During the week of June 27-July 3, President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, was honored at the Freedom Awards Gala. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Sharon Eubank, president of Latter-day Saint Charities and first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, participated virtually in the 2021 AMAR Windsor Dialogue Conference in England about supporting religious expression for refugees.
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presented alongside prominent faith leaders at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit. Sister Reyna Isabel Aburto, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, joined the Church News podcast to discuss mental and emotional health and the power of turning to the Savior for comfort.
Missionary training centers in New Zealand and Ghana reopened this week, and the Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City is preparing to reopen. Church members in the Philippines are celebrating the 60th anniversary of missionary work there.
The remains of a Latter-day Saint sailor who died at Pearl Harbor were identified and he was buried in Shelley, Idaho. A 15-year-old Latter-day Saint soccer star, Olivia Moultrie, is the youngest player to the sign with a National Women’s Soccer League squad.
Find links and read summaries of these nine article below.
1. President Oaks honored for lifelong support of God, family, freedom and country
President Oaks credited God and the accomplishments of others during his remarks at the Freedom Awards Gala by America's Freedom Festival at Provo on Thursday, July 1. “Almighty God … has given us our inspired United States Constitution,” he said. “He acted through the wisdom and courage of our Founding Fathers.”
Read about the honor and see the video
2. What Elder Holland and Sister Eubank said about supporting refugees who are religiously oppressed
Elder Holland, Sister Eubank and Elder Gary B. Sabin, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Europe Area, spoke at the conference based in the Cumberland Lodge in Windsor, England, about the mental and emotional health of millions in refugee camps — and the support they need in expressing religious faith.
Find out about the conference and Sister Eubank’s ‘three critical suggestions’
3. Society has become ‘tone deaf to the music of faith,’ says Elder Cook during religious liberty summit. Here’s the solution
“My plea today is that all religions work together to defend faith and religious freedom in a manner that protects people of diverse faith as well as those of no faith,” said Elder Cook said at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit, June 28-29 on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana.
His remarks followed a keynote address by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York. Dr. Jacqueline Rivers of The Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of the Congregation Shearith Israel joined Cardinal Dolan and Elder Cook on the Interfaith Dialogue Panel.
See more from the summit from Elder Cook and Cardinal Dolan, plus watch the video about why religious liberty matters
4. Sister Aburto on mental, emotional health and the power of turning to the Savior for comfort
Emotions are just part of the soul of all human beings, said Sister Aburto, who also shared how her family has been affected by mental health challenges. “[Emotions] are with us all day, every day. And sometimes for us, it is very hard to really understand them or to manage them.”
Listen to the podcast and read about what she hopes people can learn
5. New Zealand, Ghana MTCs join Provo MTC in resuming onsite training of new missionaries
The latest to reopen for in-person training of full-time missionaries was the New Zealand Missionary Training Center, which welcomed 25 new missionaries on June 30. The flagship Provo Missionary Training Center was the first to resume onsite training of new elders and sisters, beginning on June 23 with 248 new missionaries. The Ghana MTC had 48 new missionaries arrive for its reopening last week.
Learn which MTCs are reopening next
6. The Family History Library is reopening on Tuesday. Here are 6 new things to look for
While doors to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City have been closed to the public for nearly 16 months due to COVID-19, construction crews have been hard at work executing a remodeling. The new changes were primarily designed to make the library’s services more accessible.
What’s new about the Family History Library
7. ‘A celebration of faith’: Church members mark 60th anniversary of missionary work in the Philippines
It’s been 60 years since then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley rededicated the Philippines for missionary work. Now, there are more than 825,000 members in 1,250 congregations, 23 missions, and two dedicated temples, with five more temples announced or under construction, across the nation of more than 7,100 islands in the western Pacific Ocean’s Southeast Asia region
Find out about the Church’s history in the Philippines and the ‘celebration of faith’
8. Home at last: Remains of Pearl Harbor sailor identified, laid to rest in Idaho cemetery
Eight decades after U.S. Navy Fireman 2nd Class Carl Merrill Bradley was killed in the attack at Pearl Harbor, with DNA technology finally accounting for his remains, a flag-draped casket was sent home for military burial rites a few miles from the gray-stucco family home where he was raised with 12 siblings.
Meet Carl Bradley through the eyes of his family, including his last living sibling
9. Latter-day Saint soccer star Olivia Moultrie, 15, becomes youngest player in NWSL history
Olivia Moultrie first made news in the soccer community when, at age 11, she verbally committed to play at the University of North Carolina. This week she signed a multiyear deal with the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, one of the world’s premier women’s professional soccer leagues. She is the youngest player to ever sign with an NWSL squad.
