Intriguing General Conference Tidbits from 1923, 1929 and 1944 …

 

  THANKS to my late Mother’s collection of old General Conference talks, here are more highlights from almost a century ago to 80-plus years ago …

 Highlights from April 6-8, 1923 General Conference:

 -Long before LDS Primary Children’s Hospital, the Church had “The Primary Convalescent Home.” In 1923, it was taking care of 25-30 children in Salt Lake City. Local donors supported the home, besides the Church and the Rotary Club of Salt Lake gave $1,000 to the Home.

 -When President Heber J. Grant told people to shut up: “I would like to ask the people who are outside of this building to quit whispering and talking to one another, for the benefit of those who would like to hear what is going on in this building (the Salt Lake Tabernacle.”

  -The Church was reported to be completely out of debt in 1923 and that included no mortgages on any buildings.

  - Elder Richard M. Lyman said South America was settled in modern times before North America. He also said a key difference between the two continents is that South America was settled by the Spanish, who were in search of gold, while North America was settled by the Pilgrim Fathers, who were in search of God (and religious freedom).

  

A Highlight from April 5-7, 1929 General Conference:

 -Elder Stephen L. Richards delivered an address on paying tithing. He strongly suggested that Church members pay monthly donations and not yearly ones.

“I have found it to be a very difficult problem in mathematics to pay one-tenth out of one-twelfth,” he said, suggesting that it is not only easier to pay tithing as you receive funds, “because greater blessings will come to you.”

  Highlights from October 4-6, 1929 General Conference:

   -In an unusual situation for a century ago, three sisters gave brief addresses during General Conference. The Presidents of the Relief Society, the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association and the Primary Association all spoke.

  -President Anthony W. Ivins spoke on some of the breakoff groups from the Church, just after Joseph Smith’s time. He said James J. Strang, who started the “Strangites: (their modern copyrighted name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – no dash and no lower case D). He said Strang was killed by a member of his own congregation on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, as he made things intolerable for his followers. Strang also professed that Jospeh Smith anointed him to be his successor.

   -President Rudger Clawson made a rare doctrinal comment during his Conference talk by saying that we don’t just have a Heavenly Father, we also have a Heavenly Mother.

 

  Highlights from April 6, 7 and 9, 1944 General Conference:

  -This Conference was held on Thursday, April 6 and Friday, April 7 and then it skipped Saturday and concluded on Sunday, April 9. (There was a Bishop’s meeting held on April 8, but no mention was given otherwise for the Saturday Conference lapse.)

  -The Church was reported to have 147 stakes; 1,264 wards and branches and 937,050 members world-wide, in 1943. The annual church budged that year was just over $5 million.

  -Elder John A, Israelson, former President of the Norwegion Mission, reported that two German soldiers obtained leave during WW2 and traveled 200 miles to attend a Church meeting in Oslo, Norway, where they bore their testimonies. (So, there were some church members in the German military.)

  -In a rare move for a Century ago, three Sisters gave brief remarks during General Conference. This included the Relief Society President, the Primary President and the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association President.

  -President Spencer W. Kimball delivered a long address on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Among other things, he stressed that church members should not hunt on Sunday; go on outings to the canyons on Sunday. He also said, “This is a day when every lapse is blamed on the war.”

Elder Kimball also said he knew a man who said he could learn more from reading a church book on Sunday, than attending his meetings, as they were hardly up to his standards. “But I say we do not go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or amused; we go there to worship the Lord … If Sacrament meeting is a failure to you, you are the one that has failed. No one can worship for you, you must do your own serving of the Lord.”

  NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

Unpacking Church History from a 1935 Sunday School Manual

 

   CHURCH History was the Latter-day Saint Sunday School topic in 1935 and here are my highlights from that small manual ...

   - The manual itself was written in first-person.

  -On handcart travel west, to Great Salt Lake City, the lesson stressed that for those from England, the trek was some 6,000 miles long and required nearly a full year, counting sea travel.

  -The Church's newly established Perpetual Emigration Fund paid for British converts to sail to Boston; take the train to Iowa City; and take handcarts from there. Latter-day Saints were only charged about 25 dollars for the entire 6,000 miles trek.

  -Some  of the Iowa farmers were angry that the travelers crossed by their homes. Some, however were kind, like Charles Good of Des Moines, who donated 15 pairs of children's boots to the Willie Handcart Company.

