This article originally appeared HERE and was written by Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News associate editor
After visiting the Church’s Europe Area in November, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reported that missionary, temple, and family history work is moving forward.
The majority of the trip, November 14–23, was focused in Portugal and Spain—where Elder Cook presided over stake conferences in the Porto Portugal North Stake and the Lléida Spain Stake, met with members and missionaries, and conducted leadership training meetings.
“The members in both countries are spiritually mature, with strong leaders and a great desire to serve the Savior and live His commandments,” said Elder Cook.
Elder Cook, who was accompanied on the trip by his wife, Sister Mary Cook, praised the “wonderful service” of the Area Presidency: Elder José A. Teixeira, Elder Patrick Kearon, and Elder Timothy J. Dyches, all of the Seventy.
After meeting with missionaries in the Portugal Lisbon Mission in Oeiras and Porto, Portugal, Elder Cook said missionary work in Portugal is strong and progressing. He noted that missionaries in Portugal will be blessed to baptize more than 1,000 people this year. “What wonderful success we are having in missionary work,” he said.
Members gather for the Porto Portugal North Stake conference on November 15, 2014.
Elder Quentin L. Cook visits the Europe Area.
Members gather for the Porto Portugal North Stake conference on November 15, 2014.
Elder Quentin L. Cook visits the Europe Area.
Elder Quentin L. Cook poses with local leaders during a visit to the Europe Area.
Elder Quentin L. Cook and his wife, Sister Mary Cook, pose for a photograph with missionaries in the Porto Portugal Mission.
The stake conference sessions on November 15-16 were attended by “an extraordinarily large number of investigators” who “seemed to be touched by the spirit of the conference and were ready to join the Church and to assist with leadership and other assignments,” he reported.
Elder Cook told the members in Portugal that they need to be preparing for the new temple. It is anticipated that construction will commence in the near future.
President Thomas S. Monson announced on October 2, 2010, that a temple would be constructed in Lisbon. Latter-day Saints in Portugal—where the Church currently has six stakes and four districts, attend the Madrid Spain Temple—which is located 390 miles from Lisbon.
Elder Cook was impressed by the strong tradition of members attending the Madrid Spain Temple. “The Portugal youth in every stake make at least one trip a year to the temple in Madrid and stay several days,” he said.
Elder Cook was equally impressed with the strength of the Church in Barcelona, Spain. The missionary work and the commitment to family history and temple work are extraordinary. He was able to meet with the Barcelona, Spain, missionaries and then an overflow congregation of faithful members in the stake conference on November 22-23.
Elder Cook also praised the family history work Latter-day Saints in the Europe Area are doing.
“We know that blessings come when you not only go to the temple but also take the names of your ancestors.” He said 100 percent of the work the youth do in the temple is generated by the family history efforts of Church members in Europe.
It is very important for the young people of the Church to be involved in family history work. “The blessings are huge when they are taking family names to the temple.”
During the stake conferences in the Lléida Spain Stake and the Porto Portugal North Stake, Elder Cook emphasized the need for members to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. “We focused on religious observance in the home and the importance of family councils. We encouraged members to be a light and an example to their neighbors,” he said. “In addition, we spoke about the need to make temple covenants their objective and goal.”
Elder Cook was particularly impressed with the quality of local leadership in the area. During the trip, Elder Cook worked with Elder Adonay S. Obando, an Area Seventy who was born in Costa Rica and works as an executive for Bayer Cropscience, and Elder Joaquim J. Moreira, an Area Seventy from Portugal and former president of the Brazil São Paulo East Mission, who is a regional coordinator for the Church Educational System.
“The Church’s Seventies worldwide are just incredible,” Elder Cook said. “Everywhere we go we find people of great capacity—spiritually humble but capable of accomplishing all that is asked of them.”
In addition to member and missionary meetings in Spain and Portugal, Elder Cook had missionary, temple, and family history assignments. He met with seven stake presidents and the temple presidency in Frankfurt, Germany, with 280 missionaries in the Paris France Mission, and with 450 missionaries in the combined London and London South Missions.
Elder Cook reported that the mission presidents and leaders in Europe ”are incredible“ and it was “touching to speak to and shake hands with approximately 1,200 missionaries in five different missions.”
Recently the Westridge Ward held their annual Christmas breakfast and service project. The ward met to eat a fine fare of ham, breakfast casserole, and yogurt parfaits. The children enjoyed watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," putting together reindeer food in anticipation of Santa, playing some reindeer games, and writing letters to missionaires.
After breakfast, members of the ward headed to Windcrest to sing carols to those living there. The residents thoroughly enjoyed listening- and joining in on the carols! A wonderful time was had by all.
The cast and crew of Savior of the World put in countless hours of rehearsals. As you can see, however, in addition to all of the hard work there were a lot of laughs!
These pictures are courtesy of professional photographers Janine Rust and Joel Hill.
"I often prepared for the show by reciting lines and practicing
songs on the Light Rail traveling to work. People would watch me and
I would invite them to read the script with me. My kids also
practiced lines with me at home, and learned the part faster than I did (both a
humbling and motivating experience)!"
"The greatest blessing for me [in participating in this show] has been the added
closeness I feel with my Savior. I may be different from most people in this,
but I have always felt it easier to have a close relationship with my Father in
Heaven that with my Savior. Perhaps because I have the opportunity to speak
with my Father directly through prayer, and have had many opportunities to feel
him supporting me through both difficult and joyous times in my life. I've been
praying since I was a teenager to be able to gain a closer relationship with my
Savior and a greater understanding of his Atonement. This experience has been
an opportunity for Heavenly Father to answer my prayers. Through the
inspiration of our leaders in challenging us to read more about His life, and
through feeling the Sprit that is so strong in our rehearsals &
performances as we testify of Christ, I feel a new level of closeness to Him.
I'm so grateful for this experience, and for the opportunity I've been given to
share my testimony of my Savior. I could not have asked for or anticipated such
blessings!"
"I still don’t have all my musical notes
memorized but I keep trying. The effort and time put into this production
exceeded my expectations but the outcome and how good I feel about this
production has exceeded my expectations also. Our entire family has at some
point been involved with most of us being at every practice and production. The
house is messy, the laundry piling up and we eat out a lot more than usual
because we are all in with the play but we are good, in fact we are all happy.
I hear my wife humming the tunes and making phone calls to get props, I hear
our daughter coordinating with my wife about when props need to come on/off
stage, I hear our son talking about how much he has enjoyed being in with the
audio team and how he now wants to sign up for a High School play and do
something similar; it warms my heart to think how many blessings this
production has brought to our family. Has there been stressful times? Yes!
There have been blissful times too."
