will do my level best to bring word of those to you ASAP after I become aware of these developments. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.

Two Additional Church News Stories Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am back yet again, this time to cover two additional Church news stories which have been published within the last 10 hours or less. The Church News again continues to highlight landmark and significant addresses from Church leaders in their "From the Vault" Series. The focus of this week's article was on an address given by then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 1974 on the campus of BYU-Provo. Although President Hinckley's foremost legacy was his smaller temple-building program, which more than doubled the number of temples in the period of a few short years, he was also well-known as an eternal optimist.

In his aforementioned address, he spoke about how important optimism can be in our daily lives. He also talked about how being pessimistic, especially about things that are outside our ability to control, can dampen our spirits and weigh us down. By focusing on the positive (which does not necessarily mean ignoring the negative, bur rather not letting the good in our lives be outweighed by the bad, difficult, or challenging things), our lives take on a richer quality, and we are better equipped to deal with the hard times when they come. Both the summary of his address and the address itself are well worthy of your time.

The second and final new item I wanted to report on was how two "native sons of St. George", Elders Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Steven E. Snow, Church Historian and Recorder, who is a General Authority Seventy, traveled "back home" to St. George this weekend for the rededication of the St. George Tabernacle. Also in attendance was Bishop Dean M. Davies, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, who had a supervisory role in the tabernacle's renovation process. The Church News summary can find found here, with a more complete summary provided by the Deseret News here.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those 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. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to do so, please feel free to subscribe to stay informed of new content. 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.

Temple Updates Provided

Hello again, everyone! On this second-to-last day of July, I am pleased to post today to share some updates of which I have become aware in terms of temple developments. Let's get right into it. First, I have mentioned that, especially in view of President Nelson's reportedly extensive plans to expand the number of temples in a short period of time, there seems to be every likelihood that the Church will have at least 200 temples in operation by the 200th anniversary of the Church's reestablishment (which, as I have noted, will occur on Saturday April 6, 2030). With 30 temples in various phases, the Church would just need to complete each of those, and announce and complete 11 others in the 11.68 years between today and that date, which could be done if 3.51 temples were dedicated per year during that time.

As I also mentioned, although only 2 temple dedications will be held this year, there is already 1 temple dedication set for next year, and there are 5 other temples that will almost certainly be dedicated in 2019 as well. And with the 3 others under construction that are currently anticipated to be dedicated within the first 6-8 months of 2020, there will be 170 operating temples by around this time in 2020, by which time several other temples will likely have had a groundbreaking and could be close to dedication as well.

If there are a minimum of 170 temples dedicated by July 30, 2020, that would leave the Church 9 years, 8 months, and 7 days (9.68 decimal years) in which to build and dedicate those 30, which would then lower the number of temples that would need to be dedicated per year to 3.1. And if the initial word on President Nelson's temple-building plans is any indication whatsoever, that will be easy for the Church to do.

That said, let's briefly talk about the temple updates which I have found out about. We start with the Concepcion Chile Temple, where a new series of photographs have been posted on the LDS Church Temples Facebook page. It is good to see the progress on that temple, since its' open house begins in around 6.5 weeks.

We turn now to the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple, where the installation of walkways around temple grounds continues. As we are nearing the end of the typical July recess month for the apostles, I would anticipate that a dedication announcement could be made within the next 2-3 months, but perhaps sooner. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, and whether or not that temple's dedication could be set to occur prior to the already-scheduled dedication of the Rome Italy Temple.

Next, I wanted to mention that I was able to find an update of sorts on the construction process for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple. I am not entirely sure how reliable the information in this video is, but someone posted what appears to be an update showing progress on this temple through Youtube. If any of you have any information on whether or not the updates in this video are valid, let me know.

A new video and photograph series has been posted on the LDS Church Temples Facebook page, which you can find at the link below. We at long last have an update for the Rio de Janerio Temple, which shows that exterior cladding is underway. Additionally, an article from a local paper about that temple was shared on Facebook earlier today, all of which you can find out more about on the aforementioned Facebook page.

We have yet another update on the Winnipeg Manitoba  Temple, where plies have been installed for the meetinghouse, and where preparation is underway to pour the foundation for that meetinghouse. As I mentioned previously, it is likely that the Church has more imminent need of the meetinghouse while the temple continues its' construction. I will pass along more as I learn of it.

And finally, some of you may have seen a recent comment on this blog from someone living close to the Raleigh North Carolina Temple. According to the information he provided in the comment, exterior framing and sheathing is now complete, weatherproofing has been attached to the temple's exterior, metal supports for stone attachment are being added around the exterior, and waterproofing is underway for the temple's newly-completed tower.

Before ending as I always do, I wanted to note that, while these updates are an encouraging sign, I do not see anything in the new information which would indicate a change is needed on any of the estimates I have previously offered. Stay tuned for more as I hear of it. I continue to monitor all such developments and will do my level best to pass those updates along as 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. If you enjoyed what you read here, please feel free to subscribe to stay informed of newly-added content. 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.