"This Week on Social"

Hello again, everyone! The Church News published another article in their ongoing series "This Week on Social". This week's edition consisted of post from several female leaders, in addition to those in the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Sister Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency reflected on the analogies she saw between the storms the Philippines experienced while she was on assignment there during Typhoon Mangkhut and the storms each of us experience as a matter of course during this earth life.

Both Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, and Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles posted about the additional details I discussed in my last post relating to the Church's new activity initiative for those aged 3-18. And Church President Russell M. Nelson posted his thoughts about speaking to a congregation earlier this month from a baseball field.

Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency described her experiences visiting with survivors of a recent volcanic eruption in Guatemala. And President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, highlighted the importance of temple attendance.

I am grateful that in the age of technological advances, our Church leaders are embracing that technology to share highlights from their teachings and worldwide ministry efforts. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will pass those along to you all ASAP after I learn of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time. 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.

Church Clarifies A Few Points Regarding New Initiative for Youth and Children

Hello again, everyone! As most of you probably recall, the Church announced earlier this year that, effective on January 1, 2020, the programs for youth and children in the Church would be completely revamped and replaced. This will involve the discontinuation of the Church's relationship with the Boy Scouts of America (including for Cub Scouts), but it will also replace Faith in God, Activity Days, Duty to God, and Personal Progress. At the time the announcement was originally made, it was noted that more details would be forthcoming.

So earlier today, the Church released additional details through Mormon Newsroom. Specifically, it was announced that camps and outdoor activities would still be part of the plan for the new initiative. The Church has consistently encouraged its' members to not let ourselves lose sight of the beauty all around us as created by our Heavenly Father, and so the fact that camps and outdoor activities will be included in this new initiative is not surprising to me at all.

Along with the new details, the Church has released two very specific new answers to questions about that initiative, which can be found via links found in the article I cited above. I continue to monitor all Church News and developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any subject at any time. 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.

Further Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! Since my last report sharing general Church news update two days ago, a few additional developments have been reported via the Newsroom on the Church's official website and on the Church News website. So let's dive right into the discussion of those new articles.

We start in the Newsroom, where two new articles have been published within the last 48 hours. First, as some of you may be aware, Elder Joseph W. Sitati, our first General Authority Seventy from Kenya, has been serving as First Counselor in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency since August. He was invited to speak at the 3rd All Africa Congress on Religious Freedom last week. He talked to the religious leaders, government officials, and scholars about how human flourishing, in all aspects of an individual's life, is a result of religious freedom. This continues the Church's tradition of speaking in public forums on the role religious freedom plays in the betterment of people worldwide. The Newsroom provided both this general summary of what he said and the complete transcript of his remarks. The conference this year was held in Rwanda, where the Church is still in its' infancy.

And the Newsroom essentially killed the proverbial two birds with one stone with this article highlighting both the winners of the annual "Faith Counts" Video Contest, in addition to sharing another account of the ongoing ministry of our Church's female leaders as details were provided about how Sister Lisa L. Harkness, First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, not only attended the Faith Counts Awards Ceremony, but also made outreach visits to an Ohio resettlement agency built to help serve refugees and immigrants, in addition to a stop at Columbus Global Academy, which teaches English as a Second Language. I am grateful, as I stated around 36 hours ago, for the additional ways in which the ministry of the female members and leaders of our Church are being highlighted more fully of late.

Turning now to the Church News website, one story highlights how 4,000 citizens in the Philippines have found refuge at Church meetinghouses. In the meantime, the Church News shares a recent interview done by local Utah radio station KUER with the same Church leaders that have represented the Church on the previously-mentioned coalition which includes faith leaders, prominent political figures from Utah, and medical professionals, who expressed concerns about the current wording of the proposition going before Utah voters this November which would legalize the use of medical marijuana but which provides insufficient regulations to ensure that illegal use of it is still discouraged.

The three Church leaders, (Elder Jack N. Gerard, who heads up the Church Public Affairs Department; Elder Craig C. Christensen, President of the Utah Area; and Sister Harkness) spoke during the KUER radio show to further explain why the Church would gladly support the legal use of medical marijuana for those who need it, but why the Church and the members of the coalition have come out against the initiative in its' current form. You can read more about that radio interview here.

