Additional Church News Reported

Hello again, everyone! I am back again now to share the promised update covering the latest Church news. Let's get right into that topic. We will start with those articles covered both on the Church's Newsroom and on the Church News website, then move on to discuss only those stories shared so far elsewhere on the Church website, then end with articles either unique to the Church News or shared by that resource prior to their subsequent appearance on the Church's official website. Here we go.

First, as of yesterday, all of our 15 apostles have an official Instagram account. In a day when there have been more options to share inspiring messages on social media, the Brethren continue to be committed to utilize as many as feasibly possible to communicate with Church members and friends of other faiths in their ongoing efforts to minister to, inspire, and uplift everyone around the world, for whom they have that responsibility. More details on the Newsroom blog and the Church News.

Both the Church News and the Newsroom also shared the open house and dedication information that has been announced for the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple. Moving on now to stories unique to the Church website, there has been another edition published of "Latter-day Saints Around the World", which showcases stories from different countries' editions of the Newsroom website.

In the latest edition inspiring stories are highlighted from the following nations: Germany (sharing a report of Elder Cook's recent visit to Europe); Guatemala (sharing a report of Elder Soares' recent visit); Singapore; Australia; the United Kingdom; the Philippines; the Africa Southeast Area (which shares a report of the Angel Moroni being raised atop the Durban South Africa Temple).

There were two other stories published on the Newsroom that I wanted to mention as well, which have to do with what I have mentioned previously, that the Church has featured more coverage lately of the efforts of the women of the Church (particularly those 9 in the female-led auxiliary presidencies) as they minister worldwide. Those two stories deal with that subject, with this account of how Primary General President Joy D. Jones and her husband Robert, along with Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon and her husband Derek joined Elder Ian S. Ardern, First Counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency and his wife Paula, in addition to area seventy Carl R. Maurer and local leader Mark McNamee in a humanitarian service project.

In the meantime, Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, recently paid a visit to Native American Latter-day Saints living in the North America Southwest Area. The Newsroom shared this summary of that visit. And from elsewhere on the Church website, we have an announcement that Saroo Brierly (who was the inspiration for the movie "Lion") will be the keynote speaker at RootsTech next year.  Other speakers (including those from the general leadership of the Church) will be announced closer to the time.

The Church has also announced that Elder Dale G. Renlund and his wife Ruth L. Renlund will be the featured speakers at the first Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults in 2019, which will, as previously noted, be held on January 13 @ 6:00 PM MST. And the Church's #LighttheWorld Campaign, held annually in December, will not only focus on service to others, but will place special emphasis on ministering to others as the Savior would. More details can be found at the official website the Church has established for the campaign on mormon.org (where an official name change is, of course, naturally still pending a determination).

There are other stories that have been shared on both the Church website and by the Church News. Among them are Elder Holland's address to the Mormon studies symposium in which he urged the organization to change its' name based on President Nelson's request in that regard, another symposium address from emeritus General Authority and former Church Historian and Recorder, Elder Marlin K. Jensen, who shared how he gained a testimony of the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith, and the address given by Elder Shayne M. Bowen at this week's BYU-Provo devotional.

We end now with content unique to the Church News, which may subsequently be confirmed on the Church's official website. First and most significantly, Church President Russell M. Nelson, accompanied by his wife, Sister Wendy W. Nelson, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife Susan K. Bednar, and Elder Adrian Ochoa, who serves as Second Counselor in the North America Southwest Area Presidency, and his wife, Sister Nancy Ochoa, are set to speak this Sunday at a devotional for Saints in the San Antonio Texas area. This continues our prophet's ongoing Global Ministry Tour.

Among other stories that are important are how Saints on social media are reacting to the devastating fire which occurred in Paradise, California (and for which other fire departments, including many right here in Utah, sent volunteers to help fight it), another report on how Latter-day Saints have been affected by that fire (which included the Church losing two of its' meetinghouses in the affected areas), and one other on Church members who have lost their homes as a result of those fires.

The Church News also reported on how a Church missionary died in the Ivory Coast at around the same time Elder Andersen was there last week for the groundbreaking of the temple in Abidjan. Another inspiring story covers how a couple found strength in each other at a time when the husband lost his faith and left the Church.

In 1926, Melvin J. Ballard, one of the two apostolic grandfathers of President M. Russell Ballard, visited South America in 1926 and made a remarkable prophecy that is still being fulfilled (one recent example of that is the call of the first South American apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares earlier this year). There was an electric feeling in the air when President Hinckley promised the Saints in Fiji a temple three years before he fulfilled that promise by announcing a temple in Suva.

The First Presidency has begun the process of announcing the new MTC presidents who will begin serving in January. This week's announced MTC presidents were all, with one exception, formerly area seventies. There was an account of lessons learned from the first South American leg of his ongoing Global Ministry Tour.

Some members of the Church in the curriculum department, along with members who were part of the Church's pilot program to test the new home curriculum. A Book of Mormon allegedly owned by Elvis has been proven recently to be a forgery (which is demonstrated by an article full of Elvis-themed puns).

This concludes the Church news updates I wanted to share. Thank you all for bearing with me through the sheer magnitude and volume of that report. I continue to monitor any and all Church news and temple developments, and hopefully I will get to the next Church news update before it becomes a massive one like this.

I also continue to monitor any and all temple developments and will pass any word of those along as I can once I become aware of them. In the days ahead, in addition to those topics, I hope to post and begin to invite comments on my April 2019 General Conference predictions, which I am still finalizing.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time. 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.