During the week of April 25-May 1, President Russell M. Nelson announced a new temple in Ephraim, Utah, and plans to preserve the pioneer craftsmanship of the Manti Utah Temple. Church leaders spoke at BYU’s Women Conference on the Lord’s promises and the divinity of women.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was featured in this week’s Church News podcast and shared ways missionary work has adapted during the pandemic. The Church News explored the international reach of the Church’s 106 General Authority Seventies and how stake conferences have carried on with limited travel and additional precautions.
Sister Sharon Eubank, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, taught how to neutralize shame involving pornography at the recent Utah Coalition Against Pornography conference.
Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo spoke to Ensign College students, and BYU women’s soccer player Natalie Clark Ball is going from being a Cougar to a zookeeper intern. The latest in the Joseph Smith Papers project — “Documents Vol. 12: March-July 1843” — was released on April 26.
Find links and read summaries of these nine articles below.
1. President Nelson announces new temple in Ephraim, Utah, and plans to preserve Manti temple
Turning his thoughts to a “stalwart part of the Lord’s vineyard” in central Utah, President Nelson announced Saturday plans to preserve the “pioneer craftsmanship, artwork and character” of the Manti Utah Temple and to construct a second temple in the area in Ephraim, Utah.
“These decisions will expand future opportunities for members in this temple district to participate in sacred temple ordinances and at the same time, allow us to preserve the unique classical character and useful life of the historic Manti Utah Temple,” said President Nelson.
Read more about the new temple in Ephraim and the Manti temple renovation
2. Empowering, encouraging women at BYU Women’s Conference
At the conclusion of the 2021 BYU Women’s Conference, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged women to “hold on to the promises you have received and the promises and covenants you have made.”
Speakers included members of the Relief Society, Primary, Young Women, Young Men and Sunday School general presidencies. A special service broadcast and Sister to Sister event were also held. Thousands of women worldwide gathered virtually for the April 29-30 event, which included sessions in English, Spanish and Portuguese streamed live from the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
Watch the sessions and read summaries of them here
3. Elder Uchtdorf discusses how to incorporate pandemic lessons, move ‘back to the future’ of missionary work
Elder Uchtdorf, who is chairman of the Church’s Missionary Executive Council, joined this episode of the Church News podcast to discuss missionary work, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resilient and enthusiastic missionaries who continue to move the work forward in ways previously unimagined.
Listen to the podcast with Elder Uchtdorf
4. How stake conferences and stake presidency reorganizations have carried on during the pandemic
The evolution of stake conferences worldwide during a pandemic year has gone from the complete suspension to a gradual resuming of conferences. Today, more than a year later, many are conducted in hybrid fashion, combining videoconferencing and other delivery methods via technology with limited in-person attendance, although some are having to return to all-virtual conferences because of ongoing COVID-19 conditions.
Given the Church has 22 areas and nearly 3,500 stakes worldwide, thousands of stories from the past year about stake conferences and stake presidency organizations could be told. The Church News interviewed President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and nearly a dozen General Authority Seventies who serve in area presidencies across the globe about their experiences and insights regarding pandemic-period stake conferences.
Explore the efforts to restart stake conferences safely and ways technology limitations have been overcome remote areas
5. Facts you might not know about the Church’s 106 current General Authority Seventies
In addition to featuring messages from Church leaders from every continent, April’s general conference also included the call of eight new General Authority Seventies from the United States, South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The Church currently has 106 General Authority Seventies serving throughout the world.
Here are a few facts about this increasingly diverse set of Church leaders
6. Sister Eubank teaches how to neutralize shame involving pornography
Because pornography “comes at us in a constant barrage in the most innocent of places … we must learn to talk about it,” explained Sister Eubank at what is one of the largest anti-pornography conferences in the world.
Sister Eubank presented a framework to neutralize shame and “guide the conversations about pornography in a way that is productive and effective.” The communication framework is centered on the principles of faith, hope and charity.
Find out more about neutralizing shame and what 5 characteristics of pornography addiction teach about prevention
7. Coach Niumatalolo shares 3 morally grounding principles with Ensign College students
Speaking to Ensign College students on Tuesday, April 27, Ken Niumatalolo — the head football coach at the United States Naval Academy and a stake president in Maryland — cited three principles of righteousness that have blessed his life.
Niumatalolo said the three principles have kept him “grounded in a world of changing moral values,” “steadfast in the storms of life” and “safe from the cunning of the adversary.”
Read about Coach Niumatalolo’s 3 principles
8. BYU Cougar soccer player will soon be playing with the ‘big cats’ (and a few hippos)
A junior on Brigham Young University’s celebrated women’s soccer team, Natalie Clark Ball is the rare college athlete who can explain both Linnaeus’ system of animal classification and soccer’s offside rule.
Once the Cougars conclude their postseason run, Clark Ball — a recent wildlife conservation graduate — will begin prepping for a zookeeper internship at the Memphis Zoo.
Catch up with Natalie Clark Ball — the Cougar who may be caring for cougars and other dangerous animals
9. A hymn submission sent to Emma Smith is part of Joseph Smith Papers’ ‘Documents Vol. 12’
The call for hymns for an upcoming Latter-day Saint hymnal was simple, yet direct. And a woman named Hannah E. Adams sent in her submission of four sets of lyrics with the hope they could be useful for the new hymnal. Adams’ letter was sent in more than 175 years ago, in 1843.
Adams’ letter, a submission sent to Emma Smith, is one of the 96 documents amid those about legal, financial, administrative, judicial and real estate issues and several of the teachings of Joseph Smith at the time in “Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Vol. 12: March-July 1843,” which was released Monday, April 26.
