President Oaks Marks His Third Tenure Milestone as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Hello again, everyone! As most (if not all) of you will recall, President Russell M. Nelson was ordained Church President on January 14 of this year, and his counselors and the President and Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were all set apart in those capacities on that same date. As some of you may also recall, I have promised to post my next update on the latest apostolic statistics on Sunday November 4.

I wanted to post now to note that President Dallin H. Oaks, who serves as both First Counselor to President Nelson and as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, is observing the third tenure milestone in terms of the length of his tenure as President of that Quorum today. He now takes the spot (previously held by President Gordon B. Hinckley) as the Quorum President with the 25th longest tenure. He has previously passed both David O. McKay and Joseph F. Smith earlier this year.

I should also perhaps note that today, his tenure is merely tied with that of President Hinckley. But since the latter has not been the Quorum President since his ordination as Church President on March 12, 1995, it is a pretty safe bet President Oaks will still be serving in that capacity tomorrow, unless there is something of which all of us are unaware.

I need to also mention here that, based on when President Nelson, President Oaks, and their apostolic counterparts will move up on the lists I keep, I have made several adjustments in the data I keep in that regard. An overview of those changes will be coming with my next update on those statistics, which I am planning to post here on Sunday November 4.

I do continue to monitor all such milestones, along with any 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 such things. 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.

Correction (posted on 10/21/18  @ 6:56 PM): Hello again, everyone! With my thanks to twinnumerouno for pointing this out, it turns out that the milestone described above was President Oaks' third one as Quorum President, not the first. I have corrected the title of this post, and the earlier wording on that subject, but will let the comments on it stand. I apologize for the unintentional error. I will do better with my fact-checking going forward. Thanks again to you all, and especially again to twinnumerouno for drawing my attention to this unintentional error. As noted above, I will be posting my next update on the latest apostolic statistics on November 4. So stay tuned for that. Thanks again to you all.

Miscellaneous Temple Developments and Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to be able to post now to bring you word of many temple developments and Church news items which have been reported recently. Let me get right into all of that, starting with the temple developments. We start with the Durban South Africa Temple, where a report has come in that the installation of the Angel Moroni on that temple is pending. The preparation for this milestone solidifies the idea that this temple will definitely be the next temple to have a dedication after the Fortaleza Brazil Temple.

I next wanted to reiterate something I said recently. Having confirmed that the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple will have its' groundbreaking in less than three weeks (on November 8 of this year), and that it is going to be larger than I originally thought. I have therefore adjusted my general estimate for its' completion to mid-to-late 2021, and am offering mid-September of that year as a more specific estimate for its' dedication.

Turning now to the Asuncion Paraguay Temple, new information indicates that interior and exterior renovations are underway. Still no word yet on whether or not that temple's exterior will be altered to match that of other temples originally dedicated in the Hinckley-era smaller temple building boom, but as soon as I have information on that, I will pass it along.

We move on to Church news updates. President & Sister Nelson and Elder & Sister Stevenson have left on the first South American leg of their Global Ministry Tour, which will culminate in the dedication of the Concepcion Chile Temple 9 days from now. You can monitor the developments which will be occurring during this tour via this story on the Newsroom's website.

Next, the Church News, which has changed its' web domain name to "thechurchnews.com" (in order to comply with President Nelson's reiteration of the naming guidelines), joined the Newsroom in reporting that the special guest for the annual Christmas Concert (which will run three days instead of the standard two) will be actress and Broadway star Kristen Chenoweth, who will both sing with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and will also narrate the program.

The Newsroom also reports that Marie Osmond was featured recently at an interfaith devotional. And yesterday, another edition in the "Latter-day Saints Around the World" series of articles, which included articles from Cambodia, Jamaica, Bolivia, India, El Salvador, and Ecuador. Concluding now with articles exclusive to the Church News website, there was an article highlighting BYU-Pathway Worldwide.

The Church News continues to additionally provide a weekly edition of their "This Week on Social" series to pass along thoughts posted by Church leadership through various social networks. This week, thoughts on marriage, divine differences, and how to obtain extra measures of faith in the midst of great periods of trial and hardship. Those insights were shared this week by Elders Jeffrey R. Holland, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen, Gary E. Stevenson, and Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Sister Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency.

As many of you know, throughout the history of the Church, welfare farms have operated to one degree or another. The Church News describe how a rural community here in Utah were blessed by an inspired bishop who felt impressed to have his community plant tomatoes. And finally, the Church News has published the latest chart in PDF form of the General Authorities and General Officers, which reflects the releases of 7 previous GA Seventies, and the sustaining of Elder Brook P. Hales.

I have no way to know for sure, but I feel that we will see the PDF version of the November 2018 Ensign available online in the not-too-distant future, likely within the next 3-4 days, if not sooner. When that happens, my analysis of what I find therein will be forthcoming. I also continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple 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 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.

Temple Developments Reported

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now to share some updated information I have received on the progress of temple construction around the world. So let's get right into our discussion of all of that. First, with 10 days left to go before the dedication of the Concepcion Chile Temple, preparation for that event continues at a steady pace. In the meantime, the open house for the Barranquilla Colombia Temple will begin just over 2 weeks from now (on Saturday November 3).

Moving on now to temples anticipated to be completed in 2020, stone cladding continues to progress on the tower for the Arequipa Peru Temple. In the meantime, at the site of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, with the foundation laid for the on-site meetinghouse, piles have been set in preparation for pouring the foundation of that temple.

As I mentioned, with the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple anticipated to be larger than I originally assumed it would be, I have adjusted my general estimate for its' completion to sometime during early-to-mid 2021. Although the Church's English Newsroom website has yet to confirm this event, it will surely be something to look forward to.

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 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.

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.