"We have great plans, and I think our accomplishments the past 10 years or so have been rather remarkable. I hope they will continue to be so. We still have a lot of problems, and we're still reaching out across the world."

He said he's not worried about the future when the torch is passed to a new set of leaders, and he has no advice to give in that regard.

"The church is organized in such a way that the transition from one president to another is a very simple, straightforward thing. The one who succeeds me will have worked with me for a very long time. He'll know all I've tried to do and know all about it. Things will continue on much the same way we've tried to do."

He said he doesn't think much about his own mortality because "I have an assurance of immortality of the human soul.

"There's no question in my mind we'll go on living after we leave here. I don't dwell on it a lot. I just accept it and move forward. When all is said and done, you get up each morning. . . . You get up and keep moving."

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com