CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
A Period of Challenge and Growth

Following the revealed pattern¹ of nearly a hundred years, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met the day after the funeral of President Spencer W. Kimball and sustained the senior Apostle, Ezra Taft Benson, to preside over the Church.

At age eighty-six, President Benson was ordained President of the Church—forty-two years after he became an Apostle. He called Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson as his counselors in the First Presidency. At age fifty-eight, President Monson was the youngest man to be called to the First Presidency in over a hundred years.

When the new First Presidency was announced, President Benson emphasized that the major purpose of the Church was to bring people to Jesus Christ. He declared: “My heart has been filled with an overwhelming love and compassion for all members of the Church and our Heavenly Father’s children everywhere. I love all our Father’s children of every color, creed, and political persuasion.”²

Preparation of a Prophet

Ezra Taft Benson was born in the farming community of Whitney, Idaho, in 1899, the first of eleven children. He bore the same name as his great-grandfather, who had served in the Quorum of the Twelve from 1846 to 1869. “T,” as he was known, began farm work at age four. At age twelve he shouldered increased responsibility when his father served a full-time mission. Later “T” attended Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, where he met his future wife, Flora Amussen. They married after both had returned from missions. He served his mission in Great Britain, and she served in the Hawaiian Islands.

Ezra Taft Benson graduated with honors from Brigham Young University and earned a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. After returning to Idaho, he came to be highly respected as a county agriculture agent and later as an extension economist. He served as stake president in Boise, the capital of Idaho. In 1939 he moved to Washington, D.C., to labor as the executive secretary of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. He was again called as a stake president.

Elder Benson was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the same day as Spencer W. Kimball. When they became General Authorities in October 1943, the Church had 837,000 members and 146 stakes. In 1946, Elder Benson went as a mission president to war-torn Europe, where he succeeded in reestablishing contact with the European Saints, providing compassion and needed welfare supplies to the stricken members, and instituting missionary work.

In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower, president-elect of the United States, asked Church leaders if it would be possible for Elder Benson to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture in his cabinet. President David O. McKay encouraged Elder Benson to accept the appointment. He subsequently blessed Elder Benson that he would have clear vision to see the needs of the nation and be fearless in defense of the Constitution against subversive elements threatening the nation’s freedoms. For the next eight years Elder Benson served in the U.S. presidential cabinet. In that capacity he traveled over eight hundred thousand miles to forty-four countries, making many friends for the Church with his example of devoutness and integrity. He later wrote a book entitled Cross Fire in which he recounted those political years and his many opportunities and experiences.

Elder Benson returned to full-time apostolic duties in 1961. During the mid-1960s he again presided over the European Mission, and later in the decade he presided over the missions in Asia. In 1973 he was sustained as President of the Twelve and served in that capacity for twelve years.

Elder Mark E. Petersen, a close colleague of Elder Benson in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, described Elder Benson’s leadership in this way: “He has led the quorum with great efficiency, constant inspiration, and a never-ceasing flow of love for his Brethren. Their well being has been a constant concern. Always he has kept their best interests in mind, together with ‘what is best for the Kingdom,’ as he has assigned them to their responsibilities in various parts of the world.

“Abiding harmony characterized his administration in the Twelve.”³

Come unto Christ

In 1985, as President of the Church, President Benson issued a special plea to disaffected members to come back to Christ. As part of this determined, continuing effort to bring lost sheep back to the fold, the First Presidency wrote in their Christmas message of 1985: “We are aware of some who are inactive, of others who have become critical and are prone to find fault, and of those who have been disfellowshipped or excommunicated because of serious transgressions.

“To all such we reach out in love. . . .

“. . . Come back. Come back and feast at the table of the Lord, and taste again the sweet and satisfying fruits of fellowship with the saints.”⁴

The Book of Mormon, Keystone of Our Religion

President Benson counseled the Latter-day Saints to read the Book of Mormon and allow it to help them come unto Christ. In nearly every address he gave as a prophet, he reemphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon. He often quoted Joseph Smith’s statement: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”⁵

President Benson explained that the Church was still under the condemnation pronounced by the Lord in 1831 for not using the Book of Mormon as we should (see D&C 84:54–57). President Benson declared: “We not only need to say more about the Book of Mormon, but we need to do more with it. . . .

“. . . The Book of Mormon has not been, nor is it yet, the center of our personal study, family teaching, preaching, and missionary work. Of this we must repent.”⁶

The response to President Benson’s plea was both immediate and ongoing. Saints old and young accepted the challenge to read and study the Book of Mormon. The number of copies of the Book of Mormon distributed during the year 1986 doubled from the previous year, reaching three million—over 15 percent of which included members’ photos and testimonies provided through the family-to-family Book of Mormon program.⁷ President Benson and his family led the way by personalizing “dozens of copies of the Book of Mormon each month.”⁸ In the April 1987 general conference, he called upon the Lord to bless the Saints with an “increased desire to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon.”⁹

The Book of Mormon Floods the World

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Two years later President Benson gave a powerful address on the sin of pride. He pointed out that “one of the major messages of the Book of Mormon” was that pride had caused the destruction of the Nephites (see Moroni 8:27; D&C 38:39). He explained, “In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride—it is always considered a sin.” He warned that disobedience, selfishness, and contention are among the damning fruits of pride. President Benson taught the Saints that “the antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness (see Alma 7:23). It is the broken heart and contrite spirit.”¹⁰

Counsel to Families

Throughout his ministry in the Church, President Benson spoke and wrote frequently on family solidarity and ways individual family members could fulfill their God-given responsibilities even in the midst of wickedness. In the October 1985 general conference President Benson urged the men of the Church to magnify their calling as fathers, using the example of righteous fathers in the Book of Mormon as their guide.

As President of the Church, Ezra Taft Benson delivered pointed messages to the young men, the young women, the mothers of the Church, and again to the fathers of the Church. In the priesthood session of the April 1986 general conference, President Benson told the young men of the Church, “You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days.” The prophet urged them to draw close to their mothers and to obey their fathers and emulate their manly qualities. He pleaded with the young men to read and ponder the scriptures daily, especially the Book of Mormon. He counseled every young man to obtain his patriarchal blessing, attend his meetings, participate in Scouting, attend seminary, and in other righteous ways prepare for missionary service. He said: “The Lord wants every young man to serve a full-time mission. Currently, only a fifth of the eligible young men in the Church are serving full-time missions. This is not pleasing to the Lord. We can do better. We must do better.”¹¹

Six months later, President Benson told the young women of the Church: “Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. . . . Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity.”¹² On numerous other occasions, President Benson spoke to large groups of young people, conveying his love to them and urging them to treasure the Book of Mormon and live honorable and virtuous lives.

On 22 February 1987, President Benson addressed the mothers in Zion at a fireside for parents that was broadcast over the Church’s satellite network. He taught: “There is no more noble work than that of a good and God-fearing mother. . . .

“Young mothers and fathers, with all my heart I counsel you not to postpone having your children, being co-creators with our Father in Heaven.” He explained that the Lord’s way of rearing children was far different from the world’s way. Recognizing that circumstances required some sisters to work outside the home, the prophet nevertheless reaffirmed that women rightfully “‘have claim on their husbands for their maintenance.’ . . . The counsel of the Church has always been for mothers to spend their full time in the home in rearing and caring for their children.” In addition, President Benson gave mothers counsel on valuable ways they could spend time with their children.¹³

In the priesthood session of the October 1987 general conference, President Benson addressed the fathers of the Church: “Fathers, yours is an eternal calling from which you are never released. Callings in the Church, as important as they are, by their very nature are only for a period of time, and then an appropriate release takes place. But a father’s calling is eternal, and its importance transcends time. It is a calling for both time and eternity. . . .

“. . . May I suggest two basic responsibilities of every father in Israel.

“First, you have a sacred responsibility to provide for the material needs of your family. . . .

“Second, you have a sacred responsibility to provide spiritual leadership in your family.”¹⁴

Dealing with Current Issues

President Gordon B. Hinckley of the First Presidency, recognizing that families in the Church face many troubling issues, addressed the topic of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the priesthood session of the April 1987 general conference. He called AIDS “a plague of fearsome dimensions. . . .

“We, with others, hope that discoveries will make possible both prevention and healing from this dread affliction. But regardless of such discoveries, the observance of one clearly understandable and divinely given rule would do more than all else to check this epidemic. That is chastity before marriage and total fidelity after marriage. . . .

“. . . Our concern for the bitter fruit of sin is coupled with Christ-like sympathy for its victims, innocent or culpable.”¹⁵

In 1988 the First Presidency issued an additional statement on AIDS, reemphasizing President Hinckley’s remarks and adding: “Members of the Church should extend compassion to those who are ill with AIDS. We express great love and sympathy for all victims but particularly those who have received the virus through blood transfusions, babies afflicted from infected mothers, and innocent marriage partners who have been infected by a spouse. In the Lord’s eternal plan, those who endure such suffering, pain, and injustice, not of their own doing, will receive compensatory blessings through the Lord’s infinite mercy. . . .

