On Thursday, the Church published new updates to the General Handbook. They add an option for wards and stakes to hold children's devotionals, reflect the new Sunday meeting schedule and teacher council meetings, and give the Young Women age-groups new names: "Builders of Faith," "Messengers of Hope" and "Gatherers of Light." Guidance on supporting members with disabilities was also expanded (Newsroom, Church News).
Bishop Budge on where tithing goes. At a BYU devotional on Tuesday, Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric said the Church's financial resources have a spiritual purpose: "to prepare the way for God's work of salvation and exaltation and to bless God's children everywhere" (Newsroom, Church News).
"Water is life." The Church funded eight new water points in Zumve Village, Tanzania, with Water for Good, and donated a new reservoir on the island of Taha'a in French Polynesia, handed over to local leaders on Oct. 6. Last year the Church conducted or sponsored 3,514 humanitarian projects (Church News).
No. 2 BYU heads to Orlando. The unbeaten Cougars (6-0) visit UCF (3-3) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Mountain on FOX. Coach Kalani Sitake's message this week: stay hungry and humble (BYU Athletics, Deseret News).
"Infinity is not only endless time but unlimited capacity, unbounded reach and inexhaustible love."
— Elder Dale G. Renlund, on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Neal A. Maxwell Lecture, Oct. 13, 2026 (Church News)
Oct. 23, 1927: President Heber J. Grant dedicated the Arizona Temple in Mesa, the Church's ninth temple. Saints there had long made the trek to St. George by wagon to be married in the temple. In 1945 it became the first temple to offer sessions in a language other than English: Spanish (Ensign, Aug. 1974, Newsroom fact sheet).
The Lord told Joseph Smith, "All things unto me are spiritual" (D&C 29:34). Bishop Budge used that verse this week to explain that even budgets, meetinghouses and water tanks serve a spiritual purpose. He also pointed to the Lord's promise to tithe payers to "open you the windows of heaven" (Malachi 3:10), calling tithing a spiritual law with promised blessings (Church News).
Reflect: Which "temporal" task on your list this week could you do as an act of discipleship?
Public tours of this new temple began Thursday and run through Nov. 7 (except Sundays). It sits just west of Torreón in Gómez Palacio, Durango, and its interior is decorated with cotton blossoms and wheat, crops grown across the region. Elder Gary E. Stevenson will dedicate it Nov. 22, making it the Church's 16th dedicated temple in Mexico (Church News, official temple page).
Yesterday's answer: Frankfurt Germany (from our Oct. 19 issue). Vienna is in the Frankfurt Germany Temple district, a drive of seven or eight hours each way (Church News).
Today’s question: Which section of the Doctrine and Covenants says tithing "shall be disposed of by a council"?
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Which new Young Women age-group name do you like best?
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