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“News of the Church,” Ensign, May 1989, 88–112

Elder Joe J. Christensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Joe J. Christensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 88

Commenting on his new calling as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Joe J. Christensen says, “This is a church where teaching is very important, and I’m finding out that teaching is one of the things I’ll be doing a great deal.”

In this regard, Elder Christensen’s 34-year career in the Church Educational System brings him to his new calling well prepared.

Joe J. Christensen was born 21 July 1929, the son of Joseph Amos and Goldie Echo Miles Christensen. He grew up on the family farm in the small community of Banida, in southeastern Idaho, and attended Utah State University for two years before serving as a missionary in Mexico and Central America. After his graduation from Brigham Young University and a tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a seminary teacher and later as director of the institutes of religion adjacent to Washington State University (where he received a Ph.D.), the University of Idaho, and the University of Utah.

In 1970, Brother Christensen was asked to become associate commissioner of Church Education under the direction of Commissioner Neal A. Maxwell.

“At that time, the seminaries and institutes of religion were just beginning in non-English-speaking countries,” says Elder Christensen. “So for the next nine years, I traveled to sixty-six countries around the world as the seminaries and institutes were being established. Those were exciting years.”

His work in the Church Educational System was interrupted in 1979 by a call to serve as president of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, where he supervised the initial training of more than 58,000 missionaries over a period of four years.

“The missionary program of the Church is still one of the great miracles of the world,” says Elder Christensen. His wife, Barbara, adds, “There really aren’t words to describe our experience at the MTC. But in many ways it was like being in the temple. The spirit was so similar.”

Since 1985, Elder Christensen has served as president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, which he describes without hesitation as “absolutely the finest college educational institution in the world for the first two years.”

In addition to his work in the Church Educational System and his calling as a mission president, Elder Christensen has served as a bishop, high councilor, member of the Melchizedek Priesthood MIA and Young Men general boards, counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, and Regional Representative.

He has also been successful in the callings he feels are the most important—those of husband and father. He married Barbara Kohler in 1952 in the Salt Lake Temple. “Marrying Barbara was the most important decision I ever made, and the best thing that ever happened to me,” says Elder Christensen.

Barbara says in reply, “I have the kindest husband in the world. He is so kind and gentle to everyone, especially me.”

The Christensens have six married children: Amy (Poulton), Susan (Jones), Stephen, Linda (Evans), Douglas, and Spencer. They have sixteen grandchildren.

“We’ve always believed that building memories within the family is very important,” says Elder Christensen. Among their most cherished family memories are a trip across the United States to tour U.S. and Church historical sites (camping all the way) and a tour of Israel, where they spent Christmas Eve in Shepherds’ Field near Bethlehem. “And we still have part of the Idaho family farm,” he says. “We like to keep our hands in the soil.”

“I have an absolute assurance that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his church. We’re very much committed to the gospel and to the idea that you serve wherever you’re called and for as long as the Lord wants you to serve.”

Elder W. Eugene Hansen of the First Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder W. Eugene Hansen of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 89

If you were to walk from Elder W. Eugene Hansen’s living room into the hallway, you would see an entire wall covered with family photographs. Though Elder Hansen has many interests—his work as a personal injury lawyer, his service in the army reserve, his contributions to higher education as chairman of the state board of regents, his Church callings—he has never lost sight of his first love: his family.

Even when work would normally keep him away, he and his wife have often found ways for the family to be together. He says, for instance, “Many summers, during my two weeks of active duty outside of Utah, my family would meet me there, and we would drive back together.”

The challenges they have faced as a family have also drawn them together. Elder Hansen and his wife, Jeanine Showell, have had six children: Christian, Jeff, Susan (Porter), Matthew, Steven, and Stan. Matthew lost his life in an automobile accident, and three others have nearly died because of injury or illness. Sister Hansen says, “We have to give the Lord full credit for helping us weather all the tough times.”

Eugene Hansen was born 23 August 1928 in Tremonton, Utah, to Warren E. and Ruth Steed Hansen. He grew up on a family farm in East Garland, Utah. “I’m grateful that farm life forced me to rise early and work hard,” he says. “That habit’s come in handy when I’ve had to get up at 2:00 a.m. to work on unfinished business.”

In 1950, Brother Hansen graduated from Utah State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics and military training through ROTC. On September 8, in the Idaho Falls Temple, he and Jeanine were married. They had attended the same high school and had both gone to Utah State. Brother Hansen then enrolled in law school at the University of Utah. He had completed one quarter when he and his wife received notice that he would soon be called to active duty in Korea.

He recalls, “I left school because of the impending military assignment and found a short-term job with KSL radio as assistant farm director. However, the military assignment did not come for some time. When we finally got our papers, we had just had our first child. We and our six-week-old baby left for Fort Lee, Virginia, in 1953.” A year later, Brother Hansen sailed to Korea. Sister Hansen and their son, meanwhile, returned to Utah so that she could complete her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Utah State University.

In May 1955, Brother Hansen completed his tour of duty, and he and his family moved to Bountiful, Utah. Brother Hansen returned to law school, and Sister Hansen taught elementary school. He obtained his law degree in 1958. Most of his professional life, he has been in private practice. A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he served as president of the Utah State Bar from 1979 to 1980.

Over the years until his retirement from the military reserve in 1980, Eugene Hansen regularly served as a reserve officer. He was attached to the general’s office at Fort Douglas, Utah, as an attorney. At age forty-four, he was promoted to full colonel.

The Hansens are devoted to gospel service. The Church, they explain, has always been central to their lives. Brother Hansen has served in two bishoprics, in several stake MIA callings, and as president of the Salt Lake Bonneville Stake. Sister Hansen has served in Primary, MIA, Sunday School, and Cub Scouts. Her favorite calling has been Laurel adviser.

Then, during the 1989 April general conference, Elder Hansen was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy. Of that calling, Elder Hansen says, “We had no hesitancy in accepting the call. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than spend my life in the Lord’s work.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the First Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 90

Jeffrey Holland stood at the brink of a promising academic career. He was completing a Ph.D. at Yale University and had offers to do graduate teaching there or take attractive positions elsewhere. He and Sister Holland had worried and prayed about what to do.

“I remember kneeling down to seek an answer,” he says. “Halfway through the prayer, it was so clear to me what we should do that I was quite literally unable to go on with the prayer. I think I just stopped and said something like ‘Thank you, Lord.’ ”

He picked up the phone to let Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then commissioner of Church Education, know that he would be returning to the Seminary and Institute Program. “My Yale professors thought it was incomprehensible that I would turn my back on these other opportunities,” recalls Elder Holland. “But I have never looked back.”

“Jeff has absolutely pure faith,” says Patricia Terry Holland. “His faith is so anchored, so sure.”

Born 3 December 1940 to Frank Holland and Alice Bentley, he was reared in a modest home in the southern Utah town of St. George. “I grew up with more security and unrestrained love than I can imagine a child having,” says Elder Holland. Part of his security was certain faith in the divinity of the Lord’s church.

“In my mind’s eye I see life very vividly as a path,” says Elder Holland. “And I see Christ on that path ahead of us, marking the way, calling out reassurance, taking us on his shoulders when we think the way is unsafe and finally impossible.”

One of those difficult times for the Hollands was at Yale. Living on a graduate student budget with two small children, Brother Holland served in the presidency of a large stake while Sister Holland was Primary president and then Relief Society president. Carrying a full academic load and teaching institute at Yale and in Amherst, Massachusetts, Jeff finished a three-year program in four years. “That task was like crossing the Red Sea for us,” he says. “It seemed impossible to do it all. There was no reason for us to have survived financially or emotionally except that we were blessed and given special sustenance from the Lord.”

Elder and Sister Holland feel that their Church experience in New Haven was worth at least as much to them as Brother Holland’s Ph.D. Within several months of being assigned to the Institute of Religion adjacent to the University of Utah, Brother Holland was asked to direct the Church’s Melchizedek Priesthood MIA program.

Since then, he has served as dean of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University, commissioner of Church Education, and finally president of Brigham Young University, where he was serving at the time of his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy. He has also been a bishop, a counselor to three stake presidents, and a Regional Representative. Pat has served in many callings, including four terms as a Relief Society president and two years in the Young Women General Presidency.

The Hollands met in high school, marrying after Jeff served a mission to Great Britain and Pat studied music in New York City. They have three children—Matthew, twenty-two; Mary Alice, nineteen; and David, fifteen. “I am first and forever a family man,” says Elder Holland. “I look at life through the eyes of my wife and my children.”

As he contemplates his new responsibilities, Elder Holland feels himself drawn to the Lord’s command to “succor the weak.” (D&C 81:5.) “I do have a view of someone there ahead of me and leading me,” says Elder Holland. “It is the commanding image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our days and years are a journey, and Christ is the Way of Salvation—literally the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 91

The dark wool pinstriped suit and silk tie of the lawyer could keep you from recognizing the Huntsville, Utah, farmer in Marlin K. Jensen. But once he places his strong, square hand in yours, tells you about the family farm where he and his wife, Kathleen, are rearing their eight children, growing vegetables, and breeding and caring for livestock, you begin to know the man.

