A Tribute to Elder Neil L. Andersen on His 68th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With midnight having passed moments ago here in Utah, it is now August 9, and Elder Neil L. Andersen is celebrating his 68th birthday today. So I wanted to post and share some highlights of his life and ministry in the Church. Let's get right into all of that. Neil Linden Andersen was born on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen in Logan, Utah. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics. During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children.


He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president, assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

During the time Elder Andersen served as a General Authority Seventy, he filled a wide variety of Church assignments, including executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he served as the area president). In August of 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. His call coincided with that of his other future apostolic seatmate, Elder Rasband.

While serving in the Presidency of the Seventy, he had oversight for the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007) and for the North America Southwest Area (from 2007-2009). In 2005, as a result of his call and that of Elder Rasband as members of that Presidency, he was the second most-junior member thereof. By the time his assignment changed, he had become the third-most-senior member, with only Elders Earl C. Tingey and  D. Todd Christofferson senior to him. The latter was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 2008, and Elder Tingey was released the following August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference. As a result, Elder Andersen thus became the new Senior President of the Seventy.

He would only serve in that capacity for 8 months. In view of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin’s death in December 2008, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference.  Interestingly enough, three future apostles (Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband) were seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy between August 2007 and April 2008, and they would each go on to be called to the apostleship in that same order (in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015, respectively.

Quick sidenote here which may be of interest to some of you: 8 of our 15 current apostles were serving in the Presidency of the Seventy at the time they received their apostolic calls (President M. Russell Ballard and Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Quentin L. Cook, D. Todd Christofferson, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald A. Rasband, Gerrit W. Gong, and Ulisses Soares). This suggests to me that, whenever future apostolic vacancies exist, the current members of the Presidency of the Seventy at that time may be top candidates to fill them. Of course, the Lord knows who He needs to be called to the apostleship and when, but that is an important note, all the same.

Gettingh back to Elder Andersen, he has given a total of 26 addresses in General Conference. Among those are 2 which were given as a General Authority Seventy, 3 others given as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 21 since his call to the apostleship. I am grateful for Elder Andersen's ministry, and I joyfully and wholeheartedly sustain him and each and every one of his 14 fellow apostles as prophets, seers and revelators. I appreciate every opportunity I have had to learn more about each of these Brethren through their spoken words and worldwide ministry efforts as special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

That does it for now. 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.

Further Blog Tweaks

Hello again, everyone! I have spoken before of some of the difficulties I have encountered optimizing the layout and setup of this blog to achieve the best financial returns from it. Over the last several weeks and months, as time and circumstances have allowed, since I am not an expert on matters of advertising for optimal yield, I have continued to do what research I can on the subject, which has resulted in my making periodic tweaks to the setup of this blog, particularly implementing suggestions I have found online about how to increase such revenue.


I found some information relating to those ongoing efforts earlier today which has led me to tweak the way I use the space I have available for content and for advertising yet again. So I am giving those suggestions a shot in the look and feel of this blog. At the same time, however, I do not want the amount of ad space I am utilizing here to detract from the contnent. My main problem at this time is that I have no training in effect advertising strategies, so experiments and tests that are largely trial-and-error based are the best way I know how to figure out if new strategies are worknig, or if they in any way are failing or detracting from content.

Over the next week or two, as time and circumstances allow me to do so, I will try to analyze how the most recent changes I have attempted here are helping or hurting both my revenue and the look and feel of my blog. Within that time, I am asking that any of you who find anything in the look and feel to detract from otherwise good experiences visiting this blog would please share your honest feedback on the subject.

And admittedly lately, in my experimentation and numerous tests, I have found more errors occurring than success in that respect. I am hoping the latest tweaks I have made will be more successful, but time will tell. I appreciate your patience, consideration, and earnest feedback as this process continues. Hopefully, one of these days,. I will be able to find the most effective methods and keep them in place going forward.

Again, I appreciate your indulgence and patience as I continue this process. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all major Church news and temple updates and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware of it. Within the next 8-12 hours or so, I will have another new post published, this one in tribute to Elder Neil L. Andersen, who will be observing his 68th birthday tomorrow.

