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Monday, August 12, 2019

President Dallin H. Oaks Observes His 87th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! I am back in the early-morning hours of August 12 to pay tribute to the final apostle who has his birthday this month. President Dallin H. Oaks. He is observing his 87th birthday today. So let's dive right into this tribute post. Dallin Harris Oaks was born  to Dr. Lloyd E. and Stella Harris Oaks in Provo, Utah, on this day in 1932. Included in his mother's ancestry is Martin Harris, who, as we know, was one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon. President Oaks' first name was given in honor of the last name of an artist with whom his mother had worked (as the model) for a statue in Springville Utah.


His father, an opthalmologist, died when young Dallin was age 7 from complications of tuberculosis. Being the oldest child of his family, the death of his father gave him some unique opportunities to help his mother and to be an example to his younger siblings, which was one thing of which he has frequently spoken. After his father died, his mother was able to earn a graduate degree at Columbia University and support her family by working to provide adult education opportunities for those who needed it. She also went to be the first woman elected to Provo's City Council, and she also served for a time as assistant mayor.

In the meantime, Elder Oaks attended Brigham Young High School, where he played football and became a certified radio engineer. Once he started attending BYU, he took many opportunities to be the radio announcer at high school games. At one of those games, he was introduced to June Dixon, whom he would later date and subsequently marry. He was unable to serve as a full-time missionary because he was a member of the National Guard, and there was a possibility he could have been called up to serve during the Korean War. Dallin and June were married in 1952, and he graduated from BYU two years later with a degree in accounting. He went on to study law at the University of Chicago, graduating with his degree 3 years later.

He spent the early part of his professional career clerking for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the US Supreme Court. After that, he practiced law at Kirkland and Ellis. He left that job in 1961 to become a professor at Chicago Law, While in that capacity, he served as interim dean. During that time, the University of Chicago was desperate to get Dr. Russell M. Nelson, a renowned heart surgeon, on their staff, and Professor Oaks was asked to represent the university in trying to convince Dr. Nelson to accept the offer. Although those efforts proved unsuccessful, that encounter led to a lifelong friendships for the Nelsons and the Oaks. He also served on the foundational board of a a Mormon thought periodical. He was also chairman of the university's disciplinary committee,

He took a leave of absence from the University while serving as legal counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention. He left the law school for good in 1971 when he was appointed the new president of BYU (for which many candidates, including Brother Nelson, were considered), a position he held for nine years. He then went on to serve for five years as chairman of the board of directors for PBS, and eight years as chairman of the board of directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center. In 1980, he was appointed a justice of the Utah Supreme Court, an office he held for the next four years. He was rumored to have been considered by two US Presidents (Gerald Ford and later Ronald Regan) for a nomination to the US Supreme Court.

He had made plans with his wife, June, to serve a mission after he had served on the Utah Supreme Court for a decade. However, a surprise change in direction for him came in 1984. He was at a law conference fulfilling several judicial obligations when President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor to the ailing Church President, Spencer W. Kimball, tracked him down via phone call. The purpose of the call was to notify him that he'd been selected to become an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. At the time, there were two vacancies in the Quorum due to the deaths of Elders LeGrand Richards on January 11, 1983, and Mark E. Petersen exactly one year to the day later. (Due to the ill health of President Spencer W. Kimball, neither vacancy had been filled for over a year prior to April 1984.)

Elder Oaks became the junior apostle to Elder Russell M. Nelson, though the two were sustained in the same General Conference. Although both were called at the same time, Elder Oaks was unable to be present at the General Conference at which the two were sustained. President Hinckley, in leading that sustaining, offered the following explanation: "With reference to Dallin Oaks, I should like to say that while we nominate and sustain him today, he will not be ordained to the apostleship, nor will he be set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve, nor will he begin his apostolic service, until after he completes his present judicial commitments, which may require several weeks. He is absent from the city, and necessarily absent from the conference. We excuse him."