“I love farming and life on a farm, so I practice law in order to be able to live this way,” he confesses.

Elder Jensen, who has been called to the First Quorum of the Seventy, says Huntsville is “home to five generations of Jensens. I love it here. But I will do what the Lord wants of me. He has blessed us so much.”

Marlin Keith Jensen was born 18 May 1942 to Keith Grow and Lula Hill Jensen. When he was twenty-eight and just out of law school, Brother Jensen was called to be bishop of the Huntsville Ward, as had been his father and grandfather before him. Later, he served as a priests quorum adviser, then as a stake president, and most recently as a Regional Representative.

“I love the Lord, love people, and know how to work hard,” Elder Jensen says. “Because I’ve been able to stand on the strong shoulders of my father and grandfathers, I feel the strength of my roots.”

Family heritage gave Elder Jensen a sense of stability as he went through law school at the University of Utah. “I don’t think of myself as particularly smart, but I did gain confidence from knowing the value of hard work and by relying on the Lord. And knowing I came from good stock, I decided that if I didn’t succeed, it would be my own fault.” His conscientious efforts brought him from somewhere in the upper third of his class during his first year as a law student to number one at graduation.

This tradition is being passed on to another generation of Jensens. “Working together as a family is the best way to strengthen ties,” Elder Jensen says. The whole Jensen family participates on the farm—gathering eggs, feeding the calves, milking, sewing, baking, doing their part.

After returning from his mission in 1964, Marlin Jensen met Kathleen Bushnell on a blind date while he was attending BYU and she was attending Utah State University. They married 9 June 1967 in the Salt Lake Temple. Since then, both have served in many callings.

“I love working in the nursery and with the Cub Scouts,” says Kathy. She was recently released as Relief Society president to give birth to Sarah Jane, their eighth child. They have five other daughters—Jennifer, Julie, Emily, Kate, and Allison—and two sons—Matthew (currently serving a mission in Germany, where his father and grandfather served) and Ryan.

“Kathy’s magnificent obsession is to be a mother,” Elder Jensen says of his wife. “She loves her children and me, and her cheerful disposition is the model for the whole family. As a mother, she loves to learn right along with her children, reading aloud and sharing discoveries.”

“We are doing whatever we do for the Lord,” Kathy says, “and it is supremely important that I be there for my children. At times when I have become too involved elsewhere—PTA or even Church things—I see the difference here at home.”

The Jensens describe their parental pattern as a kind of cooperative effort. “We try to have very few rules,” Elder Jensen explains. “In fact, we tend not to make a rule until one seems needed. Instead, we all feel mutually supportive, sharing our belongings pretty openly, attending each others’ events to show our care—whether it’s one of the children’s performances, games, or events, or one of Dad’s ‘old-men’ basketball games at church.”

The Jensen family farm has prepared Elder Marlin K. Jensen in many ways for his labors in the Lord’s larger vineyard.

Elder Carlos H. Amado of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Carlos H. Amado of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 92

When his family first attended an LDS meeting, nine-year-old Carlos didn’t care much for the idea, fearing it might be like chaotic meetings he had seen in some other churches. And nothing in this new church seemed to appeal—until the elder who greeted his family told Carlos about Boy Scouts!

It wasn’t long until the family joined the Church. Carlos grew up in it, and he has matured spiritually through a lifetime of service. On April 1, Elder Carlos H. Amado of Guatemala City, Guatemala, was sustained as a member of the new Second Quorum of the Seventy.

The calling came as a surprise to him—but not to his children. Knowing their father’s strengths, they have long believed he would one day be a General Authority. The Amados’ eldest son—sixteen-year-old Carlos Josue—could only weep for joy when his parents told their children of the call. Excitement took over for their other children—Julio, sixteen, whom they have recently adopted; David, fifteen; Juan Pablo, eleven; Andres, ten; and Mayavel, eight, named for her mother.

Elder Amado reflects that he and his wife are part of “the first generation of members who have grown up in the Church in Guatemala.” Both were born in Guatemala City, he on 25 September 1944, and she eight years and two days later. Mayavel’s parents joined the Church when she was four. She and Carlos knew each other as children. But their romance did not develop until after her family returned from five years of living in El Salvador, and after he had served in the Andes Mission from 1965 to 1967. They were married in December of 1971.

He was working as a draftsman when he was called as a bishop several years ago. He had been teaching seminary since the beginning of the program in Guatemala, and he continued while he served as bishop. After two years, he was hired to work in the Church Educational System, and three months later, he was called to be CES area director in Guatemala. He has worked for the Church Educational System for fourteen years.

In the years since his mission, Elder Amado has been a branch president, bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, mission president, and twice a Regional Representative. While he was president of the Guatemala Guatemala City Mission from 1980–84, he was asked to reopen and preside simultaneously over the El Salvador San Salvador Mission.

After being released as mission president and before being called again as Regional Representative, Elder Amado served as Blazer leader in their ward. Typically, his wife says, he prepared as thoroughly and carefully for his Primary lesson as he would for a presentation to a group of priesthood leaders.

She, too, has given much in Church callings throughout their married life; for some time now she has served as an assistant matron in the temple. The Amados know they must support each other as husband and wife to be able to fulfill their responsibilities.

On occasion, Elder Amado may relax by playing table tennis with his children, and he tries to run every day for exercise. But he seems to thrive on Church work.

“The thing that made me admire him when we met, after not having seen each other since we were children, was his love for the Lord,” Sister Amado says. “His greatest concern is that we focus our attention on Christ.”

Often, fulfilling his many Church leadership responsibilities has required great personal sacrifice. But it is not in his nature to think of service as a sacrifice. “I have never felt that my callings are burdens—but blessings,” Elder Amado explains.

“Everything I am, and all that I have, I have received through being involved in the service of the Lord.”

Elder Ben B. Banks of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Ben B. Banks of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 93

His alert eyes, the color in his face, and the sureness of his movements all reveal Ben Banks’s vigorous love of sports and the out-of-doors. A model of physical fitness at 57, Elder Benjamin Berry Banks recently returned to the United States from Scotland, where he serves as mission president, to attend general conference and to be sustained as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

“We love the people of Scotland, and we love the country itself,” says his wife, the former Susan Kearnes. “It will be hard to leave and hard to leave the great missionary effort. We have developed a great love for the missionaries; they have been a true blessing in our lives. But we love to go where we are called.”

Going where he is called and doing what is asked are traits characteristic of President Banks’s always energetic service. “Whether in business, in Church service, or with my family,” he smiles, “I have always felt that I needed to give more than was expected of me and have left the rest up to the Lord. The results have been blessings beyond measure.”

Sister Banks says, “Ben is one of the most generous and considerate people I’ve ever known. He believes that everything he has belongs to the Lord, so he feels responsible for sharing anything in reach. And he does.”

Ben Banks built a thriving lumber business in Salt Lake City based on the same principle—he tried to give more than people expected. Now two of his sons, Ben, Jr., and Brad, run the business.

Besides these two oldest sons, Elder and Sister Banks have a daughter, Nanette (Amis), and five other sons, David, Marty, Steven, John, and Holger. All seven sons have gone on missions; John is currently serving a mission in Japan. The Bankses have thirteen grandchildren, including seven by their German foster son, Holger.

Elder Banks was born in Salt Lake City on 4 April 1932. His mother is Chloa Berry Banks; his father, Ben F. Banks, died when Ben was two years old.

After serving three different times as bishop, Elder Banks served as a stake president. He was called in 1987 to preside over the Scotland Edinburgh Mission, from which he will be released to assume his duties in the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Banks, an avid cyclist, shares his enjoyment of sports with his family. He and Susan have always enjoyed skiing together—on both snow and water—and camping has been a favorite family activity. These activities and the memories they provide have kept the family very close.

Scripture-centered parenting is another way that Elder and Sister Banks have kept the family close, Elder Banks believes. “I have always found that the best advice for Sue and me in teaching our children is in the scriptures. We have used them consistently. We are so grateful for the wisdom they offer. And when our children have wanted advice, the scriptures were always our first resort.”

The Banks children say that standards in their parents’ home were high and demanding; yet they always felt loved and valued. “Though a busy Church leader, Dad always made time for us,” adds one son.

Another son agrees: “He coached teams, attended special events, and talked freely with us when we needed him. A good balance was achieved between our father’s strict, high expectations and our mother’s tenderness.” To which Elder Banks adds, “I’ve never heard my wife angry, and never have I heard her speak an unkind word to or about anyone. Her heart is pure.”

All the Banks children are actively involved in the Church. “Our gratitude for the joy our family brings us is endless,” says Elder Banks. “The love we share for our own and for all our Father’s children makes any service we could ever give the purest enjoyment.”

Elder Spencer J. Condie of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Spencer J. Condie of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 94

When Spencer Condie was a teenager, he had an image problem. An aspiring athlete who had two cousins on the University of Utah basketball team, he realized early on, “I wasn’t destined for greatness in that sport.”

Deciding what should become number one in his life, however, was a different matter. “If you seek first the kingdom of God instead of just putting the gospel in your top ten, you can then study almost any field or be employed in almost any area and still remain faithful in the kingdom.”

