Dates Announced for 2019 Church-wide Events/Open House Begins for Concepcion Chile Temple

Hello again, everyone! Two big news items have been reported by the Church today. First, the schedule for the currently-set 2019 Church-wide Events has been announced. I say "currently-set" because there will be other events, such as Face-to-Face gatherings for youth and young adults that will be scheduled and announced at a later date. And more specific details, such as the speakers for the Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults, the BYU-Provo Women's Conference, and the annual Evening with a General Authority for CES personnel, will be announced later on.

General Conference next year will be held on April 6 and 7 and on October 5 and 6, with the Priesthood Session continuing in April and the Women's Session in October. In an unusual move, the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional, which has typically been held on the first Sunday of December, will be held on Sunday December 8 next year. You can find a complete PDF list of the scheduled events here, with the list speaking for itself.

In the meantime, the other big news is that the open house is beginning for the Concepcion Chile Temple. Tours for VIP and members of the media are now underway, and the tours for the general public will begin a week from tomorrow. The Church has released these details about that open house.

Among the important highlights of those details is that the open house will be held between September 15 and October 13, Sundays and General Conference Saturday excluded. The Church has replaced the traditional cultural celebration with a planned devotional for youth, their parents, and their leaders, which will be held on Saturday September 27. The following day, the temple will be dedicated in three sessions.

I would assume that for the first new temple dedication of his presidency, President Nelson will preside at this event. And I would not in any way be surprised to learn that Elder Holland will accompany the presiding officer, since he served as president of what was then the Chile Area of the Church between 2002 and 2004. There may be others in Church leadership with a direct or indirect connection to Chile who may also attend, but I haven't done the research on who might fit that description.

Either way, it will be exciting to see how things unfold in the coming months with Church news and temple developments, and to the best of my ability, I will try to bring word of those developments 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. 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.

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.