Many of my regular readers have noticed that comments do not publish right away, and sometimes it takes a couple days for them to appear. I have enabled comment moderation due to a significant increase in spam comments on the blog. This will eliminate irrelevant comments, with sometimes offensive content, from cluttering up the comments for posts. However, the downside to this is that I am not able to instantly approve comments 24/7. I will do my best to approve comments at least once a day, but sometimes this may not be feasible for me.
Thanks, we appreciate the explanation. I wanted to see my comment after a week or so, no big hurry.
ReplyDeleteSpam and offensiveness are necessary evils of a free blog.
How are missionary numbers so far this year, or even convert baptisms? Slowed down, I would imagine.
We appreciate the moderation, Matt. (All things in moderation.)
ReplyDeleteChurch announces groundbreaking, releases rendering for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2020-08-05/san-pedro-sula-honduras-temple-groundbreaking-rendering-190291
@Eduardo - I have heard of some missionaries in my stake regularly teaching prospective converts, but I am only aware of 1 baptism since mid-March of this year. Typically, there would be around 40 in this 5 month period. I would say it's slowing down where I live... but am not sure about other areas.
ReplyDeleteEduardo, as previously mentioned in other threads of this blog, the Quorum of the Twelve has been providing conssel to members of the Church. According to a Church News article published around 13 hours or so ago, that does not just pertain to the individual articles in which the Church News previously shared that counsel. As a capston to that series, the Church News has provided another article sharing some additional observations to conclude this round of articles:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-08-05/covid-19-work-continues-quorum-of-the-twelve-apostles-190276
Please note that I said that the article concludes "this round" of coverage of the counsel from the apostles. I have a feeling that it could be another 8 months at least before the Church is back to any degree of normalcy following COVID-19, and between the Church News, the Newsroom, the Church of Jesus Christ's official blog, and soical media content, there will likely be much more counsel coming down the pike from the Brethren as things continue to unfold.
Chris, I was fortunate enough to see (and be able to report on) the news of the groundbreaking for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple not long after it was reported by both the Newsroom and the Church of Jesus Christ Temples page this morning. I was gratified to see that my Central American member contact waS correct in offering the opinion that of the 3 Central American temples, the one in Honduras would be the first to have a groundbreaking.
ReplyDeleteNew reports also show that groundbreaking arrangements could be coming down the pike for the Taylorsville and Red Cliffs Utah Temples soon as well, and that the Brasilia Brazil Temple will be another one to watch in the comings weeks for a groundbreaking announcement. Unfortunately, new reports have also indicated that, if the signature-gathering process for a referendum on the development surrounding the Tooele Valley Utah Temple is successful, due to local governmental regulations, the earliest that vote could be held is in June 2021. So if enough signatures put the matter on the ballot, any action towards a groundbreaking for that temple would like be deferred for at least the next year, or possibly longer. More details at the web addresses below:
http://tooeleonline.com/vote-on-temple-subdivision-may-not-be-held-until-2021/
https://kslnewsradio.com/1930365/housing-development-around-the-future-tooele-valley-temple-getting-opposition/
https://www.ksl.com/article/46782428/tooele-valley-residents-welcoming-temple-not-development-planned-around-it
When I shared the report on the groundbreaking arrangements for the San Pedro Sula Honduras Temple, I also shared some thoughts about the matter of the Tooele Valley Utah Temple:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2020/08/breaking-temple-news-exterior-rendering.html
It appears that there will be a lot more coming down the pike about temples in the future. In the meantime, it is worth noting that Honduras and Utah are in different time zones, but the time is the same in both places, at leat for now. That means that, not only are the two temples going to have a groundbreaking on the same day (Saturday September 5), but that there is a slight possibility that the two groundbreakings in two different parts of the world might possibly take place at the same time that morning. It will be interesting to see what happens in that case. I was also impressed that another area seventy is going to preside at this temple's groundbreaking, which suggests that could happen more frequently going forward.
It makes sense that an area seventy would break ground for that temple. The Central America Area is headquartered in Guatemala City GUatemala, and it could be that the area presidency might have difficulty traveling from that nationm to Honduras for the groundbreaking. It's awe-insipring that, even in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the apostles are still able to fill their charge to minister to the global membership of the Church, and that the Church has been able to continue temple construction, even if the operation of temples continues to be as profoundly impacted as has been the case so far.
I'll stop rambling now. Thanks to all who have been brave enough to wade through this comment. And best wishes to you, Matt, in your continued efforts to moderate comments here as long as that remains a necessity. Thanks.
Groundbreaking announced for the Brasilia Brazil temple:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-announces-groundbreaking-date-for-bras%C3%ADlia-brazil-temple
This will be the 9th groundbreaking this year, which puts us halfway to the number 18, mentioned by Elder Bednar in his conference talk:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2020/04/44bednar?lang=eng
twinnumerouno, thanks for sharing that information here. A couple of notes that may be of interest to you and others: the Brasilia Brazil Temple will have a groundbreaking just over a year after the groundbreaking for the Belem Brazil Temple, which is fitting because the two were originally announced around a year apart.
DeleteAdditionally, September of this year will mark the first time since May of last year that more than 2 temples will have a groundbreaking, in addition to marking the first time that more than one temple will have a groundbreaking on the same day.
Final observation here: the latest announcement leaves just two temples announced by President Monsoon in the queue, both of which will be built in Africa. And given that President Nelson has announced 4 temples for Church Areas in Africa, that's 6 temples in the queue for the African continent.
I have offered some new analysis on my blog about the Church's temple construction program, and, with my thanks to Matt for allowing me to share such updates here, would refer anyone interested to the following web address:
https://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2020/08/updated-documents-about-temple.html?m=1
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church has announced 3 more Phase 1 and 17 more Phase 2 reopenings:
ReplyDeletehttps://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/first-presidency-limited-reopening-temples
I was rather expecting to see some kind of announcement about the Vernal temple soon (which is on the Phase 2 list), as a couple from my ward who work there had told me they were going in this week to receive training on re-opening procedures.
I find it interesting that the September 5th groundbreakings will be the 15th time multiple temple groundbreakings will have occurred on the same day:
ReplyDelete1998/10/10 = Detroit and Spokane
1998/12/05 = Columbia SC and Hermosillo
1999/01/09 = Ciudad Juarez and Villahermosa
1999/01/16 = Memphis and Merida
1999/03/13 = Kona, Nashville, Oaxaca
1999/03/20 = Fresno, Fukuoka, Melbourne, Tuxtla Gutierrez
1999/04/24 = Copenhagen and San Jose
1999/05/08 = Baton Rouge and Suva
1999/05/29 = Adelaide, Louisville, Veracruz
2000/11/04 = Lubbock and Monterrey
2003/03/29 = Helsinki and San Antonio
2015/10/17 = Concepcion and Tucson
2017/03/04 = Arequipa and Rio de Janeiro
2019/05/04 = Praia, San Juan, Yigo
2020/09/05 = Orem and San Pedro Sula