Elder Spencer J. Condie, newly sustained member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, has studied many fields, has worked in many areas, and has managed to keep his commitment to the gospel his top priority.

Born on 27 August 1940 in Preston, Idaho, to Spencer C. Condie and Josie Peterson Condie, Spencer Joel Condie received his patriarchal blessing shortly after his ninth birthday. “I was too young to appreciate or even understand it at the time,” he recalls of the experience, “but it gave me direction that helped me decide what’s important in life.”

The opportunity to serve as a stake missionary at seventeen further directed Elder Condie’s priorities. He went on to serve in the Southern Germany Mission, from 1960 to 1963, where he became acquainted with Sister Dorthea Speth, a native missionary from Dresden, Germany. They married one and a half years after Elder Condie returned from Germany, a decision he calls, “the wisest I’ve made. She has been the driving force behind our family, and to this day I am in spiritual awe of her.”

Elder Condie also attributes to his wife’s influence his ability to put the gospel first during the following years of academic study that took him from Brigham Young University to the University of Pittsburgh for a doctorate in medical sociology, and finally back to BYU in 1969 as a professor of sociology and ancient scripture. He has been honored as Honors Professor of the Year and as a recipient of the Karl G. Maeser Distinguished Teaching Award.

“I guess one experience that typifies my wife’s example to me occurred during those early years,” he explains. “One night I came home at 1:00 a.m. exhausted from working on my dissertation, fell into bed, and felt a distinct thump on my chest. ‘You forgot to say your prayers,’ she said.”

Elder Condie’s Church service throughout his schooling and career included work as a Young Men president, as a bishop and a stake president, and, from 1984 to 1987, as president of the Austrian mission that included Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Upon his return in 1987, Elder Condie was called to be a Regional Representative.

Elder and Sister Condie are the parents of five children, who were raised in a home “with many books and no videocassette recorder.” The oldest is Brigitte (Mrs. David Madrian), followed by Stefanie, identical twins Heidi and Christel, and the youngest, Craig.

Elder Condie explains his philosophy about families: “The gospel must be number one and used in its fulness: scripture study, family home evening, father’s blessings—the whole recipe. Some families leave out certain ingredients and then wonder why they get chocolate chip cookies without the chips.”

Elder Condie often tells his students, “The gospel isn’t just true, it’s vitally important!” His life of service constantly focuses on that importance, and he has an optimism that stems from an awareness of what changes the gospel can bring about:

“We saw in the Eastern European countries, especially in Hungary, the Red Sea virtually part to let the missionaries in. I know from experiences I’ve had, especially within the last five years, that Jesus is the Christ and that God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.”

Elder F. Melvin Hammond of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder F. Melvin Hammond of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 95

At the time of his call to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, F. Melvin Hammond and his wife, Bonnie, were serving as Sunday School teachers for the seventeen-year-olds in their ward. When they were called to teach the class, only three or four young people attended consistently. The rest attended sporadically. But as the weeks went on, class attendance began to increase—until, finally, twenty-five young people were attending each week.

“Students want to learn the gospel,” says Elder Hammond, “and they want to know that you love them.”

Loving people and teaching the gospel are two of the things that Elder Hammond does best. He was born on 19 December 1933 in Blackfoot, Idaho, the second child of Floyd M. and Ruby Hoge Hammond. His father died when Mel was nine months old, and his mother attended Ricks College in order to obtain her teaching certificate. When young Mel was five, his mother married Earl Schofield, and the family moved to a farm near Ashton, Idaho. Later they bought a cattle ranch in Lima, Montana—where Mel attended high school, graduating in 1951.

He received a basketball scholarship to Ricks College; but during his first year there, he was involved in a motorcycle accident that resulted in numerous injuries and nearly severed his foot. He was promised in a priesthood blessing that he would run and walk again, and he did. He also played basketball again.

The accident left him feeling that basketball wasn’t as important as he had once thought it was. And so he decided to serve a mission—something he hadn’t planned on. He served in the Spanish-American mission from 1954 to 1956.

Two months after returning from his mission, on 14 September 1956, Mel married Bonnie Sellers in the Salt Lake Temple. He then attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. After graduating from BYU, he taught seminary and institute in Utah and Colorado. He played baseball and enjoyed other outdoor activities with his seminary students—some of whom were less-active at the time but later decided to serve missions.

One of Elder Hammond’s strengths as a teacher is his love of people. “That’s the main thing we have to offer in this calling,” Sister Hammond says. “We can express love easily, and people need that. The world needs it. We both have a positive spirit—the Lord has blessed us with that.”

The Hammonds moved to Rexburg, Idaho, in 1966, where Mel was appointed professor of religion at Ricks College. Shortly thereafter, he was also elected to the Idaho State Legislature, where he served for sixteen years. He served as president of the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission from 1984 to 1987. He has also served as a bishop, a stake president, and an executive secretary to a Regional Representative. At the time he was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, he was serving as high priests group leader, in addition to his calling as Sunday School teacher.

The Hammonds have six children—Melanie (Rynearson), Lezlee (Porter), Stephanie (Weekes), Todd, Lisa, and Natalie. They also have ten grandchildren.

Elder Hammond enjoys singing and the outdoors—especially fishing. He recently took a fly-tying course and has been looking forward to fishing using the flies he had made. “He has all of them in an envelope, all ready to go,” says Sister Hammond. “But now I think he will be a ‘fisher of men’ and not a fisher of fish!”

It’s a sacrifice Elder Hammond won’t mind making. He sees his new calling as an opportunity to do more of what he loves most—teaching the gospel. “I have a genuine love for the Savior,” he says. “I love to talk about him and the things he did. And when I teach about him, I feel that I know him better.”

Elder Malcolm S. Jeppsen of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Malcolm S. Jeppsen of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 96

“Our willingness to do whatever the Lord asks is more important than the Church position we hold,” says Elder Malcolm S. Jeppsen, newly sustained as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. “It isn’t our Church positions that bring exaltation; it is the keeping of the covenants.”

Elder Jeppsen is a physician in family practice in Salt Lake City, where he and his wife, Marian Davis Jeppsen, have lived for thirty-seven years. He feels that family practice has been ideal for him: “All day long I go from room to room seeing my patients, my friends—some who have been with me for thirty years—and taking care of them. I couldn’t have had a better job than that.”

Elder Jeppsen credits his parents, Conrad and Laurine Nielsen Jeppsen, with having had the most profound influence on his life. “I always knew of their devotion to the Lord,” he says. He spent his childhood in Mantua, Utah, where he was born on 1 November 1924.

From the time he was a young boy, Elder Jeppsen wanted to be a doctor. He began his training through the Navy, then graduated from medical school at Baylor University in Houston, Texas, in 1948. Later, he served in the Korean conflict for one year aboard ship as a navy doctor.

“My biggest challenge,” he says, “is to live in the world but to keep the world out of my thinking. I suspect it is that way with a lot of people.” He has served as a bishop, a stake president, a Regional Representative, and, for the past two years, a sealer in the Salt Lake Temple.

In spite of his many commitments, Elder Jeppsen has always found time to be home with his family. Married in the Logan Temple on 21 June 1950, Elder and Sister Jeppsen are the parents of seven children: Julie Ellen, who died four days after birth; Christine (Clark); Robert M.; Kathryn (Eargle); John C.; David D.; and Jerry Yazzie, a foster son from the Indian Placement Program who lived with the Jeppsens from the time he was eight years old.

The Jeppsens credit their success at balancing family, Church callings, and career to careful organization. “I don’t believe our family unity suffered because of Malcolm’s busy schedule,” says Sister Jeppsen. “We have worked at making time for our family to be together, such as at our evening meal. Traveling also provided time when we could all be together.

Music is also an important part of the Jeppsen home. Marian is an accomplished violinist and plays with the Salt Lake Symphony. Christine is a guest organist on Temple Square, where she plays the Tabernacle organ.

For fun, Elder Jeppsen enjoys experimenting with electronics around his home. When the Jeppsen children were teenagers, they could never figure out how their parents always knew exactly what time they came home at night. Then they learned of one of their father’s creations: he had connected the hall light switch to the clock so that when the light was turned off, the clock stopped.

Elder Jeppsen’s testimony has been strongly influenced by his work as a temple sealer. “One of the sweetest experiences I’ve had is to seal for time and all eternity many of the young people I delivered as babies,” he says. “This calling has also allowed me to spend hours in the temple. The veil is very thin in the temple, and the ultimate teacher of truths is the Holy Ghost. Many sweet and wonderful spiritual experiences have come to me in the temple.”

When asked about his new calling, Elder Jeppsen takes Marian’s hand: “We are overwhelmed with this call. It seems to us that there are many people more qualified than I am, but we are honored and happy to accept. We certainly have a knowledge that it has come from God, and we are united in our desire to serve him.”

Elder Richard P. Lindsay of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Richard P. Lindsay of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 97

When asked about himself, Elder Richard P. Lindsay will talk about his wife, Marian, and their children. “One of the great joys of my life,” he says, “is to see the love my children have for each other.” When asked about herself, Marian Bangerter Lindsay will talk about her husband and their children. “Our family has been our crowning jewel,” she says. “And the blessings of our eternal family relationships become richer and more satisfying with each year.”

