My Projection for What the November 2018 Ensign Table of Contents Might Look Like

Hello again, everyone! Hopefully, within the next week or less, the PDF version of the November 2018 Ensign will be available. In preparation for that occurrence, I have put together a projection for what the table of contents for that Ensign might look like. That projection follows below. So as not to disturb its' flow, I will end here as I always do. 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.

Possible Table of Contents for the November 2018 Ensign

Session	Page	Title	Speaker
	2	Conference Summary for the 188th Annual General Conference
	4	Highlights from the 188th Annual General Conference
SAM	8	Opening Remarks	President Russell M. Nelson
	11	Deep and Lasting Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ	Elder Quentin L. Cook
	14	Lift Up Your Head and Rejoice	M. Joseph Brough
	16	Laying the Foundation of a Great Work	Elder Steven R. Bangerter
	18	Be Not Troubled	Elder Ronald A. Rasband
	22	Gather Together in One All Things in Christ	Elder David A. Bednar
	26	Truth and the Plan	President Dallin H. Oaks
SAA	30	The Sustaining of Church Officers	President Henry B. Eyring
	32	Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ	Elder D. Todd Christofferson
	36	Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice	Bishop Dean M. Davies
	39	One in Christ	Elder Ulisses Soares
	42	Our Campfire of Faith	Elder Gerrit W. Gong
	45	All Must Take upon Them the Name Given of the Father	Elder Paul B. Pieper
	48	Believe, Love, Do	Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
GW	52	For Him	Joy D. Jones
	54	Divine Discontent	Michelle D. Craig
	56	The Joy of Unselfish Service	Cristina B. Franco
	58	Women and Gospel Learning in the Home	President Henry B. Eyring
	62	Parents and Children	President Dallin H. Oaks
	66	Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel	President Russell M. Nelson
SUM	70	The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead	President M. Russell Ballard
	78	Becoming a Shepherd	Bonnie H. Cordon
	82	The Ministry of Reconciliation	Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
	86	The Role of the Book of Mormon in Conversion	Elder Shayne M. Bowen
	88	Wounded	Elder Neil L. Andersen
	92	The Correct Name of the Church	President Russell M. Nelson
SUA	96	Try, Try Try	President Henry B. Eyring
	100	The Father	Brian K. Ashton
	103	Taking upon Ourselves the Name of Christ	Elder Robert C. Gay
	106	Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?	Elder Matthew L. Carpenter
	108	Choose You This Day	Elder Dale G. Renlund
	112	Now is the Time	Elder Jack N. Gerard
	114	Shepherding Souls	Elder Gary E. Stevenson
	118	Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints	President Russell M. Nelson
	72	General Authorities and General Officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
	120	Conference Story Index
	122	News of the Church
	132	Last Page of Conference Ensign

Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! Within the last 50 hours or so, the Church News has shared several news articles covering a few different topics. This post will serve the purpose of passing along those articles, along with any analysis of those developments as needed. We will move as quickly as possible through these articles, so let's jump right into that discussion.

First of all, the BYU-Provo Museum of Art (hereafter referred to as MOA) has a new exhibit on display which showcases some unique illustrations done by a Jesuit Priest. Next, as many of you may recall, during the recent Women's Session of General Conference, Church President Russell M. Nelson issued four invitations to women of the Church. The first of those was to take part in a 10-day fast from social media, and he provided a prophetic promise that doing so would prove to be a blessing. The Church News is requesting feedback from those who responded to that invitation.

Also published was another set of death notices for Church members who had served in various prominent leadership positions around the world. This week's edition notes the passing of 4 former mission presidents (1 of whom had also served as an MTC presidency member and a regional representative, and 1 other of whom had also served a regional representative and a member of a temple presidency), 2 former mission president’s wives (1 of whom also served as a temple matron), 1 member of the Church curriculum committee, and 1 former Primary General Board member.

As some of you may recall, among the changes in area leadership which occurred on August 1, an area presidency was reestablished for Utah, and Elder Randy D. Funk now serves as Second Counselor in that presidency. He spoke at a recent devotional for LDS Business College students, at which he shared 4 ways in which college students (and, by extension, everyone else) can lighten their burdens in the course of day-to-day living.

