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Another Aussie acquisition
The church has landed more farm property in Australia.
Through its agricultural subsidiary, Alkira Farms, the Utah-based faith scooped up nearly 15,000 acres in New South Wales, AuctionsPlus reports, for $38 million.
The purchase, the website adds, includes water rights along with rich cropland known for producing wheat, barley, canola and chickpeas.
Earlier this year, the church bought three other farms, totaling 14,000 acres, in southeastern Australia in another multimillion-dollar deal, and, in 2024, it acquired 64,000-plus acres in Queensland for more than $300 million.
An investment overseer stated last year that the church is “excited by the opportunities available in Australian agriculture.”
That excitement apparently hasn’t worn off.
General Conference highlights
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) President Russell M. Nelson greets 8-year-old Ella Hadley, from Syracuse, at the conclusion of General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 6, 2025.
That’s a wrap for General Conference. Here are highlights:
• President Russell Nelson attended only the final session in person, urging members in a recorded message to show more charity and naming 15 new temples, including a 32nd for Utah. The 100-year-old prophet has now announced 200 temples.
• Church rolls added more than 308,000 converts last year — the most in nearly three decades — propelling global membership past 17.5 million.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Three women delivered sermons, including one given by Young Women leader Tamara Runia and praised by Tribune columnist Gordon Monson. Two women offered prayers.
• General authority Seventy Kevin Duncan will be elevated to the Presidency of the Seventy come August, replacing José Teixeira. Of the past eight apostles named to the Quorum of the Twelve, six have come from this elite group of seven.
• A new Young Men General Presidency was announced. All three hail from Utah.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performs during General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Sunday, April 6, 2025.
• Choirs sang seven songs recently added to the church’s global hymnbook, including “Were You There?,” a traditional African American spiritual.
• Sixteen new general authority Seventies were named and five will receive emeritus status. Another 78 Area Seventies were appointed and 65 will be released.
Location, location, location — and timing
(Beth Noyce) District Coffee Co., located near the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, posted this sign during General Conference weekend, April 5-6, 2025.
Credit District Coffee Co., located a mere block away from the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, with calendar and clientele awareness.
On conference weekend, it posted a big sign out front alerting the thousands of faithful streaming into the sessions of a special deal:
“DIET COKE — THIS WEEKEND ONLY,” the A-frame placard proclaimed. “TRY IT DIRTY, WITH DOZENS OF SYRUP FLAVORS + CREAM.”
Wise messaging to attract latte-shunning Latter-day Saints.
The latest ‘Mormon Land’ podcast: Fashion, fabric and faith
Yes, the new sleeveless garments offer “fun” style options, but they’re about more than modern fashion, say two Latter-day Saint influencers. They’re about modern revelation.
Listen to the podcast.
Temple Square addition
(The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The “Five Wise Virgins” statue on Temple Square in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
The newest statue on the revamped Temple Square emerging in downtown Salt Lake City is a study in diversity.
Titled the “Five Wise Virgins,” based on Christ’s New Testament parable, it features women of various ethnicities and ages.
“The women are depicted shoulder to shoulder, supporting each other,” Relief Society General President Camille Johnson said in a news release. “...Their lamps are filled with the oil of conversion in Jesus Christ. And with that light of conversion, they let it shine.”
From The Tribune
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Claudia Lauper Bushman attends a conference honoring her work in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 15, 2025.
• She heeded an apostle’s demand that she resign as Exponent II’s first editor, but this feminist icon still thrived in the church.
• Latter-day Saint historian Benjamin Park fears the sun may be setting on the “golden age” of Mormon studies.
• Tribune guest columnist Eli McCann fondly reflects on his Mormonism grand finale shepherding a bunch of “church kids” in an island paradise.
• You may have never heard of him, but this convert’s macabre movies introduced Latter-day Saint teachings to audiences and his devotion helped build the church in Spain.
• A well-known African American Latter-day Saint suggests how to root out racism.
• Two Latter-day Saint women call the pullback from vaccines a “moral failing.”
• Latter-day Saint culture has its flaws, but Tribune columnist Gordon Monson points to eight things the church gets right.