Stokes Sounds Off: BREAKING NEWS: Articles About Elders Gong, Soares Will Appear in the October 2018 Ensign

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Thursday, September 13, 2018

BREAKING NEWS: Articles About Elders Gong, Soares Will Appear in the October 2018 Ensign

Hello again, everyone! I have periodically been checking for the last few days for any word on early access to the October 2018 Ensign. Just now, it paid off. The HTML version of that Ensign will, as anticipated, include articles honoring Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares as the new apostles of the Church.

I previously referenced that Elders D. Todd Christofferson and Neil L. Andersen had been assigned as the respective mentors to these new Brethren. So it is fitting and proper that Elder Christofferson wrote the one honoring Elder Gong and that Elder Andersen wrote the one honoring Elder Soares.

As I have also previously referenced, Elder Gong married the daughter of Elder Richard P. Lindsay, who also served as a general authority seventy. But what I didn't know until now is that Elder Soares has several connections to former and current general authorities himself. Elder Soares' mission president was Elder Helio Da Rocha Camargo, who was the first Brazilian general authority appointed. But more than that, Elder Soares' wife's sister married Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, who has been a general authority since the mid-1990s.

The articles about the new apostles shared many unique insights into how the Lord prepared these men, including extensive comments from their family members and Church leaders who have worked with them and who talk about how well these men have maintained a balance between family life, professional careers, and service in the Church. They are well worthy of your time and attention.

I am grateful that the Lord has called Elder Gerrit Walter Gong and Elder Ulisses Soares to the Quorum of the Twelve, and that we have a chance to learn more about them through these articles. I wholeheartedly sustain them. The moment their names were announced in General Conference, the Spirit confirmed to my soul that the Lord had directed their calls.

I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to bring word of those along to you all as I receive it. 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.

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