The Church News has also provided picture quotes from the October 2018 General Conference, which are designed to be perfect for phones and tablets. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments on an ongoing basis, and will do my level best to pass word of those 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.

Elder Gerrit W. Gong Speaks at BYU-Provo Devotional; Highlights Importance of Life-Long Learning

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, roughly one month after his call to the apostleship, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife Susan were asked to substitute for Church President Russell M. Nelson and his wife, Wendy, when the latter were unable to speak at the BYU Women's Conference in May of this year due to a scheduling conflict. Elder Gong, who had been in the administration of BYU prior to his call as a general authority in April 2010, returned to that campus earlier today to speak at the weekly devotional.

He addressed the importance of lifelong learning, taking a unique approach in covering that topic by asking his audience to imagine themselves in the future, and how they would feel at that time about their BYU experience in which they are currently engaged. It is a timely message in a way. It has often been said that "hindsight is 20/20", meaning that looking at past experiences through the lens of where it has brought us now helps us see clearly what we may have overlooked or failed to realize during that same period of time.

In moments where we cannot see the hand of the Lord directing the major details of our lives, we may find ourselves wondering what the purpose behind such experiences might be. And for a while, perhaps none of that makes sense in the moment. We may feel neglected, forsaken, and abandoned in challenging or trying times where nothing makes sense and when it feels very much like nothing will get better, or that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

But as Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminded priesthood bearers in April 2006, we need to develop the capability the Lord has perfected, to see the end from the beginning in any situation in which we find ourselves. When we retain in remembrance the ultimate purpose of our lives: to live so we can one day return to our Father in Heaven, and to do so knowing we have each fought our individual battles well and are "returning with honor", that can always put any mortal experience, whatever it might be, into its' proper perspective.

We are, after all, eternal beings going through a mortal experience, rather than mortal beings going through an eternal experience. The Lord has taught me that repeatedly through various ways and means throughout my life. There have been several experiences in my more than 30 years of life that, in the moment, I would have preferred not to have, but for which, looking back on them now, with the benefit of hindsight, have shaped me into who I am now.

The Church News summary of Elder Gong's address was a timely message for me personally. As I may have referenced previously, in early spring of last year, my health took a nosedive from which I am still attempting to recover. And within that same period of time, if and when things have changed, it has usually just been to a different kind of worse rather than any sort of improvement. The same goes for the health situation of my sweet wife, with the only differences being that in her case, it has dragged on more than twice as long, and that we are still trying to find the root cause for her ongoing health challenges.

So right now, I have had nearly two years of yet another experience that doesn't seem to make much sense right now, but which I can only hope will make sense at some point in the future. If previous examples in my life are any indication, that will be true in this case. So I can, from experience, say that keeping an eternal perspective is hard in the midst of severe and lengthy periods of those kinds of tests, but that there is always a light of the end of the tunnel. Even when we cannot see more than one step ahead in the paths of our lives, sometimes, all we need to do is to keep trudging ahead as best we can. Is it difficult? Absolutely. He didn't say it would be easy: He only said it would be worth it.

And, if we allow Him to do so, not only can He strengthen our backs to bear our burdens, or lighten the loads we bear, but He can and will carry us through such periods of time. One of the hardest things to do in such times when everything feels out of our control is to surrender whatever control we have left completely to His hands. But He alone knows how best to uphold, strengthen, and succor us in such times, so if we cut Him out of giving us the help we need, going through hardship will only be that much more difficult.