The Lindsays are wholeheartedly family oriented. Their home stands, for instance, on the ground that Grandfather Lindsay homesteaded in the 1870s. Even in this modern age of scattered families, Richard and Marian Lindsay hold annual family mountain retreats for the children and grandchildren who can make it. There are six children—Richard Bruce, Gordon, Susan (Gong), Sharon (Lyons), John, and Miriam (Warnick)—and seventeen grandchildren.

With this kind of family orientation, it’s not surprising that Elder Lindsay’s favorite Church callings have been those that have involved his wife. “I have the privilege of home teaching with my wife,” he reports. “The Taylorsville Utah Central Stake organized a branch at the Golden Living Center, and Marian and I were assigned to visit the senior members there. I have never enjoyed anything more.” He is also an instructor for the high priests group, and Marian teaches the Gospel Doctrine class. “We really enjoy studying the gospel together,” Elder Lindsay says.

Richard Powell Lindsay was born on 18 March 1926 in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Samuel J. and Mary Alice Powell Lindsay. His father died when Richard was five, and his mother reared five children through the Great Depression, sending the sons on missions and the daughters to college.

Richard served in the Swiss Austrian Mission just after World War II. One week after his mission ended, in March 1949, his younger sister introduced him to her friend Marian. Richard and Marian were subsequently married 17 November 1949 in the Salt Lake Temple.

During the next ten years, Brother Lindsay worked for several national firms. As a result, the Lindsays moved often. At various times, they lived in Salt Lake City, Denver, and San Francisco. Meanwhile, Brother Lindsay took night courses whenever he could, and in 1953, he received a B.S. in political science.

In 1959, he began a long career in public service. He became Utah State Commissioner of Finance and, a year later, executive director of the Utah State Employees Association. In 1965, he moved to the state judicial system, working as the administrator of the Utah Juvenile Court System and as director of the Utah Council on Criminal Justice Administration. In 1969, he became director of the Utah State Department of Social Services. He also served two terms in the Utah State House of Representatives, from 1972 through 1977.

Along the way, he continued to take classes at night, earning an M.S. in 1965 in political science and a Ph.D. in 1976 in political science/management. During his years as a legislator, he concurrently directed the Bureau of Community Development at the University of Utah and taught at Brigham Young University as a visiting professor.

Then in January 1978, he accepted the position as director of Special Affairs for the Church. In July 1983, he became managing director of Church Public Communications/Special Affairs. During this period, Elder Lindsay also served as a bishop and a stake president.

When he was called in April 1989 to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Lindsay was astonished: “I feel humbled. I believe that without the Lord’s help we can do nothing. With his help, though, I view this calling as an increased opportunity to bless those outside and inside the Church.”

Elder Merlin R. Lybbert of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Merlin R. Lybbert of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 98

“There’s never been a time in my life when I’ve ever had any doubts about the truth or divinity of the Church,” says Elder Merlin R. Lybbert, a new member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

His confirming testimony came as a missionary in the Eastern States Mission. He spent sixteen months in the mission office as mission secretary, then served as a counselor in the mission presidency. Under the tutelage of his mission president, Roy W. Doxey, Elder Lybbert gained his foundation knowledge of the gospel and the scriptures. “He has been a role model throughout my life,” he says.

Merlin Rex Lybbert was born to Charles Lester and Delvia Reed Lybbert on 31 January 1926 in Cardston, Alberta. During his childhood, his parents homesteaded in Cherry Grove, Alberta, where the closest neighbor lived three miles away. The family had few possessions, but “every night was family night and mother would read from a book of Bible stories,” he reflects. He learned much about hard work, integrity, and self-reliance. “It was a time of great family unity and happiness in spite of physical hardships.”

After high school, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, completed his mission, then waited for his sweetheart, Nola Cahoon, to finish nursing school at the University of Alberta. They were married 26 May 1949 in the Alberta Temple.

The Lybberts then moved to Salt Lake City, where he attended the University of Utah. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in law in 1953, and a Juris Doctor in 1955. For almost thirty-five years, he has practiced law in Salt Lake City and has devoted many years to the Utah State Bar. He was elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers, and recently served as chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Supreme Court of Utah on the Rules of Professional Practice. He was named Utah Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1981–82.

Elder Lybbert has served as a bishop, as a counselor in a stake presidency, and as a stake president. For the past three years, he has served as a Regional Representative. He likes to tell animal stories with principles applicable to daily living. He tells one story of a crow that had hatched and grown among the chickens on his cousin’s ranch. One day he heard chicken noises coming from high in a tree. The crow, thinking it was a chicken, had learned to sound like one. “Choose your associates carefully,” he teaches. “Their behavior soon becomes your own.”

Sister Lybbert says her husband has many qualities that will help him in his calling. “In addition to his administrative skills and his kindness in dealing with people, he has a sense of humor,” she says.

The Lybberts joke that when they were first married, they had six theories about raising children. But after ten years, they had six children and no theories. Their children are Larilyn (Dirkmaat), Ruth (Renlund), Merla (Berndt), Louise (Nygaard), Perry Reed (deceased), and Clark Merlin. They laugh about having four international sons-in-law—a Dutchman, a German, a Swede, and a Norwegian—whom the girls met in the Lybberts’ home stake in Salt Lake City. “We’re an international family, and we’ve had wonderful traditions passed to us,” says Sister Lybbert.

When Clark and Louise were serving missions, Elder Lybbert wrote them long letters each week explaining gospel principles that he had been studying. One time Clark received a letter exactly in time to answer an investigator’s question to which he hadn’t known the answer.

Elder Lybbert’s study of the gospel has paid off in other ways. “Although I don’t know more surely now than I did during my mission that the gospel is true,” he says, “I certainly understand it and my relationship to Christ much better.”

Elder Horacio A. Tenorio of the Second Quorum of the Seventy

“Elder Horacio A. Tenorio of the Second Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1989, 99

Horacio Tenorio laughed when his wife, Maria Teresa, told him that she had made an appointment to meet with some missionaries at her mother’s house and that he had to go there with her to help refute their religious claims.

He went with her every day, for three and a half months, to hear the doctrine they taught. But instead of opposing the Church, his wife came to feel that she had found the truth. He kept studying the gospel long after his wife knew she should join the Church. Then one night as he read the scriptures, “I felt the Spirit of the Lord, and it told me that everything the missionaries had taught was the truth.” He woke his wife to say, “Let’s be baptized. I’m ready.”

On July 26, it will be twenty years since Elder Horacio A. Tenorio of the new Second Quorum of the Seventy joined the Church with his wife. During most of those years, he has been deeply involved in Church service as branch president, bishop, counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, Regional Representative over five regions, president of the Mexico Torreon Mission, and—most recently—Regional Representative over seven regions along Mexico’s west coast.

Elder Tenorio says the organization of the Second Quorum of the Seventy is a historic event that will bring blessings to Latter-day Saints throughout the world. This will be particularly beneficial in Mexico, where growth of the Church has greatly increased the work load of leaders.

Despite the rapid pace of Church growth in Mexico in recent years, Elder Tenorio says, “I believe it’s barely beginning.” In ten years, he points out, Mexico will have more than thirty thousand returned missionaries to swell the Church’s leadership corps, and there is the potential for Mexico’s ninety-six stakes to become two hundred or more.

Part of his enthusiasm about Church growth in Mexico stems from the enjoyment he finds in serving others. “He loves and respects people, and it’s satisfying to me that he will have this opportunity to serve,” says Sister Tenorio. Through the years of their membership, both have grown through serving in Church callings. “Service has helped me always to be closer to the Lord,” Maria Tenorio says.

Horacio Tenorio was born in Mexico’s capital city on 6 March 1936, a son of Leopoldo Horacio Tenorio, a chemist, and Blanca Otilia Tenorio, a journalist. When Horacio was ten, his parents moved the family to Ciudad Obregon, in the state of Sonora. There he grew up and met Maria. They were married on 25 July 1957, then moved to Mexico City. That is where their three daughters, Maria Teresa, Monica, and Maria del Rocio, were born.

When the Tenorios were first married, Brother Tenorio sold cars and trucks. He later became manager of purchasing and sales for an electrical cable company. For ten years he was manager of purchasing, then director of materials management for the Church in Mexico. After serving as mission president from 1982 to 1985, he started a business distributing ice-cream flavorings, then another distributing irrigation systems.

His daughter Maria Teresa (Mrs. Kent) Player, now of South Carolina, recognizes her father’s many strengths. Even so, his calling took her by surprise because there are so many fine leaders in Mexico, she says. “You don’t think this kind of thing will happen. But I’m very proud of him.”

Her father’s ability to work hard will help in his calling, she explains. “When he sets his mind to do something, he does it.”

The ability to work hard, coupled with a desire to be firm in obedience, are two of the strengths he offers in his calling, Elder Tenorio says. He has confidence that he can receive help when it is needed. “I know that when I am serving the Lord, He will never leave me alone.”

