New President Called for the Veracruz Mexico Temple

Hello again, everyone! Though I have no wish to detract from the big news of today (which is the artist's rendering and site confirmation for the Pocatello Idaho Temple), I did want to note that a new president has been called for the Veracruz Mexico Temple, which is something I had anticipated would occur.

This brings the total number of new temple presidents called this year to 64. Given that many other first presidents have been announced for most of the temples anticipated to be dedicated next year, I am also anticipating that the first presidents for the Fortaleza Brazil and Lisbon Portugal Temples will be announced in the near future. The only other temple on my personal list of those that might have a new president announced this year is the one in Washington D. C.

I am aware, of course, that that particular temple closed for renovation in March of this year, but my reason for suspecting that a new president could be announced for that temple is that a new president was announced earlier this year for the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, which has been closed since November of last year for renovation, but for which, as far as I know, the renovation process has not yet begun almost a year later.

It will be interesting to see what happens in that regard. I continue to monitor all of these developments and will pass word of them along to you all 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.

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.

BREAKING NEWS: Artist's Rendering Released for the Pocatello Idaho Temple

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has again been published by the Church. In this release, the Church has shared the official artist's rendering for the Pocatello Idaho Temple. I am no expert in temple matters, but I would imagine that this opens the possibility that the temple in Pocatello is likely to have a groundbreaking within the next 3-9 monoths. It joins the Bangkok Thailand Temple (which had an artist's rendering announced earlier this year).

The First Presidency has noted that construction on that temple is anticipated to begin at some point next year, and will take between 2-3 years. The site for the temple has been confirmed as being east of Satterfield Drive and Butte Street in Pocatello in the area known as Crestview Estates - Division 2.

It is interesting that construction is anticipated to begin next year on that temple. I would anticipate therefore that the Bangkok Thailand Temple will have a groundbreaking before the end of this year, and that the Urdaneta Philippines and Saratoga Springs Temples might also have a groundbreaking by the end of this year.

So within the next 4-7 months, we could see groundbreakings for each of these four temples. Either way, this is awesome news, and I was grateful to pass it along to you all. I continue to monitor any and all temple news, and will do my level best to pass word of those developments, along with any general Church news, along to you all 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. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: Church Begins Sending Mission Calls Via E-mail

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has again been reported from the Church. Missionaries will now begin to receive their mission calls electronically by e-mail. The new procedure, which has been tested in a few instances, will start being utilized immediately in Utah and Idaho, and by the end of this year, prospective missionaries all around the world will be able to receive their calls through this method.

This is being done for a few reasons: First, the Church continues to utilize technology to further the work more effectively. Second, this will cut down on waiting times and postage. A missionary living in a region as far away from Salt Lake City as possible who was assigned at the same time as a missionary in the United States will be able to receive and read his or her call at the same time. Third, this will allow the process of preparing for missionary service (including, where required, obtaining the necessary visas) to be expedited.

Some may try to claim that this will cheapen, devalue, or replace the tradition of missionaries gathering with their family members to open their calls. But that can still be done. The only difference is the way in which the call is delivered. Once each missionary receives word that their call is waiting for them, they can gather their families together and open it at their convenience. For more details, you can read this article (from the Church News) or this release (from Mormon Newsroom).

It is exciting to realize how much the Church is embracing the age of technology. Hopefully most will see this as a positive change. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to keep passing them along to you all 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. 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.

Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! The Church News has just released this article describing how President Nelson's recent visit to the Dominican Republic, and his visit to the missionaries there, was in response to a direct prompting from the Lord. How blessed we are to have a prophet that continues to receive and respond to regular revelation!

I am sure that President Nelson will continue to be out among the people as long as he can be, and that, based on what other leaders (particularly his Brethren in the apostleship) have said about his health and stamina, he will be around for many years to come. Someone (Elder Andersen, I believe), suggested last General Conference that the Brethren hope he will be around for another decade or two, and I think it would be awesome if that happens.

I also wanted to pass along some not-so-good news: the latest information I have found in the matter of a former missionary who accused her former MTC president of sexually assaulting her. It appears that, rather than taking the high road and letting justice take its' natural course through the proper legal and religious channels, she apparently chose to disrupt a fast and testimony meeting to "air her personal grievances" and to call out her accuser in his congregation.

