Announcement of a new educational loan program intended to help young Latter-day Saints in Third World countries capped the first day's proceedings of the 171st Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday.
President Gordon B. Hinckley told male church members attending the General Priesthood Session that interest from a fund created largely with donations "from faithful Latter-day Saints who have and will contribute for this purpose" will help youths in Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines and other areas who otherwise have little chance of rising above the poverty that pervades life in their countries. The program will begin this fall on a limited basis, with the first aid going to young people who have served missions, often with the help of the church's General Missionary Fund.
Although many of these youths are faithful in the church, their outlook is limited, he said. "Because of limited abilities, they are not likely to become leaders in the church. They are more likely to find themselves in need of welfare help. . . . Their future is bleak indeed."
The announcement, which President Hinckley alluded to during his opening remarks to a packed Conference Center
on Saturday morning, was welcomed with enthusiasm and elation by many whose countries may benefit from the program.
"I think it's great," said Dominique Andriamanantoa of Antananarivo, Madagascar. "There are a lot of worthy missionaries (from Madagascar). But when they return home, many have limited opportunities."
He said the Church Education System has a smaller, similar education loan fund program operating there now, but this looks as if it will help many more missionaries.
"It's a good idea," Conrad Echeubrria of Guadalajara, Mexico, said. "There are many people who do not have a way to fund their education."
President Hinckley told listeners in his opening remarks that the church "is stronger than it has ever been. It is not only larger in numbers, but I believe there is greater faithfulness among the Saints generally."
He credited this, in part, to the proliferation of temples around the world. He hinted at plans for even more of the sacred buildings but did not name locations because sites are still being studied. The goal of having 100 temples in operation by the end of 2000 was met and is now surpassed, he said. The 103rd was recently dedicated in Uruguay, and others are planned or under construction to bring the current total to 121.
The ranks of the General Authorities also grew as a dozen men were sustained to the Quorums of Seventy. (See related story on A12.)
Mild spring weather and the prospect of being in the presence of church leaders lured thousands of church members to downtown Salt Lake City. Many were from outside the Salt Lake area and others had come from foreign countries to join the throngs who filled the cluster of meeting halls surrounding the temple, including the Tabernacle and Assembly Hall.
Hundreds stood in line at the Conference Center, hoping for a spot after those with tickets had been seated. Files of people continued to fill the seats even after meetings had begun.
Former Longview, Wash., Stake President Terry Brandon and his wife were among those fortunate to have tickets admitting them to the 20,000-plus-seat center. He received the tickets shortly before being released as stake president, he said, and took advantage of the opportunity to be in the highly acclaimed center. They described the building as "Awesome. Spiritually fulfilling. A little piece of heaven."
"You feel something there," his wife said.
The increasingly worldwide character of the church was in evidence among groups of young people, many of whom were content to remain outside while the conference was in session. Josue Accompli and Amalie On Stays met in Honduras. He served a mission in Guatemala but is now a student at Brigham Young University with a double major in musical performance and marketing. Amalie's heritage is both Honduran and German. She will soon return to Germany to await a mission call. Where would she like to go? "To Temple Square," she declared after watching duos of sister missionaries deal with the many conference visitors and others on the square.
President Hinckley's announcement of the education fund was the only significant program change disclosed during the first day of the two-day semi-annual conference.
The educational support, he said, will go to "ambitious young men and women, for the most part returned missionaries."
The Perpetual Education Fund is named in memory of the Perpetual Emigration Fund of the mid-1800s that provided financial support for thousands of Latter-day Saints living in the Eastern United States and European countries who wanted to gather with their religious counterparts in Utah Territory, said President Hinckley. (See accompanying story on A9.)
Educational opportunities will be directed through LDS Institute buildings already in place. Initially, many of the students will be enrolled in technical schools where they will study such things as computer science, refrigeration engineering and other skills most likely to lead quickly to employment. They will attend institute classes, and their progress will be monitored by an institute director. Funding will be payable to the institution in which courses will be taken.
"The plan may later be extended to training for the professions," President Hinckley said. Those who receive funding from the educational pool will be expected to repay it, and a small amount of interest, when they are qualified for employment.
The overall program director will be "an emeritus general authority, a man with demonstrated business and technical abilities," he said, but he did not name the individual. The fund will require no new organization and no new personnel apart from a volunteer director and secretary. "It will cost essentially nothing to administer."
Ultimately, President Hinckley predicted, a "very substantial number" of church members in poor countries will benefit.
"With good employment skills, these young men and women can rise out of the poverty they and generations before them have known. They will better provide for their families. They will serve in the church and grow in leadership responsibility. . . . This is a bold initiative, but we believe in the need for it and in the success that it will enjoy."
The program is not a welfare effort but an education opportunity, President Hinckley said. Employment issues still will be handled by the church welfare program.
A religious organization has an obligation to see to the temporal welfare of members as well as their spiritual needs, he said. For those in countries that can offer little to the rising generations, "education is the key to opportunity."
Speakers in Saturday's two general sessions touched on many topics, ranging from missionary service for mature couples to temple work to the need to use modern communications technology carefully.
The need for more mature church members to serve in the mission field is "pressing," said Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve. Those who do serve give their families an excellent example and contribute richly to the missionary effort in countless ways, he said.
With more than 100 temples now available and others contemplated, church members must be prepared to worthily serve in them, said Elder Russell M. Nelson, also of the Quorum of the Twelve. "Every activity, every lesson, all we do in the church point to the Lord and his holy house," he said, and temple service becomes a hallmark of faith, representing the ultimate in LDS worship.
Other speakers urged faithful church members to improve the quality of their spiritual lives through compassion, repentance, witnessing of Christ, developing true humility, building communities of faith and through rearing righteous families.
E-mail: tvanleer@desnews.com