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Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Elder Ulisses Soares Celebrates His 60th Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! Now that October 2 has officially come around, it is my honor and with great pleasure that I bring you, for the first time, a post to honor Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Elder Soares has a most unique life story and background, and I am grateful to share some thoughts about him with you all now.

Ulisses Soares was born to Apparecido Soares and Mercedes Carecho Soares in Sao Paulo Brazil on October 2, 1958. He has European and Amerindian ancestry. When an aunt joined the Church, that was how the Soares' family first learned of the gospel. His parents, after being taught by the missionaries, were baptized when he was five years old. Elder Soares would later reflect on how his small branch would meet in a tiny rental place that was located above a bakery. He served a full-time mission in Rio de Janeiro,

Upon his return, he connected with Rosana Fernandes Morgado, who had served in the same mission at around the same time, but whom he had not met until after they both had returned. The two were married in the Sao Paulo Temple, and together they raised three children. His academic experience involved studying at the  Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, from which, in 1985, he would receive a bachelor's degree in economics and accounting. He then continued his studies at the National Institute of Postgraduate Study, where he earned a Master's Degree in Business Administration.

Elder Soares worked for several multi-national companies (one of which was Pirelli Tire Company) as an accountant and an auditor. Donald L. Clark, who at that time was serving as director of temporal affairs for the Church in Brazil, convinced him to take a job with the Church as a senior auditor. When Brother Clark was asked to serve as a mission president, Brother Soares took over for him as director of temporal affairs. He went on to fill a special assignment for the Church's Presiding Bishopric.

Within the Church, Elder Soares has served as an elder's quorum president, counselor in a bishopric, stake high councilman, and as a regional welfare agent. When the São Paulo Brazil Cotia Stake was created in 1995, Elder Soares was called as the first president thereof. 5 years later, he served a three-year term as president of the Porto Portugal Mission. Less than two years after his return (during the April 2005 General Conference), he was called as a General Authority Seventy.

As a General Authority Seventy, he served as First Counselor in the Brazil South Area.from 2005-2007, as First Counselor in the Brazil Area from 2007-2009, and as President of that area from 2009-2011. He served from August 2011-January 2013 as First Counselor in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency, at which point he was called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy, with responsibility for the North America Southeast Area  Then, in November 2015, Elder Soares was reassigned to oversee the Idaho and North America Central Areas of the Church. He still had oversight of both of those areas in 2018.

On March 31, 2018, Elder Soares was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and he was ordained an apostle on Thursday April 5, 2018. He thus became both the first Latter-day Saint apostle from Brazil and the first one from Latin America. Elder Soares has had much opportunity to grow into his new assignment.

Elder Soares has had 6 opportunities to speak in General Conference so far, with 2 addresses given as a General Authority Seventy, 3 while in the Presidency of the Seventy, and 1 following his call to the apostleship. In order to review any of these wonderful addresses, you can find them here.

Elder Soares is a good man, and although he may never read this, I am grateful to have been able to put this birthday tribute together for him. I hope he has a good day today, and I look forward to hearing his first full address as an apostle in this upcoming General Conference. I wholeheartedly sustain him and all the other prophets, seers, and revelators in their roles and responsibilities as special witnesses of Christ.

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.

Monday, October 1, 2018

BREAKING NEWS: Sister Barbara Ballard Passes Away at Age 86; First Presidency Announces Dedication Information for Kinshasa DR Congo Temple

Hello again, everyone! Though these breaking news developments are a few hours old, in view of some personal illness that has kept me from doing my first check of the Church websites until now, I only found out about two major developments a few moments ago.

First of all, Sister Barbara Bowen Ballard, wife of President M. Russell Ballard,, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, died earlier today after struggling with many health issues, one of which was Alzheimer's. Further information about her life and thoughts from her family about her legacy can be found in the Church News and via the Newsroom on the Church's official website. Those sources speak for themselves, so I will say no more about them, except that funeral services will be held a week from today, and that I am sorry those will coincide with his birthday, though perhaps that was President Ballard's choice so he could share one last birthday with her. My condolences go out to the Ballard family at this time.

While I don't want to overshadow that news, I am also pleased to report that the First Presidency has announced the open house and dedication dates for the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple. The official release about that notes that a public open house will begin for that temple on Tuesday March 12, and will go through Saturday March 30, with the exception of the Sundays of March 17 and 24.

The Church, which will continue the tradition of having a youth devotional instead of a cultural celebration, will have such a gathering for the youth in Kinshasa on Saturday April 13, with the temple dedication to be held the next day in 3 sessions, and will be broadcast to all Saints living in the Kinshasa temple district. But here's the thing that intrigued me most: The release also notes: "Additional details regarding the temple dedication will be announced at a future date." What that means exactly, I don't know.

I would just like to add here that the timing of this dedication was just about when I estimated it would be. When I last posted my estimates for known temple events, I had shared my feelings that this temple could have a dedication in mid-April. But I should also note that I thought that the next big temple news would be either the confirmation of the groundbreaking for the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple or the rededication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple. There is still time for both of those to be officially confirmed in the near future.

