BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Site Location Announced and Exterior Rendering Released for Davao Philippines Temple

Hello again, everyone! Within the last couple of hours or less, breaking news has been reported on yet another temple of the Church. At some point this morning, the First Presidency confirmed the location of and shared an exterior rendering for the Davao Philippines Temple. The temple, first announced in October 2018, will be built on on a 2.7-acre site at Ma-a Road and Anahaw Road, Bgy. Ma-a, Davao City 8000, in that city. Plans call for a two-story structure of approximately 18,450 square feet. While the existing meetinghouse on that site will be removed, during the construction process, a new meetinghouse will be built in conjunction with that project, alongside housing facilities for the temple presidency members and for patrons travling to the temple. For the time being, the project leaders will be working with city leaders through the approvals process. A groundbreaking date for the temple has consequently not yet been set. 

An interesting anomaly relative to this announcement is that, six months before this temple was announced, during President Nelson's first General Conference as the prophet, he had announced a temple for Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines. It isn't often that, when two temples have been announced for the same nation in fairly close proximity, that the latter one that was announced becomes the first to have any official information confirmed. 

But it looks as though the Church's plan is to not only ensure that, as referenced by Elder Bednar in General Conference last April, the Church will break ground for 18 temples this year, but that no matter how many temples actually do have their groundbreaking ceremonies this year, the Church is laying the groundwork towards a similar queue to keep temple construction going strong in 2021 and the years that follow. 

Of course, this means that I will again have to update my temple files, which I was planning on doing before this announcement was released. I am pleased to see the Church continuing to provide all such updates.

For myself, I do continue to monitor all breaking developments, be they temple-related or otherwise, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as any such updates cross my radar 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.

In Honor of Elder Quentin L. Cook's 80th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! I am back in the early morning hours of September 8 to share some thoughts about Elder Quentin L. Cook in honor of his 79th birthday today. Let's dive right into that subject. Quentin LaMar Cook was born to J. Vernon and Bernice Cook on this day in 1940 in Logan, Utah.His ancestry includes his great-great-grandfather, Elder Heber C. Kimball, who was one of the original apostles of the Church and who was instrumental in bringing the gospel to England and supporting the Prophet Joseph Smith at key moments when apostates made efforts to replace Brother Joseph as the Lord's mouthpiece. Young Quentin was a middle child, having an older brother and a younger sister. He grew up in a very gospel-centered home, although his father eventually lost interest in Church activity.At age 15, he had a discussion with his brother Joe that changed his life. Joe was unsure whether to continue with his medical school studies, or to delay that in order to serve a mission, with their father favoring the former. During that conversation, they determined that either the gospel was true or it wasn't, and that if it was, serving a mission would be the best use of Joe's time. Joe’s decision to go resulted in young Quentin eventually accepting his own call to serve in the British Mission.

One of his two mission presidents was Elder Marion D. Hanks, who simultaneously served as a general authority. At one point during his mission, his companion was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Though the two didn't know it at the time, both would go on to serve as General Authority Seventies and as colleagues in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Of his service in the mission field, Elder Cook noted the following in relation to Elder Holland: "Sometimes we receive revelation even when we do not know the Lord’s purposes. Shortly before Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was called to be an Apostle in June of 1994, I had a beautiful revelatory experience that he would be called. I was a regional representative and could see no reason I would be given that knowledge. But we were companions as young missionaries in England in the early 1960s, and I had a great love for him. I considered the experience a tender mercy for me. In recent years, I have wondered if the Lord was preparing me to be junior in the Twelve to an incredible missionary companion who was my junior companion when we were young missionaries. I sometimes warn young missionaries to be kind to their junior companions because they never know when they might be their senior companion."

Elder Cook returned from his mission with a strong testimony of the Savior and a resolve to associate with people who love the Savior, both within and outside of the Church. He married his high school sweetheart Mary Gaddie in the Logan Utah Temple on November 30, 1962. Their posterity includes three children and numerous grandchildren. He graduated from Utah State University with a degree in political science and from Stanford University with a juris doctorate degree. As a managing partner in San Francisco Bay area law firm, he specialized in business law. He later became president and chief executive officer of California Healthcare System, and vice chairman of Sutter Health Systems. His church service has included being a bishop, stake president’s counselor (during a period of time when his brother Joe was president of that same stake), stake president, regional representative, and area authority. While he was in the stake presidency, he was instilled with a love of people from all nations when he had responsibility for Spanish, Tongan, Samoan, Tagalog, Mandarin, and Cantonese congregations.