“The Lord has not left mankind without clear guidance on matters that affect our happiness. That guidance is chastity before marriage, total fidelity in marriage, abstinence from all homosexual relations, avoidance of illegal drugs, and reverence and care for the body, which is the ‘temple of God.’ (1 Cor. 3:16.)”¹⁶

The First Presidency also spoke out on public lotteries, another moral issue of the day. Several countries and a majority of states in the United States had either legalized lotteries or were considering doing so. The Brethren urged members of the Church to oppose these public lotteries in their respective localities. The First Presidency explained: “All too often lotteries only add to the problems of the financially disadvantaged by taking money from them and giving nothing of value in return. The poor and the elderly become victims of the inducements that are held out to purchase lottery tickets.”¹⁷

One unusual public issue that affected the Church was the Mark Hofmann bombing case in Salt Lake City in October 1985. Beginning in 1980, Hofmann had sold, donated, or traded numerous documents that he alleged were connected with historical events of the Church. Some of the documents received considerable public attention. These documents included the Anthon transcript, allegedly the document Martin Harris had shown Charles Anthon, and the Martin Harris letter to William W. Phelps (the “salamander letter”), which falsely portrayed Joseph Smith as heavily involved in folk magic and treasure seeking. Then in October 1985 homemade bombs tragically killed two innocent individuals. A third bomb a day later severely injured Hofmann.

After a year of uproar in the press concerning the documents, document dealing, and responsibility for the bombings, Hofmann was indicted. As part of a plea bargain arrangement, Hofmann confessed to having forged the documents and to having committed these murders as a diversion from his fraudulent dealings. He was sent to the Utah State Penitentiary. Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained, “These forgeries and their associated lies grew out of their author’s deliberate attempt to rewrite the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

From the beginning, Church leaders had expressed caution about the documents. As Elder Oaks reminded, “President Gordon B. Hinckley repeatedly cautioned that the Church did not know whether these documents were authentic.”¹⁸ At a CES symposium, Elder Oaks stated: “The news media are particularly susceptible to conveying erroneous information about facts, including historical developments that are based on what I have called scientific uncertainties. This susceptibility obviously applies to newly discovered documents whose authenticity turns on an evaluation of handwriting, paper, ink, and so on. As readers we should be skeptical about the authenticity of such documents, especially when we are unsure where they were found or who had custody of them for 150 years. Newly found, historically important documents can be extremely valuable, so there is a powerful incentive for those who own them to advocate and support their authenticity.”¹⁹

At the conclusion of the Hofmann trial, the Church’s Public Communications Department issued a statement that read, in part:

“We extend again our heartfelt sympathies to the families and associates of all whose lives have been so deeply affected by the bombings and related events of the past months. It is our hope that the healing process may now be hastened for those who have suffered these tragedies. . . .

“Like other document collectors throughout the nation, the church has relied on competent authorities in document acquisition and with the others has been a victim of the fraudulent activities which have now been acknowledged in the courtroom.”²⁰

Priesthood Changes and a New Direction for the Church

In October 1986 President Ezra Taft Benson announced that seventies quorums in the stakes would be discontinued. Stake seventies were instructed to join with their ward elders quorum, and stake presidents were instructed to “determine who among such brethren should be ordained to the office of high priest.”²¹ Until this time, many members had felt that only seventies needed to be concerned with missionary work. With the new policy, instructions were given to upgrade the stake missionary force and involve all members of the Church in the missionary program “to provide a renewed impetus in missionary work throughout the stakes of the Church.”²² With the dissolving of local quorums, the only seventies quorum that continued to operate was the First Quorum of the Seventy, which was composed only of General Authorities.

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Church leaders continued to promote the need for more missionaries. Priesthood leaders were charged to pray about each worthy young elder and older couple and extend calls from the Lord for them to participate in missionary service. The Brethren also encouraged the calling of highly-motivated adult leaders to prepare young men to enter the mission field so that a higher percentage of young men would be eligible to serve when the time came.

Bishops were also given a greater responsibility for coordinating reactivation efforts. Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles urged, “The Bishop must get out of the chair in his office and seek the lost sheep.”²³ Bishops were charged to hold weekly priesthood executive committee meetings and ward council meetings that focused “on people more than on programs, calendaring and activities. This requires less emphasis on ‘administering’ and more emphasis on ‘ministering.’” Bishops were also encouraged to use ward priesthood meetings to train their fellow priesthood holders in their duties as shepherds of the flock.²⁴

The program of home teaching, which had been upgraded from “ward teaching” in 1964 during the emerging correlation era of the Church, received new emphasis as the best means of reaching less-active members. High priests—who had gained maturity through many years of service in the Church—were called, where appropriate, to fellowship prospective and less-active elders and their families through home teaching. President Benson challenged home teachers, “Do not settle for mediocrity. . . . Be a real shepherd of your flock.” He insisted that “both the quality and quantity of home teaching are essential.”²⁵

Genealogy Renamed Family History

In 1987 the Church changed the name of its genealogy program to “family history.” As Elder Russell M. Nelson later said: “More and more people are becoming excited about discovering their roots, and the Church is doing its best to help them. The Church adopted the term family history to encourage this activity among all its members, especially those who might be intimidated by the word genealogy.”²⁶ Family history consultants were called in each ward so Saints would have help available. A new motto arose: “Take an ancestor to the temple.”²⁷

Significant strides in family history work resulted from the greatly expanded use of the computer. In 1984 the Church released Personal Ancestral File, a software program for use with personal computers that enabled individuals to organize and print their family history records, share information electronically, and submit data on diskettes for temple work or to the Church’s Ancestral File.

At local family history centers (formerly called branch genealogical libraries) computers helped patrons find information more quickly. Beginning in 1990, the Church supplied its over fifteen hundred centers with a set of compact discs, each containing up to five million names, the equivalent of 320,000 pages of information. This FamilySearch™ program contained the International Genealogical Index, the Ancestral File, and a catalog of Salt Lake City’s Family History Library. A few years later, another computerized program, TempleReady, enabled Church members at their local family history centers to immediately clear names for temple ordinance work.

Anniversary Celebrations

In addition to temple work, members of the Church honored their ancestors by holding anniversary celebrations to commemorate important events in Church history. In 1987 the Church celebrated four such anniversaries. The first of these was in recognition of the pioneering efforts of the Saints who settled the city of Cardston, Alberta, Canada. In 1886, Charles Ora Card, president of the Cache Stake, had been commissioned by President John Taylor to find a place of refuge and asylum to the north. In 1886 Brother Card visited Canada and reported favorably on the prospects. He then returned to make a permanent settlement in the early spring of 1887.

As a tribute to the contribution of these Latter-day Saint settlers in Western Canada, the University of Alberta sponsored a three-day conference entitled “The Mormon Presence in Canada.” The conference met from 6–9 May 1987, and both members and nonmembers participated. On 1 August, President Ezra Taft Benson was honored as grand marshal of the Cardston centennial parade. The following day the prophet spoke to seven thousand people on the grounds of the beautiful Cardston Alberta Temple.

A commemoration of the anniversary of the opening of missionary work in the British Isles received wide media attention both in the United States and in Great Britain. President Gordon B. Hinckley, speaking at Brigham Young University, described how in mid-July 1837, Elder Heber C. Kimball arrived at the docks in Liverpool, England, and enthusiastically jumped the final six feet to shore. Three days later, Elder Kimball was in nearby Preston where a wonderful harvest of souls commenced, a harvest that has had an astonishing effect on the history of the Church—nearly 100,000 converts immigrated from Britain over the years to gather with the Church in America. But not all British Saints came to the United States, and by 1987 the British Isles had 140,000 members in four hundred wards and branches.

The Church sponsored a series of events to honor the work of the early British missionaries and members. It hosted an anniversary banquet, held several area conferences, and dedicated eight historical markers at important Church historical sites throughout Britain. The combination of meetings, historical conventions, and extensive coverage in the Church and public media increased awareness of the struggles and successes of these early British missionaries and members.

From 24 July through 1 August 1987, the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant was held at the Hill Cumorah near Palmyra, New York. This marked fifty years since Eastern States mission president Don B. Colton organized a committee to produce a pageant. The annual productions had attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors since that time. The 1937 pageant was called “America’s Witness for Christ” and had a cast of about seventy. Fifty years later the pageant included a cast of six hundred and a crew of fifty. In 1998, an estimated fifty thousand people, members and nonmembers, attended the pageant.²⁸

In 1987 Latter-day Saints in the United States joined with fellow citizens to celebrate the bicentennial of their nation’s Constitution. Reminding Saints that the Doctrine and Covenants affirms the inspired origin of the principles in the Constitution (see D&C 98:6; 101:80; 109:54), Church leaders encouraged active participation in this national commemoration. Wards and stakes across the United States staged dramas, musicals, skits, bicentennial balls, old fashioned picnics, and other activities to celebrate the values found in the Constitution. The Church also produced and distributed a booklet entitled 101 Ways to Celebrate the Bicentennial.

The First Presidency called Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elders Robert L. Backman and Hugh W. Pinnock, both members of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, as a committee to organize the Church’s participation in the bicentennial event.²⁹ President Benson took several opportunities to speak and write about his love for the Constitution and to urge careful study of it.

In further support of the bicentennial celebrations, Church choruses participated in several major public events. In July 1987 the 350-voice Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony represented the state of Utah in a series of five well-attended concerts in the eastern United States. They presented their concert again on 17 September to a capacity audience in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Also on 17 September, the Tabernacle Choir sang at the nationally televised “We the People, 200 Constitution Gala” broadcast from Convention Hall in Philadelphia. That same morning, the choir sang the national anthem in front of Independence Hall as the Constitution Parade began.