  -The Martin Handcart Company lost 77 members to cold and hunger, but there were also three births and three marriages on the trip west.

   -When the travelers entered the Salt Lake Valley, the ideal situation was that the entire First Presidency of the Church met them and it was also accompanied by a band!

  -In addition to sending Johnston's Army to Utah, the U.S. Government also halted all mail delivery to Utah territory.

  -Church members burned many of their homes and crops as Johnston's Army approached Utah, so the soldiers would have none of it for their use. They also buried the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple and made the area appear as a farm field. It is simply a miracle that after this two-year "Utah War," that the pioneers were still able to sustain themselves.

 -When the railroad came to Utah Territory, in the late 1860s, Church members were usually not paid in cash, but rather with railroad stock and materials. After the last rail was laid in the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869, Brigham Young used the stock and materials to build a railroad line between Salt Lake and Ogden -- The Utah Central  - and this was the nation's only rail line that was built with no government funds.

  -The Constitution of the State of Utah was the first of any state to include a woman's right to vote. Other states had to add such a right to their existing Constitution.

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and views only.

 

Highlights of General Conference a Century ago, in April of 1927…

 

  Latter-day Saint General Conference roughly a century ago, was held on Sunday, April 3, to Wednesday, April 6, 1927 (This was the 97^th annual conference). So, there was no conference on a Saturday that time around …And, the date of April 6 (Church’s anniversary), was the focal point for when April conference was held, and not the weekend itself, as it is today.

  Here’s my analysis of interesting things then:

  -General Conference was 4 days long, not just 2 days.

 -Talks were delivered in both the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall – and some were given at the same time. (The Assembly Hall was considered the place for the overflow crowd, that could not fit into the Tabernacle.)

  -It wasn’t just General Authorities who talked in Conference, some were stake presidents and others were mission presidents. In fact, some talks were delivered by former mission and stake presidents.

 -Talks were published in a 180-page booklet, since there was no Improvement Era or Ensign magazine yet. (All of this blog’s source material is that official published Church report.) There was also an ad, of sorts, for 3 church books, on sale at Deseret Book, printed on the back cover of the Conference booklet (And, also on the inside back cover.)

  -As reported at Conference, for the year 1926, $1.5 million was spent on wards and stakes; $188,00 was given to various charities; $322,000 was used for temple construction and maintenance; $739,000 was spent on missions and related expenses.

  -Various church statistics were announced: There were 96 stakes, 915 wards and 77 independent branches; plus, 27 missions and 734 branches in those missions.  Also, 72 percent of members own their own homes; There were 2,188 full-time missionaries serving.

  -President Charles W. Nibley (second counselor in the First Presidency) noted that thanks to the recent advent of radio broadcasts of General Conference, all shouting, or pounding of the pulpit is now strongly discouraged and inappropriate – just talk in a “conversational tone” now. (Salt Lake’s KSL radio, known at first as “KZN,” had started broadcasts just 7 years earlier, in 1922.)

  -Few of the talks given had subject titles, like they do now. Talk subject ranged from examples of the healing power of the priesthood, to testimonies of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith and of life in various mission fields. There were also calls to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, live the Word of Wisdom and repent of one’s sins.

  -Talks were not strictly set to a time table and some speakers, like Elder B.H. Roberts, had to apologize at the end of his discourse, for going over time.

   -Elder Charles A. Callis, president of the Southern States Mission, said he recently released a missionary whose farming family had spent $8,000 keeping him and another brother on their missions. (Based on inflation, that’s more than $140,000 in 2026 year dollars.)

   -Church President Heber J. Grant promoted the Tabernacle Choir and said that they would be singing at a Tabernacle program the next week – and that admission was 25 cents to 50 cents – so in those days, the Choir was NOT fully funded by the Church. Also, the Dutch Choir of Salt Lake provided the music in the Assembly Hall. And, few of the songs sung at the Conference were ones that are familiar today. (“See, the Mighty Angel” and  “Inflammatus” are examples of these obscure hymns sung.)

