From the Church

Although the groundbreaking is still more than three weeks away, the LDS Church has released the artist's rendering for the new Payson Utah Temple. Sort of.

Mormon Helping Hands projects to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Church Welfare Programme were fulfilled when over 300 faithful saints from the Greater London area turned out to work. We had dozens of youth there, building, instead of pulling down the community. At each of the three sites friends were made and promises to maintain relationships were swapped. In particular, we proved to the Mayor of London's Office that on a weekday with short notice, the Church could mobilise significant numbers of cheerful, willing and able volunteers to serve with no thought of a return.

The priests at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo — a shrine of such importance in Japan that it can be compared to the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. — recently invited Church leaders here to describe how Latter-day Saints conduct their humanitarian efforts around the world, but especially in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku. Meiji Shrine is in the heart of Tokyo and was built in 1910 to honor the Emperor Meiji who re-opened Japan to the world in the 1860s. It is one of the three most important shrines in the Shinto religion and is a Tokyo landmark known to almost every visitor from abroad.

The Church announced Sept. 7 that the Payson Utah Temple groundbreaking will take place on Oct. 8, with Elder Dallin H. Oaks presiding at the 9 a.m. ceremony. The property for the temple is located at approximately 930 West and 1550 South on the southwest side of Payson, a mile from the 800 South I-15 interchange. The new temple will help meet the needs of a growing Church membership in the area and will ease the heavy use of the Provo Utah Temple, which is one of the busiest in the Church. The Payson temple will bring to 15 the number of operating and announced temples in Utah.

On Sept. 11, 2001, countless lives were forever changed when terrorists hijacked and crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Thousands of lives were snuffed out in an instant — passengers and crews on four planes, people in buildings that three of those planes crashed into, rescue workers and others who rushed to their aid and bystanders at the scenes. Within hours of these tragic events, Mormon church leaders responded with a statement that read:“In this hour of sorrow, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints expresses profound sympathy to those whose loved ones, friends and associates were lost or injured in today’s senseless acts of violence. We offer our prayers in behalf of the innocent victims of these vicious attacks. We ask Heavenly Father to guide President Bush and his advisors as they respond to these devastating incidents. We join with others in prayers that the Savior’s peace and love will comfort and guide us all through this difficult time. The resources of the Church will be made available to any relief agencies requesting assistance.”