I hope all of us can take that message to heart. It is an important one to understand. We may not know the reasons for anything we might experience, but we don't necessarily have to. We just need to understand that He does know, and that He can and will help us through such things, if we allow Him to do so. I leave these thoughts, my testimony of their truth, and my love and blessing with all of you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Hurdles Cleared on Asuncion Paraguay Temple Renovation Process

Hello again, everyone! New information of which I became aware a while ago demonstrates that the Asuncion Paraguay Temple is no longer stalled in commencing its' renovation process. That temple, which closed almost a year ago, has seen significant delays in the commencement of that progress. As of today, it is unclear whether or not the renovation of that temple will follow a similar change in style and design to what we have seen occur for temples first dedicated during the Hinckley-era building boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

 If that is the intent, then we are probably looking at this temple concluding that process in mid-2020 or so. But if the basic design and structure of the temple is not changed, then I could see that process concluding in late 2019 or early 2020, as other sources have indicated may turn out to be the case. But given that the temples undergoing renovations have been stalled, whether they are older or newer, I am trying to be more conservative at the outset until more is known about the extent and consistency of that renovation process.

I continue to monitor any and all developments in terms of temple progress and Church news and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of it. 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.

Newsroom Releases Statement About Name Change

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may be aware, following the release of President Nelson's statement reemphasizing the usage of the proper name of the Church, many people seemed surprised that all relevant changes relating to compliance with President Nelson's request were not immediate. The problem I have with that notion is that, as anyone who owns and operates a website will tell you, there is more to changing a URL (web address) to any site than meets the eye. If, for any reason, the desired domain name to which any website wants to change is unavailable, it takes time to either find other options or negotiate for the desired URL.

Additionally, in that statement, President Nelson had noted that Church departments had started the preliminary work towards complying with that request, and noted that in the coming weeks and months, more information would be provided on this matter. Although the statement was released in August, it was not until the day before General Conference began that we learned that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir would change its' name to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

Any change takes time, so to assume or assert that such changes should be instantaneous seems misguided at best and disingenuous at worst. Accordingly, today, the Church's official Newsroom page released this statement to explain why a change has not yet been made to the URL for that site yet, and what that process will involve and entail.

I think it is a wise thing that, where possible, Church resources take time to be updated, and I don't think that is unreasonable. So, whenever and however that site changes its' name, I will embrace those changes. I appreciate the Newsroom's publishing this statement to clarify what their process will be. Similar processes may be coming for the Church News website.

I continue to monitor all of those developments, along with any and all other Church and temple news, and will do my 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, 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.

Update Reported on Durban South Africa Temple

Hello again, everyone! Today we got a better idea as to the reason why the Durban South Africa Temple is now second to the Fortaleza Brazil Temple in terms of how soon a dedication might be announced. That temple, which has made surprisingly consistent progress in recent days, has had yet another update reported. The latest information I have found indicates that art glass has been delivered for the tall windows of the temple, while work continues on the roof, and on interior painting, tiling, and millwork.

When I recently adjusted my more specific estimates for future temple events, I shared my opinion that this temple's dedication could be set to occur in early-to-mid August. And I stand by that estimate, given the extent of these reported developments. I continue to monitor all temple developments and Church news 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 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Rome Italy Open House Reservations; Bangkok Thailand Temple Site To Be Cleared

Hello again, everyone! I am posting in the late-night hours when Sunday October 14 will become Monday October 15 to share some breaking temple news. First of all, it was reported over this last weekend that preliminary reservations are beginning to be offered for the Rome Italy Temple Open House, which will start roughly 3.5 months from now. Although the Church's online reservation system will not officially offer reservations for this event for about the next two months, those interested can find more information here.

In the meantime, as some of you may recall, the Church announced the site information and artist's rendering for the Bangkok Thailand Temple earlier this year. As some of you may also remember, at the time that rendering was released, a statement was included from President Nelson to the effect that he didn't foresee any obstacles in getting the construction process started for that temple. With almost seven months having come and gone since that rendering was released, one building has remained on the temple site.

All of that is set to change in November. On the first day of that month, the final business in that building (one of the Church's distribution centers) will temporarily relocate to a nearby chapel before finding a permanent home. Once that happens, the completely vacated building can then be razed, at which point, a groundbreaking can be held and construction would be able to begin.

