Latter-day Saint Apostles to Address Auckland Young Adults

13 January 2011

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Two senior leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will address hundreds of young members of the Church next Tuesday [18 January] in two separate meetings, in Manukau and Mairangi Bay.

Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Neil L. Andersen are both Apostles for the Church, based in the United States, but visiting New Zealand as part of a tour of the Pacific region. The Apostles are members of one of the governing councils of The Church of Jesus Christ.

They will be accompanied by members of the Pacific Area Presidency, Elder Tad R. Callister, Elder James J. Hamula and Elder Brent H. Nielson. Other senior Church leaders visiting from the United States include Bishop Richard C. Edgley and Elder Claudio R.M. Costa.

David A. Bednar was ordained and set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 7, 2004. Prior to his call to the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Bednar served as an Area Seventy, Area Authority Seventy, Regional Representative, twice as a stake president, and as a bishop.

Elder Bednar was born on June 15, 1952, in Oakland, California. He served as a full-time missionary in Southern Germany and then attended Brigham Young University, where he received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. He also received a doctoral degree in organizational behavior from Purdue University.

After completing his education, Elder Bednar was a professor of business management at Texas Tech University and at the University of Arkansas. He then served as the president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (formerly Ricks College) from 1997-2004.

Elder Bednar married Susan Kae Robinson in the Salt Lake Temple on March 20, 1975, and they are the parents of three sons.

Elder Neil Linden Andersen was named an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 4 April 2009.

Elder Andersen was serving as the senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy prior to his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve. He was named a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1993, at age 41.

He previously led the work of the Church in southern Brazil and, again as a member of an area presidency, oversaw the Church in western Europe. He has also assisted in supervising the work of the Church in Mexico and Central America.

In addition, he supervised Church audiovisual production, including the filming of The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd and managed construction of the broadcast facilities in the Conference Center as the executive director of the Church Audiovisual Department.

He speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish in addition to his native English.

Prior to his call as a general authority, Elder Andersen served as a mission president in the France Bordeaux Mission and as president of the Tampa Florida Stake.

Elder Andersen was born in Logan, Utah, and raised in Pocatello, Idaho, on a dairy farm where he remembers doing "typical Idaho farm work, from morning to night.” In high school, he excelled in student government, serving as governor of Idaho Boys State.

He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he was a Hinckley Scholar, and earned a masters of business administration from Harvard University. After completing his education, he settled in Tampa, Florida, where his business interests included advertising, real estate development and health care.

Elder Andersen and his wife, Kathy Williams Andersen, are the parents of four children.

ENDS

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