Administrative Organization Expanded

In 1987 the Church created four new geographical areas, bringing the total number of areas to seventeen. Eight areas were located within the United States or Canada and nine were in other countries.³⁰ This change enabled Area Presidencies to assume much of the responsibility formerly carried by the International Mission, which accordingly was discontinued that year.³¹

The Church’s growing membership and expanding number of areas placed additional demands on the General Authorities. At the April 1989 general conference the First Presidency announced the creation of the Second Quorum of the Seventy “to provide for the expansion and regulation of the Church.” In 1984 certain members of the Seventy had been called to serve for a limited period of three to five years. In 1989 the First Presidency announced: “The initial membership of the Second Quorum of the Seventy will be those General Authorities currently serving under a five-year call. Additional brethren will be added to the Second Quorum of the Seventy from time to time and will serve as Seventies and as General Authorities also under a five-year call.”³² Consistent with the Lord’s instructions in an 1835 revelation (D&C 107:95), the seven Presidents of the First Quorum of the Seventy presided over the new quorum. A total of forty-two Brethren, including the seven Presidents, were sustained as members of the First Quorum of the Seventy, while thirty-six were sustained as members of the Second Quorum. This action reflected the ability of the Church’s revealed organization to expand to accommodate continuing growth.

Doors Opened in Eastern Europe

Over the years Elder Ezra Taft Benson had often spoken of the threat posed by “godless communism,” so it was fitting that Communist domination of Eastern Europe ended during his administration as president. These dramatic events at the end of the 1980s had been anticipated by Church leaders for many years.³³

In 1975 Elder Thomas S. Monson had offered a dedicatory prayer in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Standing on an outcropping of rock overlooking the Elbe River, he had petitioned “divine help” for the four thousand faithful Saints living in that land, that they might enjoy, among other things, temple blessings. “Dear Father, let this be the beginning of a new day for the members of Thy Church in this land,” he prayed. Just then he heard a rooster crowing and a church bell ringing from the valley below and noticed a ray of sun coming through the clouded sky. Everything suggested a new day truly was dawning.³⁴

In 1985, just ten years after Elder Monson’s dedicatory prayer, the Freiberg Germany Temple was dedicated in the German Democratic Republic. This first temple behind the Iron Curtain was built following patient yet persistent negotiations by East German Church leaders with Communist government authorities.

In 1987 Premier Mikhail Gorbachev of the USSR called for reforms and increased glasnost (openness). The political climate was becoming more favorable for the recognition and expansion of the Church in central and Eastern Europe.

As a member of the First Presidency, President Thomas S. Monson participated in a key meeting on 28 October 1988 that led to the opening of missionary work in East Germany and also opened the way for East German Saints to be called on missions. When President Monson and his party met with Erich Honecker, head of the Communist East German government, President Monson described the setting: “That special morning the sunlight bathed the city of Berlin. It had been raining all night, but now beauty prevailed.” Seated around a large table with his visitors, Chairman Honecker began: “We know members of your Church believe in work; you’ve proven that. We know you believe in the family; you’ve demonstrated that. We know you are good citizens in whatever country you claim as home; we have observed that. The floor is yours. Make your desires known.”

President Monson explained how over eighty-nine thousand people had attended the open house for the Freiberg Germany Temple, but the Church had not had any missionaries there to answer their questions. He said, “The young men and young women whom we would like to have come to your country as missionary representatives would love your nation and your people. More particularly, they would leave an influence with your people which would be ennobling. Then we would like to see young men and young women from your nation who are members of our Church serve as missionary representatives in many nations, such as in America, in Canada, and in a host of others. They will return better prepared to assume positions of responsibility in your land.”

Chairman Honecker smiled and responded: “We know you. We trust you. We have had experience with you. Your missionary request is approved.”³⁵

In November of 1989 individuals were permitted to travel freely between East and West Berlin for the first time in several decades. Soon the infamous Berlin Wall was dismantled. Within a year the Communist regimes in East Germany and other Eastern European countries toppled. These changes opened doors for the gospel to spread, and in the summer of 1990 missions opened in the formerly Communist countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.³⁶

In 1990 Yuri Dubinin, the Soviet ambassador to the United States, visited Utah. He met with Church leaders, visited Brigham Young University and the Missionary Training Center, and even spoke at a stake conference. He expressed appreciation for the aid the Church had sent following their recent earthquake. He expressed hope that people could come together to solve the new problems facing the world. “We are convinced that the key lies in recognizing the priority of universal human values,” he stated. “It is impossible to build a new world only by means of governments. A direct participation of peoples is necessary.”³⁷

By that time, missionary work had already begun in the USSR, although on a very limited basis. A number of Soviet citizens had joined the Church while living abroad, especially in Finland. Eventually the Finland Helsinki Mission was allowed to send representatives to visit and teach these members in their homes. Branches were formed in Tallinn, Estonia, as well as in Vyborg and Leningrad (later St. Petersburg) in Russia. In the summer of 1990 the new Finland Helsinki East Mission was formed to supervise the work in Russia, headed by Gary L. Browning, a BYU professor of Russian. At first, missionaries were only permitted to enter the country on tourist visas for a few weeks at a time. During a visit to the Vyborg branch, President Browning was thrilled to hear six beautiful little girls singing “I Am a Child of God” in Russian. He wrote: “The singing was angelic, as were their radiant, broadly smiling faces. As I watched and listened in awe, my heart filled with ‘hosannas’ for the blessing of this long-awaited day.”³⁸ In September, the Leningrad branch became the first Church unit to be officially registered in the Soviet Union.³⁹

A historical step forward for the Church in Eastern Europe was made in June 1991. During a three-week tour of Europe, the famed Tabernacle Choir gave concerts in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the Soviet Union. It was also broadcast on radio and television throughout these countries. Following the Choir’s performance at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, an announcement was made that the Church was now officially recognized in the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.⁴⁰ The following year, the first three missions were organized within the former Soviet Union at St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russia; Moscow, Russia; and Kiev, Ukraine.

President Ezra Taft Benson

The administration of President Ezra Taft Benson was marked by a renewed emphasis for the Saints to strive to use the Book of Mormon more effectively in understanding and fulfilling their roles on the earth. It was a time of challenge and growth as well as a time of reflection on the events that transpired in this dispensation that so greatly affected the lives of the Latter-day Saints.

Endnotes

1. This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Latter-day Saint Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999), pp. 248, 250–58, 302.

2. Don L. Searle, “President Ezra Taft Benson Ordained Thirteenth President of the Church,” Ensign, Dec. 1985, p. 5.

3. “President Ezra Taft Benson,” Ensign, Jan. 1986, pp. 4–5.

4. “An Invitation to Come Back,” Church News, 22 Dec. 1985, p. 3.

5. History of the Church, 4:461; see also Book of Mormon introduction.

6. In Conference Report, Apr. 1986, p. 4; or Ensign, May 1986, p. 5.

7. See “Missionaries Number 33,000,” Church News, 14 Mar. 1987, p. 3.

8. Deseret News 1987 Church Almanac (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1986), p. 134.

9. In Conference Report, Apr. 1987, p. 108; or Ensign, May 1987, p. 85; see also Conference Report, Oct. 1988, pp. 3–5; or Ensign, Nov. 1988, pp. 4–6.

10. In Conference Report, Apr. 1989, pp. 3, 6; or Ensign, May 1989, pp. 4, 6.

11. In Conference Report, Apr. 1986, pp. 55, 57; or Ensign, May 1986, pp. 43–44.

12. “To the Young Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 84.

13. To the Mothers in Zion (pamphlet, 1987), pp. 1–3, 5; see also pp. 8–12.

14. In Conference Report, Oct. 1987, pp. 59–61; or Ensign, Nov. 1987, pp. 48–49.

15. In Conference Report, Apr. 1987, pp. 57–58; or Ensign, May 1987, pp. 46–47.

16. “First Presidency Statement on AIDS,” Ensign, July 1988, p. 79.

17. In “Church Opposes Government-Sponsored Gambling,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, pp. 104–5.

18. “Recent Events Involving Church History and Forged Documents,” Ensign, Oct. 1987, pp. 63, 69. Scores of fraudulent documents can be traced to Mark Hofmann. The following documents are among those known to have been forged:

• Charles Anthon transcript
• Joseph Smith III blessing, dated 17 Jan. 1844
• Lucy Mack Smith letter, dated 23 Jan. 1829
• David Whitmer letter to Walter Conrad, dated 13 Jan. 1873
• Joseph Smith letter to Josiah Stowell, dated 18 June 1825
• Martin Harris letter to W. W. Phelps, dated 23 Oct. 1830
• E. B. Grandin Book of Mormon contract, dated 17 Aug. 1829
• Peter and David Whitmer letter to Bithel Todd, dated 12 Aug. 1828
• Joseph Smith letter to Jonathan Dunham, dated 27 June 1844
• Solomon Spaulding-Sidney Rigdon land deed, dated 1822
• Joseph Smith letter to Hyrum Smith, dated May 1838

19. “Reading Church History,” in Symposium Speeches (address to religious educators at a symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history, 14–16 Aug. 1985), p. 1; see also Oaks, “Recent Events Involving Church History,” p. 69.

