BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: President Nelson Announces 20 New Temples as the April 2021 General Conference Concludes

Hello again, everyone! I am still attempting to put together my thoughts on the General Conference weekend that just concluded, but I do have some breaking news to report as well. During President Nelson's concluding remarks, the prophet 20 new temples that will be built in the following locations: 

In Europe: Oslo Norway; Burssels Belgium; and Vienna Austria. In Africa: Kumasi Ghana; Beira Mozambique; and Cape Town South Africa. In Asia: Singapore, Singapore.In South America: Belo Horizonte Brazil; Cali Colombia; Queretaro and Torreon Mexico. And in the Central and Western United States: Helena Montana; Casper Wyoming; Grand Junction Colorado; Farmington New Mexico; Burley Idaho; Eugene Oregon; Elko Nevada; Yorba Linda Califronia; and Smithfield Utah.

Of those new temples, I correcttly predicted the following temple: Oslo Norway, Brussels Belgium, Vienna Austria,, Kumasi Ghana, Cape Town South Africa, Singapore City Singapore, Belo Horizonte Brazil, Cali Colombia, Queretaro and Torreon Mexico,  Eugene Oregon, Elko Nevada

I had the following general regions correct, but not the specific locations: Beira Mozambique (I opted for Maputo), Helena Montana (I opted for Missoula), Casper Wyoming (my choice was Evanston), Grand Junction Colorado (I had Colorado Springs),  Farmington New Mexico (I had Las Cruces), Burley Idaho (I had Preston), Yurba Linda California (Bakersfield was on my list), and Smithfield. 

Apparently, I need to do even more to listen to the opinions of others. That being siad, I'm satisfied and surprised that we go a full 20, which is the new highest number of temples announced by President Nelson at one time. I very much appreciate President Nelson's prophetic dedication to bring the temples to the people. The total number of temples in any phase has now reached 251. I am grateful to have been able to learn of (and pass along) this information to you all. I continue to monitor all Church news updates and reported developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all here as I become aware 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.

April 2021 General Conference Predictions Final Edition

Hello again, everyone! Now that the countdown to the Saturday Morning Session of the April 2021 General Conference is down to just over 10 hours, I have finalized my predictions for this upcoming General Conference. The document to which I linked in the previous sentence replaces the three separate documents to which I previously linked. I'd like to thank all who participated in the dialogue about these predictions in every stage thereof.

With the upcoming General Conferenc anticipated to have a key focus on Easter, it will be interesting to see what happns therein. To the best of my ability, I will keep tabs on all such news and will pass my analysis of those developments along as I am able to do so. That will include up-to-the-minute coverage of any developments that constitute breaking news. I have a feeling this will be yet another unforgettable conference for a variety of reasons that we cannot presently discern right now.

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: General Conference Leadership Sessions Held with Limited In-Person Attendance; New Area Seventies Sustained in Leadership Session for the First Time

Hello again, everyone! As first reported by the Newsroom and corroborated by the Church News, the Church was able to use a mix of in-person attendance at the Church Office Building Auditorium and remote participation through technology in order to hold General Conference Leadership Sessions for the first time since April 2019. Key counsel was provided to general Church leaders by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The counsel is highlighted and summarized in the articles to which I linked above, and that information is well worthy of your time and attention.

But I'm focusing this post on a new standard protocol the Church will use, effective immediately, going forward, pertaining to the sustaining of Church officers. During the leadership meeting, Elder D. Todd Christofferson read a list of 77 new area seventies who have been called to serve. Following that, President Russell M. Nelson stood up and called for a sustaining vote of those named. The vote was unanimous in the affirmative. So this is a major change in the way that area seventy sustainings will take place. The Church announcement today notes that, once the list of names have been presented and unanimously sustained in the General Conference Leadership Session, during the regular Sustaining of Church Officers that is held in conjunction with General Conference weekend, Church members will be asked to sustain the new leaders as a previously-presented group.

This change is being made not only to save time in the Saturday Afternoon Session, but also to be more consistent with scripture. The Church will be releasing information about new area seventies earlier so that, as they are sustained in General Conference as a group, Church members will have some familiarity with their names, even if they don't know the individuals behind the names.

The Church has also made the new list available according to the Quorums under which each area seventy falls, which will simplify the organization of lists for those of us keeping track of that information. So with these 77 new area seventies sustained, it appears that those who are released will be the only ones mentioned by name during the usual Saturday afternoon sustaining vote.

So already in the first General Conference Leadership Session in two years, the Church has hit the ground running and announced a major change. I am not quite sure why it was Elder Christofferson who read the list and President Nelson who called for the sustaining vote, but we may find out more about that this weekend. In the meantime, this action probably takes some pressure off of Presidents Oaks and Eyring, who will no longer have to worry about potentially mispronouncing the names on the list every six months.

I am grateful to have been able to learn about this development and to pass word of it along to you all. If the General Conference Leadership Sessions yield any other major news, I will be sure to pass that information along to you all here. In the meantime, there may or may not be other major news between now and General Conference weekend, which I will pass along to you all here as I become aware of such reports.

