JustAnAustralian

Given the aging Nelson and the age/fragility of the next few in line, do you think we'll be seeing additional counsellors again soon?

I thought Brigham Young had a whole stack of them.

So Mormon soda.... is just soda?

No idea. I just had a quick look at the list of episodes from the past year and there's nothing particularly interesting there. There were some spikes in viewing/subscribing (see graphs below from social blade), but it looks like once the moment had passed, things started trending down again. I'm wondering if they saw the spikes at the start of the year, and overspent.

Someone should tell those clerks to just get a copy of the annotated agenda sheets after the meetings.

This seems strange to me. I don't think I've ever seen our full high council on the stand at the same time. I rarely see more than one on the stand at the same time, and that's when two of them happen to be giving talks. I definitely don't recall ever seeing the sacrament passers on the stand. As far as the women on the stand in the bay area. It'd be interesting to know the history, since based on the article it looks like it's survived multiple bishops, stake presidents, area seventies, and general authorities (as area presidents). The Area President has been in place since 2021, so there must have been something that suddenly triggered this.

Text of Huntsman's response https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca9.334430/gov.uscourts.ca9.334430.94.0_2.pdf

Lucky we didn't have youtube back in 2002 when we started https://philanthropies.churchofjesuschrist.org/humanitarian-services/funds/clean-water

Where's Brian when you need him?

We have them here. In our smaller temples (Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth), the 1st Counselor in the Temple Presidency is also the Recorder. The Melbourne Temple also has several assistant recorders ("Temple Assistant Recorder--Volunteer"). The larger temples (Sydney, Brisbane) have a dedicated recorder and several assistant recorders (TAR-V).

Not surprising. When I saw him bear his testimony at conference I thought it sounded very much like a last testimony. Then all of his health issues started happening too.

As I said before. My concern isn't with paying annually, it's calling it their "annual donation". How many of those members that paid annually would call it their annual donation rather than their tithing?

Even if they did state that they would be used for charitable purposes, the IRS appears to have that covered. The church could sell all of its investments and build a giant solid gold version of the Christus statue and argue it was fulfilling the advancement of religion requirement.

I don't mean paying tithing annually. I do this too to an extent. I mean calling it an annual donation, rather than saying he was a tithe payer. I know multiple people who pay their tithing less frequently than their pay comes in. I don't know any of them who call it their monthly donation, or biannual donation, or annual donation.

CourtListener page https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67934488/chappell-v-corporation-of-the-president-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of/ Still very much in the early stages. Will be interesting to see the reply in the near future. "Annual donation" is an odd phrase to use for someone that is an "active member".

I don't think this will be as interesting as the other one. The address is 1400 E Center St, Heber City. (It's the square that looks like a carpark). It isn't the final field on the edge of a city. Based on google street view and sky view, the whole area apart from the proposed temple site looks like it's going to be multi-storey housing estates soon. I think she'll be disappointed if she's expecting it to permanently maintain its country-town atmosphere. So name the location and/or provide a better design.

Wasn't it Elder Packer that said something along the lines of don't expect the second coming any time soon?

I thought I did, but apparently last time I renewed I accidentally did "print only". I guess that's why I randomly got a printed copy for the first time ever turn up a while ago. I need to make sure I do online only next time I renew.

The various amicus briefs (there's more than just the one in that article) can be read on the courtlistener page https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66752633/james-huntsman-v-corporation-of-the-president/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc

Neither did I. The ldschurchgrowth blog predicted it though https://ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com/2023/09/new-temple-predictions-september-2023.html?m=1

Maybe it'll return with all of its friends. Be careful you don't end up making it a nightly thing like this guy https://www.youtube.com/@JamesBlackwoodRaccoonWhisperer

The other important thing it does is reenforce that service missions are still missions. They are not "lesser".

Australia has already been trialling the combined approach. Young service missions are being pushed more, not less. There is no proselytising requirement for service missionaries, and their work is customised to their abilities.

As an update on this based on some recent discussions I had with a service mission leader couple. Australia has already been doing it this way as part of the trial group. Missionaries are assigned to do a service mission, it is customised to their needs, and there is no proselytising requirement. Papers are submitted the same way as normal. The same health checks are done etc, but when HQ looks at the papers they can see whether a proselytising mission or a service mission is more appropriate. A proselytising missionary who discovers that for whatever reason a proselytising mission isn't working for them (perhaps they develop anxiety issues for instance) can also transfer to a service mission adapted for their needs.

I'd like to update my rumour to say that President Nelson's "one more thing" comment will be via a short video from his house with him wearing his pyjamas.