   -Elder Eugene J. Neff, former President of the Hawaiian Mission, told how when the Church recalled all missionaries from there, during the Johnston Army crisis in Utah Territory (1857-1858), that a former missionary returned there and was charging members money for a priesthood confirmation and other things. He was becoming rich at their expense and would not stop doing so and eventually had to be cut off from the Church. Elder Neff that former missionary moved the San Francisco and began disparaging the Church. He died there in obscurity, as some church leaders had prophesied years earlier.,

  -Elder J. Golden Kimball did not swear in his talk or seem to say anything out of line (So, he was capable of giving "standard" church discourses!) In his talk, he said: “God never created a man that could please all the Mormon people – and if anyone ever tried to please all of them, he will fail. You cannot please all the people. The Savior did not please all.” Elder Kimball also referred to Salt Lake City as “the most beautiful of cities” and claimed that the population in town would now be about 500,000, if so many people had not moved to California. Elder Kimball also stressed that his father, Heber C. Kimball, was not made rich at the expense of others – and neither did Brigham Young or other leaders do so. He said his father used to own all the land where the State Capitol is now and beyond. He sold lots there for just $2.50 each.

  -Elder Andrew Jenson, assistant Church Historian, said that by his count the Church had sent out 35,275 full-time missionaries, from 1830 and through 1926. He said that an estimate of local missionaries serving was at least another 70,000 during that period.

  -Elder George Albert Smith said that his family’s records showed there to have been 2 feet of snow on the ground, 57 years earlier, on April 4, 1870, as compared to the warm and sunny day in 1927.

  -Elder David O. McKay said that its full-time missionaries over the decades have likely spent a combined total of some $17.5 million on their two-year missions. He also said that it used to grieve him that the Church was not listed among the ranks of the Protestant Churches in existence. But, now he realized that the Church is more than a protest to the Catholic Faith, it is the only true Christianity on the face of the Earth.

  -President Heber J. Grant also introduced three new stake presidents during the close of the second day of conference.

  -Elder Marvin J. Ballard, Apostle, spoke on how the Word of Wisdom was given to fortify the Saints. He said living the Word of Wisdom will fortify members to avoid temptations of all kinds, “giving us the power to resist.” He said this power includes not giving in to greater temptations of immorality.

  -All in all, 45 brethren spoke during the conference.  

 

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and views only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Coffee will never become "Legal" in the Church...

                                   This photograph is from Wikipedia Commons.

  COFFEE and caffeine are fairly prevalent vices in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  Not surprisingly, recent (year 2026) posts on social media and in podcasts have implied that coffee may be on the verge of being acceptable in the faith, because of increasingly positive health benefit studies about the beverage.

  But, no, that's not going to happen -- and here's why. The Word of Wisdom is more than just a health code -- it helps to separate Latter-day Saints from the rest of the world. It is also a buffer commandment. Not being a partaker of coffee (decaf or not) is a key separation from Babylon.

  Just like not partaking of alcohol, coffee too, combine to represent perhaps the two biggest buffers the Lord has to keep Saints from sin and liberal influences.

  And, it was an Apostle, Melvin J. Ballard, who stated in April of 1927 General Conference, that living the Word of Wisdom can help fortify members against greater sins of immorality.

  So, it is NOT just about physical health, it is about spiritual health too. 

  The wishful thinking of podcasters will NOT change a long-standing principle of the Word of Wisdom ...

  NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

The Great Salt Lake Temple Photographic Robbery/Ransom Tale of 1911

 

 

                           The Deseret Evening News headline from September 16, 1911.

     THE iconic Salt Lake Temple was wildly in the news for photographs, not of its gothic looking exterior, but for surreptitiously obtained interior pictures, back in September of 1911, just over 18 years after the Temple was dedicated.

  What unfolded was a tale of lies, deceit and blackmail against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  Here’s a summary of what took place:

  Gilbert L. Bossard, a German convert to the Church, was living in Salt Lake City. He excelled at photography. In an interview, Bossard said that he spent the better part of an entire year sneaking into the Salt Lake Temple with a camera and taking a total of 68 inside photographs.

  He said he often hid a camera under his coat. He may have also convinced an assistant gardener on the Temple grounds (according to the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of Sept. 18, 1911) to help him gain access to the interior of the Salt Lake Temple, at times. There is even a tale that he may have entered into the Temple’s interior through a large heating vent.

  In any event, he had the photographs to prove that he somehow took them, even though in one interview, he said it was usually that he was only able to take one interior photo with each visit to the Temple.

  Other than the 600 VIPs who got to tour the inside of the Salt Lake Temple, before it was dedicated, in 1893, there were no other public tours of its interior, Hence, there was a lot of curiosity about inside, where only members with a Temple Recommend could go.