That does it for now. 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.

CORRECTION: Clarification on Angel Moroni Removal in Hong Kong

Hello again, everyone! As a result of the release of details on the renovation for the Hong Kong China Temple yesterday, I know there was some discussion in the comments of my last post, on the reasoning behind the removal. My expressed belief at that time was that the removal would be temporary. But as a result of that discussion, I determined to do some more digging on my end. And that additional research has led to some clarification on what is actually happening there and why. So let's talk about that.

First, some background: As previous temples have been dedicated or rededicated, a common question from media representatives is why, if the Church claims that Jesus Christ is the center of our faith, would the statue of the angel Moroni appear on top of such temples. And within the last year, we have seen President Nelson implementing measures to correct the Church's course and to ensure that the role of the Savior is being properly emphasized. With that background in mind, we have also seen recent examples in temple construction where the angel Moroni statue has not been included in the design of those temples. Such examples include the Paris France, Kinshasa DR Congo, Port-au--Prince Haiti, Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Lima Peru Los Oivos Temples.


The factors I have laid out here provide some context, I hope, into why the Church is moving away from having the angel Moroni statue on some temples. And in addition to the other reasons I outlined in the comments section of my last post, I hope my explanation here has provided further illumination, clarification, and correction on this matter. The angel Moroni statues serve a definitive purpose for the temples on which they still exist, and the fact that such a statue will be used on both the Quito Ecuador and Belem Brazil Temples once they are built indicates that in some cases, the Church will still use the statue. But in other cases, in order to send the right message about the proper central focus of our faith, the angel Moroni statue will have filled its' intended purpose for the period of time it was used, and thus may not continue to be used.

In conclusion, and by way of clarification and correction to what I noted yesterday, it is absolutely true that the angel Moroni removal will be permanent for the Hong Kong China Temple, and there may be more to the reasoning about that decision than what I have outlined here. In the meanwhile, I am sure that in some cases, the angel Moroni will continue to be used. And what this comes down to is that the prophets and apostles in our time have determined that the angel Moroni statue on this temple has served its' purpose, and that its' removal is in harmony with the Lord's will for it. I hope with that, we can all be content. I'd also like to apologize for unintentional misleading any of you based on what I said in the comment threads of yesterday's post. It was not my intention to perpetuate inaccurate or false information, and I am committed to being more careful in the future about ascertaining the facts before I offer an opinion or analysis on such things. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all other Church news and temple developments, and will pass word of such things along to you all ASAP through either new posts or via the comments on existing posts.

That does it for now. 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.

Tribute to Elder Gary E. Stevenson on His 64th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! As we are now just over an hour into August 6, I wanted to go ahead and post a tribute to Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who is marking his 64th birthday today. Let's dive right into that. Gary Evan Stevenson was born in Ogden, Utah in 1955 to Evan and Jean Stevenson. He grew up in the Cache Valley. He served full-time in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, after which he continued his secondary education at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. During the course of his studies there, he met Lesa Jean Higley, whom he later married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, and with whom he would raise four sons. He spent his professional career working as the COO of ICON Health & Fitness, and served on both the Marriott School of Management Advisory Council and also the USU Foundation Board.

Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians

Hello again, everyone! I am back again now with the second part of this apostolic statistical update, in which we will move on to talk specifics regarding the long-form and decimal ages of our current apostles, which will also include updated information on the average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the 15 apostles as a group, and current and future nonagenarians. So let’s get right into all of that. Again, all data is current as of today (Sunday August 4). There have been no apostolic birthdays since my last update (which was published here on Sunday June 16).

And given the planned timing for my next update (which I will be publishing here on Sunday September 22), a total of five apostles will be observing their birthdays before that update is published. Elder Gary E. Stevenson will celebrate his 64th on Tuesday August 6, followed on Friday August 9 by Elder Neil L. Andersen’s 68th, and President Dallin H. Oaks will mark his 87th birthday on Monday August 12. The remaining two apostles will have back-to-back birthdays in September, with Elder Quentin L. Cook observing his 79th on Sunday September 8, and the 95th birthday of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson following on Monday September 9. During my planned September 22 update for this information, I will outline the details of the next 3 apostolic birthdays (which will be observed in October and November).