Singles Counseled in Satellite Fireside

“Singles Counseled in Satellite Fireside,” Ensign, May 1989, 100–101

Single Latter-day Saints heard a message of love and acceptance, along with counsel on how to find and maintain happiness, during a fireside broadcast via satellite on February 26 from the Tabernacle on Temple Square.

Church leaders reaffirmed that the love of our Heavenly Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ extends to every individual child of God, regardless of marital status, and that the blessings of the gospel are meant for every obedient, faithful Church member.

Several thousand members gathered in the Tabernacle, and many more in meetinghouses throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico for the broadcast. President Ezra Taft Benson presided, and President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke. President Thomas S. Monson, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, conducted the meeting.

The fireside also featured a videotaped segment in which Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy interviewed three single members about their experiences in the Church and their feelings about the gospel.

In his remarks, President Hinckley told the audience: “Somehow we have put a badge on this large group. It reads ‘Singles.’ I wish we would not do that. You are individuals, men and women, sons and daughters of God, not a mass of look-alikes or do-alikes.”

He assured his listeners that all of them are important in Heavenly Father’s eternal plan and that no blessing to which they are entitled will be withheld.

President Hinckley addressed the needs of the never-married, the divorced, and the widowed. He counseled young men who have recently returned from missions neither to rush nor to delay marriage, but to prepare to be the right kind of husband for “a wonderful companion.” He urged them to remember that their proper role in marriage will be one not of dominance, but of equal partnership. “The husband and wife walk side by side,” he said.

Addressing never-married women, he said, “I assure you that we are sensitive to the loneliness many of you feel,” adding, “Our hearts reach out to you in understanding and love.”

He pointed out that many single women have great maturity, judgment, and training, as well as talents with which they can bless the lives of others. “Refine your skills, accept every challenge and assignment,” he counseled. “Keep your spiritual batteries at full charge, and light the lamps of others.”

President Hinckley referred to the “lonely duty” of single parents in the Church and added, “You need not be entirely alone. There are many—ever so many—in this Church who would reach out to you with sensitivity and understanding.” These include priesthood and Relief Society leaders, home and visiting teachers, and other “friends put in place by the Lord to give of their strength to help you,” he said. “And never forget that the Lord himself is a source of strength greater than any other.”

To those who have lost a partner in death, President Hinckley also affirmed that, when invited, our Father in Heaven will give comfort.

President Hinckley urged singles to develop their talents and skills, to learn the scriptures more thoroughly, and to give love and nurturing “to many who are in far worse circumstances than your own.”

President Hunter, the program’s opening speaker, began by telling single members that he has been one of them since the death of his wife in 1983. He noted that several other General Authorities either have grown up in single-parent homes or have been left widowers. “We recognize that you have special challenges in your life, and our hearts and our prayers reach out to you.”

He pointed out that the Book of Mormon “inviteth … all to come unto [Christ].” (2 Ne. 26:33.) “This is the Church of Jesus Christ, not the church of marrieds, or of singles, or of any other group or individual. The gospel we preach is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which encompasses all the saving ordinances and covenants necessary to save and exalt every individual who is willing to accept Christ and to keep the commandments.”

He noted that “the Atonement, which Christ wrought individually, was in behalf of every individual” and that we are not saved collectively. “There must be an individual effort” even for worthy couples to receive the eternal blessings promised to them, he said.

President Hunter reaffirmed that no blessings will be denied to any who are worthy. Even if the blessings of marriage and children do not come to worthy individuals in this life, they will come. The recipients will have all eternity to enjoy them, “and eternity is a long, long time.”

He also counseled single members to find happiness and fulfillment in service and personal development. He encouraged priesthood and auxiliary leaders to be attentive to the needs of single members, and he urged other members to practice “pure religion” in visiting “the fatherless and widows” (James 1:27) and to practice charity by being sensitive and not excluding single members.

The texts of President Hinckley’s and President Hunter’s addresses are scheduled for publication in the June 1989 Ensign. A videotape (stock no. VNVV413) of the fireside may be ordered through Church distribution centers.

[photos] President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President Howard W. Hunter, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, were speakers for the singles fireside broadcast via satellite from the Tabernacle on Temple Square. (Photography by Jed A. Clark.)

[photo] The Mormon Youth Chorus provided music for the fireside.

The Voices of Three Single Members

“The Voices of Three Single Members,” Ensign, May 1989, 101

During the videotaped portion of the fireside for single members held on February 26, Elder Marion D. Hanks of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke with Ginger Evans, a divorced mother of seven; Rebecca Olsen, a high school teacher and a returned missionary; and Richard Flamm, a young returned missionary. Following are some highlights from their comments.

Sister Evans expressed her gratitude for Relief Society, as well as for bishops who have been especially mindful of her spiritual welfare. Still, she has had difficult times as a single parent. She recalled saying in her prayers on one especially difficult evening that she would like to go home to Heavenly Father to spend just one night and return rejuvenated the next day. The response, she felt, was that she could not go to him, but he could come, through the influence of his Spirit, to be with her. “We don’t ever have to be alone,” she said. “So often we just don’t tap into the Source that is there for us.”

Sister Olsen explained that while the programs for single adults offer her good things, sometimes other individuals in the Church make her feel uncomfortably categorized. At times she has felt as if “the longer I was home from my mission, the less I fit into the structure of the Church.” But she said she has overcome those disappointments through the positive outlook she was taught as a child and through developing “a solid understanding that I [am] loved by my Heavenly Father.” Elder Hanks also pointed out the positive effect of her many service activities.

Brother Flamm talked of how Young Single Adult activities and associations in the ward help keep him close to the Church. He also benefits from counsel to review regularly his patriarchal blessing, to set and prayerfully review personal goals, and to read the scriptures and pray daily.

Six New Missions to Begin July 1

“Six New Missions to Begin July 1,” Ensign, May 1989, 102–3

The First Presidency has announced the organization of six new missions, effective July 1, bringing the number of missions in the Church to 228.

The new missions are: Philippines Naga, Mexico Queretaro, Panama Panama City, France Bordeaux, Texas McAllen, and German Democratic Republic Dresden. The Dresden mission is the first to be created in the German Democratic Republic; the Queretaro mission is Mexico’s fifteenth.

Growth in missionary work continues worldwide. More than 36,000 full-time missionaries are currently serving; more than 10,000 come from countries outside the United States and Canada. At the end of 1988, there were 1,296 couples and 6,345 sister missionaries serving missions.

The Philippines Naga Mission is to be created from a division of the Philippines Cebu Mission. The Naga mission will have 9,000 members in the Legaspi and Naga stakes and the Daet, Lopez, and Sorsogon districts. The mission area has some 4.6 million people.

The Cebu mission will have 11,000 members in the Cebu City and Cebu City South stakes and the Calbayog, Catarman, Ormoc, Tacloban, and Tagbilaran districts. The mission area includes 3 million people.

The Mexico Queretaro Mission will be organized through a division of the Mexico City North Mission. It will have more than 8,200 members in the Celaya, Leon, and San Luis Potosi stakes, which cover an area where 5.9 million people live.

The Mexico City North Mission will still have nearly 17,000 members living in the Mexico City Camarones, Industrial, Lindavista, Arbolillo, Zarahemla, and Tlalnepantla stakes and the Valle Dorado district. The population of the area is about 6.7 million.

The Panama Panama City Mission will be organized from a division of the San Jose Costa Rica Mission. The new mission, in an area of 2.1 million people, will have more than 10,400 members in the David, Panama City, and San Miguelito Panama stakes and the Chitre, Colon, and San Blas Panama districts.

The Costa Rica mission will consist of some 6,700 members in the Managua Nicaragua, San Jose Costa Rica, and San Jose Costa Rica La Sabana stakes, and the Guanacaste and Guapiles Costa Rica districts. This new area will have a population of about 2.5 million.

The France Bordeaux Mission was organized through a division of the France Paris and Switzerland Geneva missions. The new mission will include more than 2,500 members combined in the Bordeaux, Languedoc, and Limoges France districts. The area includes a nonmember population of about 8.6 million.

The Paris mission will have a nonmember population of 23 million, with more than 4,300 members living in the Paris France Stake and the Rouen and Nantes France districts. It is the largest mission, geographically, in western Europe. In the Switzerland Geneva Mission, with a total population of 13.3 million, there are nearly 5,000 members in the Geneva Switzerland and Nice France stakes, and the Dijon and St. Etienne France districts.

The Texas McAllen Mission will be formed from a division of the Texas San Antonio Mission, whose area has contained about 4 million people. The McAllen mission will have more than 8,200 members in the Corpus Christi, Harlingen, and McAllen stakes.

Remaining in the San Antonio mission will be more than 17,000 members in the Austin, Killeen, San Antonio East, and San Antonio West stakes.

The German Democratic Republic Dresden Mission is located in an area where there has been no full-time missionary work for many years. Organization of the mission follows the announcement, in November 1988, that the German Democratic Republic had granted the Church the opportunity to conduct missionary work in that country and would allow Latter-day Saints living there to serve as missionaries in their own country and elsewhere. The population of the mission area is approximately 17 million, with 3,600 members combined in the Freiberg and Leipzig stakes.

