April Conference News
At the Saturday afternoon session of the 187th General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 new General Authority Seventies were called, 36 area seventies were called, the General Relief Society Presidency was replaced, and the two counselors of the Primary Presidency were released and a new counselor called. Statistics for 2016 were also reported.
New General Authority Seventies
The new General Authority Seventies are Taylor G. Godoy of Lima, Peru; Joni L. Koch of Santa Catarina, Brazil; Adilson de Paula Parrella of Guarujá, São Paulo, Brazil; John C. Pingree Jr. of Salt Lake City, Utah; Brian K. Taylor of Ogden, Utah; and Taniela B. Wakolo of Lomaloma, Lau, Fiji.
New Area Seventies
Luis R. Arbizú, 52, Mejicanos, El Salvador; David A. Benalcázar, 44, Quito, Ecuador; Berne S. Broadbent, 62, South Jordan, Utah; David L. Buckner, 53, New York, New York; L. Todd Budge, 57, Sandy, Utah; Luciano Cascardi, 53, São Paulo, Brazil; Ting Tsung Chang, 59, East District, Taiwan; Pablo H. Chavez, 40, Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Raymond A. Cutler, 64, Bountiful, Utah; Fernando P. Del Carpio, 41, Tacna, Peru; José L. Del Guerso, 57, Itapema, Brazil; Aleksandr A. Drachyov, 40, Novosibirsk, Russia; I. Raymond Egbo, 42, Accra, Ghana; Carlos R. Fusco Jr., 50, São Paulo, Brazil; Jorge A. García, 62, Tijuana, Mexico; Gary F. Gessel, 64, Tacoma, Washington; Guillermo I. Guardia, 50, San Cristóbal, Venezuela; Marcel Guei, 42, Cocody, Cote d’Ivoire; José Hernández, 49, San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Karl D. Hirst, 45, Brixworth, England; Ren S. Johnson, 60, Reno, Nevada; Jay B. Jones, 63, Fairview, Texas; Anthony M. Kaku, 54, Cape Coast, Ghana; Paul N. Lekias, 49, Padbury, Australia; John A. McCune, 53, Springville, Utah; Tomas S. Merdegia Jr., 62, Calamba City, Philippines; Artur J. Miranda, 46, Sandton, South Africa; Elie K. Monga, 50, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo; Juan C. Pozo, 57, La Paz, Bolivia; Anthony Quaisie, 47, Accra, Ghana; James R. Rasband, 54, Provo, Utah; Carlos G. Revillo Jr., 51, Plaridel, Philippines; Martin C. Rios, 41, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Johnny F. Ruiz, 52, La Chorrera, Panama; K. Roy Tunnicliffe, 48, York, England; Moisés Villanueva, 50, Oaxaca, Mexico.
The following Area Seventies were released:
Taylor G. Godoy and John C. Pingree Jr.
New Relief Society and Primary Presidencies
The new Relief Society Presidency will consist of Jean B. Bingham as President, Sharon Eubank as First Counselor, and Reyna I. Aburto as Second Counselor.
Prior to her call, Sister Bingham was serving as first counselor in the Church’s Primary general presidency. Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, who was the second counselor in the Primary presidency, was announced Saturday as the new first counselor. Sister Cristina B. Franco will be the new second counselor.
Church Growth
At the end of 2016 there were 15,882,417 members of the Church in 3,266 stakes, 30,304 wards, and 556 districts. There were 70,946 full-time missionaries and 33,695 service missionaries serving in 421 missions.
The Church grew by 349,377 members, with 109,246 being children of record, and 240,131 new baptisms.
Six temples were dedicated in 2016 — Provo City Center, Sapporo Japan, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Fort Collins Colorado, Star Valley Wyoming, Hartford Connecticut. The Suva Fiji and Freiberg Germany temples were rededicated after renovations. Mormon temples in operation at the end of 2016 totaled 155.
Read more at Mormon Newsroom.