   Bossard took his photographs and sold them to Max Florence, a motion picture businessman, who was formerly of Salt Lake City and since moved to New York City.

  It was no secret that Florence was in financial trouble.

  “Max Florence on financial rocks?” was a November 11, 1910 headline in the Deseret News, outlining his financial debts.

  So, he wanted to blackmail the Church into giving him money to not release the pictures publicly. In one interview, he mentioned a $100,000 sum of ransom, but then said that was not the amount.

  “Max Florence fails to scare the Church” was a September 16, 1911 headline in the Deseret Evening News.

                             President Joseph F. Smith                            From Wikipedia Commons.

  Church President Joseph F. Smith said, “I will make no bargain with thieves or traffickers in stolen goods. I prefer to let the law deal with them.”

  President Smith also stressed that the inside of the Temple was sacred, not secret.

                                  The Deseret Evening News from September 18, 1911.

    (Note that until the later 20^th Century, public tours of undedicated temples were rarely given and so to outsiders, the Latter-day Saints’ Temples were somewhat “mysterious.”)

  Florence seemed to also want to discredit the Church and even boasted that he could steal the Angel Moroni statue, if the Church made him any madder. He also said he knows the Salt Lake Temple as well as its architect (Florence was not a member of the Church and he also seem to brag as if he took the pictures, when they were taken by Bossard).

 

                             Elder James E. Talmage.                                From Wikipedia Commons.

  Elder James E. Talmage made a suggestion to the First Presidency in September of 1911, that he could write and compile a new book, “The House of the Lord,” that could include high-quality interior photographs of the Salt Lake Temple, taken by their own photographer, thus stealing Florence’s thunder, as well as handling the pictures in a complimentary and explanatory way, instead of for revenge and ransom.

   It was a bold, but clever move. That book was published a year later and contained 31 interior temple pictures. (Elder Talmage was made an Apostle in December of 1911.)

 Note that back in 1911, there was no quick way to release photographs to the public, as there is today, so a printed book was considered the optimal and widespread method.

   The Salt Lake Tribune reported on October 4, 1911, that Bossard, who took the unauthorized interior Salt Lake Temple photographs, was excommunicated. Years later, living on the East Coast, Bossard tried to regain his Church membership, but Church leaders said he failed to recognize how badly he had discredited the Church and its flagship temple.

  -Perhaps a long-lasting after effect to this incident was a phobia, a fear, among Church leaders, that the Holy Edifice could be invaded again. Security at the temple was probably reviewed and improved after the incident, And, as such, the Salt Lake Temple also had an iron fence around it and only members with recommends could get close to the Temple, or touch it. (No other temple seemed to have a similar barrier.) That didn’t change until about 2001, when the Church prepared to welcome the world for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Then, the wall came down and there was more open access to the Temple Square grounds around the Salt Lake Temple itself.

  -In addition, to this writer’s advantage, when he prepared to write/compile a new book, “Images of America Salt Lake Temple,” he was surprised at how many great interior photographs of the Salt Lake Temple from the early 20^th Century were available. Even though he knew of the “stolen photographs” story, it was a long time before he connected the dots and realized that without that ransom incident, such a book would likely not be possible, because of not nearly enough official inside pictures of the Salt Lake Temple being otherwise available, to support such a vintage picture book. (This new book will be available in April of 2027, through Arcadia Publishing.)

-If you would like a more detailed (and scholarly) examination of the Salt Lake Temple stolen photographs incident, “I’m Here for the Cash”: Max Florence and the Great Mormon Temple,” By Gary James Bergera, was published in the Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 47, Number 1, 1979.

A link to, cut and paste, to that lengthy article:

https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/uhq_volume47_1979_number1/56?e=65&o=1

 

   NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

 

 

“Be ye as perfect as ye can” …?

 

  PROBABLY the most frustrating of all commandments from God in this life is to be “perfect.”

  It could be wagered that this one commandment weighs heavily on most Latter-day Saints and causes plenty of stress and concern, in the struggle to work out one’s exaltation.

“Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” (3 Nephi 12:48).

  A man can’t be “perfect” in this life and perhaps even Jesus Christ himself was not “perfect,” when he was in mortality.

  Jesus Christ was certainly and without question the only sinless person to have ever lived on Earth, but “perfection” seems to go beyond that lofty quality.

  “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48).

  Note that when speaking in mortality, Christ did NOT imply that he was perfect, just that his Father in Heaven was.

