Today I created a subreddit to stimulate discussion and conversation about the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in a format more friendly to reader posts and discussion (https://www.reddit.com/r/ldschurchgrowth/). Please comment and share links pertinent to the study of LDS Church growth. I am still getting the page set up. Your feedback and suggestions would be appreciated! Of course I will continue to make posts on this blog going forward, but I figured this would be helpful for more frequent news and information submitted by interested readers.
Hope you keep posting on http://www.reddit.com/r/latterdaysaints too.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else notice the other announcement on Church News website today? the (First) Temple President for Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple was announced...meaning the Date for Dedication may be sooner than later also, along with the Kinshasa DRC and Durban S.A. temple presidents announced previously.
ReplyDeleteThe new president of the temple in Haiti is a native of Haiti and was mission president there. He currently lives in Utah where he works at Deseret Industries training people. It gets more interesting. Joseph and his wife were full time self-reliance services missionaries in Haiti when the temple was announced see this article https://www-deseretnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.deseretnews.com/article/865631793/A-beautiful-day-in-Haiti-Early-converts-reflect-on-church-growth-temple-announcement.amp?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deseretnews.com%2Farticle%2F865631793%2FA-beautiful-day-in-Haiti-Early-converts-reflect-on-church-growth-temple-announcement.html President Joseph was also there in 1983 when Haiti was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel. President Joseph was baptized in 1979. Fritzner Joseph was the first Haitian to serve a full time mission, he was mission president from 1991-1996, possibly the longest serving mission president in the 1990s. He has in the past worked for the Church educational system.
ReplyDeletePresident Joseph, the new president of the Haiti Temple, served his mission in Puerto Rico. He was about 23 when he was baptized in 1979.
ReplyDeleteThe presidents for all temples anticipated to be dedicated next year have been announced, except for the Fortaleza Brazil and Lisbon Portugal Temples. While I have no desire to dampen anyone's enthusiasm, the announcement of the first president for the Port-au-Prince Haiti and Durban South Africa Temples may have more to do with giving them time to get their staffs set up and work out any visa or family issues before beginning those assignments than it may with the dedication of either temple potentially occurring earlier than anticipated.
ReplyDeleteThis may be especially true of the newest South African temple, as I understand through comments from my mom (a South African native) that there is currently a very precarious political situation there. And I was able to find information (though I don't recall where I picked it up) that indicated that the dedication of the Durban temple is still, barring anything unexpected, at least a year away.
That said, I am not ruling out the possibility that the call of these new presidents could mean the dedications are anticipated sooner. That's not for me to say. What I am saying is that it seems more unlikely than probable. The Lord can and does work miracles. If that occurs for any of the temples anticipated to be completed next year, I will be overjoyed.