This year held a lot of landmark events in the Church. From the newly televised priesthood session of general conference to more than 80,000 missionaries in the field, check out what happened in the Church in 2013.
February 3, 2013
Photo from LDS.org
President Thomas S. Monson reaches his 5 year mark as President of The Church.
February 21, 2013
A mobile-friendly version of the official church website, LDS.org, is released, giving members and missionaries alike easier access to church resources.
February 22, 2013
The first wave of new missionaries being dropped off at the MTC. Photo from Universe.byu.edu.
The Church announces the creation of 58 new missions to accommodate the influx of missionaries after President Monson’s announcement in October 2012 General Conference.
March 17, 2013
Photo from Mormon Newsroom
The Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple, which will serve approximately 233,000 members of The Church, is dedicated in three sessions as the sixth temple in Central America.
April 6, 2013
General conference brings several exciting announcements:
Photo from Mormon Newsroom
Sister Bonnie Lee Green Oscarson is announced as the new General Young Women’s President with 1st Counselor Carol Louise Foley McConkie and 2nd Counselor Evelyn Neill Foote Marriott.
The 17th temple in Utah will built in Cedar City and the 7th temple in Brazil will be built in Rio de Janeiro.
April 22, 2013
In only seven years, FamilySearch reaches 1 billion digitized records thanks to volunteers of all ages from over 164 countries and territories.
May 17, 2013
Photo from Mormon Newsroom
Sister Francis J. Monson, wife of President Thomas S. Monson, passes away in a Salt Lake City hospital, surrounded by family. On the day of her passing, The Church releases an article commemorating her life, and funeral services are held a week later on Thursday, May 23, 2013.
Church members everywhere remember her life of service as an inspiration, including a video tribute that aired on Mother's day, the 12th, just before her passing.
June 9, 2013
Photo from Deseret News
June 9th marks the 100 year anniversary of the LDS Church's affiliations with the Boy Scouts of America. Celebrations are held throughout the year, and on October 29th, the Church celebrates the centennial in a spectacular broadcast from the conference center that included zip lines and other demonstrations of scout skills.
June 26, 2013
Photo from Deseret News
The new, larger Missionary Training Center in Mexico City, Mexico, opens its doors to an inaugural group of 100 new missionaries.
August 4, 2013
A new temple film is shown to temple patrons. Though there were no script changes, it was the first update made to the films in 20 years.
August 9, 2013
The Church officially announces the publication of the Book of Mormon in Malay, making it the 109th language the Book of Mormon has been translated into.
August 11, 2013
The Primary organization celebrates its formal organization 135 years ago in Farmington, Utah.
August 15, 2013
Graphic from Mormon Newsroom
Current missionaries serving reach a milestone number of 75,000, later tallied after General Conference at 80,000, according to a facts and statistics report by The First Presidency. Before 2013 ends, that number reaches a reported 82,000 missionaries serving.
August 17, 2013
Rendering from LDS.org
Ground is broken for the Hartford, Connecticut Temple, 21 years after it was originally announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
August 24, 2013
The Church launches official pages for the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Google+, which will be maintained by the Church on their behalf. The Google+ launch follows a launch of Facebook pages for the Prophet and Apostles earlier in the year.
Photo from Mormon Newsroom
On this day, ground is also broken for the second Colorado temple in Fort Collins.
October 4, 2013
Photo from Church News
President Monson celebrates his 50th anniversary since he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Consider the Blessings, a book sharing 50 true stories from his own life and the lives of those he has encountered, is released in commemoration of the event.
October 5, 2013
President Thomas S. Monson announces in the Saturday morning session of the 183rd Semiannual General Conference that membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has surpassed 15 million.
Photo from Deseret News
The general priesthood meeting, held on Saturday evenings during general conference, is broadcast live over television and the internet for the first time ever.
October 12, 2013
The Polynesian Cultural Center celebrates 50 years since opening its doors on October 12, 1963.
October 15, 2013
Photo from Mormon Newsroom
The Philippines are rocked by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, the strongest earthquake in the region in 23 years, which kills over 200 and displaces more than 370,000.
November 1, 2013
The Church announces that starting in 2014, a semiannual general women’s meeting will replace the annual general Young Women and general Relief Society meetings respectively.
November 8, 2013
Photo from Deseret News
Deadly Typhoon Haiyan hits the Philippines less than a month after a 7.2 earthquake. The typhoon is one of the deadliest storms ever recorded with a death toll reported a month later at over 6,000 and rising. It took several days, but all 204 missionaries in the hardest hit area, Tacloban, were accounted for.
December 8, 2013
The “First Presidency Christmas Devotional” is renamed and reformatted for the first time since its start in 1970. It is now simply called the Christmas Devotional and includes speakers outside of the First Presidency.
Also on this day, the first stake in the African nation of Togo is created.
December 14, 2013
The one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting brings back memories of the tragic event and those lost because of it.