With the open house for the Concepcion Chile Temple now well underway, the Church has provided a video for those who wish to virtually tour the temple (if they cannot get to the open house). And finally, Elder David A. Bednar recently returned from an extended visit to Mexico, where he ministered to members and missionaries, taking time to address concerns on an individual basis and to conduct Church business while he was there. The Church News provided this report of that visit. It would not surprise me in any way to learn that he spent some time while there looking at potential temple locations. As I mentioned previously, the Church has at least two and perhaps double that amount of potential locations where a temple would make sense. Given that the latest information I have indicates that the largest temple district in Mexico is in its' capital city, I could see the Church potentially splitting that at least two ways.

Although the Church in Mexico has recently seen mass consolidations of wards, branches, districts, and stakes, I do not see anything that would give me a reason to suggest that future temples for Mexico should not be on the radar in the near future, especially if President Nelson's temple-building plans prove to be as extensive as so many have indicated.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I receive it in the near future. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post anytime. 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: First President Called for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple

Hello again, everyone! It was just brought to my attention a few minutes ago that the Church has called the first president for the Fortaleza Brazil Temple. That news was first reported in the Church News 4 hours ago, but due to my having a somewhat busy afternoon, I was actually not the first to find this news originally, which has not happened in a while. That said, the new president is someone known to the people of Brazil, a native Brazilian who has served in Brazil as an area seventy, mission MTC, stake and branch president, a patriarch, and a temple sealer. In other words, he is well known to, and loved and respected by the Brazilian Saints and will be a good fit for the first president of the Fortaleza Brazil Temple.

Now, I also wanted to note a caution here: While I appreciate the optimism expressed by many who see the calls of the presidents for all the new temples anticipated to be dedicated next year as a positive sign that such events could occur sooner than anticipated, and while I am not dismissing the prospect that part of President Nelson's plan in having the temple department hire a number of new employees could be to add manpower to the construction of temples already in progress, which could potentially accelerate the temples now under construction, in addition to enabling new ones to be rapidly built, the latter point seems to be a less likely prospect.

I say that because my brother took a class in high school in which he was part of a construction crew for existing projects in American Fork. And no matter what they were working on, the size of the crew was far more likely to diminish than increase as some of them either quit the project and the class or were transferred to another project. I recognize that the Church projects may be more contractual than a job done by a high school class, but, that said, nothing I have heard through the sources I have available have indicated that the most recent estimates offered for the temple events anticipated to occur next year will be accelerated beyond the more general time-frames I have previously provided.

As a review, when I posted the news of the first president for the Lisbon Portugal Temple one week ago today, in that same post, I provided the latest general estimates I had for temple events anticipated to occur in 2019. Unless there is something big about which I and the sources which I have available for such information are not aware, AFAIK, those estimates have not changed at all.

That same post from one week ago shared the complete list I had assembled of temples which have had or may yet have a new president called. I refer you to that full list for any information on those temples. But that brings the total number of temples which have had a new president announced this year to a grand total of 66, with the only other temple on my list of those which may get a new president being the one in Washington DC. But wait, you might be saying, didn't that temple close for renovation in March of this year, and isn't it only anticipated to be rededicated in 2020?

Yes, that is the case. But the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, which closed almost a year ago (last November) and for which, AFAIK, the renovation process has yet to fully begin, had a new president announced earlier this year (as evidenced by the list I linked to earlier). So it would not be unreasonable, in my opinion, to assume that a new president could similarly be announced for the Washington DC Temple.

Sorry for that aside. Getting back on topic, once all 6 of the new temples anticipated to be completed next year are dedicated, the total number of dedicated temples will increase to 167. That means that roughly 40% of all operating temples will get a new president within the next 12-15 months, which makes sense, given that temple presidents serve for a period of roughly 3 years, so roughly 1/3 (or 33.33% of all temples) will have a new president announced each year. 

The new temple presidents announced during this year is slightly above that average, but when we subtract the 6 temples for which a dedication will not occur until next year, that means 161 temples will be in operation by this year's end, and that 60 temples will have new presidents start serving this year, and that works out to 37%, which is closer to the average I mentioned above.