New Mission Presidents Called

“New Mission Presidents Called,” Ensign, May 1989, 104–5

New presidents have been called for seventy-four of the Church’s missions. The new mission presidents will begin their service on July 1, with the exception of a few who are already serving.

Mission

New President

Succeeding

Alabama Birmingham

William F. Matthews

M. Dalton Cannon, Jr.

Argentina Bahia Blanca

Gayle Bluth

Agricol Lozano H.

Argentina Buenos Aires North

Gustavo Cesar Vicente Berta

Paul Hap Green

Australia Adelaide

Peter M. Masson

Wallace F. Gray

Australia Brisbane

Hori Harvey

Robert G. West

Australia Perth

Ronald W. G. Innis

William Campbell

Brazil Campinas

Albino Bruno Schmeil

Sheldon R. Murphy

Brazil Curitiba

L. D. Covington

Robert P. Swensen

California San Bernardino

D. Earl Hurst

Melvin E. Gourdin

Canada Toronto

Sidney A. Smith

John W. Hardy

Canada Vancouver

Robert W. Hill

Donald L. Hoskin

Chile Concepcion

Judd Allsop

Robert H Lemmon

Chile Santiago South

Enrique A. Ibarra

Jerald Lynn Taylor

Colombia Barranquilla

Edward L. Soper

Frank E. Berrett

Denmark Copenhagen

Spencer B. Greer

Dee V. Jacobs

Ecuador Guayaquil

Walter F. Gonzalez

J. Lynn Shawcroft

England Leeds

Clarence F. Robison

Lawrence H. Lee

France Bordeaux

Neil L. Andersen

new mission

German Democratic Republic Dresden

*Wolfgang Paul

new mission

Germany Frankfurt

David B. Wirthlin

Christian Vikari

Germany Hamburg

Robert W. Peterson

*Wolfgang Paul

Haiti Port-au-Prince

Clair W. Andrus

David S. King

Hawaii Honolulu

Waldo C. Perkins

Yoshihiko Kikuchi

Hong Kong

Kwok Yuen Tai

Charles W. H. Goo

Illinois Chicago

Kenneth R. Neeley

William C. Tanner, Jr.

Illinois Peoria

Fenton P. Burgess

Hal Visick

Indiana Indianapolis

Richard I. Corey

Mardon C. Lamb

Ireland Dublin

William B. Martin

Don S. Gull

Italy Catania

Mario Vaira

Vincenzo Conforte

Italy Milan

Nick M. Mascaro

Frank Lombardo

Japan Kobe

Douglas Matsumori

Morris R. Sterrett

Japan Osaka

Satoshi Nishihara

Shigeki Moriyama

Korea Seoul West

Bruce Max Snow

Gil Whe Do

Korea Taejon

Ross H. Cole

Moo-Kwang Hong

Liberia Monrovia

Miles Cunningham

J. Duffy Palmer

Mexico Merida

Guillermo Torres V.

Aurelio Valdespino Ortíz

Mexico Mexico City East

Mont J Garrett

Enrique Moreno

Mexico Monterrey

Richard J. Maynes

Efrain Villalobos Vazquez

Mexico Queretaro

Scott T. Lyman

new mission

Michigan Dearborn

Arnie Ferrin

Gareth B. Homer

Micronesia Guam

Lewis V. Nord

David J. Rollins

Missouri St. Louis

John W. Frame, Jr.

D. D. Rydalch

New Hampshire Manchester

Gary R. Ricks

Lynn E. Thomsen

New Mexico Albuquerque

Kenneth A. Griffiths

M. Darrell Nilson

New York New York

Cree Kofford

Willard B. Barton

New Zealand Christchurch

Melvin Tagg

Dean D. Baxter

Nigeria Aba

**Joseph J. Grigg

*Arthur W. Elrey

North Carolina Raleigh

Robert D. Rowan

Neal E. Lambert

Oklahoma Tulsa

*Arthur W. Elrey

Samuel O. Thompson

Oregon Portland

James J. Eardley

J. Samuel Park

Panama Panama City

Pedro Emmanuel Abularach

new mission

Paraguay Asuncion

Richard J. Russell

John J. Whetten

Pennsylvania Philadelphia

Jay A. Ferrell

Keith A. Poelman

Pennsylvania Pittsburgh

Lowell R. Tingey

Douglas F. Prince

Peru Arequipa

Francisco G. Gimenez

James R. Young

Peru Lima North

W. Craig Zwick

Martin H. Durrant

Philippines Manila

Donald L. Hilton

E. Wm. Jackson

Philippines Naga

Augusto A. Lim

new mission

Philippines Quezon City

Edmond P. Hyatt

Joel E. Leetham

Puerto Rico San Juan

Kay W. Briggs

W. M. Farnsworth

Switzerland Zurich

Keith K. Hilbig

Richard H. Cracroft

Tahiti Papeete

Yves R. Perrin

George F. Hilton

Taiwan Taichung

Kent Watson

Gary S. Williams

Texas Fort Worth

Ray L. White

Lyle L. Wasden

Texas San Antonio

Harold E. Greer

Dale J. Huntsman

Texas McAllen

S. Gibbons Frost

new mission

Tonga Nuku’alofa

’Isileli T. Kongaika

Eric B. Shumway

Utah Provo

**George E. Magnusson

new mission

Utah Salt Lake City

Donald R. McArthur

V. Dallas Merrell

Virginia Roanoke

Larry M. Johnson

James W. Ritchie

Washington D.C. North

Wm. Robert Wright

Dennis E. Simmons

Washington D.C. South

A. Dale Godfrey

John L. Ward

Washington Spokane

**Garth G. Eames

Bruce A. Lloyd

Wisconsin Milwaukee

Phil Fox

William B. Green

[photos] Growth of the Church means growth of its missionary force throughout the world.

Media Messages Boost Missionary Work

“Media Messages Boost Missionary Work,” Ensign, May 1989, 105–6

During the first three months of 1989, the Church-produced program Together Forever was broadcast, or scheduled for broadcast, in every U.S. city with a mission headquarters. The result: Increasing success for missionaries.

“Response to the program has been gratifying,” reports Elder Robert L. Backman of the Missionary Executive Committee. “This program is really a wonderful missionary tool for members and full-time missionaries, because the message of the gospel can have a powerful influence on the way people feel. And it’s the way people feel that leads them toward accepting the gospel.”

Together Forever, also available as a videocassette, is a half-hour program showing a series of vignettes about family relationships. Intended to introduce nonmembers to LDS values, it is just one part of a Church effort to use mass media to spread the gospel. In recent years the Church has produced an increasing number of broadcast programs and public-service announcements. One of them—the high-quality “Homefront” series—has been widely televised and recognized. Seasonal programming has included Mr. Krueger’s Christmas, The Other Wise Man, and The Last Leaf. In 1987, LDS-produced Christmas programs and public service announcements were viewed by more than 250 million people in twenty-five countries.

Church Missionary Department personnel estimate that some 60 million people have been introduced to direct gospel messages through the printed media and through film productions. Most of the gospel messages broadcast recently offer an audiotape of Our Heavenly Father’s Plan, a Church production also available on videotape. Viewers may request the audiotape through a toll-free telephone number, or, outside the United States and Canada, through local telephone numbers or post-office boxes.

When missionaries in the United States deliver the tapes to those who request them, nearly one in four deliveries results in an invitation to teach. In some South American countries, the missionaries who deliver the tapes are able to teach nearly three out of four times. In all countries, videos introduce many more people to the gospel than traditional tracting and contacting do, and missionary work is reaping great benefits.

“The media support is really having an impact on people,” says Dale L. Gardner, president of the Kentucky Louisville Mission. “Responses of viewers to the videos have been overwhelming, and this gives the missionaries great confidence and enthusiasm.”

In addition to television, the Church has increased its use of other media, such as radio and print. Radio announcements about the Book of Mormon have brought many responses. Half-page advertisements have been running in alternate issues of TV Guide in the United States and Canada; the ads offer a copy of the Book of Mormon and are bringing significant increases in missionary work, according to mission leaders. During 1988, advertisements were published in newspapers in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Scotland. More ads are planned for Europe and Asia in 1989.

In the Texas San Antonio Mission, President Dale J. Huntsman reports that the media support for missionary work “has taught our missionaries to be bold, challenging, and testifying missionaries. And it has built our member-missionary relationships. The members are excited, and they are helping us.”

These Church productions have received both high ratings and awards. Together Forever recently won the Catholic-sponsored Gabriel Award, and it also received a “very high” rating of eight (on a ten-point scale) in a Nielsen television survey.

President John W. Hardy of the Canada Toronto Mission reports that after the first two weeks of an ad campaign in Toronto, the mission received 600 referrals asking for Church representatives to deliver copies of the Book of Mormon. The mission also had requests for more than 2,700 copies of the Book of Mormon to be mailed after people saw Together Forever on television or read the TV Guide advertisement.

One respondent from Woodstock, Ontario, wrote President Hardy: “When we saw there was additional scripture, we were thrilled, for we always felt that there would be additional scripture to the Bible, and that if it came, it would testify of Jesus Christ.”