He was named a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy on April 6, 1996, and as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy on April 4, 1998. He served as a member of area presidencies in the Philippines, the Pacific, and North America, and he also served executive director of the Church Missionary Department during the period of time that "Preach My Gospel" was developed and instituted as the standard guidebook for missionaries, and was subsequently called to the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2007. Nine days after that, the death of President James E. Faust, who had been serving as Second Counselor to Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, would wind up having an unexpected impact on Elder Cook's life. As the October General Conference rolled around, then-Elder Henry B. Eyring was called as President Hinckley's new Second Counselor, which created a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On October 6, 2007, Elder Cook was sustained to fill that vacancy, and he was ordained an apostle five days later.

Elder Cook has spoken 28 times in General Conference: twice as a General Authority Seventy and 26 additional times in the almost-13 years since his call to the apostleship. I am grateful for his service as a special witness of Christ, and I wholeheartedly sustain him and the other apostles. 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.

UPDATED: October 2020 General Conference Predictions

Hello again, everyone! Although I have a few other projects on my plate for the future, given that the October 2020 General Conference will occur in just over 3 weeks, and because the arrangements for it have been officially confirmed, I wanted to provide today an updated version of my predictions for that, which I finally was able to complete.Again, given that I can now share those predictions here with links to the appropriate documents, I have separated my predictions out into three subsections: predicted speaking order, anticipated changes in general Church leadership, and potential locations in which a temple could be announced this go-round.

Each document includes relevant notes with explanations that I kept as brief as they could be for context. The open commenting period on these revised predictions remains in effect for the next 3.5 weeks, until 10:00 PM MDT on Thursday October 1, which will then allow me roughly 36 hours to make any necessary adjustments. I look forward to your feedback. Also coming up soon here are Elder Quentin L. Cook's 80th birthday on Tuesday and the 96th birthday of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. I have those tributes ready and set to publish on the applicable days. I also hope to soon have updates available once again to many of my temple files, which are outdated as a result of the latest developments.

I will continue to additionally monitor all major Church news and temple updates and pass those along to you all here ASAP after I learn of them. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Church Postpones Opening of Winnipeg Manitoba Temple

 Hello again, everyone! This just in from the Church's official Newsroom. The open house, youth devotional, and dedication arrangements for the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple  have been postponed until large public gatherings are deemed safe once COVID-19 conditions ease. At this point, due to the unpredictable naturue of COVID-19, it appears that the Church will likely defer all temple open houses and dedications/rededications until large public gatherings are once again deemed safe.

On the upside, however, with President Nelson extending opportunities to his fellow apostles to preside at temple dedications or rededications, it seems certain that, once COVID-19 is under control globally, apostles could be sent out individually, or iin various groups, to dedicate or rededicate temples in the queue. My personal thought was that with Winnipeg being a smaller temple, a smaller-scale open house and dedication could occur, but obviously, the Church doesn't feel comfortable about doing that.

As a consequence, it may be almost impossible for any of us to gauge how soon each dedication/rededication may be able to occur. I am not personally worried about this, however, because the Lord's hand has obviously been involved and His inspiration present in this decision. Whenever the dedication is reset to occur, I am sure that Elder Gerrit W. Gong will preside thereat as previously arranged.  In the meantime, I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of them.

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.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Statistics

Hello again, everyone! Recently on this blog, it has become traditional for me to publish updated apostolic statistics relating to both the age and tenures of our current apostles roughly every 7 weeks. Since I last did so on Sunday July 12, it is now time to do so again today. Those updates, as has also been customary, will be featured in two parts: the first and the second. The information speaks for itself. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass word of those developments along to you all as I become aware of any such reports.

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.

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Confirms Arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone! A long-time reader of this blog, Nigel, commented here a short while ago on the arrangements for the October 2020 General Conference. Based on that feedback, I did some digging on my end, and found an official letter from the First Presidency, which confirms the details for that General Conference. It appears that the General Conference will follow the typical October pattern, with four general sessions for all Church members on Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon, with the standard Women's Session being held Saturday evening. 