Having noted that, we now move on to some exact figures about the ages and average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and all 15 apostles as a group. In the Church’s leading Quorum, President Nelson is, as noted towards the end of my previous post, 94 years, 10 months, and 26 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 94.90 years. First Counselor President Oaks (whose birthday will be observed 8 days from now) is 86 years, 11 months, and 23 days old, or 86.98 years. President Eyring, as the junior member of the First Presidency, is now 86 years, 2 months, and 4 days old, which is 86.18 in decimal years.

The First Presidency thus now has a combined 268.06 years of life experience, which results in an average age for each man of 89.35 years. President Nelson remains 5.55 years older than that average, with President Oaks closest to it (he is now 2.37 years younger than that average), which means that President Eyring, at 0.8 years younger than President Oaks, is now 3.17 years below it. Unless there is something of which we are not aware in relation to the health of any of these Brethren, they will continue to set new records for the oldest-serving First Presidency in Church history for the foreseeable future.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Ballard’s long-form age now sits at 90 years, 9 months, and 27 days, or 90.82 years. Elder Holland now has a long-form age of 78 years, 8 months, and 1 day, with a resulting 78.67 decimal years. Elder Uchtdorf (who is just 4 weeks older than his senior current apostolic seatmate) is now 78 years, 8 months, and 29 days old, which works out to 78.74 years. Elder Bednar has now reached the full age of 67 years, 1 months, and 20 days, which works out to 67.14 decimal years.

Leading off the second third of that Quorum is Elder Cook, who is also the oldest but least senior of the 3 apostles born in 1940. His long-form age is 78 years, 10 months, and 27 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 78.90 years. Elder Christofferson has now reached the age of 74 years, 6 months and 11 days, making his decimal age 74.53 years. Elder Andersen, whose birthday will be observed 5 days from now, is 67 years, 11 months, and 26 days old, and his decimal age is 67.99 years. And, as of today, Elder Rasband is 68 years, 5 months, and 29 days old, or 68.49 decimal years.

As for the final third of the Quorum, Elder Stevenson, who is 4.5 years to the day younger than Elder Rasband and has a birthday now just 2 days away, has a long-form age of 63 years, 11 months, and 29 days, with a decimal age of 63.99 years. Elder Renlund is now 66 years, 8 months, and 22 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 66.72 years. Elder Gong’s long-form age is 65 years, 7 moths, and 12 days old, which works out to 65.61 decimal years. As for Elder Soares, he is now 60 years, 10 months, and 2 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 60.84 years.

Based on those numbers, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles now have a combined 862.44 years of life experience, which results in an average of 71.87 years per member. Elders Christofferson and Rasband remain respectively above and below that average. Elder Christofferson is now 2.66 years older, while Elder Rasband remains 3.38 years below it. With the information I presented earlier about the First Presidency, the 15 apostles as a group now have a combined 1,130.5 years of life experience, which is an average of 75.37 years. As noted previously, Elder Holland remains 3.3 years older than that average, while Elder Christofferson is 0.84 years younger than that average. Those averages remain the same, but I may have been off by 0.04 decimal points when I last spoke of Elder Christofferson being below that average, for which, if true, I sincerely apologize. 

We now move on to the apostolic nonagenarians. As I mentioned in a previous post, President Nelson has moved up into the 6th spot on that list, passing Ezra Taft Benson in early July, and he will not move up thereon again until late August of next year.  In the meantime, on the final day of July, President Ballard’s lifespan matched that of President Boyd K. Packer, making President Ballard the 14th oldest apostle in Church history. President Ballard will move up two more spots on that list before President Nelson moves up to his next spot. In the meantime, among the other apostles, President Oaks will join the nonagenarian list in 3 years and 8 days, while Elder Soares will do so in 29 years, 1 month, and 28 days, with the other apostles doing so at other various intervals, which will be detailed more fully as they approach.

I hope that many of you found this information to be interesting, informative, and accurate. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such feedback is in compliance 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.