In Scarborough, Ontario, two sister missionaries spoke to a woman at the door of her home, but were about to leave because she was not interested. At that moment, her husband, who was watching the Church advertisement on television in the next room, called out, “Wait a minute!” The sister missionaries were then invited in, gave the family a Book of Mormon, and are now teaching them.

Members are encouraged to use the Together Forever broadcasts to introduce the gospel to their friends. In areas where the program is not televised, it has been suggested that members might purchase the video and show it to their friends.

[photo] Together Forever is one of the Church media productions that are delivering gospel messages in many countries. (Photo courtesy of Bonneville Media Communications.)

[photo] This scene from Together Forever illustrates the strong family orientation of the Church’s missionary messages. (Photo courtesy of Bonneville Media Communications.)

Technology Widens Range of Conference Broadcasts

“Technology Widens Range of Conference Broadcasts,” Ensign, May 1989, 106

More Latter-day Saints than ever were able to view live broadcasts of general conference this April, thanks to the latest in broadcasting technology.

Conference sessions were broadcast in twelve languages to North America, the Dominican Republic, and Hawaii, and Church members at three sites in Europe and Central America saw conference sessions live via satellite.

For several years, general conference sessions have been broadcast in English, Spanish, and French via the Westar 4 satellite. But technological advances allow the satellite to carry twelve languages. As a result, Church units or members in North America and Hawaii were able to receive April’s conference broadcasts in English, Spanish, French, German, Tongan, Samoan, Portuguese, Laotian, Cambodian, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Korean.

In addition, test transmissions of the conference sessions were broadcast via Pan Am satellite to earth stations in Manchester, England; Frankfurt, West Germany; and San Jose, Costa Rica.

Church units in areas of the world where the satellite and other transmissions are not available will receive videotapes of conference sessions. European languages are translated and made available through the Lynge, Denmark, distribution center. Sessions in Oriental languages are translated and dubbed in the distribution centers in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Seoul. Spanish and Portuguese language tapes will be distributed throughout Latin America.

Church Plans Sesquicentennial of Nauvoo

By Camille G. West
Editorial Assistant

Camille G. West, “Church Plans Sesquicentennial of Nauvoo,” Ensign, May 1989, 107–9

The Church will celebrate the sesquicentennial of the founding of Nauvoo, Illinois, in a series of activities scheduled throughout 1989. The main event will be the dedication of the newly renovated site in nearby Carthage, where the Prophet Joseph Smith died in 1844.

The dedication is scheduled for 27 June 1989, the 145th anniversary of the Prophet’s death at Carthage Jail, and will be under the direction of the First Presidency. The Church is inviting state and other dignitaries—including the mayors of surrounding communities and leaders and local members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—to the dedication ceremony.

Other projects Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., plans to complete this year are refurbishing the seven-acre Pioneer Saints Cemetery, reconstructing the Reiser Cobbler Shop on its original Nauvoo site, and rebuilding the Stoddard Tinsmith Shop—now a ruin with only portions of the original walls standing.

Other projects in connection with the sesquicentennial include:

—Producing two films to be shown to visitors. One, on the life of Joseph Smith, will be shown at the visitors’ center in Carthage; the other, an introduction to Nauvoo, will be shown in the Nauvoo Visitors’ Center. The Church’s Curriculum Department is producing both films.

—Producing the annual City of Joseph pageant on the grassy slopes between the visitors’ center and the Nauvoo Stake Center. The musical, which tells the story of the Saints’ stay in Nauvoo, is scheduled for August 8 through 12.

—Holding a day-long symposium at Brigham Young University on September 21.

—Publishing a Nauvoo edition of BYU Studies.

—Publishing, in 1990, an official history of Nauvoo. The volume was begun by the late T. Edgar Lyon and is being completed by Glen M. Leonard, director of the Museum of Church History and Art.

After the Carthage site and four other smaller projects are completed, no further restoration in Nauvoo is planned at present, said Elder Loren C. Dunn, President of the North America Central Area and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Restoration efforts have been going on since the 1960s. In the future, Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., will function more in an operations and maintenance mode, he said. He and his counselors, Elder Jacob de Jager of the First Quorum of the Seventy and Elder John Sonnenberg of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, constitute the officers of Nauvoo Restoration, Inc.

Church Service personnel and others will continue to manage the historic sites in Nauvoo and Carthage under the direction of James C. Taylor, who is the resident manager; the Illinois Peoria Mission will continue to provide missionary couples to serve in the visitors’ centers, homes, and shops in the two cities.

“The whole mission of the site in Carthage, as it is restored under the direction of the First Presidency, is one of peace,” said Elder Dunn. He said that Carthage, the place where Joseph Smith was killed, will be a place of healing, where the Prophet’s accomplishments and life can be closely examined by visitors.

The Carthage complex covers the entire city block on which the old Carthage Jail stands. It includes the jail (which the Church acquired in 1903 and restored between 1938 and 1939), an expanded visitors’ center, new exhibits, landscaping, and off-street parking.

The interior of the jail is being restored to reflect a nineteenth-century appearance, and the area around the jail is being cleared and given a park-like appearance. A wrought-iron fence encloses the block. Six slate monuments will be placed along a brick walkway from the parking lot to the visitors’ center. Each six-foot monument bears a bas-relief sculpture and a statement by Joseph Smith. A life-sized statue of Joseph and Hyrum Smith will be placed inside the building.

“We plan to begin the final construction and renovation projects at Nauvoo this coming summer and hope to complete them before bad weather sets in,” said Elder Dunn.

The Pioneer Saints Cemetery, recently acquired from the RLDS Church, was the main burial ground for nineteenth-century Church members in Nauvoo. It is situated approximately two miles east of the Nauvoo Visitors’ Center. The cemetery still contains some gravestones from the Nauvoo Era (1839–46). There are also many unmarked graves, including those of Edward Partridge, first Presiding Bishop of the Church, who died in 1840, and Vinson Knight, a bishop, who died in 1842. Nauvoo Restoration is in the process of constructing a monument, adding a parking lot, installing a pole fence, cleaning up the cemetery, and uncovering and restoring the gravestones that are close to the surface. The cemetery’s historic and rustic setting will be preserved as much as possible.

Nauvoo Restoration, Inc., was organized in 1962 and, under the early direction of Dr. J. LeRoy Kimball, it has acquired and restored twenty historic sites and homes in Nauvoo. The buildings include a blacksmith shop, the Scovil Bakery, the Times & Seasons building, and the homes of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, Lucy Mack Smith, Sarah Kimball, and Jonathan Browning. Guide couples live in a number of other historic homes that are not yet restored for public display. “With the homes and shops the Church has restored over the years, plus the visitors’ centers at Nauvoo and Carthage, there is enough of a flavor of the old city [of Nauvoo] now to give people a good idea of how it was,” said Elder Dunn.

Construction of an oblong, fourteen-foot model of 1846 Nauvoo will begin this year and is scheduled to be completed by June 1990. The model will be displayed in the Nauvoo Visitors’ Center. At its zenith in 1846, Nauvoo had about three thousand buildings.

Elder Dunn emphasized that all restoration projects have been financed with donated funds.

Nauvoo—a name derived from a Hebrew word meaning “beautiful place” (see Ensign, Oct. 1987, p. 21)—is situated on the Mississippi River across from the southeastern corner of Iowa. During 1839, the Church purchased three farms at Commerce, Illinois. These were the first land purchases in what became a prosperous city of more than eleven thousand people by 1845. Nauvoo served as Church headquarters until 1846 when, after the Prophet Joseph Smith’s death, Brigham Young led the Saints west to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Today, Nauvoo is a city of about eleven hundred people. Its major industries are grape vineyards, a cheese factory, and tourism. There are currently 363 people in the Nauvoo Ward in the Nauvoo Illinois Stake, including ten residents of Carthage. The ward boundaries extend into Iowa and Missouri, covering a thirty-mile radius.

More than 100,000 tourists, many of them nonmembers, visited historic Nauvoo last year. Elder Dunn noted that the number of tourists increased by 17 percent in 1988.

Historic Nauvoo is a National Historic Site and is the largest historic preservation site in mid-America.

[photos] At restored homes and other buildings in Nauvoo, visitors learn from guides in period dress about the Church’s history and its people. (Photography by Welden Andersen.)

[photos] Monument Gardens, site of the Nauvoo Monument to Women (top; photo by Craig Dimond), is one of the many pleasant spots developed in Nauvoo during the past few years. The Jonathan Browning home (center; photo by Welden Andersen) and the restored Seventies Hall (bottom; photo by Craig Dimond) help visitors see Nauvoo as it once was.

[photo] Young visitors learn how Nauvoo bricks were made. (Photo by Richard Brown.)

Church Donates Aid for Victims of Quake in China

“Church Donates Aid for Victims of Quake in China,” Ensign, May 1989, 109

On behalf of Latter-day Saints everywhere, the Church has donated $25,000 to help victims of an earthquake in China.

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve presented the check to Han Xu, ambassador for the People’s Republic of China, on February 21 in Washington, D.C. The money was to assist reconstruction following a 6 November 1988 earthquake in the Lancang area of Yunnan Province.