The announcement through this letter constitutes a correction to any information I have previously offered on the upcoming General Conference. Accordingly, I will neeed to take some time to update my predictions for the upcoming General Conference, which will be published here ASAP after the appropriate changes are made. In the interim, it seems more likely than not that, with the sessions being closed to the public, that the conference will still originate from the small auditorium on Temple Square, with the First Presidency presiding at the sessions, and only those speaking or praying during each session will be in attendance. 

For the Women's Session, I imagine that it will additionally be attended by whichever General President will conduct the session this go-round. I also imagine, per information that was previously released, that the Tabernacle Choir will participate in all sessions with prerecorded music, unless music is pulled from prior Women's Sessions. There will be a lot to consider in terms of the necessary readjustments to my predictions, and I will be sure to make and pass along those updates as I am able to make them. I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of such information. 

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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Groundbreakings Set for Two US Temples; Location Specified for One Other

Hello again, everyone! Today, the Church announced the groundbreakings for two US temples and identified the location of one other. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's get started. With the site for the Bentonville Arkansas Temple having been announced in April of this year, and the site for the McAllen Texas Temple having been announced in December of last year, renderings were released for both temples today, and it was also announced that groundbreakings for both will be held in November of this year, again, with no definitive or specific date clarified.

Elder David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, will preside over the Bentonville Arkansas Temple groundbreaking remotely. The apostle was the first president of the Bentonville Arkansas Stake after it was split off from the Rogers Arkansas Stake, over which he had been presiding at the time that split occurred. I am not sure how the remote ceremony will work, but I imagine due to local travel restrictions amidst COVID-19, Elder Bednar will offer the prayer to dedicate the site from wherever he will be, and then someone standing in for him (proably an area seventy) will do the actual groundbreaking part of that ceremony. The temple will be a single-story edifice of roughly 25,000 feet, and will share a plot of land with an exisiting meetinghouse.

Meanwhile, for the McAllen Texas Temple, ground will be broken for the single-story edifice of 25,000 feet and an adjacent meetinghouse by Elder Art Rascon, an area seventy living and serving in the greater Houston Texas Area. That groundbreaking will also occur in November. The latest two groundbreakings announced for these temples by the Church will be the twelfth and thirteenth to be held in 2020, leaving a total of 5 temple groundbreakings that will need to occur before the end of this year, as Elder Bednar had indicated would be the case in April. I am grateful for these latest announcements.

Both of those temples were originally announced last year, Bentonville Arkansas in April, and McAllen Texas in October, so two more 2019 temples are out of the queue of those announced. If that was the only temple news, it would be wonderful enough, but the Church has also today identified the site location of and shared the initial details for the Syracuse Utah Temple, which was announced four months ago during the April 2020 General Conference by President Nelson. 

Utah's newest temple will be built on a 12-acre site at the corner of 2500 West 1025 South in Syracuse. Plans call for a three-story edifice of roughly 89,000 square feet. Since the plans are stil in the approval phase for that temple, a rendering and groundbreaking information will be announced later. But at least we have a location and initial details for the newest Utah Temple. The latest announcements mean I will once again need to reconsider thoughts I have previously offered in my temple files. 

But I am grateful to have learned of these latest developments and to have been able to share them with you all here. I continue to monitor all such updates and Church news developments, 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 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Announces Online System for Temple Prayer Rolls

Hello again, everyone! Earlier today, the First Presidency shared new information about an online system that has been created for the temple prayer rolls of the Church.  The way it willl work is that, on each temple's individual page, or through the "My Temple" section of the Church's "Tools" app for mobile phones, there will be a link on which to click to submit those names. This will be an expansion on the Church's long-standing practice of allowing individuals to call in to individual temples or to put names manually on the prayer roll while performing temple ordinances.

Although this is a relatively minor change, it is long overdue, in my opinion. This is also another change that I think was specifically meant to be done under President Nelson's dynamic leadership. This is also in line with his ongoing efforts to determine what is needful, what is a doctrinally-based practice, and what needs to be adjusted, expanded, changed or tweaked. As such, this is another example verifyIng that he is truly the prophet inspired for our time.

