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Tuesday, April 9, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Transcripts Available for April 2019 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! For a majority of the last two decades or so, transcripts of General Conference talks have generally been made availble the Thursday following each General Conference weekend. In recent years, that has been able to occur a day or two earlier. I wanted to briefly post to report that the transcripts of the talks given during the April 2019 General Conference are now available.

One common element in the first 3 General Conferences over which President Nelson has presided (which have been anything but common, normal, or status-quo) is his invitation during each of his concluding remarks is the invitation to regularly study the talks for the next six months. So I hope all of us (including and especially myself) will take the time to do so. We have been told that the talks given in General Conference constitute scripture and the literal word and will of the Lord for us every six months, and we'd be well advised to treat them as such.

I appreciate the speed at which such transcripts can be made available in our day. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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, April 8, 2019

First Presidency Announces Several Additional New Temple Presidents

Hello again, everyone! Four days ago, the Church News shared an article announcing the calls of 8 new presidents and matrons for temples in various areas of the world. Of those eight, three are former area seventies, one is currently a counselor in the presidency of the same temple for which he will assume oversight in November, and one other has previously served in the presidency of the temple for which he will assume oversight,

One of the temples for which a new president was announced this go-round was not on my list and came as a complete surprise to me, since it appears that the current president of that temple (Tegucigalpa Honduras) has only served in that capacity for a year. As mentioned previously, in recent years, the general length of service for a new temple president has been around 3 years.

It used to be (particularly in the earlier days of Church history) that temple presidents served for an indefinite period at the discretion of the First Presidency, and there have also been cases in the past where current or former general authorities (including apostles and prophets) have served in temple presidencies. Getting back to this year, so far, 17 new temple presidents have been called, and that has occurred a few days earlier than in 2017, when 16 new temple presidents became the first group to be announced that year.

The announcement thus far of 17 temple presidents leaves me with 4 new temples on my list which may be completed within the next year (including and especially the Arequipa Peru Temple, which is now anticipated to be dedicated prior to the dedication of the Durban South Africa Temple, for which its' first president was announced las year). Almost all of thoe 4 are more likely than not to have their first presidents called in order to enable them to attend the necessary training before their service as such begins.

There are also a remaining 48 currenlty-operating temples (including some currently undergoing renovation) for which a new president may yet be called, unless there are any other surprise announcements for which I am unable to account, due to not being privy to any special information regarding newly-called temple presidents. Assuming all of these temples see a new president called, the total number of new temple presidents beginning service this year will be around 69.

As an additional note, those 69 temples constitute roughly 40% of the total number of temples that will be operating next year (which will be 171 in total once the Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire Temple is dedicated). With all of that noted, I wanted to share an updated copy of my compiled list of temples that have gotten or may yet get a new president in 2019. That updated list follows below. In order to not disrupt the flow of that information, I will end here and now 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, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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 presidents have been called for the following temples:
1.      Copenhagen Denmark
2.      Manila Philippines (not anticipated; current president has only served for two years)
3.      Tampico Mexico
4.      Philadelphia Pennsylvania
5.      Spokane Washington
6.      Manhattan New York
7.      Columbia River Washington
8.      St. Paul Minnesota
9.      Jordan River Utah
10.  Medford Oregon
11.  Rexburg Idaho
12.  Provo Utah
13.  London England
14.  Tegucigalpa Honduras (not anticipated; current president has only served for one year)
15.  Johannesburg South Africa
16.  Fort Collins Colorado
17.  Panama City Panama

The first presidents will likely be announced for the following new temples:
1.      Arequipa Peru
2.      Rio de Janeiro Brazil
3.      Winnipeg Manitoba
4.      Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire

List of currently-operating temples which may be getting a new president in 2019:
1.      Aba Nigeria
2.      Anchorage Alaska
3.      Birmingham Alabama
4.      Campinas Brazil
5.      Chicago Illinois
6.      Ciudad Juarez Mexico
7.      Cochabamba Bolivia
8.      Columbus Ohio
9.      Curitiba Brazil
10.  Dallas Texas
11.  Detroit Michigan
12.  Fresno California
13.  Gilbert Arizona
14.  Guadalajara Mexico
15.  Halifax Nova Scotia
16.  Hamilton New Zealand (Note: It is possible that the Church could hold off on calling a new president for this temple until its’ rededication is held in 2021)
17.  Hartford Connecticut
18.  Hong Kong China (Note: It is possible that the Church could hold off on calling a new president for this temple until its’ rededication in 2021 or 2022)
19.  Idaho Falls Idaho (Note: Since the current president of this temple had his service interrupted by its’ renovation, the Church could hold off another year or two on replacing him.)
20.  Kyiv Ukraine
21.  Lima Peru
22.  Melbourne Australia
23.  Memphis Tennessee (Note: Since the current president of this temple had his service interrupted by its’ renovation, the Church could hold off another year or two on replacing him.)
24.  Mexico City Mexico
25.  Monterrey Mexico
26.  Montreal Quebec
27.  Merida Mexico
28.  Nashville Tennessee
29.  Nauvoo Illinois
30.  Nuku’alofa Tonga
31.  Oklahoma City Oklahoma (Note: Since the current president of this temple had his service interrupted by its’ renovation, the Church could hold off another year or two on replacing him.)
32.  Orlando Florida
33.  Perth Australia
34.  Portland Oregon
35.  Raleigh North Carolina (Note: Since the current president of this temple had his service interrupted by its’ renovation, the Church could hold off another year or two on replacing him.)
36.  Reno Nevada
37.  Santiago Chile
38.  Santo Domingo Dominican Republic
39.  Sapporo Japan
40.  Seattle Washington
41.  Seoul Korea
42.  St. George Utah (Note: Since this temple is scheduled to close for renovation later this year, the Church could hold off on calling a new president until the renovation is complete)
43.  Star Valley Wyoming
44.  Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico
45.  Twin Falls Idaho
46.  Veracruz Mexico
47.  Washington D.C. (Note: Since the current president of this temple had his service interrupted by its’ renovation, the Church could hold off another year or two on replacing him.)
48.  Winter Quarters Nebraska


Miscellaneous Updated Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! While I continue to work on updates to several of my files which needed to be made due to what transpired over General Conference weekend (much of which I will subsequently be sharing here), I wanted to post some updated data about our apostles which I thought some of you might find interesting.  Firstly, I wanted to note that tomorrow, President Dallin H. Oaks will be marking his first 2019 tenure milestone as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The length of his tenure as such will then be equal to that of Franklin D. Richards, which will, in view of President Oaks being alive while Franklin D. Richards is no longer living or serving as such, mean President Oaks will then be the 24th longest-serving Quorum President in Church history. Given his relatively good health, he will likely continue to serve as Qorum President for the foreseeable future, barring anything unexpected occurring.

His next two tenure milestones will be observed two days apart in July (on July 7 and 9). President Oaks will observe two other tenure milestones this year, one each in November and December, which I will detail more specifically closer to the time.  Quite coincidentally, the two aforementioned milestones President Oaks will observe in July will be the third and fourth apostolic milestones observed during that month.

This is because President Nelson will have observed two milestones as Church President which are likewise just two days apart. President Nelson's first (and only) 2019 tenure milestone will be observed on July 3, followed by the observance of his first (and only) 2019 age-related milestone relating to his place among his 16 predecessors as President of the Church on July 5, which will also coincide with his first and only nonagenarian milestone  which will be observed this year. Those will also be detailed more fully closer to the time.

And in the meantime, it is also worth noting that President Ballard will observe 3 other nonagenarian milestones this year as well, with one each coming up in May, June, and July, which I will also be detailing closer to the time. Additionally, the next apostolic birthday will be observed in May as well, with President Eyring set to observe is 86th birthday on the last day of that month.

With that noted, I wanted to share two documents I have updated recently in conjunction with General Conference. The first one shows the lenghts of talks given during this last General Conference from longest to shortest by each of our apostles. Interestingly enough, while there has sometimes been a 24-hour delay between the time General Conference concludes and whenever videos of all addresses are made available, this go-round, that was done relatively more quickly. So here is that list:

April 2019 General Conference—Lengths of Talks Given by First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