  Does this mean that “perfection” can only come AFTER the resurrection? So, it would seem, as Christ was resurrected when he visited the Nephites and gave the sermon that is recorded in 3 Nephi.

  Thus, take note -- perfection and sinless are not the same ideal.

  So, what have some of the Church leaders stated about perfection?

 

                                     President Brigham Young.

  -"… Be ye as perfect, as ye can," for that is all we can do …” Brigham Young stated in Journal of Discourses 2:129 on December 18, 1853.

  -“There are no perfect individuals. … We all have some disadvantages. Now if you do not want your life to be spoiled by your disadvantages, you will look at the advantages that you have, and make benefit of those.

“It’s like a glass of water—it’s half full or half empty. You can regret and bemoan the fact that you have only half a glass of water or you can be extremely pleased by the fact that you are blessed with as much as half a glass of water.” -From James Womack, a stake patriarch in Winnfield, Louisiana, quoted in Ensign Magazine, July 1979, p. 13.

  -From Elder David A. Bednar, on a Facebook post, May 30, 2024: “When we read or hear the admonition ‘be ye therefore perfect’ (Matthew 5:48), we may think it means to make no mistakes. But such a level of performance simply is not possible.”

  So, what is possible then?

 

                                                Elder David A. Bednar.                                                                                 Photo from Wikipedia and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  Elder Bednar in that Facebook post then shared this quote from President Russell M. Nelson’s conference address: “Perfection Pending”:

  “In Matt. 5:48, the term perfect was translated from the Greek teleios, which means 'complete.' Teleios is an adjective derived from the noun telos, which means 'end.' The infinitive form of the verb is teleiono, which means 'to reach a distant end, to be fully developed, to consummate, or to finish.'

  “Please note that the word does not imply 'freedom from error'; it implies 'achieving a distant objective.’ . . . The perfection that the Savior envisions for us is much more than errorless performance. It is the eternal expectation as expressed by the Lord in his great intercessory prayer to his Father—that we might be made perfect and be able to dwell with them in the eternities ahead.”

  Elder Bednar noted that we should rely on God’s grace to help us be “just a little better today than we were yesterday, and a little better tomorrow than we are today.”

  Elder Bednar also compared this concept of “complete” to an apple growing on a tree. It begins in the spring as a blossom on the tree and then grows into a small bud, then a small apple and then in the fall, it is a large apple and then it is “complete.”

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does 'Household of Faith" mean when Consecrating Oil or Giving a Priesthood Blessing?

 

   WHAT is “The Household of Faith?”

Mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 121:45 and Galatians 6:10, a wide view of the term is it is all members of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (according to churchofjesuschrist.org).

And, to other Christian faiths, it is usually God’s “spiritual children.”

Priesthood blessings in the LDS Church decades ago, used to almost always state this phrase, when consecrating oil or giving a blessing of healing:

“ … anointing and blessing the sick and afflicted, in the household of faith.”

Today, according to the Church’s website, “in the household of faith” is not listed on its guidance for priesthood blessings.

A friend of mine believes that is for the sake of brevity in today’s world – and he may be right.

But what does “in the household of faith” mean in this context, of consecrating oil, and giving blessings?

There have been several LDS General Conference talks given over the decades that included “Household of Faith” in their titles and yet nowhere in those discourses was a definition of the term specifically outlined.

Searching deep a few pages of results on Google, one Christian faith stated that it was a reminder to Christians to not forsake their fellow Christians – meaning those outside their own family.

When my Google search hit the 9^th page of results, this came up: a November 2006 talk by Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy, titled, “Moving Closer to Him.”

 In that discourse, Elder Cardon quoted Doctrine and Covenants 121:45:

“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.”

Then, Elder Cardon stated: “It is significant that after inviting us to have charity toward “all men,” the Lord added the phrase “and to the household of faith.” Why? Doesn’t “all men” include the household of faith? Consider the implications when this added phrase is understood to mean more specifically “your very own household of faith.” Unfortunately, there are a few within the Church who exhibit greater charity toward nonfamily members than toward their own spouses and children, siblings and parents. They may show feigned kindness publicly while privately sowing and cultivating seeds of contention, demeaning those who should be closest to them. These things should not be.”

So, perhaps this is the meaning of “Household of Faith” in blessings and consecrating oil – it is a caution to NOT neglect your own immediate family in a quest to serve and bless others (and the opposite view of another Christian Church’s belief on its meaning).

