Additional Church News Reported: Part One--Updates on the Ministry of Our Apostles

Hello again, everyone! Between the Church News website and Mormon Newsroom, several additional Church news stories have recently been published. This post will share some links to and thoughts about those articles.

I had intended to cover all of the noteworthy stories in this post, but the coverage of the updates on the ministry of our apostles wound up being so extensive, I will be focusing solely on that subject in this post, and then focus on other stories in a second post which will be published not long after this one. Let's get right into it all.

We start first with a look at updates on the ministry of our apostles. President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, recently returned from a visit to Canada. He served as a mission president there years ago, and his travels as an apostle have involved several stops in Canada. The Church News has shared this report on how his many experiences in Canada have impacted the lives of all Canadian citizens, including many who are not members of the Church.

In the meantime, Elder Ronald A. Rasband recently visited Saints in the Europe Area. His time there included two visits to European islands that have not previously been visited by an apostle of the Church. The Church News shared highlights of his ministry there. This was another homecoming of sorts for Elder Rasband, who had served as a member of the Church's Europe Area presidency

And Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who had served in the Europe East Area presidency some years prior to his call to the apostleship, returned to that area. He specifically spent some time in Russia, returning to the nation in which he had spent time during his professional career. While there, he talked to the members of the Church about the temple that has been announced for Russia.

Among other things, he noted that, while that temple announcement is wonderful, due to the political situation in that nation, it will likely take some time before the Church is successful in obtaining approvals, purchasing land, and designing the temple, which may also mean it may be some time before construction begins, and even more before it is finished and dedicated.

Although his time in Russia coincided with the dates of President Nelson's European tour, Elder Uchtdorf indicated that he had not been able to read about what the prophet said during those stops. With that in mind, it is amazing to me that Elder Uchtdorf's counsel to the Saints in Russia about the temple that will be built there echoed the instruction President Nelson gave in several of the stops he made where temples have been announced. You can read more about Elder Uchtdorf's time in Eastern Europe in this article.

Next, many of you may know that Elder Quentin L. Cook has been asked to speak at a Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults that is set to be held on September 9 of this year (which will be the day after his 78th birthday, and the same day that President Nelson will be 94). While plans for that devotional have remained unchanged, the Church News has reported that the event will be broadcast from Nauvoo, and that a Face-to-Face event for Young Adults will be held during that same weekend, and will feature Elder Cook and two Church historians taking questions.

The Church News also sent out a request for comments from readers about what they have learned from the nearly 4 months of President Nelson's administration. The answers to that question have been published here.

It is awesome to see our apostles traveling so extensively, and to have seen more information published about their ministries. One thing I did want to mention: It often happens that multiple apostles are away from Church headquarters at the same time. When that happens, the most senior apostle who remains in Salt Lake has taken the lead of any meetings held in the absence of those more senior to him.

I haven't double-checked the dates, but there may have been some overlap of the time when Presidents Nelson and Ballard and Elders Holland and Uchtdorf were on the assignments noted. If it happened to be the case that these assignments took these men away from headquarters around the time when a Thursday meeting had been held for the apostles, that would mean Elder Bednar took the lead of the weekly meeting during that time.

It seems that the First Presidency is giving the senior apostles, particularly those who might potentially lead the Church one day, the chance to experience more of a role in the day-to-day operations of the Church. And that is good to see.

I continue to monitor all developments relating to the ministry of the apostles, and am committed to bringing those developments to you all as I receive them. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post (which should, as noted above, come in the next few minutes to cover other important news items from the Church), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.