Meet the 6 New General Authority Seventies Sustained at April 2022 Conference

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By Church News staff

Six new General Authority Seventies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were sustained Saturday, April 2, as part of the April 2022 general conference.

The new General Authority Seventies — along with the Church’s new general officers — were part of the sustaining of all Church leaders presented by President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, in the conference’s Saturday afternoon session. New Relief Society and Primary presidencies were also sustained.

Following is a brief look at each new General Authority Seventy. A more in-depth profile on each will appear in coming weeks.

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Elder Mark D. Eddy

The summer before Elder Mark D. Eddy’s senior year of high school, a seminary teacher invited him and other members of their seminary student council to read the Book of Mormon. He had read it many times with his family, but this was his first time by himself.

He decided to pray before and after he read each day. He hoped that a clear answer regarding the book’s truthfulness would come within a week or two. After reading for more than two months, he still had not received his anticipated confirmation.

Hours before a “welcome back” seminary devotional in which he was asked to bear his testimony, Elder Eddy arrived early to help set up. Then he found a quiet place to read the Book of Mormon and pray.

“I then received that clear and unmistakable feeling that it was true,” he said. “It came just in time for me to bear my testimony that evening. The feeling took enough work to receive and lasted just long enough for me to never forget.”

Elder Mark David Eddy was born in Long Beach, California, on March 30, 1973, to Richard Cleighton Eddy and Mary Louise Savage Eddy. He grew up in Orem, Utah, and married Annette “Annie” Allen in the Provo Utah Temple in August 1994. They have six children.

Elder Eddy graduated from Brigham Young University in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and received a Juris Doctor degree from BYU in 2001. He has since worked as an attorney and business executive.

Elder Eddy has served as an Area Seventy, president of the Uruguay Montevideo Mission, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop, high councilor, counselor in a bishopric, ward Young Men president, and full-time missionary in the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission.

— by Trent Toone

Elder James W. McConkie III

When Elder James W. McConkie III arrived in Czechoslovakia in 1990 as a young missionary, the country was coming out of communism and ready to start exploring religious expression and faith again. “I was in the right place at the right time with the right people,” he said.

He later returned to the area as a young professional, cofounded a nonprofit foundation, and then served as president of the Czech/Slovak Mission.

When he was 12 years old, his parents invited him to study books by Church leaders and then discuss what he had read. “My dad and my mom believed in the importance of teaching their children the gospel, as suggested in the Doctrine and Covenants,” said Elder McConkie. “Section 68 invites parents to teach their children ‘the doctrine of repentance’ and ‘faith in Christ’ (verse 25). My parents took that very seriously.”

His sense for the power of the gospel to change people entered deep into his soul. He saw that same thing happen to Saints in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Elder James Wilson McConkie III was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 27, 1971, to James Wilson McConkie II and Judith Miller McConkie. He married Laurel Springer in July 1995 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have four children.

Elder McConkie graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1995 and earned a law degree in 1999 from the National Law Center at George Washington University. Most recently he worked as an attorney at Workman Nydegger and as director of the Wallace Toronto Foundation, which he helped found.

Elder McConkie was serving as a stake president at the time of his call. He has also served as a bishop, high councilor, bishopric counselor, ward mission leader, elders quorum presidency counselor, mission preparation teacher, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and ward Young Men president.

— By Mary Richards

Elder Isaac K. Morrison

Elder Isaac K. Morrison says he and his wife have slept little since President Russell M. Nelson extended a call to Elder Morrison to serve as a General Authority Seventy.

“We know this is going to be a journey for us,” he said. “We will rely on the Lord to show us what we should do.”

Elder Morrison was called as a stake president in 2012, Area Seventy in 2018, and president of the Ghana Cape Coast Mission in 2020.

“Every assignment has come at a time when I least expected it,” he said. “But I rely on the Lord and not my own abilities.”

Elder Morrison has a master of science degree in strategic management and leadership from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He has worked for the Church in various capacities since 2004, most recently as leader and member support manager for West Africa.

Isaac Kofi Morrison was born November 25, 1977, in Takoradi, Ghana, to Joseph Kojo Morrison and Mary Efua Obua Sarfo.

As a child, Elder Morrison and his family attended church meetings of another denomination. When he moved in with his uncle’s family to attend high school, he attended Latter-day Saint meetings with them and then meetings at his church. An early-morning seminary teacher invited him to attend seminary, where he met Hannah Nyarko.

“She was very intelligent and would give great comments,” he said. “It really gave me the edge to want to study more.” After studying the Book of Mormon that year, he said, “I was ready for baptism.”

On December 18, 2004, he and Hannah were married in Takoradi and sealed three days later in the Accra Ghana Temple. They have three sons.

In addition to his other calllings, Elder Morrison has served as a stake presidency counselor, bishop, bishopric counselor, elders quorum president, Gospel Doctrine teacher, seminary teacher, and full-time missionary in Nigeria.

