During the week of July 25-July 31, the First Presidency announced the Saturday evening session of general conference will continue. A total of 66 Area Seventies will be released Aug. 1, rather than in October general conference. In part four of the Inside Church Headquarters series, Church leaders highlighted eight principles to help stake, ward and family councils be more effective.
This week's Church News podcast featured interviews from Latter-day Saint women leaders about the voices of women in Church councils. Religious leaders gathered on Lima Peru Temple grounds to observe the country’s bicentennial and pray for their country. The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square announced a "Coming Together" special to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11.
Groundbreaking dates were announced for the Neiafu Tonga Temple and the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple. Season 4 filming of the Book of Mormon Videos — which includes the Savior’s visit to the Americas — is underway in Springville, Utah. See the latest updates on athletes at the Tokyo Olympics with connections to the Church.
Find links and summaries of these nine article below.
1. Saturday evening session of general conference will continue in a new format
Weeks after discontinuing the Saturday evening session of general conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the First Presidency announced Tuesday that following “additional study and prayer” they determined to continue holding the evening session, “albeit in a different format than in the past.”
Read more about this announcement
2. 66 Area Seventies to be released Aug. 1 as Church modifies timing of their releases
The releases and change were detailed in a recent letter to Area Seventies from President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The letter follows a change earlier this year when, during the April 2021 general conference, new Area Seventies were sustained in the leadership meeting — instead of a general session of conference.
See the names of the 66 Area Seventies
3. Inside Church headquarters: Principles to help stake, ward and family councils be more effective
President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, said, “The principle of counseling is nowhere more important than in the relationship between a husband and a wife, and in their relationship as parents to their children, or anyone else who may in an extended family be living with them.”
Here are 8 principles Church leaders highlighted
4. What Latter-day Saint women leaders say about the voices of women in Church councils
In episode 41 of the Church News podcast, Church News reporter Sydney Walker discusses the inspiration behind the series and shares quotes from Church News interviews featuring women leaders of the Church: Primary General President Camille N. Johnson, Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon and Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham.
Listen to the podcast and watch President Johnson talk about her experience in Church councils
5. Religious leaders gather on Lima Peru Temple grounds to pray for their country
July 28, 2021, will mark an unforgettable moment across Peru. On Wednesday, the South American nation of over 32 million inhabitants will celebrate 200 years of independence. But before the fireworks, feasts and festivities, Peru’s outgoing president and many of the country’s most influential religious leaders gathered Monday, July 26, on the grounds of the Lima Peru Temple to pray for their country.
Learn more about the historic 'Prayers for Peru' event
6. Tabernacle Choir special ‘Coming Together’ will commemorate 20th anniversary of 9/11
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedies, the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square will present a 30-minute special entitled “9/11, Coming Together” on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, at 8:46 a.m (MDT) — symbolizing the time of the first plane crash in to the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Read more about the program
7. Groundbreakings announced for Neiafu Tonga Temple and the Pago Pago American Samoa Temple
The two South Pacific temples were announced by President Russell M. Nelson during the April 2019 general conference. And the two had exterior renderings and site locations released on the same day last year — Aug. 14 — for similar single-story structures of 17,000 square feet.
Find out the groundbreaking dates
8. Season 4 of Book of Mormon Videos to feature the Savior's visit to the Americas
“This is the central part of the Book of Mormon — the appearance of the Savior,” Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. said, as the film crew was preparing for a day of working on the Book of Mormon Videos on Monday, July 26. “This is a really important season of filming.”
See more behind-the-scenes photos of filming
9. Latter-day Saints in the Olympics
It’s a golden end to the men’s rugby sevens team from Fiji, including a member of the Church, as they defended their gold medal from 2016. Also this week, Olympians with connections to the Church won medals in gymnastics and shot put and qualified to move to the next round of competition in track’s 800 meter race and beach volleyball.