Someone took a video of what she said, including the fact that she was asked repeatedly by the leaders of that congregation to stand down and that she claimed they were assaulting her when she failed to comply. You can find more on that here. In view of what occurred here, as verified by the video, I am not sure what to make of the situation.

But in this and in all other cases where abuse allegedly occurred, I will say that I trust the general and local leaders of the Church to make the right calls in such situations, and I agree with the statement of a Church spokesman that this was a highly inappropriate way to advance her cause, if that was her objective.

I continue to monitor the ministry of our Church leaders and all other Church news and developments and will do my best to pass word of those along to you all here 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. 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.

Miscellaneous Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to post again now to bring you some additional Church news stories which have been reported recently. Earlier today, the Church held a news conference to pass along information about the first of a four-volume set containing the new narrative history entitled Saints.

Speakers during that news conference included Elders Dale G. Renlund and Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (who spoke respectively at the beginning and the end of that news conference), Elder Steven E. Snow, a General Authority Seventy who is also serving as Church Historian and Recorder, and Matthew J. Grow, who serves as the Director of Publications for the Church History Department, and who oversaw the publication of this volume.

The entire news conference, along with corroborating comments from the conference, can be found here, and those resources are well worthy of your time and attention. I can endorse them without the slightest hesitation.

The other news of which I spoke was published by the Church News, and includes this article highlighting tips from the Sunday School General Presidency about 3 easy things all of us can do to get more out of Sunday School, and this article, which provides more information about the home curriculum which Church members will be invited to use next year.

Based on these two articles, we have now received confirmation that the goal of the new home curriculum is to supplement and enhance rather than replace the Sunday School hour, which should put to rest any rumors about a 2-hour Church block possibly being announced next October.

As I previously mentioned, the intent of these new resources seems to be to place greater emphasis on the individual preparation each of us do for Church every week. And it appears the manual for home use will actually be replacing the "Class Member Study Guides"which each of us receive at the beginning of each year that did not previously go beyond suggesting which scriptural passages to study in advance.

I also wanted to report one additional temple development which has come to my attention. The Facebook page for the (now-renamed) Church of Jesus Christ Temples site (which site, as previously noted, is currently anticipated to be back up and running again on the last day of this month) has shared a picture taken on September 2 of this year which shows the continual progress on the meetinghouse adjacent to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. That temple, as I previously noted, is currently anticipated to be dedicated in mid-2019, and I have offered my opinion that that could occur in mid-to-late August.

All of these developments are most significant, and it will be interesting to see what will occur in the coming days, weeks, months, and years as more news comes in, and as the new resources which the Church has recently provided are more fully utilized by the entire membership of the Church. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best 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 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.

President Nelson in the Dominican Republic

Hello again, everyone! On this Labor Day 2018, I am posting for a very significant reason. Although technically, President Nelson visited the Saints in the Dominican Republic on Saturday before visiting the Saints in Puerto Rico yesterday, the Church News did not publish an account of his remarks from the first visit until earlier today.

In this article, the devotional held in the Dominican Republic (which was also broadcast by satellite to other islands in the Caribbean Area, is highlighted. And that article specifically mentioned that the remarks President Nelson gave at that devotional are believed to mark the first time a Church president has spoken to a congregation in their native language. It was nice to have that confirmed.

I also wanted to post a correction and clarification to something I reported earlier. When I originally detailed President Nelson's plans to visit the Caribbean, I was almost certain I had read that his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, was coming along on the trip this weekend. But the article above specifically noted that Sister Nelson opted to stay home for this trip. I apologize for the misinformation I unintentionally provided.

In the meantime, as President Nelson follows in the tradition previously set by President Hinckley of just stopping between trips long enough to rest briefly and to pick up a new apostolic companion for the next destination, it makes sense that at times, the wife of the Church president would opt to sit out at least a few of those trips. While President Nelson reportedly has great energy (and continues to appear as though he is 20-30 years younger than his actual age of almost 94), the rigors of constant travel might take their toll on both his apostolic companion and on his wife.