20. In “LDS Leaders Offer Sympathies and Hope for a Swift Healing,” Deseret News, 24 Jan. 1987, p. A-3.

21. In Conference Report, Oct. 1986, p. 64; or Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 97.

22. “Stake Seventies Quorums Discontinued,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 97.

23. “LDS Leaders Stress Missionary Work, Present New Home-Teaching Guidelines,” Deseret News, 4 Apr. 1987, p. A-2.

24. “Perfecting the Saints,” Church News, 11 Apr. 1987, p. 5; see also “Key Concepts to Help Leaders,” Church News, 4 July 1987, p. 9.

25. In Conference Report, Apr. 1987, pp. 62–63; or Ensign, May 1987, p. 51.

26. In Conference Report, Oct. 1994, pp. 113–14; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 85.

27. “Ward Responds to Leader’s Challenge, Submits 1,000 Names for Temple Work,” Church News, 18 Mar. 1989, p. 6.

28. See “Hill Cumorah Spectacular Celebrates Its 50th Year,” Church News, 25 July 1987, pp. 6–7; “‘Grand Pageant’ Touches Lives of Visitors, Actors,” Church News, 25 July 1998, p. 11.

29. See “Committee to Guide Church’s Constitutional Celebration,” Church News, 16 May 1987, p. 3.

30. See “Four New Areas Will Be Created Aug. 15, Bringing Total to 17,” Church News, 25 Apr. 1987, pp. 3, 6.

31. See “International Mission Discontinued, Lands Are Now Supervised by Area Presidencies,” Church News, 26 Sept. 1987, p. 5.

32. In Conference Report, Apr. 1989, p. 22; or Ensign, May 1989, p. 17.

33. See Spencer W. Kimball, “When the World Will Be Converted,” Ensign, Oct. 1974, pp. 2–14.

34. In Conference Report, Apr. 1989, p. 67; or Ensign, May 1989, p. 51.

35. In Conference Report, Apr. 1989, pp. 68–69; or Ensign, May 1989, p. 52; see also Church News, 12 Nov. 1988, pp. 3–4.

36. See “Eight New Missions Added to Europe,” Church News, 3 Mar. 1990, pp. 3, 8–9.

37. “Soviet Envoy’s Utah Visit Is ‘Historic,’” Church News, 5 May 1990, pp. 3, 5.

38. “Out of Obscurity: The Emergence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in ‘That Vast Empire’ of Russia,” Brigham Young University Studies 33, no. 4 (1993): 680.

39. See “Registration of Leningrad Branch Approved,” Church News, 29 Sept. 1990, pp. 3, 5.

40. See “Church Is Recognized by Russian Republic,” Church News, 29 June 1991, pp. 3, 12; “Choir Leaves Trail of Joyful Tears,” Church News, 6 July 1991, pp. 3, 8–10.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Continued Growth during the Early 1990s

The closing decade¹ of the twentieth century was marked by flourishing growth amid change to accommodate the ever increasing needs of the Lord’s Church. Challenges that threatened the expansion of the kingdom often turned to benefit the work of the Lord as the Church reached beyond the borders of its membership to provide humanitarian aid, education, and good will to all people. The Savior said of his kingdom, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). This light was becoming more and more apparent as the century drew to a close.

The Church in West Africa

During the late 1980s and early 1990s one area of tremendous growth for the Church was Black west Africa. The first stake in the region was organized in 1988 in Aba, Nigeria. Over a thousand people attended the historic conference at which the stake was organized.² It was the first time a stake in the Church had all Black priesthood leaders. Three years later, the Church received legal recognition in the Ivory Coast.³

The Church experienced a temporary setback, however, in Ghana, another country of west Africa. On 14 June 1989, after the Church had had an official presence in Ghana for over a decade, the government of Ghana unexpectedly announced that the twelve foreign Latter-day Saint missionaries, as well as those from three other groups, were being expelled from the country, and that these churches were being banned for “conducting themselves in a manner that undermines the sovereignty of Ghana.” The Church was forced to release its seventy-two native Ghanaian missionaries. A year and a half later, following patient negotiations with the government, the Church was permitted to resume its activity in Ghana.⁴

Although the ban halted many Church activities in Ghana, it actually strengthened the Saints there. Less than four months after the ban was lifted, stakes were organized at Accra and Cape Coast. When the mission reopened, the seventy-two local missionaries were contacted to see if they wished to resume their missions. Three were out of the country, but all of the remaining missionaries chose to complete their missions. One of the elders, Ebenezer Owusu, had fasted and prayed during the interim that he might be worthy to resume his mission if the opportunity arose. He also read Jesus the Christ, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Gospel Principles twice, the Book of Mormon institute of religion manual twice, and the Book of Mormon twenty times.⁵

Jerusalem Center Opens

In 1968 Brigham Young University began conducting travel study programs to the Holy Land. Students were housed in hotels and other similar facilities. During the 1980s the Church created its own center for the Jerusalem program. The First Presidency supervised the project and assigned Elders Howard W. Hunter and James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Jeffrey R. Holland, then president of Brigham Young University, to oversee its completion.

Opposition to this large educational center arose from orthodox Jewish groups who feared that the Latter-day Saints planned to use the center as a base for proselyting. Members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as well as President Holland, met repeatedly with government, religious, and educational leaders in Israel and the United States to assure them that the Jerusalem Center would participate only in educational activities and that BYU students would not engage in any form of missionary work during their stay in Israel.

The completed structure included residence facilities for two hundred people plus classrooms and an auditorium with picture windows overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem. This magnificent facility was dedicated on 16 May 1989 by President Howard W. Hunter, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The Middle East

The Gulf War in January 1991 again focused the world’s attention on the Middle East. Many Latter-day Saints were among the military personnel sent to that region. They returned with an increased awareness of the challenges faced by people in that part of the world. The Church’s educational program in nearby Israel continued despite tensions in the region.

On the day after Christmas in 1992, the Tabernacle Choir left for a twelve-day concert tour to the Holy Land. Performances in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv sold out. With the help of Israeli technical crews, the choir’s weekly “Music and the Spoken Word” was broadcast from BYU’s Jerusalem Center, rather than from the “Crossroads of the West” in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Choir officials were delighted to learn that the managing director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the head of music at the Israel Broadcast Authority had been fans of the Tabernacle Choir since their youth.⁶ The Tabernacle Choir’s message of peace made a lasting impression on the turbulent region.

Challenge and Growth in Latin America

The Church grew more rapidly in Latin America than in any other area of the world, but this progress did not come easily. In 1986 five Latter-day Saint chapels in Chile were damaged by bombs; another was destroyed in 1990. These attacks appeared to be linked with anti-American sentiment. In 1989 two missionaries from Utah who were serving in Bolivia were murdered. The following year two Peruvian missionaries serving in their own country were also killed. All four murders appeared to have been perpetrated by revolutionary terrorists.⁷ Precautions were taken and, despite these tragedies, missionary work went forward in these countries.

After more than a century of activity in Mexico, the Church was officially registered by the government as a religious organization on 29 June 1993. This meant that the Church could enjoy rights (including ownership of property) that it had not been granted under earlier constitutions. Government officials gratefully acknowledged the many contributions that had been made by the Mormon community in Mexico.⁸

Later that same year the Church published a Spanish edition of the triple combination. It included the Guide to the Scriptures, a 260-page publication that incorporated material from the Topical Guide, the Bible Dictionary, and other helps found in the 1981 English edition of the scriptures. This was the first time these improved study helps became available in a language other than English.

Humanitarian Aid

The Lord commanded Latter-day Saints of all nations to “remember the poor” (D&C 42:30) and care for “the needy, the sick and the afflicted, for he that doeth not these things, the same is not my disciple” (D&C 52:40). The Saints have a responsibility to “administer to their relief that they shall not suffer” (D&C 38:35). During the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s, the Church organized a welfare program to help those in need. In addition to the welfare program, the Church organized a humanitarian relief program. In times of disaster and emergency, the Saints provide relief supplies and other needed help. In the closing decades of the twentieth century, the world witnessed an increase in the Church’s involvement in humanitarian aid on a global scale.

During the early 1980s a severe drought that hit much of northeastern Africa was a major cause in the malnutrition of millions and the death of hundreds of thousands in several countries. Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and Glenn L. Pace, managing director of Welfare Services, went on assignment to Africa in March 1985 to inspect conditions and see what the Church might do to assist the multitudes of hungry people. Members of the Church in the United States participated in a national day of fasting on 24 November 1985 and contributed $3.8 million. When combined with the money donated from a similar fast held the previous January, the contributions totaled more than $10 million. Early in January 1986 President Ezra Taft Benson traveled to Washington, D.C., where he met with President Ronald Reagan and reported on the contributions of the Saints to the stricken people in Africa.⁹

Early in 1992 the Church sent eighteen hundred boxes of food and vitamins to three newly created branches of the Church in Russia and Estonia. About half of the supplies went to Church members, and the rest went to other needy people in the area. Boxes of supplies were sent to schools, hospitals, senior citizens’ homes, and children’s relief agencies. The project was financed mostly by donations from Latter-day Saints in Europe, but about two and a half tons of milk and a supply of vitamins came from the Church’s welfare program in the United States.¹⁰

From 1985 to June of 1995, the Church’s humanitarian efforts involved 2,340 projects in 137 countries at a total value of $162.5 million, including the delivery of 9,800 tons of food, 894 tons of medical supplies, and 20,798 tons of surplus clothing.¹¹

To provide the clothing needed for these relief projects, the First Presidency established the Deseret Industries “sort center” in Salt Lake City. It occupied two stories of a large building and employed 130 workers who otherwise would likely be unemployed. Each day they sorted about forty-five tons of clothing, binding it into 125-pound bales for shipment.

