SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convenes its conference this weekend at the Conference Center in downtown. In past years, there have been big announcements and even a few surprises from the conference pulpuit.
At the conclusion of April conference in 1999, then President Gordon B. Hinckley surprised even some of his closest aides when he announced the LDS Church would undertake the rebuilding of the temple at Nauvoo, Illinois. Six months later, President Hinckley was in Nauvoo to break ground for a temple that was originally built under the supervision of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith Jr. Mormons were forced to abandon the Nauvoo temple in 1846. It was later destroyed by an arson fire and then tornado.
When the new temple at Nauvoo was dedicated in 2002, it had became one of the most important construction projects of the modern LDS Church.
As if taking a page from President Hinckley's playbook, his successor, Thomas S. Monson gave conference goers his own October surprise last year by announcing a temple in the Vatican's backyard. It was at the end of a list of temple projects announced by President Monson. When he said, "Rome, Italy," he paused and there was an audible gasp from the audience.
What will happen this time? Most of the people we talked to around Temple Square didn't know what to expect, only that they were not anticipating any major surprises. Instead they said they were looking for inspiration and hope.