I have not heard that this was the reason, but I make what seems to be a logical assumption. It is interesting to me that President Nelson would plan a weekend trip to the Caribbean Area around a month before General Conference, especially since he noted during his recent Canadian trips that his staff felt those would be brief stops he could make to continue his worldwide ministry tour while that would not interfere with his preparation for General Conference.

Anyways, getting back to the article cited earlier in this post, President Nelson's remarks, along with another address (in English) from Elder Dale G. Renlund and brief remarks from Sister Ruth L. Renlund, Caribbean Area President and General Authority Seventy Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, and his wife, Sister Zulma Gonzalez, comprised the layout of the devotional. You can read highlights of what was said by each in that article.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will, to the best of my ability, pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of such updates. 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.

President Nelson Speaks to Saints in the Caribbean Area of the Church

Hello again, everyone! The Newsroom section on the official Church website recently released this article about President Nelson's visit to the Caribbean, which, as previously mentioned on this blog, took place yesterday and today. There were a few particular things I took away from that report, as follows:

1. President Nelson delivered the entirety of his remarks in Spanish. I had known about him learning Mandarin Chinese in response to a challenge from President Kimball, but he is apparently the first Church president who knows and utilizes two or more languages with fluency. I am feeling more and more lately that there is more truth than we might have realized in Elder Holland's assessment from the April General Conference, and I echo them. What a prophet indeed!
2. He talked a lot to the Saints about their ongoing efforts to recover from the aftermath of the hurricane that swept the Caribbean around one year ago, and he promised that more help was on the way from the Church, and invoked a blessing upon the Saints (particularly those in Puerto Rico) that they will continue to recover.
3. Some of the things he said (as quoted in the article) makes me more certain than ever that there is a high likelihood that Puerto Rico could have a temple announced in the near future. Is that likely to occur next General Conference? Time may tell. If President Nelson is planning a mass announcement of several temples to be built immediately (which seems to be the case), what better way to encourage the Puerto Rican members of the Church in their recovery than to announce that a temple will be built in their midst?

Again, these observations, for what they might be worth, are what I took away from this article, for what they might be worth to any of you. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will pass word of those along to you all 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. 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.

A Couple of Updates Provided on Temples

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post now to report two temple developments that have come to my attention within the last few hours. First, the unofficial site for information about temples (which can be found at its' new URL here shows that the new projected estimate within which the site might be finished with its' restoration work has changed to September 30 of this year.

If this estimate has changed to be more specific, hopefully that means all is going with with the restoration work. But hopefully it also means that this is the latest anticipated date whereby that site might again be up and running. As those of us who enjoy the site continue to pray for those involved in that restoration process, hopefully it can be completed sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, the Facebook page for the site has noted that unanticipated repairs will be done for the Rexburg Idaho Temple. As some of you may recall, the dedication for that temple had been set to occur on February 3, 2008, but the unexpected passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley one week earlier meant that the following Sunday would mark the reorganization of the First Presidency. Therefore, one major action President Monson took as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was to announce that the dedication would be delayed for a week.

Although the temple is just over 10 years old, it appears that the extreme heat on one end and the extreme cold on the other has resulted in somewhat significant damage to a few of the most prominent exterior elements of the temple. With a closure of that temple having gone into effect last Monday (August 27), the temple will be closed until Monday September 17, a period of three weeks. The reason that I did not mention that temple among those closing for an extended period at some point this year was that I felt a need to restrict that list to temples which would close for more than a month.

That said, though no other source is tracking this information, I continue to monitor the Church's progress towards having 200 operating temples by or before the 200th anniversary of the Church (which will, as previously noted, be marked on Saturday April 6, 2030). I have run the numbers that will be effective for tomorrow, at which time there will be 11.59 years remaining until said anniversary. The Church will easily have 200 operating temples at that time if roughly 3.54 temples are dedicated each year between now and then.

As also previously noted, the 2 temple dedications set to occur before the end of this year will be below that average, but next year, with 1 temple dedication already scheduled and 5 others anticipated to be announced within the next year or so, a total of 6 temples will make 2019 fall above that average. 3 other temples already anticipated to be dedicated during 2020 will put that year almost at that average by the time we get between June and August.