With that in mind, there is a possibility (however remote) that the groundbreaking ceremony could potentially occur at any point following the razing of that building. Before I knew about that one building left standing on the property, I had ventured my opinion that a groundbreaking for the Bangkok temple could occur within the month of November, which would coincide with the anniversary of that nation's dedication for the preaching of the gospel in 1962 by then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

It would be awesome if a groundbreaking could be held for this temple prior to the end of this year, which would, along with the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple groundbreaking (which has been confirmed for November 8) mark the start of construction for the two remaining temples originally announced in April 2015 by President Thomas S. Monson.

That said, I would not be upset to learn that the groundbreaking for this temple might be held in December, or in the early months of next year either. Anytime a temple can start construction, I appreciate being able to learn about it and share it here.

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 become aware 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.

Some Thoughts and Analysis About the Top Ten Nations Without a Temple, Recently-Announced Temples, and Future Temple-Building Plans

Hello again, everyone! On this Sabbath Day, I wanted to post my thoughts and analysis on the recently-updated list of the top 10 nations with the most members that do not have a temple in any phase. Let's get right into those.

First, of those top ten, the Saints in only two of those nations (American Samoa, which comes in at #4, and Mozambique, which comes it at #9) have a journey of less than 400 miles, and the Saints in most of the remaining 8 nations have a journey of 1,000 miles or greater to their currently-assigned temple. So at least the other 8 make prime temple candidates based on the mileage metric, although all of those locations could be said to constitute an undue hardship (either by distance, cost, difficulty of travel, or a combination of any or all of those factors).

As a second observation, due to growth in both the number of units and the membership totals involved, Sierra Leone, once below Kiribati, has now jumped ahead of that nation. Thirdly, 3 of the nations on the previous list of the top ten in that category had a temple announced this last go-round. Fourth, given the nature of the Church's situation in each of the 19 locations which had a temple announced last year, it seems reasonable to assume that the Church will continue to prioritize temple announcements in the nations currently on that top ten list, where membership and the number of Church units would easily support a temple of their own in such locations.

The other side of that has no direct relation to the list, by which I mean that if a bunch of new temples are announced regularly for the near future, something will need to be done to clear any existing backlog. I am sure the fact that the Church has 31 temples which need to get from announcement to construction will play into what is done to deal with the backlog, as well as the timing and number of future announcements.

That said, as many have rightly pointed out, there is more than a good chance that, by the time the next General Conference rolls around, at least 4 (but perhaps as many as 9 or more) temples could see construction begin. As I observed in response to a recent question through a comment on this blog, surely some of these temples are being planned on the smaller side so they can easily and quickly be constructed and dedicated.

Another factor in all of this is, of course, the extent of the plans going forward, and whether or not the consideration of what qualifies any area for a temple of its' own will change. We have previously heard Church presidents talk about having every member within a 200-mile radius of a temple, or of prioritizing locations where travel to a currently-assigned temple is long, hard, expensive, impractical, or unsafe in any way.

The fact that we began this year with 182 temples in various phases and have seen that number swell to 201 now has to mean that there is something big coming in terms of the frequency and extent of future temple announcements, and that the necessary processes will be adapted in such a way as to allow temples to more rapidly move from announcement, to construction, and on to dedication.

Not all of the announced temples will be on the smaller side, but many will be. And I am sure that something will occur in addition to what we have already seen that will ensure a smoother, more rapid transition between various phases of those processes. How, to what extent, and in what manner that may be accomplished may be yet-to-unfold, but I am grateful to know that it is being worked on.

What will the future hold for temple construction? It is unclear for now, although we do know that President Nelson has "[begun] with the end in mind." And if what I have heard in public and privately is any indication, we have barely scratched the surface of what's coming for future temple construction in the years ahead.

There was little to no doubt in my mind before this year began that we would have at least 200 temples in operation by or before Saturday April 6, 2030, which is the day that the Church will mark its' bicentennial, whether or not an official goal is made to do so. If all but one of the temples currently announced are completed within that time, it is well within reach. And there is little top no chance that 19 new locations would have temples announced this year if there was not a plan in mind to handle the windfall of those announcements, to say nothing of dealing with the 12 locations that had not made it to a groundbreaking when this year began.