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How the Gospel Returned to Supai, Arizona After a 19-year Absence

 

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                A red rock skyline surrounds Supia, Arizona                     Photo by Ravell Call

 

  SUPAI, Arizona is perhaps the most isolated village in the lower 48 states. One either hikes, rides on horseback, or helicopters into this village, that lacks paved roads or automobiles – and it is an 8-mile haul into the Grand Canyon.

  Lynn Arave, this blog Author, led a group of nine people (including three of his children) into Supai on a trip back on April 6-7, 2004.

  From his first look at the village of about 500 people, the Author was fascinated with the remote town. Even after he had seen the roaring waterfalls, located about two miles extra from Supai, the resident Native Americans were his biggest fascination.

  The Author spent 15 minutes talking to the minister of the Bible Church, the lone church in town.

                                                          The Bible Church in Supai.          Ravall Call photo.

  The Author eventually co-wrote a long travel/outdoor story about the group’s trip to Supai and it was published in the Deseret News on May 9, 2004, under the headline: “Havasupai Canyon and the Village of Supai.”

  (Ray Boren, co-wrote the story and another Deseret News colleague, photographer Ravell Call, took pictures of the trip.)

 About two weeks after the publication of the story in the Deseret News, Arave got a telephone call from the Kingman, Arizona Stake President, Scott H. Charon. He said that the LDS Church had basically abandoned dozens of Church members in Supai, shortly after President Spencer W. Kimball died, on November 5, 1985.

  (In fact, many Native American programs in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dried up and quit altogether soon after President Kimball's passing, as one of his accents had been such programs.) 

  Surprisingly, President Charon said that it was the story in the Deseret News that had reminded area Church leaders about Supai – and the lack of an LDS presence there for more than 19 years.

  He said that the Church had now rented a building in Supai and were now holding Sunday services there. Also, it was a coveted High Council assignment to be the member each month who gets to hike the eight miles (and 2,135-foot elevation drop) down to speak at the church service.

 

       Part of the hiking group to Supai on April 6-7, 2004.                Photo by Ravell Call.

   During the next three years, the Church was able to secure a building and add a white steeple to its top. (That small church chapel is one of the first structures travelers see today as they enter Supai.)

  The First Counselor in the Bishopric of the Peach Springs Branch, Doug Angle, also became very interested in the Church members living in Supai. From 2004-2007, he identified about 60 church members there; organized numerous service projects; and was instrumental in the branch organization there. By 2007, Supai had its first full-time missionary couple in town, and they lived in the rear of the meetinghouse.

  While it is sad that the Church abandoned members for almost 20 years in Supai, it was equally strange that the Deseret News story was the spark that put the church back in town.

  AND, that is not the end of the story, at least for the Author of this blog, as he received a "reward," of sorts:

Greg Witt, a Salt Lake author and hiking enthusiast, also became intently interested in Supai after reading the Deseret News story. He not only went there often, but wrote several hiking guides for the area and even assisted in service projects for the village (as it suffered periodic flooding damage).

In 2011, Wilderness Press was looking to expand its extensive “Walking” city book series to Salt Lake City. They contacted Witt about doing a “Walking Salt Lake City” book, but he said he thought Lynn Arave and Ray Boren were better suited for that endeavor.

In 2012, that book was published and it launched the book writing career for Arave and Boren. The pair would co-write two more books together and Arave would separately write another 7 books, as of 2026, with a contract for two additional books in the future (12 books total).

  Today, Supai and its waterfalls are an extremely popular outdoor mecca and reservations to visit have to be made in advance and sell out quickly.

 

            Havasupai Falls and Lynn Arave's hiking group, in 2004.  Photo by Ravell Call.

 

  NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

 

Wards used to have more young people, than they do now?

 

CHECK out this vintage, 1965 photograph ....I

It is a picture of the entire young men of the Aaronic priesthood (and some leaders), of the Hooper, Utah First Ward, taken in front of the chapel to commemorate a span of perfect attendance.

That alone is a worthy accomplishment.

However, what stands out a lot in the year 2025 is just how large this group of young men, age 12-18, is back then. Here are 40 young men in a single ward.

Were wards larger in total members back then? Perhaps.

But families were also larger back then too.

Contrast that 40 young men, with the 14 young men who are in my current ward, in 2025, with only about half of them active. (My ward is an "older" congregation, but still...)

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Tokyo Temple: The Church’s First “Quake Proof” Temple?