19:05—President Henry B. Eyring (SAM)
17:50—President Russell M. Nelson (SUM)
17:29—Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
16:27—Elder David A. Bednar
15:58—Elders Jeffrey R. Holland & Ronald A. Rasband
15:27—President Dallin H. Oaks (SUA)
15:23—Elder Quentin L. Cook
15:21—Elder Gary E. Stevenson
15:19—Elder Gerrit W. Gong
15:16—Elder D. Todd Christofferson
15:15—Elder Neil L. Andersen
15:11—Elder Ulisses Soares
15:10—Elder Dale G. Renlund
14:57—President Russell M. Nelson (SPH)
14:28—President M. Russell Ballard
12:57—President Henry B. Eyring (SPH)
11:44—President Dallin H. Oaks (SPH)
10:44—President Dallin H. Oaks (SAA; Sustaining of Church Officers)
6:40—President Russell M. Nelson (SUA)


I also wanted to provide an update on the total number of talks each of our apostles have given in General Conference, and a new total of all addresses given by apostles. This information includes, where applicable, how many addresses were given by each apostle before his call to the apostleship.

While updating this information following the most recent conference, I realized some of the data as shared previously waa in error,. By that I mean that I discovered through research that, for some of these men, one or two talks they have given were not included in their entries from the speaker index on the General Conference main page. As a result, I have corrected those items. Here is that list:


Number of General Conference talks given by our current apostles
President Henry B. Eyring—98=93+5 given prior to his apostolic call
President Russell M. Nelson—82
President M. Russell Ballard—78=70+8 given prior to his apostolic call
President Dallin H. Oaks—77=76+1 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf—70=68+2 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland—53=50+3 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder David A. Bednar—30
Elder D. Todd Christofferson—29=23+6 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Quentin L. Cook—26=24+2 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Neil L. Andersen—26=21+5 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Ronald A. Rasband—14=8+6 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Gary E. Stevenson—11=8+3 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Dale G. Renlund—10=8+2 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Ulisses Soares—8=3+5 given prior to his apostolic call
Elder Gerrit W. Gong—5=3+2 given prior to his apostolic call

Total: 618=568+50 given prior to their apostolic calls


I continue to work on updating various other files, information, and data following General Conference, and I will bring you that updated information as I complete such processes. I will also continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will bring you word of those changes as well ASAP after I learn about them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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, April 7, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: President Nelson Announces 8 New Temples

Hello again, everyone! Breaking temple news was just shared by President Russell M. Nelson during his concluding remarks. He mentioned that the details of plans to renovete the Salt Lake Temple and revitalixe Temple Square in various areas will be announced on Friday April 19, with plans for the renovations of the Logan and Manti Utah Temples to be announced as they are developed. I believe it is also fair to mention that since the "pioneer-generation" is a different period of time for every nation in which the Church has been established, temples that fit that definition in such lands will likely also be renovated in the coming years.

Additionally, before announcing 8 new temples, President Nelson emphasized correct protocol for such announcements as outlined in a couple of recent Church News articles. He mentioned that the excitement about each new temple should not detract from the reverential spirit that should prevail as the conference concluded. The 8 new temples were announced for the following locations: Pago Pago American Samoa, Okinawa City Okinawa, Neiafu Tonga, Tooele Valley Utah, Moses Lake Washington, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Antofagasta Chile, and Budapest Hungary.

Of those 8 temples, I had the exact location correct for 6, while the other two caught me by surprise. President Nelson may not have felt the timing was right to outline the extent and timing of his plans, but this brings the total number of temples in any phase to 209. There are now 35 temples with either a site announcement or groundbreaking pending.

Within the next 2 months, that will be trimmed down to 30, and I have a strong feeling more will be done during the remainder of this year to clear the current backlog of announced temples. And some of the locations for which temples were announced today could be candidates for smaller temples that would be easily approved and able to begin and complete construction within a 2-year period.

It is also worth noting that only 1 of those 8 locations this go-round was on the list of the top ten nations with the strongest Church presence that do not have a temple in any phase. American Samoa was ranked fourth on that list. I should also mention that another article released about temples by the Church News recently has me thinking that we may be seeing other new temples announced between now and the October General Conference. Time will tell,, but it is possible.

Having posted about this, I need to get back to updating my temple constrcution progress report, but I will be back later today with my thoughts on this General Conference weekend. In the meantime, that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added contet, 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.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

Some Thoughts About Historic Developments Which Occurred Prior to General Conference Weekend

Hello again, everyone! After taking time to deal with some personal health and computer issues, I wanted to post some thoughts about the General Conference weekend thus far. First, in yet another unprecedented move, the First Presidency authoried the release of reports about teachings which were delivred by Church leaders during the Global Leadership Training, which was held within the two days preceeding this General Conference weekend.