For many years experienced organizations not necessarily affiliated with the Church delivered much of this humanitarian aid. Then in 1996 the Church created a charitable, nonprofit agency called Latter-day Saint Charities to help “deliver humanitarian aid to poor and needy people of the world.” This agency could deliver supplies to those in need, although in some cases it still enlisted the help of other agencies to distribute certain items.¹² Such “Church-sponsored humanitarian projects are limited to: (1) acute life-threatening emergencies such as those brought about by natural disasters and which require immediate, direct relief; and (2) chronic debilitating conditions brought about by poverty, poor health, or unsafe environments that may be improved by self-help development. Church funding of such projects is limited to the resources donated by members for these purposes.”¹³ Humanitarian aid provided by the Church fostered self-reliance, focused on strengthening families, and ministered to temporal needs so that spiritual needs could be met.

Gospel Literacy

Another worldwide effort organized by the Church was the gospel literacy program. Pioneered by the Church Educational System in the 1970s, this program was given impetus by the Relief Society in 1992 as part of its 150th anniversary commemoration. The literacy program involved missionaries and other volunteers using the scriptures and other gospel-centered materials to teach basic reading skills. For the first time local leaders in many places around the world could read the manuals and handbooks they needed for their callings and write their own books of remembrance.

The literacy program was adapted to the particular needs of the people in each area of the world. One couple serving a mission in Africa reported that they instructed people “in members’ homes, on patios, in backyards or under trees.” A sister in Chicago hadn’t been able to write letters to her friends until she learned the basics of spelling and grammar from the literacy program. Then she not only gained the ability to write letters, but she also gained self-confidence. One literacy missionary commented, “Every class we taught was a teacher’s payday as class members, individually and collectively, read scriptures and sang hymns and other songs.”¹⁴

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Other significant changes were taking place at Church headquarters. After seventy-six years of service, the Hotel Utah closed in 1987. During the next six years this landmark building in downtown Salt Lake City was structurally upgraded and completely renovated and refurbished. It was remodeled to include a chapel for two wards and a branch, offices for the Church’s Public Affairs and Family History departments, banquet facilities, two restaurants, and over a hundred family history computers that enabled visitors from around the world to search the Church’s family history databases for information on their families.

The renovated structure was renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was dedicated on 27 June 1993, the 149th anniversary of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s martyrdom. President Gordon B. Hinckley felt it was “appropriate that we have on this block a beautiful memorial to the Prophet Joseph Smith, from whose calling and work has sprung all that the Church is today.”¹⁵

A unique feature of the building was a state-of-the-art theater that seats five-hundred people. On its thirty-one feet by sixty-two feet screen visitors could view Legacy, a 53-minute film dramatizing the trials and triumphs of the early Latter-day Saints as they sought to establish the Church. Produced by Academy Award winner Kieth Merrill, the film focused on the experiences of one Latter-day Saint family to show important events in Church history from 1830 to the placing of the Salt Lake Temple’s capstone in 1892.¹⁶ A second film, The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd, released early in the year 2000, depicted the life of the Savior from New Testament and Book of Mormon scriptures.

Important Milestones

During the early 1990s the Church passed several significant milestones. For example, early in May 1991 the 500,000th full-time missionary received his call. The 60,000th full-time missionary had been called in 1950, and the 264,000th in 1980.¹⁷

During that time the First Presidency became increasingly concerned about the “great and growing disparity in the cost of missions in various areas of the world”; some missions cost as little as $100 per month while others cost as much as $750 per month. The decision was made that all those supporting a missionary called from the United States or Canada would contribute a fixed amount, then set at $350 per month.¹⁸ In like spirit, Church leaders decided in 1989 that local ward or branch budgets would be supported by the general funds of the Church. They expressed gratitude that the Saints’ faithful tithe paying had made this step possible.¹⁹ In each case, members were helping one another—those whose missionaries were in less expensive areas helping to subsidize missionaries serving in more costly locales, and tithe payers helping to finance the budgets of less affluent wards and branches.

Another milestone was reached in December 1992 when the 20,000th ward was created. The Church then had local units in 144 nations or territories—67 percent of which were wards and the remainder branches. The 1,000th ward had been organized in 1927, the 5,000th in 1970, and the 10,000th in 1980.²⁰

The Preparation of a Prophet

Howard William Hunter was born in Boise, Idaho, on 14 November 1907, the first Church President to be born in the twentieth century. During his boyhood in the Idaho countryside, Howard gained a love for animals, nature, and hard work. He became involved in Scouting and was the second boy in his area to receive the Eagle award.

As a young man he loved music and learned to play the marimba, drums, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, piano, and violin. During his junior year of high school he organized his own dance band, called Hunter’s Croonaders. Soon after graduation, he and a few other musician friends formed a five-piece orchestra that played aboard a ship on a two-month cruise to Asia. They performed classical music during dinner, accompanied silent movies, and played for dances.

When twenty-one-year-old Howard W. Hunter returned to Idaho, opportunities for employment were scarce, so he headed for southern California. He found jobs playing music, selling shoes, and working in a bank.

Even though he had been active in the Church during his youth in Idaho, he believed that his spiritual awakening came after his move to California. “I think of this period of my life as the time the truths of the gospel commenced to unfold. I always had a testimony of the gospel, but suddenly I commenced to understand.”²¹

At a Church young adult activity, Howard W. Hunter met Clara May (Claire) Jeffs, whom he married on 10 June 1931 in the Salt Lake Temple. As his wedding day approached, he decided to give up his career as a professional musician. “It was glamorous in some respects,” Howard commented, “and I made good money, but the association with many of the musicians was not enjoyable because of their drinking and moral standards.”²²

Deciding he wanted to enter the legal profession, the young husband entered Southwestern University in Los Angeles to do his undergraduate work and pursue a law degree. He worked full-time, took classes in the evening, and still managed to fulfill his family duties and his ecclesiastical responsibilities as a Scout leader. He completed his law degree in 1939.

Howard W. Hunter was called as bishop of the El Sereno ward in 1940, when many nations were entering World War II. His ward could not build a badly-needed chapel during the war, so Bishop Hunter encouraged ward members to participate in fund-raising projects so the money would be ready when construction again became possible.

Bishop Hunter was released in 1946, and then four years later was called as president of the Pasadena stake. His responsibilities were not limited to that stake, however. The General Authorities assigned President Hunter to take the lead in pioneering early-morning seminary, to serve as chairman of the southern California welfare region, to act as priesthood advisor for regional youth activities (including music and dance festivals), and to play a key role in raising funds for the building of the Los Angeles California Temple.²³

As stake president, Howard W. Hunter typically attended general conference each April and October in Salt Lake City. Following the opening session of the October 1959 conference, President Hunter received a note asking him to go to President David O. McKay’s office. In his office, the prophet told him: “Sit down, President Hunter, I want to talk with you. The Lord has spoken. You are called to be one of his special witnesses, and tomorrow you will be sustained as a member of the Council of the Twelve.”²⁴

As a special witness of Jesus Christ, Elder Hunter traveled to the ends of the earth delivering his testimony of the Master and was warmly received by the Saints. Elder Hunter also served as Church Historian and Recorder, succeeding Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, who had filled that office for half a century. Elder Hunter took a personal interest in the functioning of the Church Historian’s Office and encouraged efforts to improve the keeping of Church history. Even when members of the Twelve were released from their responsibilities as heads of Church departments in 1972, Elder Hunter continued to serve as an advisor to the newly restructured Historical Department.

Significant Strides in Family History Work

Elder Howard W. Hunter was also closely involved with the Church’s genealogical program. In 1964 he served as president of the Church’s Genealogical Society. It was under his direction that computers were first used to “manage and process names for temple ordinance work.”²⁵

Over a period of several years Elder Hunter was involved in key decisions that helped refine and expedite genealogical procedures. These refinements included the creation of the Pedigree Referral Service and the development of a system of branch genealogical libraries.²⁶

Church leaders recognized that genealogical research was considered difficult by most members. Elder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained, “We are trying to simplify and demystify the seeking and finding of our ancestors. We are also hoping to make it easier for everyone with little training to find his or her own forefathers and receive the temple ordinances in their behalf.”²⁷ Simpler family group sheets, pedigree charts, and name submission procedures were implemented to further this objective.

Reflecting on the impressive capacity of the computer and related technology to facilitate family history work, Elder Boyd K. Packer declared: “When the servants of the Lord determine to do as He commands, we move ahead. As we proceed, we are joined at the crossroads by those who have been prepared to help us.

“They come with skills and abilities precisely suited to our needs. And, we find provisions; information, inventions, help of various kinds, set along the way waiting for us to take them up.

“It is as though someone knew we would be traveling that way. We see the invisible hand of the Almighty providing for us.”²⁸

With Elder Howard W. Hunter’s help, the family history program of the Church became both more efficient and easier to use.