                                                     The Tokyo Japan Temple.

  THE Temple in Tokyo Japan opened in 1980. It was perhaps the Church’s first “earthquake proof” temple, with reinforced concrete. It was considered a special temple, built stronger than usual.

  (That layman’s architectural term was later renamed to “earthquake resistant.”) 

  Fred Baker, former head the physical facilities in the Church during the late 20th Century said the Tokyo Temple was designed to withstand a Richter 7 quake and a Force 5 typhoon. He said some steel had to be taken out of the temple’s exterior, to allow for more concrete. 

  He also said this: “Do you understand what earthquake proof means in terms of construction?” People would say, “Well, it means that the building would just stay there.” And I’d say, “Well, not quite. It means that the building wouldn’t fall in on the people working in it. But outside it would be really deadly especially on the street where the cars were driving.” And depending on the strength of the earthquake, the building would likely be a total loss. But it wouldn’t fall in on the people inside.” 

  Almost 25 years after opening, the Temple was tested with a significant quake, on July 23, 2005, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Tokyo. The shaking caused the trumpet in the hand of Moroni to be knocked to the ground. 

  However, the temple itself had no major damage And, in September of 2017, the Tokyo Japan Temple closed for renovation for almost five years – and it received both seismic and mechanical upgrades.     Furthermore, the Salt Lake Temple reopens in 2027 with an even greater emphasis on being earthquake resistant, with its special shock absorbers and shifting ability.

  -Fred Baker, of Ogden, was the director of Church Physical Facilities from 1965-1991. He passed away in 2015 at age 89. He was the author’s stake president at one time, as well as a family friend.

  -The Tokyo Temple photograph is from Wikipedia Commons. 

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.

Why the Jordan River Utah Temple is the Most Unique Temple of All

                                      The Jordan River Utah Temple.

  THE Jordan River Utah Temple in South Jordan, Utah, was the Church’s 20th Temple. It opened in 1981 and was remodeled from 2016-2018. 

  What follows is the little known, miraculous backstory on how this temple came to be; how it defied standard church policy; and how it is the only temple that was financed entirely outside of Church resources.

   All material comes from interviews made with Fred Baker, former head of Church Physical Facilities, in the late 20th Century. Church members in the South Jordan area desperately wanted their own temple. 

  The Salt Lake Temple was 17 miles distant and that equaled almost a 30-minute drive in ideal conditions.

   It was Church policy in the 20th Century that you could donate land to the Church, but never with conditions set and what could go there. The Jordan River Temple story was a lone exception to that policy. 

  “Not one penny of church money went into the Jordan River. Not one penny,” Brother Baker said, in a 2014 interview. 

  Brother Baker continued: “The (temple) lot was given by my dear friend Alma Holt. That story is absolutely unbelievable, how Alma and his family kept that belief all those years that somehow there'd be a temple on that property out there. They were out there when that was nothing but weeds and radishes. And they kept that thing alive in their family that "there's going to be a temple. I know it." 

   (That 30 acres of land was still, at the time, three or more miles from any subdivision. The Holt Family had owned the land for about a century and to sell it to developers in the 1970s had a worth of several hundred thousand dollars. Family members over the decades had periodically talked about their property one day being the site of a temple, so that was their dream. Even when the Holts divided the land to their children, their kids all wanted to contribute enough land so the temple dream could still happen.)

  Brother Baker continued: “I went out and I met with them and said, ‘I'm sorry, Alma. You can't offer it as a temple site. You can offer it to the church, but ....’ And, so, they finally decided to offer it anyway, but asked if I'd tell the story when I presented it on the Tuesday (meeting with the First Presidency). So, I did, I presented the site and told them the story of Alma Holt. “So, we concluded the meeting, got up to leave, and President Kimball says, ‘Fred, come here just a second.’ He walked over into the corner, because I guess he didn’t want anybody to hear, and he said, ‘Will you arrange a time for the First Presidency to go see that property?’ For twelve years I had presented hundreds and hundreds of items to the First Presidency, and I never had that kind of request. I said, ‘I’d be happy to.’”