— By David Schneider

Elder Ryan K. Olsen

When Elder Ryan K. Olsen was growing up in Sandy, Utah, USA, his parents never let him leave the house without this defining reminder: “Remember who you are.”

“It used to drive me crazy when I was a young man,” he said, laughing. “But those words helped me remember my divine identity. They helped me remember that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and that the Savior is my best friend. Everything we can hope to do or accomplish is only through Him.”

That reassuring self-identity and the examples of his parents, fellow missionaries, Church associates, and wise business mentors are precious tools Elder Olsen will utilize as he begins his service as a General Authority Seventy.

Born October 11, 1974, and raised in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, Ryan Kirk Olsen is the son of Kirk and Cathy Olsen.

Elder Olsen’s love for Latin America and the Spanish language was cemented when he served as a full-time missionary in the Argentina Resistencia Mission. Later, he and his wife, Julie Dorrington Olsen, served together when he presided over the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission from 2016 to 2019.

He and Sister Olsen were married November 20, 1998, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of four children.

At the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy, Elder Olsen was serving as an Area Seventy. He has also served as a stake president, stake mission president, high councilor, bishop, counselor in a bishopric, and counselor in a ward Young Men presidency.

Elder Olsen earned a degree in mass communications from the University of Utah and has worked in a variety of business fields. He was an area president for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a global insurance firm, until his call as mission president. At the time of his call to the Seventy, he was working as an area senior vice president for that firm.

— By Jason Swensen

Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt

Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt says “availability” is what he brings to his calling as a newly sustained General Authority Seventy.

“That’s all we have,” he said. “What a broken heart and a contrite spirit mean is that you just put your heart on the altar and allow the Lord to do His will from there.”

Elder Schmitt added, “The Lord can give us the strength, the talents, and the gifts we need to accomplish His work. But if we don’t make ourselves available to Him, then we are self-selecting and not giving Him the opportunity to bless us in our efforts to serve Him.”

Jonathan Stephen Schmitt was born April 16, 1973, in Mesa, Arizona, USA, to Robert Edward and Dianne Lyda Schmitt. He grew up in Yuma, Arizona. On July 21, 1995, he married Alexis Swain Udall in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They are the parents of four children.

Elder Schmitt received a bachelor of science degree in agricultural and resource economics in 1997 and a juris doctor degree in 2000, both from the University of Arizona.

After serving as a law clerk for the Arizona Supreme Court, he worked as an attorney for the international law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Later he worked as attorney and litigation counsel for Baker Hughes Incorporated. In addition, he worked as an assistant vice president at Arizona State University.

Elder Schmitt was serving as an Area Seventy in the North America Southwest Area when he was called as a General Authority Seventy. His previous callings include serving as president of the California San Diego Mission from 2014 to 2017, stake president, bishop, stake presidency counselor, high councilor, elders quorum president, ward executive secretary, counselor in a stake Young Men presidency, high priests group leader, stake missionary preparation teacher, and full-time missionary in the California Fresno Mission.

— By Scott Taylor

Elder Denelson Urbano da Silva

The 4,000-mile (6,400 km) return trip from Luanda, Angola, to São Paulo, Brazil, gave Elder Denelson Silva and his wife, Regina, time to wrestle with a prompting. After serving as a mission president, Elder Silva felt that he and his wife should not buy a home.

They had sold their home before leaving for their mission. They planned to purchase a new home upon their return but felt prompted to wait. “Houses in Brazil are not an asset you put up for sale and then sell immediately,” Elder Silva said. “It can take days or months or years.”

Sister Silva said they focused on the fact that Heavenly Father had guided them before their mission and that He would guide them again. “We decided together to wait for a time,” she said. They chose to rent a home instead.

Like selling a house in Brazil, the answer didn’t come in days or months or even a year. The answer came more than two years later when Elder Silva received a call to serve as a General Authority Seventy.

“We have to have the mindset that if He asks us to do something, our answer is always yes,” Elder Silva said. “If the answer isn’t always ‘yes,’ it leaves space for ‘no’ or ‘maybe.’” However, for the Savior, he explains, “there was no space for ‘no’ or ‘maybe’ in Gethsemane.”

Denelson Urbano da Silva was born on July 4, 1965, in Recife, Brazil, to Domingos Urbano da Silva and Maria José de Almeida Silva. He grew up in Recife and was sealed to Regina Maria de Carvalho Silva in the São Paulo Brazil Temple in May 1987. The couple has two children.

He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration (data processing). He worked in the travel industry for 30 years.

From 2016 to 2019, Elder Silva served as mission president with his wife in the Angola Luanda Mission. He has also served as an Area Seventy, stake president, bishop, high councilor, and full-time missionary in the Brazil Curitiba Mission.

— By Jon Ryan Jensen

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