LDS Scene

Six area conferences will be conducted in the Far East this fall. This will be the second series of such conferences with Church members in the Orient. Previous conferences were held there in 1975. The conference schedule is:

Manila, Philippines, Oct. 18–19, for the 34,000 Church members in the Philippines’ three stakes and four missions; Hong Kong, Oct. 20–21, for the 5,200 members in one stake and one mission; Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 22–23, for the 8,000 members in Taiwan’s one stake and three missions; Seoul, Korea, Oct. 25–26, for the 16,000 members in Korea’s five stakes and three missions; Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 30–31, and Osaka, Japan, Nov. 1, for the 42,000 members in Japan’s eight stakes and eight missions.

Each conference except Osaka will include two general sessions and separate sessions for men and women ages twelve and older. Osaka’s conference will include one general session and separate sessions for men and women.

The presidency of the Jordan River Temple has been called. Donovan H. Van Dam of Salt Lake City has been called as president of the temple, which is under construction in South Jordan, Utah. His wife, Ada Strong Van Dam, will be temple matron. Serving in the temple presidency with President Van Dam are Richard R. McKean of Murray, Utah, first counselor; and Barr Moss of Salt Lake City, second counselor.

President Van Dam has served as president of the Netherlands Mission, as a stake high councilor, and as counselor in a stake presidency.

The Relief Society has given the Church a gift of four bronze statues and thirty-five redbud trees. The Sesquicentennial presentation was made by Relief Society General President Barbara B. Smith on March 28—the 85th birthday of President Spencer W. Kimball.

The trees will be planted in the garden area just south of the Church Office Building and north of the Church Administration Building. The four bronze statues are replicas of ones in the Monument to Women statuary garden at Nauvoo, Illinois. The three by sculptor Dennis Smith are “Joyful Moment,” “In Her Mother’s Footsteps,” and “Preparing Her Son.” The fourth statue, “Joseph and Emma,” is by Florence Hansen and depicts the Prophet Joseph Smith and his wife.

In accepting the trees and statues in behalf of the Church, President Kimball said they “will bring joy for many, many years to many people.”

Two new buildings on Brigham Young University campus, one of them 176 feet high, have been named after members of the First Presidency. The tallest building on campus, a new twelve-story class-room-office building, will be named the Spencer W. Kimball Tower. A new School of Management building will be named for President N. Eldon Tanner, first counselor in the First Presidency.

BYU President Dallin H. Oaks says it is appropriate to name the classroom-office structure after President Kimball, who is “known for his monumental accomplishments and his sensitive and tireless concern for individual men and women.”

Of President Tanner; President Oaks says: “As a practitioner and exemplar of the arts of management, he has had a profound impact on the Church and its members. … With the naming of the N. Eldon Tanner Building, we memorialize the name of a great businessman and public servant.”

Ground was broken in March for a new BYU—Hawaii administration building. Elder Thomas S. Monson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and of the executive committee of the school’s board of trustees, gave the groundbreaking prayer. The two-story, 38,000-square-foot building will house the major administrative offices of BYU—Hawaii and of the nearby Polynesian Cultural Center.