   That was just unheard of – the First Presidency wanting to see land like this so urgently. Soon after, the First Presidency gets a look at the property, though it required a drive through an irrigated farm field, complete with furrows, bumps and slow going

  Several weeks after that tour, Brother Baker and Church Architect, Emil Fetzer are summoned early one morning to meet with President Spencer W. Kimball, who basically said (by Brother Baker’s recollection):

   “We’ve decided to build a temple on the Holt property. All of our confidentiality rules are in place, but you need to start work on the plans now. Do the whole thing like Ogden and Provo as far as the interior is concerned, but this needs to be a much bigger temple.”     President Kimball wanted 120 seats in each of six endowment rooms and a beautiful steeple on top. Later, a meeting was held for Church leaders in the Salt Lake Valley and the Jordan River Temple was announced.

   All were excited, though some were shocked that it would be on WEST side of the valley, and not the east side.

   Brother Baker estimated that if he polled church members on where the second temple in the Salt Lake Valley would be, that 95 percent would have said the east side of the valley!

  He also said:  “Anyway, the Salt Lake temple district finance committee ... I mean everybody finances, puts twenty - thirty percent into their temple...they sat down and decided, ‘How much do you think it's going to be?’ And I said, ‘Well, the estimate is 15 million. I don't know, because we haven't bid.’ “They (the church members in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley) decided to raise 15 million. Everybody did! And not a penny went into that building! And for years they ran that building with extra money! And nobody knows! Sad! That should be a beacon! Wow!"

    How did the church members in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley raise so munch money? 

  Brother Baker said: “Some would give up their Christmas. The families said, ‘Let’s give our money to the temple this year.’ Some said, ‘We were going to Disneyland. How about next year for Disneyland? Let’s put that vacation money toward the temple.’ Some put off that nice refrigerator or remodeling the kitchen until the next year. Now I don’t know, I’m sure there were some sizeable contributions, but normally fundraising like this starts with five millionaires who want this project, so they each put up two and a half million dollars and then expect everybody else to cough up what they can. This was just the opposite. This was the ordinary member, his wife, and two children coughing up the whole thing. Now I’m sure some wealthy people made some marvelous contributions, but it wasn’t the basis. The basis was the member of the Salt Lake Temple district raising the money, and they did. I can’t believe it. I was flabbergasted. That was just incredible.” 

  Brother Baker said even the First Presidency was flabbergasted at how much money the Saints in the area had raised for the temple. Still, they promised to make up any shortfall. The next surprise came at the groundbreaking for the temple.

   Brother Baker recalled: “It was just hilarious. I don’t know where they got it, but it was the most gigantic earth-moving machine you have ever seen. They must have borrowed it from Kennecott Copper or something. And when the time came, President Kimball, who comes about to here on me [pointing to his shoulders], had a big hard hat on. They helped him up on this great big, mammoth machine. He started it up, lowered that big front-end loader, gave it the gas, Rrrrrrr, and broke the ground for this temple. It was just so funny. “Then President N. Eldon Tanner said, ‘From all our hearts, we want to thank all of you. The stake presidents and bishops who are here, please go back and tell your people of our gratitude for their generosity. Then he said [voice filling with emotion] . . . Let’s see . . . I’m trying to think of the exact words, ‘Please tell your people that we have all of the money that is necessary for the temple. We don’t need any further contributions.’ And, about two weeks later, another $700,000 came in … You know, you just couldn’t stop the darn thing. It was like turning on the fire hose!” 

   Brother Baker concluded his memories: “Anyway, the Lord opened the hearts of these people. So the biggest temple in the Church as to vicarious work, and most active temple ends up sitting on this site, and the Church didn’t have a penny of headquarters money in it. “     And, he said President Tanner made sure that any extra money for that temple, went to that temple, and none to the general fund.   Finally, Brother Baker said, “We had more parking out there than we had at any other temple, and they filled the parking lot and parked on the streets. The city finally came to the temple president and said, ‘We’ve got to do something.’ We had to go buy another fifteen acres and put in more parking, just so we could get the cars off the street. “Is that a remarkable story? Is that a story about the faith of the Saints in this dispensation? Well, it just hurts me that Alma Holt didn’t get any notoriety, that he had no credit that he deserved. I know he received thanks from the Presidency, and that’s probably all that mattered to him. But I just thought, ‘Gee, that’s a tremendous story.’ And all these people walking around here, they don’t know a thing about it …”

  -Fred Baker, of Ogden, was the director of Church Physical Facilities from 1965-1991. He passed away in 2015 at age 89. He was the author’s stake president at one time, as well as a family friend. 

  -The Jordan River Temple photo is from Wikipedia Commons.   

  

 NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.