A New Prophet

Elder Howard W. Hunter was set apart on 5 June 1994 as the fourteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson in May of 1994. At the press conference introducing President Hunter as the new prophet, he presented the theme that would become the hallmark of his brief administration. He invited “the members of the Church to establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants. It would be the deepest desire of my heart to have every member of the Church temple worthy. I would hope that every adult member would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend, even if proximity to a temple does not allow immediate or frequent use of it. Let us be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people.”²⁹

President Hunter again sounded this theme at the conclusion of the October general conference that same year: “Let us make the temple, with temple worship and temple covenants and temple marriage, our ultimate earthly goal and the supreme mortal experience.”³⁰

As President of the Church, Howard W. Hunter helped the Saints focus their attention on attending the temple and coming unto Christ.

Temple Construction

President Hunter dedicated temples in Orlando, Florida, and Bountiful, Utah. By the end of his administration eleven more temples had been announced, and construction on a twelfth temple was under way. These new temples included two in Europe and three in Latin America.

Among these temples were two that represented new and distinct concepts in temple design. Because real estate in crowded Hong Kong, China, was so difficult to obtain, the building there had to accommodate temple facilities, residences for temple and mission presidents, offices, and a chapel.

In Vernal, Utah, for the first time the Church transformed an existing older building into a temple. The exterior of the former stake tabernacle was restored, and temple facilities were constructed inside.

Another important event of President Hunter’s administration occurred on 11 December 1994, when he organized the 2,000th stake of the Church in Mexico City. In 1970, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he organized the five existing Mexico City stakes into fifteen. On no other occasion in Church history had ten new stakes been organized in a single city at the same time. The 1,000th stake in the Church was organized in 1979 in Nauvoo, Illinois. The number of stakes had doubled in just fifteen years. During the early 1990s three stakes were created outside the United States for every one that was created within the nation.³¹

After presiding over the Church for almost nine months, President Howard W. Hunter died on 3 March 1995. His last public appearance had been at the dedication of the Bountiful Utah Temple two months earlier. He had once again been pointing Saints toward the temple, the “symbol of their membership.” The lives of Latter-day Saints around the world were blessed by the example and ministry of President Howard W. Hunter.

Endnotes

1.This chapter was written for the Church Educational System; also published in Richard O. Cowan, The Latter-day Saint Century (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1999), pp. 260–70, 297–98, 302–3.

2. See “Nigeria Marks Twin Milestones,” Church News, 21 May 1988, p. 6.

3. See “Legal Recognition Granted to Church in Ivory Coast,” Church News, 25 May 1991, pp. 3–4.

4. “Ghana Expels Missionaries, Bans Church,” Church News, 24 June 1989, p. 12; see “Church Resumes Activities in Ghana,” Church News, 8 Dec. 1990, p. 5.

5. From Ebenezer Owusu interview by E. Dale LeBaron in Nairobi, Kenya, on 18 July 1992.

6. See “‘Savoring Moments’ in Jerusalem,” Church News, 2 Jan. 1993, pp. 3, 13.

7. See “Explosion Damages Five Meetinghouses,” Church News, 4 May 1986, p. 14; “Two Missionaries Serving in Bolivia Are Assassinated by Terrorists,” Church News, 27 May 1989, p. 4; “Gunmen Shoot, Kill Two Peruvian Missionaries,” Church News, 25 Aug. 1990, p. 4; “Leaders ‘Saddened’ by Attack,” Church News, 22 Dec. 1990, p. 4.

8. See “Preserving Memory of the Prophet,” Church News, 17 July 1993, pp. 3–4.

9. See “Day of Fasting for Africa Yields $6 Million in Aid,” Church News, 14 Apr. 1985, p. 19; “Prophet Is ‘at Home’ in Capital,” Church News, 12 Jan. 1986, p. 3.

10. See “Food Shipment Eases Soviet Hunger,” Church News, 30 Mar. 1991, p. 3.

11. See Thomas S. Monson, “Brothers’ Keepers,” Ensign, June 1998, pp. 33–39.

12. “LDS Charities Announced by First Presidency,” Church News, 2 Nov. 1996, p. 3.

13. Isaac C. Ferguson, “Freely Given,” Ensign, Aug. 1988, p. 15.

14. “Literacy Effort Changing Lives of Members in African Nations,” Church News, 1 Oct. 1994, p. 5; “Gospel Literacy: ‘Coming Out of Darkness into Marvelous Light,’” Church News, 30 Dec. 1995, p. 13; see “Church Efforts to Improve Literacy,” Ensign, Oct. 1993, pp. 79–80.

15. “Joseph Smith Memorial Building,” Church News, 26 June 1993, p. 6.

16. See “‘Legacy’: New Church Film Dramatizes Joys, Anguish of Early Saints,” Church News, 19 June 1993, pp. 8–10.

17. See “Missionary Milestone: 500,000th Is Called,” Church News, 4 May 1991, pp. 3, 7.

18. “Policy Equalizes Mission Expenses,” Church News, 1 Dec. 1990, p. 3.

19. See “Policy for Financing Local Units to Change,” Church News, 25 Nov. 1989, p. 3.

20. See “Milestone of 20,000 Wards, Branches Reached by Church,” Church News, 19 Dec. 1992, p. 4.

21. Eleanor Knowles, Howard W. Hunter (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994), p. 71.

22. Knowles, Howard W. Hunter, p. 81.

23. See Richard O. Cowan and William E. Homer, California Saints: A 150-Year Legacy in the Golden State (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1996), pp. 329–33.

24. In Knowles, Howard W. Hunter, p. 144.

25. James B. Allen, Jessie L. Embry, and Kahlile B. Mehr, Hearts Turned to the Fathers: A History of the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1894–1994 (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1995), p. 303; see also p. 174.

26. Knowles, Howard W. Hunter, pp. 187–92.

27. In “Telecast Focus,” Church News, 4 July 1987, p. 10.

28. In Earl C. Tingey, in Conference Report, Apr. 1991, p. 33; or Ensign, May 1991, p. 26.

29. “President Hunter Pledges Life,” Church News, 11 June 1994, p. 14.

30. In Conference Report, Oct. 1994, p. 118; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 88.

31. See “Church’s 2,000th Stake Created,” Church News, 17 Dec. 1994, pp. 3, 8.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The Church Comes out of Obscurity

Perhaps no President¹ of the Church came to the office with more Church administrative experience than Gordon B. Hinckley. Building on this preparation, President Hinckley helped the Church come out of obscurity as he met with the press and traveled extensively to visit the Saints worldwide. New developments in Church administration and temple building helped the Church meet the challenges of rapid growth as the gospel continued to spread around the globe.

Preparation of a Prophet

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was born 23 June 1910 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In contrast to the stamina he would exhibit later in life, as a toddler he was quite frail; he had ear aches, asthma, allergies, and other illnesses. The dense coal smoke that blanketed Salt Lake City during the winter was not good for him, so the family decided to move to the countryside. On the family farm near Salt Lake City, young Gordon learned to work hard and developed skills as a carpenter and handyman.

Soon after being ordained a deacon, twelve-year-old Gordon B. Hinckley attended a stake priesthood meeting and sat on the back row. He was touched when he heard the congregation stand and sing with power: “Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! / Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.”² He later reflected: “Something happened within me as I heard those men of faith sing. It touched my heart. It gave me a feeling that was difficult to describe. I felt a great moving power, both emotional and spiritual. I had never had it previously in terms of any Church experience. There came into my heart a conviction that the man of whom they sang was really a prophet of God.”³ Elder Boyd K. Packer later pointed out that “even today, . . . [President Hinckley] cannot tell of that experience without slipping a finger under his glasses to prevent a tear from rolling down his cheek.”⁴

In 1928 Gordon B. Hinckley began his studies in English at the University of Utah. As the Great Depression spread, so did an atmosphere of cynicism. He questioned many assumptions, even “perhaps in a slight measure the faith of my parents.” Nevertheless, he gratefully acknowledged the witness that had come during the stake priesthood meeting that “remained with me and became as a bulwark to which I could cling during those very difficult years.”⁵

Following graduation from the University of Utah, he planned to study journalism at Columbia University in New York City. These plans were changed, however, when he accepted a call to the British Mission. During the Depression relatively few could afford to serve a mission. Accepting this call represented a substantial sacrifice for himself and his family. When he arrived in England he was assigned to serve in the Preston area.

As a new missionary, Elder Hinckley had little success, so he wrote home and told his family that he didn’t want to waste his own time or his father’s money. His father responded: “Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: Forget yourself and go to work.” His father’s wise advice prompted Elder Hinckley to seek the solitude of his room and pour out his heart to the Lord. Years later he indicated: “That July day in 1933 was my day of decision. A new light came into my life and a new joy into my heart. The fog of England seemed to lift, and I saw the sunlight. Everything good that has happened to me since then I can trace back to the decision I made that day in Preston.”⁶

Elder Hinckley was transferred to London where he became the assistant to Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who at that time presided over all the missions of Europe. Working closely with this respected Church leader gave the young missionary valuable experience that strengthened his confidence. Addressing skeptical and even hostile crowds in Hyde Park also helped him develop his skills as a public speaker. Elder Hinckley was given responsibility for the mission’s publications and was assigned to develop a series of filmstrips for the missionaries to use in teaching the gospel.

