Thousands of members gathered for the 165th Semiannual General Conference on Temple Square Sept. 30-Oct. 1 to, as President Gordon B. Hinckley described it, "partake of that sociality which is so pleasant and so important a part of the culture of this great organization."

President Hinckley, who was sustained at general conference last April as the 15th president of the Church, presided over the five sessions of the conference. Two general sessions were held Saturday, Sept. 30, and two on Sunday, Oct. 1, and the priesthood session was held Saturday evening. President Hinckley gave opening and closing remarks at the conference, and delivered addresses at the priesthood and the Sunday morning general sessions. He conducted the Saturday morning and Sunday morning sessions and the priesthood session.Taking turns at the Tabernacle podium to conduct other sessions and deliver addresses were President Hinckley's counselors, President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor; and President James E. Faust, second counselor.

By the time the conference concluded, 28 speakers had addressed the gathering. Their messages, President Hinckley said in his closing remarks, "seemed to have been woven together into a beautiful fabric of expression of faith and testimony."

During the priesthood session of the conference, President Hinckley announced the Church will build temples in Boston, Mass., and White Plains, N.Y., instead of Hartford, Conn., as previously announced. He also said the Church is working on "the possibility of a temple in Venezuela," as well as on sites in six other areas, which he did not identify. (See separate article on this page.)

Also during the conference, a reorganization of the general presidency of the Sunday School and changes in the status of seven members of the Quorums of the Seventy were announced. (See pages 4-5.)

Elders Jack H Goaslind and Harold G. Hillam were sustained to the Presidency of the Seventy, positions they have served in since Aug. 15. They succeed Elders Rex D. Pinegar and Charles Didier. Announcement of the changes in the Presidency of the Seventy were made in July.

The Tabernacle on Temple Square has a capacity listed officially as 6,000. The historic domed structure was filled during all five sessions of the conference; overflow seating was provided in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square, and in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building just east of Temple Square. Several thousand people, including many families and friends, came to Temple Square prepared to listen to the Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon sessions of conference proceedings on the grounds. Temperatures in the mornings were brisk but warmed up into the 60s in the afternoons.

All sessions of the conference were televised by satellite. A special 33-minute video presentation, Windows of Heaven, was broadcast between general sessions on Saturday and Sunday over the Church Satellite System in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. More than 3,000 stake centers and other meetinghouses equipped with satellite dishes received the conference throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, the West Indies and the Dominican Republic. In addition, all sessions were transmitted by satellite to more than 1,200 cable television systems in the United States.

Church units or members in North America and Hawaii with proper TV satellite reception capabilities received the conference broadcasts by satellite in 16 languages. Conference proceedings went to more than 100 stake and ward buildings with satellite downlink equipment in England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Switzerland. Transmissions to Europe were in 11 languages. Members in Eastern Europe who had access to privately owned satellite dishes were able to receive sessions of the conference.

Church units in areas of the world where the satellite and other transmissions were not available will receive videotapes of conference sessions.

Members of the Church who did not speak English and who attended conference in Salt Lake City were directed to designated areas of the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Temple Square North Visitors Center, the Salt Lake Stake Center and other chapels to listen to conference proceedings in their own languages. Interpreters stationed in the lower level of the Tabernacle provided translations, which were conveyed through headsets at the various locations. Simultaneous interpretations of conference sessions were in the following languages: Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Haitian-Creole, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin, Navajo, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Thai, Tongan and Vietnamese.

The Sunday morning session was preceded by the Tabernacle Choir program, "Music and the Spoken Word," conducted by associate director Donald Ripplinger. President Hinckley announced Sunday morning that Brother Ripplinger, who has been associate director of the choir for 20 years, will retire in January.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Key statistics

Here are some facts presented by President Gordon B. Hinckley in his appraisal of the present condition of the Church, part of his address at the priesthood session:

- Membership at the end of 1994: 9.025 million.

- Gain over the previous year: 300,730.

- Rate of growth: a million new members each three and a half years.

- Workers laboring in a missionary or volunteer capacity in the Church Educational System, Family History organization, temples and various other Church departments: 96,484, the equivalent of 10,000 full-time employees, whose service has an annual value of $360 million.

- Students enrolled in seminaries and institutes for the 1994-95 school year: 483,000.

- Number of copies of the Book of Mormon distributed last year: 3,742,629. All or substantial parts of the book are printed in 85 languages.

- Number of stakes: 2,101.

- Number of new wards and branches organized in 1994: 772.

- Total wards and branches in 1994: 21,774.

- Number of new buildings in the course of construction: 375.

- Number of operating temples: 47.

- Number of temples under construction: 6.

- Number of temples announced: 9.

- Temple sites the Church is working on acquiring: 6.

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Conference highlights

- Announcement of new temples

Boston, Mass.

White Plains, N.Y.

Possibly one in Venezuela

- Released as Sunday School general presidency

Elder Charles Didier, president

Elder J Ballard Washburn, first counselor

Elder F. Burton Howard, second counselor

- Sustained as Sunday School general presidency

Elder Harold G. Hillam, president

Elder F. Burton Howard, first counselor

Elder Glenn L. Pace, second counselor

- Granted emeritus status, First Quorum of the Seventy

Elder Ted E. Brewerton

Elder Hans B. Ringger

- Released from Second Quorum of the Seventy

Elder Eduardo Ayala

Elder LeGrand R. Curtis

Elder Helvecio Martins

Elder J Ballard Washburn

Elder Durrel A. Woolsey