That does it for my report of this development. But before I end in the usual way, I also wanted to mention what I have coming up on this blog in the near future. In addition to reporting important Church news and temple developments, which I monitor on an ongoing basis, my hope this weekend is to publish another update on the ages and tenure milestones of our current apostles in the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I will also continue to fine-tune my General Conference predictions as needed. So if any of you want to comment on either of the posts I did on that subject recently, you can find the summary of what molded those predictions here, and the updated version of those predictions here. I will continue to accept comments on those predictions up until Monday October 1 (so I will have time to do any updates that are needed on them and post them here before General Conference weekend begins the following Saturday).

As always, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will try to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments on any post are, as always, welcome and appreciated at any time they are made. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and for wading through another lengthy post from me. 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! I wanted to post again now to share some additional Church news which has crossed my radar in the last couple of days. Let's get right into all of that. We start with stories from the Newsroom on the Church's official website. Yesterday, I reported that additional members of the general Young Women and Primary boards had been called. But apparently three new members have also been called to the Relief Society General Board. You can read more complete biographies of all of these newly-called board members here.

Second, as some of you may or may not be aware, Jacinda Ardern (the Prime Minister of New Zealand) is the niece of Elder Ian S. Ardern, who is serving in the Church's Pacific Area Presidency. He and his wife joined area president Elder O. Vincent Haleck in presenting PM Ardern with a compilation of her family history. Although the Prime Minister has not been personally involved with the Church for some time, she graciously accepted this gift. This continues the Church's ongoing tradition of presenting such histories to major leaders of the world.

Next, Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham, joined by Sister Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, met with Chile's Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Isabel Plá. They spoke with her on the subject of eliminating gender discrimination and violence and the valuable role women have in society. The two Church leaders exchanged ideas with the Minister, particularly describing how the Church has emphasized the divine nature and vital role of women of all ages, and what the Church has done and continues to do to protect the women of the Church. More details, including a list of other articles describing the recent worldwide ministry efforts of the women of the Church, can be found in this article.

And the Newsroom also reported today some additional details about how clean-up efforts are underway after Typhoon Mangkut swept through Hong Kong and the Philippines. I don't know this for certain, but it is possible that any further progress towards a groundbreaking for the three temples announced in the Philippines (for Urdaneta, Muntinlupa City, and Cagayan de Oro) may be delayed until the aftermath of the storm is dealt with. I hope there will not be a delay, but it is possible. I will be keeping an eye on that aspect of things for sure.

Turning now to the Church News website, the Church has recently reemphasized the ongoing need and available opportunities for senior missionary couples. In light of that need, the Church News provided 5 suggestions for prospective senior missionary couples to remember as they are looking into the options that best suit their gifts and their situations. I would just interject here that without the loving leadership and labor provided by older couples, the work of the Church's Humanitarian program and many temples around the world (to name a few opportunities in which I have actually had experience) could not occur to the degree it does.

The Church News also marked the second anniversary of the dedication of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple with a retrospective look back at the history of how the temple was years in the making. And as those in the southeastern United States continue to recover from the recent flooding, the local members of the Relief Society have mobilized to provide assistance.

It may just be my personal opinion, but I have noticed that there has seemed to be an increase this year, and especially in recent months, in the number of news stories about the way the women of the Church, both generally and locally, are making a difference. The Brethren of the Church have been very clear about the fact that the women of the Church have made very valuable contributions to the furthering of the work. It is very significant to me that the first address President Nelson gave as President of the Quorum of the Twelve was directed to the women of the Church.

Some may claim that the Church can and should do more to include women in the Church, but seem to overlook the fact that no major decision in recent years was ever made by the general Church leadership without extensive input from the women of the Church. That has been particularly true recently in the decision to replace home and visiting teaching with ministering, to consolidate the Priesthood and Women's Sessions of General Conference, and with the Come Follow Me curriculum. And we know that two of the general Women presidency members are on each of the three major Church councils, which is significant. Also, Priesthood Executive Committee meetings have been discontinued, with both male and female leaders in the ward meeting to discuss issues on an as-needed basis.

The Church continues to find ways to enhance the contributions of all women in the Church. But more than that, it has been correctly observed that women make up roughly half of the world's population and are mothers to the other half. It has been amazing and humbling for me to see what the Church continues to do to show women how valuable they are in the eyes of the Lord and to the Church as a whole.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will pass word of those things 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, on any post at any time. 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.