By saying so, I do not mean to imply that other prophets who have preceded our current one would have been incapable or not inspired to make the changes we continue to see under President Nelson, but rather that there were many things held in reserve for President Nelson to do at this time that are uniquely suited to his capabiilities and skill set. In other words, it's time for all of these changes to occur, and President Nelson has the prophetic insight and inspiration to implement all such adjustments, both major and minor, that we have seen under his leadership within roughly the last 2.5 years since his ordination and setting apart.

This also marks the first breaking temple development that is not related to the Church's phased temple reopenings currently ongoing, or to a temple construction annoucnement, since the July 20 announcement about changes to the temple endowment. It appears that there is much more ahead in terms of changes and improvements to the Church than any of us may have thought possible. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all here as I learn of them.

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.

UPDATED: October 2020 General Conference Predictions

 Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, less than two months after the April 2020 General Conference was held, the First Presidency announced that the October 2020 General Conference would be virtual only, and would follow the "same pattern" as the April General Conference. In the interim, as I have also recently mentioned here, in conjunction with the cancellation of all Temple Square activities relating to the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, and the Bells on Temple Square, the releiase noted that the Choir would participate in the October 2020 General Conference via archived performances.

Although confirmation through an official announcement from the First Presidency is pending on the arrangements for the next General Conference, the event page entry for General Conference implies that a Saturday evening session for all Church members and friends of other faiths will be held in place of the traditional Women's Session, and that the sessions will again originate from a small auditorium on Temple Square, and that, aside from the First Presidency, only those speaking or praying during each session will be in attendance thereat.

Based on those assumptions, as circumstances have allowed, I have taken time to overhaul my predictions for the next General Conference. Since I can share the content of those predictions in a single post, I have them split into three distinct documents. The first highlights what I anticipate will be the potential speaking order for the conference; the second highlights the anticipated changes in general Church leadership; and the third takes a look at the list I have assembled of locations in which a temple seems most likely to be announced.

Each of the three predictions documents for next conference come complete with their own sets of notes, which I have striven to keep as brief and concise as possible. I am pleased to reopen a commenting period on these predictions that is effective from now until 10:00 PM on Thursday October 1, at which point I will need to make the final adjustments to each prediction set before General Conference weekend occurs. I look forward to the input I will get on these. While that feedback period is ongoing, I will be sure to also monitor any Church news updates and all major temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of all such developments. 

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.

UPDATED: Temple Documents

Hello again, everyone! As a result of the flood of temple announcements which have come down the pike within the last two weeks, I thoughtitwould be a good idea to update the documents I most recently shared just over two weeks ago. The documents largely speak for themselves, and include the following details: updated sections of my temple construction progress report;  announced temples for which no official information has been confirmed; temples most likely to have groundbreakings occur in 2020 and 2021; the probable timing for temple groundbreakings within the next year or so; some updated analysis on the Church's progress towards having 18 temple groundbreakings occur in 2020; and adjusted estimates for the probable timing of all known temple events.

Some brief contextual information may be helpful. Firstly, as always, the timing for all temple events is determined by the prophet as revealed to him through the Spirit. As such, absent of official announcements, the information in those documents is largely conjecture or predictions, and will be subject to correction, clarification, or amendement as more is known. Secondly, one big unknown at the moment is COVID-19. Depending on how the pandemic impacts each nation iand location in which any temples have been or will be announced, that will obviously impact timing and progress. But the global pademic was the chief factor I used in determining the potential timing for some temple groundbreakings, dedications, or rededications based on what was known at the time, or what I could find out about each location in personal research.

It is possible that the pandemic may preclude the Church's ability to break ground on the 18 temples mentioned by Elder Bednar. It is also possible that with flexibility in arrangements, other temples may climb up the queue in unexpected ways and at unexpected times. Trying to determine how, if, and to what extent any temple event (groundbreaking, dedication, or rededication) will potentially be delayed is above my personal proverbial pay grade. That being said, I have a feeling that when the time is right for all such events, the Lord will open a way for them to occur, whether on original schedules or delayed as needed. And we have seen mountains moved in temple construction on a continual basis, so miracles aren't off the table or out of the equation either.

Whatever might  wind up happening with respect to temple developments, you can count on my covering it all here. I continue to monitor all Church news as well, and will bring you all world of the important highlights as time and circumstances allow. 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.