In 1935, when Elder Hinckley was released from his mission, President Merrill assigned him to personally inform the First Presidency about the critical need for teaching materials in missionary work. Accordingly, on 20 August 1935, twenty-five-year-old Elder Hinckley met with President Heber J. Grant and his counselors, J. Reuben Clark and David O. McKay. He was given fifteen minutes to present his message, but as the Presidency raised questions, the interview was lengthened an additional hour.

Even though he was reviving his interest in further studies at Columbia University, he once again chose to set aside his plans. Two days after his interview with the First Presidency, President McKay called and invited him to work with the newly constituted Church Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee. As their executive secretary, the young returned missionary was to work closely with the committee, which consisted of six members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Brother Hinckley was assigned to work in an unfurnished office. A missionary associate gave him a dilapidated table with a warped and cracked top and one short leg. He brought his own typewriter from home and had to justify his request for a single ream of paper. From this humble beginning grew the Church’s extensive media and public affairs programs.

Brother Hinckley married his neighborhood sweetheart, Marjorie Pay, in 1937, the same year he was called as a member of the Sunday School General Board. He and Marjorie had five children. In 1946 Brother Hinckley was called into the presidency of his stake, where he served for twelve years, the last two as stake president.

For over two decades as an employee at Church headquarters Brother Hinckley wrote scripts for radio programs and other presentations, produced filmstrips, and organized Church exhibits at World’s Fairs. As the Swiss Temple in Bern, Switzerland, was planned, President David O. McKay assigned Brother Hinckley to consider how the temple endowment could be presented in many languages. Meeting regularly with the prophet, Brother Hinckley developed a system that employed motion pictures in the temple ceremony.

In 1958 Gordon B. Hinckley was called as an Assistant to the Twelve. In this capacity he continued to supervise the Missionary Department. When the world was divided into “areas,” each supervised by one of the General Authorities, Elder Hinckley accepted the assignment to supervise the work in Asia. He also served under Elder Harold B. Lee on the General Priesthood Committee as it planned what later became Priesthood Correlation.

In 1961 Elder Hinckley was called to be one of the Lord’s “special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world” (D&C 107:23) as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. As an Apostle, Elder Hinckley traveled many miles, including an around-the-world tour in 1964. Two years later he visited Saigon during the Vietnam conflict and dedicated that land for the preaching of the gospel. During his travels he met with world leaders, conducted conferences, dedicated chapels, visited missions, and in other ways worked “to build up the church, and regulate all the affairs of the same in all nations” (D&C 107:33).

In 1981 President Spencer W. Kimball called Elder Hinckley to be a third counselor in the First Presidency. Because President Kimball and both of the other counselors were in poor health, a heavy load fell on President Hinckley’s capable shoulders. This situation was repeated during the next dozen years, requiring President Hinckley to provide much of the primary direction in the Church’s day-to-day affairs.

Even before becoming President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated more temples than anyone else in the present dispensation. At the October 1985 general conference he rejoiced in his experiences at temple dedications that year: “I have looked into the faces of tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints. Their skins are of varying colors and hues. But their hearts beat as one with testimony and conviction concerning the truth of this great restored work of God. I have heard their testimonies spoken with sincerity. I have listened to their prayers. I have heard them lift their voices in anthems of praise. I have seen their tears of gratitude. I have known of their sacrifices made in appreciation for the blessings that have come to them.”⁷

Saints around the world have been blessed with temples dedicated by President Hinckley. In 1984, when President Hinckley dedicated the Manila Philippines Temple, there were over 100,000 Saints in the Philippines. Only twenty-three years earlier, when Elder Hinckley had opened missionary work in the country, there had been only one native member. In South Africa President Hinckley contrasted the highly publicized racial tensions of that country with the harmony among various ethnic groups as the faithful Saints assembled within the temple. At the dedication of the Freiberg Germany Temple, the Saints rejoiced that a new day had dawned and the sun was shining both in the physical and political climates of their country.⁸

Fifteenth President of the Church

Then came an even greater responsibility for President Hinckley. On 12 March 1995, following the death of President Howard W. Hunter, he was set apart as the fifteenth President of the Church in this dispensation.

President Hinckley was concerned about the disintegration of families in the modern era. In the fall of 1995, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles issued “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” Noting that this was only the fifth such proclamation issued in the history of the Church (see following table), Elder Henry B. Eyring pointed out that it helped us as a Church “understand the importance our Heavenly Father places upon the family.”⁹

At a time when the necessity of formal marriage commitment was being questioned, the proclamation affirmed that “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” The proclamation outlined keys to family success: “faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

In contrast to the erosion of moral standards in the world, the proclamation declared, “God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.” The proclamation warned that those who violate sacred covenants or do not fulfill family responsibilities “will one day stand accountable before God.”¹⁰

In the October 1996 general conference, President Hinckley lamented that there are some who in anger mistreat their wives and children: “No man who engages in such evil and unbecoming behavior is worthy of the priesthood of God. No man who so conducts himself is worthy of the privileges of the house of the Lord. . . . If there be any such men within the hearing of my voice, as a servant of the Lord I rebuke you and call you to repentance.”¹¹

The proclamation on the family concluded by calling upon government officials everywhere to promote measures to strengthen the home and family. On 13 November, about two months after the proclamation was issued, President Hinckley met with William Jefferson Clinton, the president of the United States, at the White House in Washington, D.C. The prophet presented him with a copy of the proclamation, which led to a discussion on the family. “It is our feeling that if you’re going to fix the nation,” counseled President Hinckley, “you need to start by fixing families. That’s the place to begin.” The leaders discussed “the need for parents to be actively involved in their children’s lives.” After giving him bound copies of his and his wife’s family histories and describing the Church’s family home evening program, President Hinckley suggested that the nation’s leader get his family together and “sit down with those books and have a family home evening.”¹²

Communicating the Gospel

To better help the world understand that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian church, President Hinckley directed that a new Church logo be adopted in December 1995. It was designed so that the name of Jesus Christ was the most prominent feature in the Church’s official name.

With his many years of experience in working with the media, President Hinckley was well aware of the importance of communicating the Church’s message clearly. An unusual opportunity came to him when he was invited to be the subject of a profile on the television magazine program 60 Minutes. Mike Wallace, the show’s host, came to Salt Lake City to interview President Hinckley. For several hours, Wallace asked difficult and probing questions, and President Hinckley responded freely. In response to a question about women’s roles, the President explained: “My wife is my companion. In this Church the man neither walks ahead of his wife nor behind his wife but at her side. They are coequals in this life in a great enterprise.” When asked how he received revelation, President Hinckley referred to Elijah’s experience with the “still, small voice.” He then added that “the things of God are understood by the Spirit of God, and one must have and seek and cultivate that Spirit, and there comes understanding and it is real.”¹³

Mike Wallace commented: “Frankly, nearly everything about this assignment surprised me. . . . I was surprised by Gordon Hinckley’s humor and his candor, neither of which I expected. We raised the issues that were on the minds of the skeptics, he was willing to answer every question, and his answers were reasonable.”¹⁴ He later added: “My 60 Minutes colleagues and I learned, from the time we spent with Gordon Hinckley and his wife, from his staff, and from other Mormons who talked to us, that this warm and thoughtful and decent and optimistic leader of the Mormon Church fully deserves the almost universal admiration that he gets.”¹⁵

The telecast aired on Easter Sunday, 7 April 1996. As President Hinckley closed general conference earlier that afternoon, he shared some of his feelings about the experience: “I recognized that if I were to appear, critics and detractors of the Church would also be invited to participate. I knew we could not expect that the program would be entirely positive for us.

“On the other hand, I felt that it offered the opportunity to present some affirmative aspects of our culture and message to many millions of people. I concluded that it was better to lean into the stiff wind of opportunity than to simply hunker down and do nothing.”¹⁶ The program was received well and generated a great deal of positive recognition for the Church.

With this experience behind him, President Hinckley was more willing to accept other invitations to tell the world about the restored Church. In March 1997 he addressed 2,300 listeners at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Then in September he appeared before the annual convention of the Religion Newswriters Association.

On 8 September 1998, President Hinckley had an opportunity to reach an international cable television audience by appearing on the Larry King Live television show. During the live show, President Hinckley told Larry King and the world: “My role is to declare doctrine. . . . My role is to stand as an example before the people. My role is to be a voice in defense of the truth. My role is to stand as a conservator of those values which are important in our civilization and our society. My role is to lead people.”¹⁷ President Gordon B. Hinckley successfully used the media on these occasions to help make the name of the Church more familiar to people around the world.

Getting out to the Saints

At a general conference early in his administration, President Gordon B. Hinckley expressed, “I have a desire to get out with the Latter-day Saints across the world, to look into your faces, to shake your hands wherever possible, to share with you in a more personal and intimate way my feelings concerning this sacred work, and to feel of your spirit and your love of the Lord and His mighty cause.”¹⁸

During his first three years as President of the Church, President Hinckley did just that. He visited Latter-day Saints on every continent except Antarctica. He traveled to western Europe twice, to the Holy Land, to Mexico four times, to Central America, to South America twice, to Asia, to Australia and New Zealand, to the islands of Polynesia, and to Africa. These international travels were made more convenient when a Utah industrialist placed a personal jet at President Hinckley’s disposal. No other President of the Church had traveled so far during a comparable period. He visited some fifty countries, conducted at least 350 meetings, and addressed 1.5 million people in person.