Elder Oaks was ordained an apostle just short of four weeks after being sustained (having been sustained on April 7 and being subsequently ordained to the apostleship on May 3). He had his first opportunity to respond to his apostolic call six months later, speaking on the importance of witnesses, within the context of his new assignment to be a special witness of Jesus Christ. He has now been an apostle for over 34 years, during which time he has filled a wide variety of assignments in his time as an apostle, and has had many opportunities to meet with and speak to Church members in various parts of the world. In addition to losing his father early on in his life, Elder Oaks also experienced the death of his wife June, who passed away in 1998. Just over two years later, Elder Oaks married Kristen M. McMain, who has been by his side ever since.

In 2002, he and Elder Holland were asked to be the first apostles in around 100 years to live on-location in two of the Church's geographical areas, with then-Elder Oaks being based in the Philippines, and Elder Holland being assigned to preside in Chile.With the death of President Monson, Elder Oaks became the second most-senior apostle, and his apostolic seat-mate, President Nelson, felt impressed to call him to serve as First Counselor in the First Presidency, and he was set apart in both that capacity and as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on January 14, 2018. President Oaks has given 77 addresses in General Conference. 1 of those was given while he was serving as President of BYU-Provo.  I am grateful to have been able to take the opportunity to share more about President Dallin H. Oaks on this, his 87th birthday.

I testify that his apostolic call, along with the calls of all other apostles, has indeed been divinely directed and inspired, as has how and when they have each moved up in the ranks thereof. 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.

Friday, August 9, 2019

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.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

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.

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

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.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

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.

In the Church, he has served as a bishop and a stake president's counselor. He went on to serve between 2004 and 2007 as the president of the Japan Nagoya Mission. Less than a year after his return, he was among the first general authority seventies called during President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic administration in April 2008. In August of that same year, he was called to serve as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency. The following year, he became the president of that same area, and he served in that assignment until April 2012, at which point, he was released as a General Authority Seventy and sustained as the Church's 14th Presiding Bishop.

In October 2015, with three vacancies in the apostleship due to the deaths of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott, Elder Stevenson was unexpectedly summoned to meet with the First Presidency. He related that he felt sure that he was being notified that one of his counselors (Bishops Gerald Causse or Dean M. Davies) were being called to the apostleship. He was stunned when the apostolic call was instead extended to him. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015, and was ordained an apostle on October 8, then released as Presiding Bishop one day later. Elders Ronald A. Rasband and Dale G. Renlund, whom he sits between, were called to fill the other two apostolic vacancies, and shared the same sustaining and ordination dates. Although he was the youngest of the three at that time, in a somewhat unusual move, he was called, sustained, and ordained as the senior apostle to Elder Renlund, who is just shy of 3 years older than Elder Stevenson is. Typically, when more than one apostle is ordained at the same time, the oldest one is ordained first. But the last time 3 apostles were called simulatenously was in 1906, at which point, the order in which the 3 (George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay) were called differed from their chronological age order (Orson F. Whitney, George F. Richards, and David O. McKay).

At the age of 60, Elder Stevenson was the youngest man called to the apostleship since Elder David A. Bednar (who was 52 at the time of his October 2004 apostolic call). He would retain his status as the youngest currently-serving apostle until the April 2018 call of Elder Ulisses Soares, who was 59 at the time of his call.

With the apostolic calls of Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares in April 2018, Elder Stevenson is now the 9th in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 12th in seniority among all current apostles. In terms of his age, he is the second-youngest among both the Quorum of the Twelve and the apostles overall. In his 11 years of service as a general authority, he has given 11 addresses in General Conference (1 as a General Authority Seventy, 2 as Presiding Bishop, and 8 since his call to the apostleship). All of these addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, are well worthy of your time, attention and review.

I gratefully sustain Elder Stevenson as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and appreciate this opportunity to post this tribute to him for his birthday. I similarly greatly admire and sustain each and every one of the other apostles in their God-given roles and responsibilities, and I am grateful to them for giving their time and talents to build up the kingdom of God, and to go wherever they are sent, bearing witness of the Savior at all times and in all circumstances. I share my witness that these men are called of God, and that we will be blessed as we give heed to their words. 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.