Report on Additional Addresses From the Seminar for New Mission Leadership

Hello again, everyone! After trying and failing to make the alterations I had in mind for this blog, we are back to the previous design. And I am back to report on two other addresses from the recent Seminar for New Mission Leadership. The addresses were given by two more members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, both of whom also serve on the Missionary Executive Council.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave an address with his wife, and they highlighted the importance of missionaries owning their personal and companionship gospel study. The Christoffersons also said that, in addition to applying to missionary companionships, married couples of the Church can benefit from studying the scriptures together. So mission presidents and their wives were urged on a personal level to set the example for their missionaries. You can read more of what the Christoffersons said here.

In the meantime, our Brazilian junior apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares, drew on the example of Brazil's winding Amazon river as an analogy for the membership of the Church. He explained that that river is created at the point where the Solimoes River, which starts in Peru, and the Negro River from the Amazon Basin, converge into a single body of water.

In similitude to the river, the membership of the Church is comprised of those who have been lifelong or multi-generational members who combine and converge in various ways and settings with those who may be newer to the Church. Just as the converged river could not succeed without its' two distinct bodies of water, so too do converts need the support of their lifelong member counterparts.

He also reemphasized what the Church has taught about what all converts need: A friend, a responsibility, and nourishing by the good word of God. As members work together to make converts feel welcome (which is an effort that, by extension, includes the vital role of missionaries), and as all members draw from the strengths of their fellow Saints, the Church will be strengthened as a complete body of our Heavenly Father's worldwide family. You can read more about what Elder Soares said in this article.

The reports of this year's seminar continue to come in, so I will be sure to keep passing those on to you as I receive word of them, and I also will be posting any other important Church and temple news as I become aware of those developments as well.

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, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Altered Blog Layout

Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to detract from the focus of my readers in the United States (as today is the anniversary of our nation's independence from England), I wanted to just quickly post to note that I am testing another new blog layout. I have been working periodically on finding ways to make this blog more user-friendly, so I'd like to know if that is working better.

And in the interests of being fully transparent, part of the reason for these changes is because I have also been looking into ways to improve my earnings from this blog. This new layout was one of a few suggestions I have looked into that I am hoping will help in that process.

As always, I continue to monitor all news and developments relating to the Church, General Conference, and temples worldwide, and I do my best to continue to bring those to you as I receive word of 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, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Apostolic Ministry Updates

Hello again, everyone! I learned of some updates that have been provided on the ministry of our apostles a short while ago, and wanted to pass those along to you all now. We begin with a discussion of the Seminar for New Mission Leadership, for which the Church News shared this article highlighting remarks made by President Oaks on 10 of the many ways that Joseph Smith inspired Christian doctrine.

In the meantime, on the Church's official website (lds,org), remarks made by Elder Andersen during that seminar were summarized. As some of you may recall my mentioning a few days ago, we recently got a complete list of names of our Church leaders who serve on the Missionary Executive Council, and Elder Andersen is one of four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is serving on that committee.

He focused his remarks on how repentance, rather than being a backup plan that is provided in case it is needed, actually is the plan which our Heavenly Father put into place because He knew that, aside from His Only Begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, "all [would sin] and fall short of the glory of God." That is a sobering and yet very inspiring thought.

Since our Father knew that we, without memory of our Heavenly home, or recollection of what the plan was, and being flawed and imperfect as a consequence of living in an imperfect world, He not only provided a Savior to redeem us from what has been termed as "our lost and fallen state", but He and His Son also patiently give us every opportunity to recognize our shortcomings and failings, show genuine remorse and regret for those mistakes, make amends for them, and try again.

So I appreciated reading about Elder Andersen's comments on that subject. You can find those remarks summarized here. Additionally, on the Church News section of lds.org, there have been a number of other articles well worthy of your review, which I may summarize more fully in another post within the next couple of days.

But just within the last 18 hours or so, a number of very interesting stories fitting that description have been published. You can find that news page here, and it is worth noting that the number of stories posted there just today take up most of the first page of that link, and part of the second.

That said, I have one more article to report on that is directly related to the ministry of our apostles. Elder Holland is currently in England, where he spoke at Chatham House during a meeting of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at the invitation of  Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, who chairs the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. Elder Holland's ties to England in view of his missionary service there as a young man has resulted in his frequently being invited by Baroness Nicholson to address various topics with various groups.

Elder Holland highlighted the important role faith- and non-faith based groups should have in the current ongoing refugee crisis around the world. In his remarks, he drew parallels between the persecution of the Saints in the early days of the Church to the persecution currently being levied towards that Yazidi people of Iraq.

He said that in drawing those parallels, he had no desire to minimize what was occurring for the Yazidi people, but was instead hoping to underscore the fact that persecution based on religion, especially when that is tied to and results in political oppression, is wrong, and he also touched on the current crisis many nations, including the US, is seeing regarding the treatment of those currently fleeing either religious persecution or political oppression. His remarks are well worthy of review, which you can read more about here.

I have been somewhat intrigued by one thing, however. As many of you may be aware, July marks the typical one-month annual recess for General Authorities. While I am confident that some of the news I have reported in the last two or three days has been for developments that occurred prior to the end of June, the story of Elder Holland being in England was posted today and referred to events that are occurring right now.

So at least for the moment this year, we may be hearing of Church news relating to our apostles well into July. And I am not ruling out the prospect that the Church could continue to make any major announcements even during the traditional break, which we have seen occur at least a few times previously.

Whether on the subjects of the ministry of our apostles, general Church news, or temple developments, you can depend on my bringing word of those developments to you 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, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.