The commenting period for my General Conference predictions will conclude at 10:00 PM tonight, so I welcome any additional feedback on those before that window closes. I have a feeling we are just seeing the beginning of signficant developments which will be reported in the coming weekend. Stay tuned for more information and analysis as I can make that happen.

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.

Review of Temple Construction Progress During the First Quarter of 2021

Hello again, everyone! As the final minutes of March draw to a close, I am pleased to take a look back at the progress that has been made on temple construction efforts throghout the world during this first quarter of 2021. The information is fairly straightforward and largely speaks for itself. That said, the first report shows how the temple construction efforts looked as 2021 began, while the second demonstrates where things stand in that respect as this first quarter concludes. I have no doubt that we are just seeing the beginning of the wonderful developments that will occur in temple construction throughtout this year.

I fully anticipate that this weekend's General Conference will bring with it the announcement of several new temples. As I've previously noted, my gut feeling is that a double-digit number of temples may be announced, but that will be up to the Lord, through President Nelson, to either confirm, correct, or deny. I will be sure to bring you all my analysis on any such announcement here ASAP after it it made, in addition to covering any other breaking developments that may occur during General Conference. I likewise continue to monitor temple construction updates and general Church news, and remain committed to bringing the latest updates on those developments to you all here as I become aware thereof.

Parenthetically, I should also note that today marks 3 yhears exactly since Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares were sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the first Asian-Ameerican and Latin-American apostles, fulfilling President Nelson's promise that there would one day be "more flavors in the mix" among the top leadership Quorums of the Church. I support and sustain each of our current apostles and on this anniversary of the calls of Elders Gong and Soares testify again of the inspiration behind their calls to that role as special witnesses of 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: 7 Temples Will Move to Phase 3; 42 Other to Transition to Phase 2-B

Hello again, everyone! On this Monday of the week before General Conference, breaking temple news relating to temple reopenings has been reported yet again. As confirmed by the Newsroom and subsequently reported by the Church News within the last hour, two weeks from today (Monday April 12), 7 more temples will transition to phase 3, which will allow ordinances for the living in the same priority order as phase 2, in addition to allowing work for the dead in small groups by appointment only.

Those 7 include the only currently-operating temple in the Africa Central Area (the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple); the two currently-operating temples in the Africa South Area (Durban and Johannesburg South Africa); the two currently-operating temples in the Africa West Area (Aba Nigeria and Accra Ghana); 1 more temple in the Asia North Area (Fukuoka Japan Temple), and 1 temple in the Caribbean (Santo Domingo Dominican Republic).

Also on April 12, 17 other temples are anticipated to transition to phase 2-B, which allows the performance of all living ordinances in priority order, and also reopens the temple baptistries for baptisms for the dead. The temples anticipated to make that change on that date include 8 in Utah (Bountiful, Brigham City, Draper, Jordan River, Logan, Monticello (that one's not technically part of the Utah area, but counts as a Utah temple), Ogden, and Oquirrh Mountain) ; 3 in Arizona (Snowflake, The Gila Valley, and Tucson) 2 in Idaho (Boise and Meridian); 2 in England (London and Preston); 1 in Nevada (Reno), and 1 in Wyoming (Star Valley).

2 weeks after that, on Monday April 26, the Church will be reopening 22 more temples in phase 2-B. Those planned for that date include 7 more in Utah (Cedar City, Manti, Mount Timpanogos, Payson,. Provo City Center, Provo, and Vernal),  11 elsewhere in the United States (Albuquerque New Mexico, Baton Rouge Louisiana, Bismarck North Dakota, Columbia River and Spokane Washington, Gilbert Arizona, Las Vegas Nevada, Memphis and Nashville Tennessee, St. Louis Missouri, and Winter Quarters Nebraska) and 1 more in Canada (Toronto Ontario).

Additionally, in an unusual (but understandable) move, the Church has also announced that 3 temples which are still undergoing renovation will open their baptistries. That will apply to the Salt Lake Temple, effective April  12, and the Mesa Arizona and St. George Utah Temples, effetive on April 26. I am assuming that, because the work has focused elsewhere thus far in the renovation of these temples, that the baptistries can thus be used without the need for rededication of those spaces.

By April 12, the Church's temple reopenings will see 26 in phase 3, 30 in phase 2-B, 86 in phase 2, 7 in phase 1, 10 "paused" in their reopening, with 9 that had reached phase 2, and 1 more that had reached phase 1; 1 which has not yet reopened (the Kyiv Ukraine Temple); and 8 closed for major renovations (although 3 of those will reopen their baptistries by appointment). All of these changes impacting every temple mentioned are now noted in the temple reopening status tracker.

I am grateful to have ben able to find out about these updates and to bring word of those to you all here. I continue to monitor all Church news, temple updates, and General Conference developments in this week leading up to that, and will bring you word of those reports 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.