Such meetings have long been held, but releasing reports on them is unprecedented. Counsel was provided by the First Presidency and other leaders (including each of the apostles, and many other general authorities, in addition to general officers of the Church). But it is regarding the First Presidency's remarks that another unanticipated change occurred. It was announced that same-sex marriage, while still being considered a serious transgression of God's laws relating to morality, would no longer be considered an act of apostasy.

Also, the policy instititued in 2015, which prohibited the naming and blessing of infants whose parents were in a same-sex relationshp, and postponed the eligibility of such children into the Church until they were 18 years old, has been lifted, replaced instead by guidelines that same-sex couples could ask any worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holder to give their baby or child a name and a blessing, and that such couples could decide with their children who are 8 or older on the subject of baptism, with the understanding that once on the records of the Church, children and youth of all ages would periodically be contacted by leaders and members of their local congregations.

I had a couple of observations about this policy update: Some may see this as President Nelson contiuning to undo things that have been standard for a long time, but the announcement was not made by President Nelson himself. Instead, it was made by President Oaks, who mentioned as part of that announcement that there had been full accord among all of the apostles that this change was in harmony with the Lord's will. And it was fitting to me that President Oaks made this announcement himself, since he has been one of the foremost apostles in recent years who has been unapologetic about the Church's stance on same-sex marriage and issues relating thereunto.

By saying that, I do not mean to imply in any way that he should be apologetic for the statements he has made defending the doctrine of the Church in relation to this subject. The Lord reminds us that he "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." But Church leaders throughout the ages have also made it clear that while one can hate the sin, the sinner should be loved, as should those who, through no fault of their own, are impacted by such transgressions of the Lord's laws.

And that aligns with what Christ said to the woman taken in adultery: "Neither do I condemn thee. Go thy way, and sin no more." With that example in mind, I want to clarify that He didn't condone or justify the sin: in this instance, He was saying in essence: "What you have done is wrong, but the old laws are outdated. Do your best to not repeat this error." In modern times, with the knowledge that the Law of Moses is fulfilled, and that the Lord now only requires a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and real intent to not repeat the error, His atonement makes up the difference for both the sinner and those affected by the sin.

With all of this in mind, we have yet another example of President Nelson earnestly seeking to know the will of the Lord, and his Brethren supporting the nature of these changes. which are perfectly aligned with the doctrine of the Lord and of His Church as those doctrines have been established in ancient and modern times. It is good to see that the Brethren recognize that the earlier policies took away from individual and familial choice, while the changes place more responsibility on the parents and the children affected by and through such changes.

I should also add that, after seeing reactions from those within the LGBTQ community to these adjustments, there seems to be a general impression that this may be the first of many efforts whereby the Church will continue to embrace and reach out in understanding to those in their community. I believe this to be a correct impression, but barring a complete paradigm shift in the Church's Bible-based doctrine about marriage (which, as supported by the Family Proclamation, teaches that marriage as sanctioned by the Lord consists of the union between a man and a woman), there are some aspects relating to the subject of same-sex attraction on which the Church cannot and will not change.

That said, I want to make my own position on one aspect very clear: the Church has supported measures that provide constitionally-based rights and privileges to those who are in same-sex relationships, and that is something with which I am also fully on-board. I have had a long-held belief that any two or more people or groups can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural. What is unnatural is when such differences, disputes, or contentions lead to persecution, violence, or illegal conduct/

Even at times when any of us may not see eye-to-eye with each other, kindness, politeness, civility, respect, and common courtesy can, should, and must prevail in our discourse with one another. In the early days of the Church's establishment at various times and in various areas of the world, those who have joined the Church, and many missionaries for the Church have been subjected to violent persecution, mistreatment, and other conduct that would, in relation to similar treatement of other groups, be highly illegal. With such a history in mind, Church leaders have made clear how Church members need to act towards those with whom they disagree on any major issues. Our failure to follow that counsel will be something for which all of us will someday be held responsible.

Having shared my take thus far, I have some additional observations relating to the General Conference sessions held today, which I will share in another post later tonight, in addition to covering breaking news (if any) that will come from the Priesthood Session which starts in less than 15 minutes. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.