Massive Church News Update

Hello again, everyone! This will be a somewhat significantly substantial post containing a plethora of Church news stories which have recently been reported in the Church News and via the Church website. This update is somewhat long overdue. If any of you want to skip over this post, that's not a problem, and I will not be offended at all by that. For those of you sticking with me, let's get right into it all.

Gerry Avant, the retired editor of the Church News, continued her series of articles that have been providing a retrospective review of significant moments during her career. She shared some insight into a rare, private moment she spent with President Monson. Next, as most of you are no doubt aware, the Church History Department has been working for the last several years on  the "Joseph Smith Papers" project. This article details how the volumes in that series provide a "treasure trove" of information about the Prophet and his fellow early Saints.

As some of you may also be aware, Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, heads up the LDS Charities organization, and the Church News shared these details about that organization. The Church is also working on publishing a new 4-volume narrative history of the Church, entitled "Saints", which you can read more about here. BYU-Idaho recently held its' annual "Education Week". One of the featured speakers was Al Fox Carraway. More details on this event can be found in this report.

The Church News noted that the importance of the Book of Mormon has been highlighted, emphasized, and underscored by many Church presidents, and focused one article on 11 such testimonies. I previously mentioned that Elder Stevenson would be conducting two Face-to-Face events in Asia (the first such events ever held on that continent). The reports on those events can be found in the Church News here, here, and here.

Family Search has released a new video to make learning about ancestors more interesting and fun for its' users.Also, for those stumped in their search for ancestors to complete their family tree, new resources in the form of nearly 64 million indexed records may be helpful. Institute students in Manchester England recently participated in a 24-hour Book of Mormon reading challenge, and reported these results from their participation. Deseret Industries, which is celebrating its' 80th anniversary this year, shared this inspiring account of one of its' employees.

As many of you know, ALS is a disease that recently gained prominence when many people participated in a recent "Ice Bucket Challenge" as a way to raise awareness about the condition. This account shares one member's experience with not letting the disease prevent her from finding joy each day and serving her ancestors and others through temple work.

Next, throughout history, the Lord has called as His prophet men who are on the older side. While many are slowing down and retiring, these servants of God aren't slowing down despite their age. While such service is remarkable and should be regarded as no less so, there are an equal number of lay members of the Church who continue to render significant service as they reach their 80s and 90s and become centenarians.

 Recently, the president of a stake here in Orem was inspired to call to the high council Brother Jim Pinegar, who is 90 years old. This article highlights the significance surrounding the circumstances of that call, how Brother Pinegar responded to it, and how much of an asset he is in filling that assignment.

On a personal note, I wanted to share that I had the great privilege of working with Brother Jim Pinegar in the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. He has a heart of pure gold, and always demonstrated a willingness to fill the assignments he was given. Though I have lost touch with him since my service ended in 2012, I know that Brother Pinegar has been prepared by the Lord to come to his current assignment, and although he is not a member of my stake, I can sustain him in that capacity without reservation or hesitation.

More details have been provided regarding the renovation process for the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. You can find out more through these articles from the Church News and Mormon Newsroom. The final article I wanted to share from the Church News concludes the six-part series about the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and features comments from some of the members of that Quorum on what it means to sustain Church leaders.

I would be remiss if I did not alos share other important stories which were recently posted on Mormon Newsroom. In the last few days, Mormon Newsroom has shared this article detailing how Sisters Sharon Eubank (who, as mentioned above, is First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency), Lisa Harkness (First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency) and Becky Craven (Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency) traveled recently to four states in the mid-western United States to meet with members and community leaders. There was also this article from the Mormon Newsroom Blog about digital Ellis Island Immigration  Records which have now been made available online.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those developments to you as they occur. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.