And if, as anticipated, we learn more in around a month in General Conference about the specific extent to which President Nelson's plans to expand the number of temples might go, then the number of temple events held during the remainder of 2020 and the years that follow could very well increase exponentially.

For that reason, I have no doubts whatsoever that the Church could easily construct and dedicate a minimum of 30 temples between mid-2020 and the date of that 200th anniversary, and I would not in any way be surprised if there are many more than that by that date. Whatever might occur in that regard, you can depend on my bringing word of it to you all here as I become aware of such 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.

Miscellaneous Interesting Tidbits Gleaned from Resources Recently Made Available

Hello again, everyone! Hope you all are well. I wanted to post right now with, as the title implies, various interesting tidbits gleaned from resources recently made available. Let's dive right into all of those details. First, as I mentioned in an earlier post, 3 of the 4 Church magazines published for September 2018 listed changes in magazine advisers, including that Elder Randall K. Bennett and Sister Becky Craven were now listed as advisers rather than assistant editors of the magazines. Those changes have now been additionally confirmed in the September 2018 Ensign, of which the PDF version was just recently made available.

Next, from Mormon Newsroom, we have 2 stories covering subjects which I have already mentioned in previous posts on this blog, but which are well worthy of reiteration, in addition to one new article. First, the articles covering subjects previously mentioned. Those relate to the ministry of our First Presidency members: namely, this article, shared from the Jamaica Mormon Newsroom and covering President Nelson's announced plans to visit the Caribbean Area of the Church this next weekend, and this one highlighting  President Oaks' remarks given to young married couples in several Californian stakes which covered several topics that some may consider somewhat controversial.

In the meantime, the new story from Mormon Newsroom to which I referred above is this article, which shares how Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, and Sister Lisa L. Harkness, First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, are travelling in the Central America Area. Their trip, which began on August 24 and will end on September 4, is one of the longest (if not the very longest) international trips taken by auxiliary leaders. They spent a good amount of time visiting survivors of the recent volcanic eruption which occurred in Guatemala, and they will also visit Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Before moving on to stories from the Church News, I wanted to report here that, atypical to what we have seen previously, as of this last day of August, there has been no announcement as of yet in terms of the schedule for Church-wide events which will be held next year. Last year, most of the 2018 events (except for the temple events which were scheduled later) had been announced on August 25.

The fact that we are going into September with no announcement about the 2019 scheduled events seems significant, but I am assuming that the reason that announcement has been delayed is because President Nelson is visiting the Caribbean Area this weekend, and because the United States will observe Labor Day on Monday. But I will be looking out for that information and will pass it along to you all as i become aware of it.

Our focus now shits to the Church News, where two articles share some information about our junior apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve. As I previously reported, Elder Soares recently returned home to Brazil for the first time since his call to the apostleship. This article highlights more fully some of the connections he has with the people of that nation, and how they in turn responded to the news of his call, hearing him speak to them as a "special witness" of the Savior, and  witnessing him invoke an apostolic blessing upon them.

In the meantime, the other article which referenced Elder Soares' recent ministry efforts was the next installment in the Church News series "This Week on Social", which shares things about which various Church leaders have posted on social media websites. In addition to the comments from Elder Soares, other posts featured thoughts from his apostolic seatmate Elder Gerrit W. Gong, along with another post from Elder Neil L. Andersen (who shared a clip of the talk he gave during the April 2005 General Conference entitled "Beware of the Evil Behind the Smiling Eyes").

As a sidenote, that talk was given just four months before he began serving in the Presidency of the Seventy, in which Presidency he would continue to serve until his own call to the apostleship in April 2009). His warning is as apropos and relevant today as it was when it was given. And a post from Elder Quentin L. Cook highlighted the new narrative history of the Church entitled Saints, which, as noted above, will be discussed more fully in the final Face-to-Face event for Young Adults this year. And the final post from an apostle which was shared in that article was from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who shared some thoughts about repentance.

The final social media post shared in that article was the only one not featuring a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. That post was published by Sister Michelle D. Craig, the First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency. And I was particularly intrigued by something she specifically said, namely: "I rediscovered a story in the Old Testament a few months ago while preparing for a talk." Now, while she could have been referring to an address she has given or will yet give during a meeting with Church members, the wording of that statement seems more indicative that she will be speaking in the next General Conference.

