AREA CONFERENCES In 1979, three years after the first area conference of the Church was held in New Zealand, area conferences were again held in Auckland and in Wellington. Recovering from surgery, President Spencer W. Kimball was not able to attend these conferences held November 24, 25, and 27, 1979. An estimated 11,600 saints attended these conferences. Participating in the conferences were President Ezra Taft Benson, Elder Howard W. Hunter, and Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Loren C. Dunn of the First Quorum of the Seventy; Bishop H. Burke Peterson, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric; Barbara B. Smith, general president of the Relief Society; Elaine A. Cannon, general president of the Young Women; David M. Kennedy, special representative of the First Presidency; and D. Arthur Haycock, personal secretary to President Kimball. Additional area and regional conferences of the Church have been held in New Zealand since the first area conference held in 1976. One such regional conference was held in November of 1989 at which President Gordon B. Hinckley presided. TEMPLE WORK AND TEMPLE AREA EVENTS In 1977, when the New Zealand Temple was the only temple in the South Pacific, there were 52,000 endowments performed during the year. Eleven years later, in 1988, with four additional South Pacific temples in operation (Apia Samoa, Nuku' Alofa Tonga, Papeete Tahiti, and Sydney Australia), the number of endowments performed in the New Zealand Temple totaled more than 80,000. While flexible temple session times, stake temple trips, and short-term temple missions played a part in this increase in temple work, the deep gratitude New Zealand Church members have for the temple as a source of strength is widely acknowledged. At the time the temple was built, a visitors' center was constructed at the base of the hill on which the temple stands. It has been a busy place since its opening. Hundreds of missionaries have introduced thousands of people to the Church at this beautiful visitors' center. The large middle room of the center contains a sculpture of the Christus that is visible through the large front windows, and is especially attractive in the evening. Beginning in the early 1970s, a pageant titled "Hear Him" was presented on the east slope of the temple hill, and like other Church pageants, was very popular. The pageant generally was held every other year and drew as many as eight thousand visitors per performance. The pageant was popular among members and was a successful missionary tool. The pageant was discontinued in the early 1990s. During the Christmas season of 1985, small lights were used to decorate the grounds of the New Zealand Temple for the first time. Although there were just a few lights that season, more than three thousand people visited the temple grounds to see the lights. The number of lights and visitors has grown consistently over the years. (During the Christmas season in 2000, it was reported that approximately 132,000 people saw the Christmas lights at the New Zealand Temple!) GENERAL AUTHORITIES, CHOIR VISIT, STATISTICS At General Conference in April of 1987, three men with connections to the Church in New Zealand were called to serve in the Seventy: Glen L. Rudd, John R. Lasater, and Douglas J. Martin. Elder Rudd had served as a missionary in New Zealand under President Cowley and later as president of the Wellington Mission. He was serving as president of the New Zealand Temple at the time of his call. Elder Lasater was serving as president of the Auckland mission when called to the Seventy. Elder Martin is the first native New Zealander to serve as a general authority. Elder Martin had served as a bishop, stake president, and regional representative prior to his service as a General Authority. His call was an important milestone symbolizing the maturity of the Church in New Zealand. In December 1990, Rulon G. Craven, who had served as a young missionary in New Zealand immediately after World War II and later as president of the Auckland Mission, was also called to the Seventy. In June 1988, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir toured the South Pacific including New Zealand. The choir began its visit with a moving rendition of the New Zealand national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand," which was sung partly in English and partly in Maori. While in New Zealand, the choir performed in Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. At the end of 1988, there were 61,000 members of the Church in New Zealand in the care of 16 stakes. There were 102 Church meetinghouses in use in addition to the Church College of New Zealand buildings and the beautiful New Zealand Temple. In 1988, more than four hundred missionaries were serving in the country's two missions and more than 1,500 converts joined the Church. A September 1989 Ensign article, written by R. Lanier Britsch and titled "Roots of Faith," concludes as follows: "New Zealand, once weeks away from Church headquarters, is now only hours distant by jet, or a fraction of a second away by telephone. More important than temporal closeness, however, is the closeness of the spirit. The best indictor of the maturing of New Zealand in the Church is the ever growing number of Latter-day Saints enjoying full participation in gospel blessings." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CultureGrams, a division of MSTAR.NET, sponsors GEMS Worldwide Saints messages. Material related to this and upcoming Worldwide Saints series can be sent to worldwidesaints@culturegrams.com CultureGrams publishes concise, reliable cultural reports on more than 175 countries. For more information on CultureGrams, visit http://www.culturegrams.com A great source for information on the worldwide growth and history of the Church is the "Church Almanac," published by the Deseret News. The almanac includes biographical information and listings of General Authorities, histories and statistics for every state and country where the Church has a presence, a thorough section on temples, and more! To buy your copy, go to: http://www.desnews.com/cn/almanac/0,3584,,00.html Two "Ensign" articles were of particular use in compiling this message. "Roots of Faith" by R. Lanier Britsch and "New Zealand" by Tina Dil are both found in the September 1989 issue and can be accessed free on gospel library portion of the Church's Web site at: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch for his support of this series. Brother Britsch's book "Unto the Islands of the Sea, A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific" (Deseret Book, 1986) is available on "GospeLink 2001." You can buy "GospeLink 2001" online at http://deseretbook.com/ldsworld.tcl?sku=4028853 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Returned missionary? Foreign-language speaker? Interested in the worldwide Church? Do you know someone who is? If so, you may want to consider a subscription to the "Liahona," the official international magazine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Available in 44 languages (including English), the "Liahona" is sent to subscribers living anywhere in the world. Each issue contains original articles from members around the globe, as well as articles selected from the "Ensign," "New Era," "Friend," and "Church News." The "Liahona" is identical in every language except for a 16-page customized insert describing local Church news and events. It is the ideal gift for returned missionaries, helping them maintain their language skills and keeping them up-to-date on Church developments in their country of service. Frequency and prices vary by language. For subscriptions in the United States and Canada, call 1.800.537.5971. Credit card orders (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) may be taken by phone. To subscribe outside the United States and Canada, contact your local distribution center. You may visit www.lds.org to read current editions of the "Liahona" in some languages, to read the past 25 years of the English "Liahona," and to read and/or listen to General Conference in many languages. ------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001, Millennial Star Network. Distributed on the Internet via the LDSWorld-Gems mailing list. Messages may be forwarded to individuals if this trailer is included but may *not* be reposted publicly or reprinted in any other form without explicit permission. LDSWorld-Gems Web page: http://www.ldsworld.com/gems/ To subscribe to Gems, send a message to "listserv@lists.ldsworld.com" with "subscribe ldsworld-gems" (without quotes) in the message body; or to leave the list, write "unsubscribe ldsworld-gems"
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