One thing is absolutely certain: We live in an outstanding time for temple developments, and we'd better buckle up because only the Lord and those privy to conversations at Church headquarters on the subject of temples know exactly what's coming and how the Church will be able to handle it. The very reason we sustain prophets, seers, and revelators is because they are able to put personal preferences, ideas, or views aside to bring themselves and the Church in full conformity with what the Lord, in His infinitely superior wisdom, knowledge, and judgement, deems necessary to prepare the Church as a whole and its' members as individuals and families for the immediate and more distant future.

Whatever might occur in that regard, you can count on my reports about it all as I become aware of such things. I do continue to monitor all of these developments on an ongoing basis, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all ASAP. If any of you would like to see the more specific data I have compiled on the list of those top 10 nations, let me know.

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.

Open House Concludes for Concepcion Chile Temple

Hello again, everyone! Given the fact that Chile is 3 hours ahead of Mountain Daylight Time here in Utah, the Concepcion Chile Temple open house has officially concluded, and that temple will now be in a two-week preparation phase prior to the youth devotional 14 days from now, and the dedication of that temple on October 28.

As previously mentioned, President and Sister Nelson and Elder and Sister Stevenson will be the presiding Church leaders in attendance at that temple's dedication, and that will be the culmination of the next leg of the Nelsons Global Ministry Tour. That leg involves visits to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile, and is set to begin a week from yesterday. I will be carrying full reports of this leg of the Nelsons' trip, along with full coverage of the temple dedication, as those events occur.

I also continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will 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 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.

Additional Church News Updates Reported

Hello again, everyone! Since my last Church news update a couple of days ago, several additional developments have been reported. This post will share some of those latest developments. So let's get right into all of those. We start with the Church's official Newsroom. As many of you are no doubt aware, Elder Steven E. Snow has been serving as Church Historian and Recorder since August 2012, and, in that capacity, has overseen the Joseph Smith Papers Project, the publication of the new narrative history Saints, and many other developments, in addition to weighing in on other matters connected to the history of the Church.

At a recent Environmental Stewardship Symposium held at Utah State University, he noted that God will hold all of us accountable, as individuals and as the human race, for how we treat the Earth that He has created. That stewardship, he noted, has been clearly outlined in ancient and modern scripture. The Newsroom provided a detailed report of his remarks on that subject.

2 days ago, the Church, through spokesman Daniel Woodruff, released a statement on the safety of missionaries who are serving in the path of Hurricane Michael's devastation. Those who were in dangerous areas were relocated, and those not directly in the storm's path remained to help those in nearby areas that had been impacted. General Church leadership, through communication with local leaders, continue to assess the safety of those in the storm's path and will conduct further missionary evacuations if and when that becomes necessary.

Although many Church members in the western portion of the United States have headed to the eastern regions to help with recovery efforts, for many others who are not able to do so but would still like to be of service somehow, the Church has provided an ongoing list of opportunities for service as time and circumstances allow.

And in continuing the theme about areas impacted by the recent storms, Area Seventy Elder Douglas B. Carter, who lives, works, and serves in the path of the storm, has provided some first-hand perspective on the extent of the storm, how local Church members have been impacted, what is being done in terms of ongoing recovery efforts, and how impressive it has been to see the Saints in that area rising above their own losses to reach out and help their friends and neighbors. That kind of help, he noted, is not exclusively being rendered by Church members. The community has come together to help each other through this in a remarkable way.

The final two stories on which I wanted to focus in this post relate to General Conference. Throughout the General Conference weekend, our 15 prophets, seers, and revelators posted through various social media platforms some additional thoughts about either their own remarks or the major announcements which occurred during General Conference weekend. You can find those thoughts summarized in the latest edition of "This Week on Social".

And although full transcripts of the addresses given during the General Conference weekend are now available, for any that would prefer or need brief summaries of each address, the Church News has you covered. Whether by summary or through reading full addresses, I hope each of us will frequently study these talks over the next six months, as President Nelson has invited us to do.

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. 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.