During the week of May 16-22, Elder Ulisses Soares counseled young adults at BYU–Idaho on how to find peace in a challenging world. The Church donated $4 million to India to help fund medical equipment needed during the COVID-19 crisis there.
In honor of Mental Health Month, the Church News compiled messages shared by general Church leaders regarding mental health struggles. Another Church News article highlights the distinctive roles and strategies of each of the institutions within the Church Educational System.
The First Presidency released site information and renderings for temples in Vanuatu and Kiribati. A Church News podcast features stories of Latter-day Saints finding increased joy, healing and protection through family history. Latter-day Saint youth in Virginia created a piece of art representing 10,000 acts of service.
A Church News profile features Janalee Emmer, a Brigham Young University alum and the new director of BYU’s popular Museum of Art. And two missionaries were killed in an auto accident in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.
Find links and read summaries of these nine articles below.
1. What Elder Soares taught BYU-Idaho students
Against the backdrop of a painting of the Savior teaching His disciples, Elder Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testified to a young adult audience that Jesus Christ is the source of peace and joy in a challenging world.
“Coming unto Him does not tie us down or limit our freedom,” he told Brigham Young University-Idaho students. “Rather, it gives us reason for firm hope and provides a solid anchor to our souls, giving us a lasting inner peace that we need to live in these days and find rest in Him."
Read more about his counsel to young adults
2. Church donates over $4 million in aid to help embattled India manage pandemic
The Church announced on Monday, May 17, its efforts partnering with fellow humanitarian organizations to help bring a measure of COVID-19 relief to India, where an ongoing wave of the virus has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
A Church donation worth $4.15 million is being used to procure oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other medical equipment. The donated items are being used throughout the Asian nation to help ease the heavy load being felt by front-line health care workers, patients and displaced migrant workers, according to an India Newsroom report.
Learn more about the Church’s efforts to ease suffering
3. Read what Church leaders have taught about mental health
Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have often taught about the importance of mental health. Here’s a look at some of the things they’ve said about the reality of mental illness and how to work through various mental health struggles.
Find summaries and links to their messages
4. Why the Church Educational System needs more than just BYU
Part of the remarkable story of the Church Educational System today is that all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a chance to be successful in school regardless of their stations in life, previous academic experiences or their access to education, Elder Paul V. Johnson told the Church News prior to being released as Church commissioner of education. Elder Johnson’s appointment to the Presidency of the Seventy was announced in the April 2021 general conference. “There are opportunities for everyone to be blessed by at least one of the institutions of CES.”
How is this possible with Church members strewn across continents and representing a variety of cultures and circumstances? Fortunately, the Church Educational System is equipped with some special tools within its toolbox. Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University–Idaho, Brigham Young University–Hawaii, Ensign College and BYU–Pathway Worldwide, like a hammer, screwdriver or socket wrench, each serves an important but different role within the overall mission of CES.
Learn about their unique roles and strategies
5. First Presidency released sites and renderings for temples in Vanuatu and Kiribati
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released site locations and exterior renderings for a pair of recently announced temples on Pacific islands, the latest in a string of similarities between the two temples.
The latest details for the Port Vila Vanuatu Temple and the Tarawa Kiribati Temple — first announced by President Russell M. Nelson on the same day, Oct. 4, 2020 — were made public Wednesday, May 19.
Exterior renderings show sister-like temples — single-story edifices of approximately 10,000 square feet, each with a center spire. The two will be the first temples in their respective island nations.
Find out more about these temples
6. Episode 31: Finding increased joy, healing and protection through family history, with Church News reporter Sydney Walker
Church News reporter Sydney Walker wrote a series on the healing blessings of family history, specifically focusing on how family history has helped individuals deal with feelings of anxiety and depression, address pornography addictions and work through traumatic family events. In this Church News podcast, she shares the stories of many Latter-day Saints who have experienced the healing power of family history.
Listen to the podcast about the healing power of family history
7. Latter-day Saint youth in Virginia create piece of art representing 10,000 acts of service
Tall Cedars Ward Bishop David Tenny has a personal testimony of the capacity of today’s youth following an expansive 18-month service art project inspired, implemented and completed by roughly 50 young men and women from his ward in Gainesville, Virginia.
“This was youth driven from beginning to end,” Bishop Tenny said of the project. “This is where a bishop was not sure but decided to listen to and follow the inspiration of the youth.”
As a group, the youth completed a piece of artwork representing some 10,000 individual acts of service.
Read more about this ward’s unique service opportunities
8. Meet Janalee Emmer, BYU Museum of Art’s veteran curator, new director
Janalee Emmer may be still learning the proverbial ropes as the new director of Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art, but her connection to — and affection for — the campus facility stretches back to her own college days.
“I’m a BYU alum, and as an undergraduate I loved coming to the MOA,” she told the Church News. “It was always a place of oasis and calm, with compelling artwork that pulled me in. And over the years, I’ve continued to love the museum.”
Emmer’s hiring to the Museum of Art’s top spot is historic. The Sandy, Utah, native is the first woman to serve as museum director since its founding in 1993. “I believe deeply in the power of the arts and am honored to have stewardship of this impressive institution and collection as we move into this next chapter.”
Learn more about BYU MOA’s newest director
9. Two missionaries serving in Texas die in car accident
Two full-time missionaries serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lost their lives in a two-vehicle accident north of Texas’ Dallas-Fort Worth area Tuesday, May 18.