In mid-May 1996, President Hinckley went on a two-week trip to Asia. While there he visited people with whom he had been closely associated since his assignment to the Orient nearly four decades earlier.

After brief visits to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, President Hinckley arrived in Hong Kong, China, where he dedicated the Church’s forty-eighth temple. The timing was important; it was just over one year before the British colony of Hong Kong reverted to Chinese jurisdiction. In the dedicatory prayer President Hinckley petitioned, “May the blessings of freedom continue to be enjoyed by those who live here and, in a particular way, we pray that future events may be conducive to the growth and strengthening of Thy work.”¹⁹

President Gordon B. Hinckley was also the first President of the Church to visit mainland China. The day following the Hong Kong China Temple dedication, he and his party traveled over the border to Shenzhen to visit a cultural center with re-creations of villages from various regions of China. The idea for this center had come from the Church’s Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in Hawaii, and personnel at the PCC had helped their Chinese counterparts develop this similar center.

That afternoon President Hinckley flew to Cambodia, where in the evening at Phnom Penh he addressed a fireside attended by 439 people, more than half of whom were investigators. The next morning, standing on a hillside overlooking the Mekong River, he dedicated Cambodia for the preaching of the gospel. That same day he traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Hanoi, Vietnam. In Hanoi President Hinckley offered an “addendum” to his 1966 dedicatory prayer, now dedicating the entire country of Vietnam for the preaching of the gospel.²⁰

In February 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley became the first President of the Church to visit Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. At his first stop, Nigeria, he addressed over a thousand priesthood bearers in one meeting and 12,417 people in a regional conference. During the meeting in Accra, Ghana, his announcement that the first temple in west Africa would be built there was received with joyous applause. He also visited South Africa, where he told his listeners that they should not emigrate because of the difficulties in their land, but that “the Church is spreading forth over the earth, to build Zion wherever it goes for the people who live there.”²¹ President Hinckley traveled a total of 24,700 miles on the trip, nearly the distance around the world.

Faith in Every Footstep

During 1996 and 1997 the Saints celebrated the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the exodus of the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo with the theme “faith in every footstep. On 4 February 1996 a group of Saints braved below-zero temperatures in Illinois to commemorate the exodus. Then on 13 July, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the reconstructed Kanesville Tabernacle. It was there on 27 December 1847 that the newly reorganized First Presidency, with Brigham Young as the second President of the Church, had first been sustained by the Saints. President Hinckley also addressed a group gathered for the reenactment of the Mormon Battalion’s enlistment and departure.

On 18 April 1997 President Hinckley dedicated the new Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters. He expressed the deep emotion he felt looking at Avard Fairbanks’ statue of a pioneer family burying their baby (located in the Winter Quarters cemetery): “I think it is ingrained very deeply in me a respect and love and appreciation for those who 150 years ago moved over this trail.”²² The following day a sesquicentennial wagon train left the Omaha area to reenact the thousand-mile trek to the Salt Lake Valley. During the next three months hundreds of individuals joined the train, riding in covered wagons, pushing handcarts, and walking along the 1847 trail. Along the way the participants were honored by state and local officials who paid tribute to the achievements of the early Mormon pioneers.

Not all of the sesquicentennial celebrations were held in the United States, however. The one hundred Latter-day Saints living in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, constructed two traditional pioneer handcarts of their own. On a frigid Saturday in February 1997, the members took turns pulling the carts through the main streets of their city. The carts were transported by train from one major city to another across Russia and Ukraine. Finally, one of the carts was flown to the United States, where it joined the wagon train for the last leg of its journey into the Salt Lake Valley.

Some 8,500 people converged on the grounds of the Mexico City D.F. Mexico Temple to commemorate the accomplishments of the Utah pioneers and the pioneers of Mexico. During the summer of 1997 there were also pioneer parades in such diverse places as Rome, Italy, and Charleroi, Belgium.

An estimated fifty thousand people gathered around the “This Is the Place” monument to greet the wagon train as it emerged from Emigration Canyon into the Salt Lake Valley on 22 July 1997. Looking over these “pioneers,” President Hinckley quipped, “You look as if you’ve come a thousand miles.”²³

The media, both print and electronic, showed great interest in the pioneer sesquicentennial. They were particularly eager to follow the day-by-day experiences of the wagon train that re-created the early pioneers’ trek. “In 1997, the Church received more national and international media coverage than all the other years in Church history combined,” remarked Elder M. Russell Ballard, chairman of the sesquicentennial celebration.²⁴

“Is there a lesson in the pioneer experience for us today?” asked Elder Ballard. “I believe there is. The faith that motivated the pioneers of 1847 as well as pioneers in other lands was a simple faith centered in the basic doctrines of the restored gospel, which they knew to be true. That’s all that mattered to them, and I believe that is all that should matter to us.”²⁵

Leading and Administering a Rapidly Growing Church

In February 1996, for the first time more Church members lived outside the United States than in it. The Church was adding about a million new members every three years, passing the ten million mark early in November 1997. President Hinckley continued to emphasize that these new converts needed fellowshipping to remain strong and faithful.

The first stake in Papua New Guinea was organized on 22 October 1995. In February 1996 eighty brethren were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood in Kiribati, and the Tarawa Stake was organized there in August of that same year. In November 1997 Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin became the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve to visit Vladivostok on the Pacific coast of Russia.

To assist in leading and administering this growing membership, refinements were made in the organization of the Church’s leadership. In 1995 President Hinckley announced the appointment of Area Authorities as intermediate officers between General Authorities and stake presidencies. President Hinckley explained that Area Authorities would continue in their careers and live in their own homes. These new leaders, called by the First Presidency and working under the direction of Area Presidencies, could preside at stake conferences, reorganize stake presidencies, serve as counselors in Area Presidencies, and train mission presidents. Area Authorities were to serve in a Church-service, or voluntary, capacity for a flexible term, generally about six years.²⁶ They replaced the Regional Representatives of the Twelve, who were all released at that time.

Two years later President Hinckley announced that these Area Authorities were being ordained to the office of Seventy. This gave them “a quorum relationship presided over by the Presidents of the Seventy. They would be known as Area Authority Seventies.” He also announced the formation of three new Quorums of the Seventy: the Third Quorum for those living in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific; the Fourth Quorum for those in Central and South America; and the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy for those in the United States and Canada.²⁷

A New Conference Center

Another response to the rapid growth of the Church was announced at the opening of the April 1996 general conference. President Hinckley lamented that the Salt Lake Tabernacle was no longer able to accommodate the ever-larger throngs wanting to attend general conference. He announced plans to build on the block north of Temple Square an assembly building that would seat twenty-one thousand people and would accommodate general conferences as well as other large meetings and activities. Ground was broken for the new facility on 24 July 1997 as part of the pioneer sesquicentennial celebration.

During the last session of the October 1999 general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced, “This is the last time we will meet in this Tabernacle for general conference.” The Tabernacle, first used for general conference in October 1867, “has grown too small for our needs,” President Hinckley explained. He went on to say, “We anticipate that next April we will meet in a new hall as we usher in a new century and a new millennium,” adding, “May the blessings of God rest upon this sacred and wonderful hall.”²⁸

At the April 2000 general conference, President Hinckley greeted the Saints attending the first conference session in the new Conference Center, “My dearly beloved brethren and sisters, what a magnificent sight you are, this vast congregation of Latter-day Saints gathered together in this new and wonderful hall.”²⁹ President Hinckley told the congregation that the present building was anticipated as early as 1924 by Elder James E. Talmage and perhaps by President Brigham Young in 1853.

President Hinckley added a personal touch to the conference as he told the Saints about the pulpit of the new building: “Some 36 years ago I planted a black walnut [tree]. . . . A year ago, for some reason it died. But walnut is a precious furniture wood. I called Brother Ben Banks of the Seventy, who, before giving his full time to the Church, was in the business of hardwood lumber. He brought his two sons, . . . who now run the business, to look at the tree. From all they could tell it was solid, good, and beautiful wood. One of them suggested that it would make a pulpit for this hall. The idea excited me. . . . [At] Fetzer’s woodworking plant . . . expert craftsmen designed and built this magnificent pulpit with that wood.

“. . . And here I am speaking to you from the tree I grew in my backyard, where my children played and also grew.”³⁰

All five sessions of the conference were held in the new building. During the final session on Sunday afternoon President Hinckley said, “There is something wonderfully significant about all of this. It is a time of new beginnings. . . .

“. . . This building has been filled to capacity. I don’t see an empty seat anywhere. It is a miracle! It is a tremendous and wonderful thing, for which we thank the Lord with all our hearts.”³¹

On 23 June 2000 the Conference Center accommodated 21,000 guests who attended a celebration of President Hinckley’s ninetieth birthday. “President Hinckley hosted ‘An Evening of Celebration,’ featuring distinguished musicians, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square. His counselors in the First Presidency, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust, offered the invocation and benediction, respectively.

“President Hinckley explained the party was not for him, but instead was his gift to those who have touched his life. ‘Tonight,’ he said, ‘is my opportunity to give something back to the community in which I have spent most of my life, and to the many wonderful people here and throughout the world who, for all of these years, have shown me kindness and touched me with their goodness.’” The celebration was broadcast over satellite to LDS meetinghouses throughout the world.³²

Temples of the World
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Temple Dedications

Kirtland Temple
27 March 1836