With my thanks to those who commented here earlier today to share these developments with me, and my thanks to all of you for your ongoing interest and support, 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 ongoing additional 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.

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Upcoming Milestones for our Apostles

Hello again, everyone! Hope you all are well. I am posting again now to share information about two apostles who will be observing their birthdays within the next couple of weeks (or less), in addition to two tenure milestones occurring later in the month of October. Let's get right into all of that.

First of all, I wanted to provide a look at the apostles who will observe their birthdays in the month of October. I am mentioning these milestones now because, due to the dates involved, if I were to delay 1-3 days to share this information, at least the first milestone would have come and gone by that time.

That said, two of our apostles have birthdays this month, and those will be marked within the first ten days of the month. First, our junior apostle Elder Ulisses Soares, will mark his 60th birthday on Tuesday October 2. When that occurs, all apostles will be in their 60s or older.

And then, just 6 days later (on Monday October 8, the day after General Conference concludes), Acting President M. Russell Ballard will, as also previously noted, be observing his 90th birthday. As a result of those birthdays,  the 15 apostles will then include 2 nonagenarians, 2 octogenarians, 4 septuagenarians, and 7 sexagenarians.  And that may be the first time the Church has ever had this kind of breakdown of the apostle's ages.

But it doesn't stop there. Later on in October, both President Nelson and President Oaks will be observing additional milestones in their tenure-length over the next little while. First, on Thursday October 11, the length of President Nelson's prophetic administration will be longer than that of President Howard W. Hunter. He will thus be the 16th longest-serving Church president in history.

11 days later (on Monday October 22), the length of President Oaks' tenure as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will have exceeded that of President Gordon B. Hinckley, and he (President Oaks) will thus become the 25th longest-serving Quorum President in the history of the Church.

It is fun for me to monitor this information, and I have appreciated having the chance to pass it on to you all here. 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 fee 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.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am back to report some additional Church news. I would have done so earlier today when many of these developments first came to my attention, but I had to take care of some health-related issues. We will begin with articles posted both on the LDS Church news website and on the Newsroom of the Church's official website, then move to two more articles posted just on the Newsroom, and finish with stories unique to the Church News website. Let's get into all of those articles.

The Newsroom and the Church News noted today that, in an effort to increase safety and efficiency, and for the purpose of enhancing the experience for General Conference attendees, new security measures are going into effect during the upcoming General Conference weekend. The sources cited above speak for themselves, so I will not comment further on them.

Next, additional stories  from the Newsroom: the first highlight how Elder Uchtdorf, in a recent tour of Europe, became the first apostle to visit the Polish city of Gdańsk. He also made additional stops in London, Frankfurt (where a temple is in the concluding stages of its' renovation), Moscow (which, in my opinion, is the top candidate for the temple announced in Russia), and Kaliningrad.

The second story continues highlighting articles from other Church Newsrooms around the world, with today's edition featuring developments reported from Europe (with a copy of that article appearing on the Newsrooms for Ireland, Finland, Hungary, Poland, and Portugal), Guatemala, Ukraine, and Ghana.

We conclude now with articles featured on the Church News website. First is an article about a little-known Church calling, a position entitled disability specialist. Although not a lot has been shared about this position in the Church, there have been a number of people with disabilities that have benefited from the efforts of those whose work it is to see about providing accommodations for those who are disabled.

And the Church News continued to provide additional details of the recent address Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave at the G20 summit, in this article (providing the complete transcript of remarks he gave in Spanish on Thursday September 27, in which he covered the topic of the crucial role of religious freedom in today's society) and this one (providing the complete transcript of remarks he gave in English on Wednesday September 26, in which he covered the topic of the Church's efforts to give worldwide assistance to those who are less fortunate).

This leads me to an interesting point that I had not considered very thoroughly: the recent changes in Church leadership mean that we have several among the current apostles who speak more than one language fluently. And if that is not an accurate reflection of the fact that the Church is truly more international now than it ever has been, I don't know what is.

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 rime. 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.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Additional Church News and Temple Developments Reported

Hello again, everyone! As the title of this blog post implies, I am posting today to share some additional Church news and temple developments which have been reported. First, on the temple news front: The construction crews working on the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple have made the exterior lighting operational. Although the Lord may have different timing in mind, it would not in any way surprise me at all if we were to hear an announcement of the open house and dedication information within the next 2-4 months, or if that was set to occur between February and May of next year. Time will tell.

In the meantime, moving on: The G20 Interfaith Forum has  continued. Just in summary, two articles have been focused on that, with a summary of Elder Christofferson's remarks during that forum featured here, and with him addressing the question of why protecting religious freedom is so important here.

And the Church announced today some updates to their guidelines on food storage and the emergency preparedness program. You can more details in the Church News and via the official Newsroom on the Church website.

In continuing coverage of the relief efforts in which the Church is involved following Hurricane Florence, there is a report of how Christmas in September was possible for those Saints in view of a miraculous donation. And the Church News also reported how Elder David F. Evans, a General Authority Seventy, was able to craft a powerful message as a result of an unintentional General Conference blooper.

I am keeping my eyes on all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to continue passing word on either or both fronts as I receive word 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.