If that turns out to be the case, then it is more likely than not that she will be giving that "talk" in General Conference in October. As I previously noted, I have predicted she will be speaking during the Women's Session. Some may contend that, if she is referring to an address she has prepared/is preparing for General Conference, she may be speaking during one of the other four general sessions.. But there is a big reason why I think otherwise:

Although there may have been one or two exceptions in recent years (mainly relating to the Women's Session), it has usually been tradition for a new president of any of the Church's five auxiliaries to speak during a general session before either of the two counselors in that presidency do so. Since the Young Women General Presidency was just changed last conference, it can be assumed that Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, the new General President, will speak during any of the four general sessions. If that turns out to be the case, the only other possibility is that Sister Craig is the representative from the Young Women General Presidency who will be speaking during the Women's Session.

Around 9 hours ago, the Church News updated this article which first announced President Nelson's plans to visit the Caribbean Area this weekend. Meanwhile, this article shares a video which highlights experiences from members of the Church in Europe who recently participated in a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon over a 21-day period.

And in two other stories highlighting remarkable lay members of the Church, the "survival stories" of members battling rare diseases are shared, along with this account detailing the 35-day trek Church members took through the Australian Alps to raise $10,000 for children living in indigenous regions of the world.

Finally tonight, the Church News continues to share stories highlighting ongoing developments related to "FamilySearch". This article details how those with a FamilySearch account can see whether they have any ancestors who lived in Nauvoo. All of these developments are most exciting. I enjoyed reading about them and hope you enjoyed my coverage of them in this post. I continue to monitor any Church news or temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of them.

On a personal note, I just wanted to clarify something that may be misunderstood in the ongoing discussion of the most likely prospective locations that might have a temple announced next October. In case I was not specific on this point, the locations I shared a few days ago are those for which (in my opinion) a temple may be announced in General Conference in around a month.

While I am convinced that there are many locations not on my current list that are very worthy of having the honor of such an announcement in the near future, until the extent of President Nelson's plans to expand the number of temples is known (which may not be detailed more fully until next General Conference or the one after that), I felt a need to focus my personal list on those locations which (in my opinion) have the highest probability for an announcement during the upcoming General Conference.

Once President Nelson's plans are detailed more fully and we have more of an idea of the number of temples that might be announced in the future to best facilitate those plans, I am more than ready to expand my list to include any other location favored by others which seem for the moment to be more distant prospects. I apologize if that was not clear enough in what I have said previously.

With that in mind, any comments which any of you have on the latest version of that list (including if I have been overly optimistic in my consideration of any of those locations or if there are any I have missed which have a higher likelihood of being announced in October than I might currently believe) would be most welcome and appreciated, as would any or all comments on any other post I have done on this blog.

That does it for this post. Thank you for t he 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 Apostles to Mark Their Birthdays in September

Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to take focus away from the conversation about recently-covered topics in previous posts on this blog, at the same time, in view of the other subjects I will be covering within the next 10-14 days (including ongoing Church news and any temple developments), I wanted to take some time in the early-morning hours of the last day of August 2018 to provide some thoughts about the two apostolic birthdays which will be observed within the first 10 days of September.

The two apostles in question will actually be observing their birthdays a mere day apart. Elder Quentin L. Cook will be marking his 78th birthday on September 8. The very next day, our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, will observe his 94th birthday.

And it is interesting to consider that in the week before his birthday, President Nelson will be making the aforementioned trip to Puerto Rico. Also, as already noted, on President Nelson's 94th birthday, Elder Cook will be joined by two representatives from the Church History Department in holding a Face-to-Face event for Young Adults that will introduce the new 4-volume Church history series Saints and allow young adults to have questions answered by the three.

Additionally, looking ahead to things coming up later in September, the open house for the Concepcion Chile Temple will, as previously noted, begin on September 15 and will last until October 13 (excluding General Conference weekend and Sunday September 16, 23 and 30). It would appear that open house reservations were first made available on Tuesday July 10 and continue to be available through October 13.

As always, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will, to the best of my ability, provide coverage of it all as I receive word of it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. 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.