Representing the First Presidency, Elder Nelson told the ambassador that the gift “comes from Church members around the world. We request your help in seeing that this donation provides direct relief to earthquake victims in the stricken area.”

The earthquake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, devastated portions of five prefectures. Between 900 and 1,000 people were killed, and nearly 2,000 were injured. In some places, up to 80 percent of the buildings collapsed, and communications and transportation were severely hampered.

According to Beverly Campbell, the Church’s Washington, D.C., public communications director, who attended the presentation, the ambassador warmly thanked the Church on behalf of all the people of China.

Elder Nelson also presented the ambassador with a miniature of a Florence Hansen sculpture showing a father and son. Han Xu noted that the title of the statue, “Building Bridges,” was very appropriate. This was not his first experience with the Church, the ambassador reflected. Some years ago, he visited the Polynesian Cultural Center and later, at home, participated on a committee that recommended sending the first Chinese students to the BYU—Hawaii campus.

Appointments

“Appointments,” Ensign, May 1989, 109

Regional Representatives

Sacramento California North and Stockton California regions, J. David (Bud) Billeter, candy company president, former stake president.

Lancaster California and Bakersfield California regions, Owen Dean Call, high school psychologist and director of special services, former stake president.

Taylorsville Utah Region, James Stuart Jardine, attorney, former stake president.

Escondido California and Santa Ana California regions, Heber Avon Packard, Sr., dentist, patriarch, temple sealer, and former mission president.

Sydney Australia Region, John Daniel Parker, tax consultant and retailer, former counselor in temple presidency, former mission president.

St. Louis Missouri, Champaign Illinois, and Milwaukee Wisconsin regions, Menlo F. Smith, corporation president, former regional public communications director, former mission president.

In Winnipeg: An Exciting Time to Be a Member

“In Winnipeg: An Exciting Time to Be a Member,” Ensign, May 1989, 110–11

In 1901, a young British politician and writer named Winston Churchill addressed a sizable audience of Canadians at an opera house in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Impressed at finding cultured people on the prairies, he predicted a great future for the city.

Today, 625,000 Winnipeggers share that future. They’re proud of what their city offers—clean air, an exceptional quality of life, and the arts and sports complexes of a city twice its size.

The city is also the home of more than 1,800 Latter-day Saints who suffer through the sweltering summers and bone-chilling winters of southern Manitoba, but wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s an exciting time to be a member of the Church in Winnipeg.

Last year, members here held a jubilee celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Winnipeg Manitoba Stake, the centennial of the arrival of LDS missionaries in the area, and the completion of a new 25,000-square-foot stake center. With the addition of the new stake center, the city’s four wards and one branch now share three buildings.

Most of the members are converts to the Church from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Dennis and Ruth Tkach, for example, have been members of the Church for more than twenty years. Dennis usually spends two evenings each week coaching other members through a rehearsal of an upcoming play. He has been writing plays ever since he took second place in a contest sponsored by a local theater center. His talents have entertained hundreds of Winnipeg Saints and have earned him a number of road show awards.

“What I appreciate most about my membership in the Church,” he says, “is that I’m living a religion that is truly a way of life, something that affects my conduct at home and at work. It gives purpose to my life. I can’t imagine where I’d be without it.”

Teruel Carrasco and his family moved to Winnipeg from Chile fourteen years ago. He first encountered the Church when a missionary stopped him on a busy downtown street to express his friendship in Spanish. Teruel was moved by the elder’s sincerity and intrigued by his message. When the missionary told him that Jesus Christ had visited the Americas, the thought captured Teruel’s imagination. “Somehow I knew it was true, but I was skeptical. I had to find out for sure.”

That curiosity led Brother Carrasco and his family to baptism. Daughters Dora and Anna have since served missions and married in the temple. Now seventeen-year-old Andrew is waiting for the day he can submit his mission papers.

Teruel Carrasco balances his law studies with helping his wife Lucila take care of the newest addition to the family—six-month-old Andrea. “She makes us feel renewed,” Sister Carrasco says. “We have the blessing of teaching her the gospel at a tender age and, of course, learning from her.”

Learning is also important to Pamela Mason, who starts her day at 5:20 a.m. in order to attend a 7:00 a.m. seminary class. She is one of about fifty LDS youth who travel downtown every morning to attend seminary before hopping aboard the bus to go to their respective schools. It’s not easy, especially in winter, but it’s a sacrifice she willingly makes.

“It’s helped me to build my testimony,” Pamela says. “Without seminary,” she adds, “I wouldn’t have made as much progress with my scripture reading as I have.” Pamela needs only to finish the Pearl of Great Price to complete her first reading of the entire standard works.

Joe and Marla Gross and their four children live in Anola, Manitoba, twenty-five miles out of Winnipeg. Their trip to the city each Sunday to attend church meetings is leisurely compared to the forty-mile bicycle rides Joe’s father used to make fifty years ago. Nevertheless, Joe says, “The Church is the center of everything we do, and the gospel is our focal point.”

“It’s an exciting time to be a Latter-day Saint,” Marla adds. “Church membership is growing.” With the aid of developing technology, she observes, “family history and missionary work are advancing at a rapid rate.”

Richard E. Bennett, president of the Winnipeg Manitoba Stake, sees big things ahead for the next decade. “Many of the latent biases toward the Church in this area are dissolving. We are seeing the barriers crumble.”

Membership in the stake reached 2,500 last year. President Bennett says that the new stake center will be a landmark in the local history of the Church and will have a softening influence on the attitudes of the non-LDS community.

The effects have already been felt. When the opening of the new stake center was announced, a full-page advertisement in the Winnipeg Free Press told the city about the new facility. But the money for the $6,000 ad didn’t come from the Church. The contractors and subcontractors who worked on the building felt so impressed by it that they paid for the ad themselves.

Correspondent: Raman Job, a free-lance writer and member of the Dalhousie Ward, Winnipeg Manitoba Stake.

[photo] Metropolitan Winnipeg is home to more than 1,800 Latter-day Saints in four wards and one branch. (Photo by Walter O. Weber.)

[photos] Maria Gerstner and Iva Stevenson are assistant librarians and Sheila Gatz is associate librarian in the Dalhousie Ward (top). Dennis Tkach poses with daughter Ksenia in front of the London Ward chapel (center). A Gospel Doctrine class meets in the Dalhousie Ward building. (Photos by Raman Job.)

LDS Scene

“LDS Scene,” Ensign, May 1989, 111–12

PROVO, UTAH—Under contract with the Macmillan Publishing Company of New York, Brigham Young University will produce The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Macmillan will publish the one-million-word, multivolume work with the approval of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. The encyclopedia will contain about 1,500 articles on the history, people, institutions, culture, scriptures, and doctrines of the Church. Target date for publication is 1991. Macmillan hopes to place the reference volumes in university, high school, municipal, church, and personal libraries throughout the world.

SIRACUSA, ITALY—Local and regional government officials were among those in Siracusa, Italy, who recently heard an LDS General Authority testify of the divinity of Joseph Smith’s calling. During a recent fireside there, Elder Carlos E. Asay of the First Quorum of the Seventy, President of the Europe Area, spoke of the First Vision and the translation of the Book of Mormon. More than 270 people, including local and national media representatives, filled Siracusa’s branch chapel for the program. Government officials expressed gratitude for the Church’s positive influence in the area.

HOUSTON, TEXAS—“This is a time of preparation for you, a time of tests and trials,” Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp told 1,400 young women at a Houston, Texas, conference on February 18. The young LDS women came from two Texas regions. “Knowing who we are gives us self-confidence,” President Kapp told the group. “When we remember who we are, we know where we are headed. And we are headed home—home to be reunited with our Heavenly Father.” She encouraged them to be standard bearers for the truth among their families and friends.

CALI, COLOMBIA—The Church received much favorable attention after missionaries taught a first discussion on radio in Cali, Colombia, during February. Missionaries from the Colombia Cali Mission taught the discussion on a radio program that features various religions. It is broadcast not only in Colombia, but also in Venezuela, Ecuador, and part of Peru.

QUINCY, ILLINOIS—It was “Latter-day Saints Day” in Quincy, Illinois, February 15 as residents commemorated the sojourn there of Church members fleeing from persecution in 1839. On February 10, Mayor Verne Hagstrom presented the key to the city to Elder Loren C. Dunn of the First Quorum of the Seventy, President of the North America Central Area. The presentation commemorated the arrival of Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, at Quincy on 15 February 1839. Speaking at a banquet, Elder Dunn praised the charity of Quincy residents who aided some six thousand LDS refugees that winter, taking the Saints into their homes and helping to provide tools, clothing, and jobs for them.

OREM, UTAH—Members of an Orem, Utah, ward submitted more than 1,100 names to the family history file in Salt Lake City during January. The Sunset Heights Fifth Ward, Orem Utah Sunset Heights Stake, was continuing a tradition of family history research started last year when Bishop Larry St. Clair challenged ward members to submit 1,000 names of their kindred dead in 1988. They met the bishop’s challenge—and exceeded his goal by 1,500 names! New bishop Bruce Evans reiterated the challenge to submit 1,000 names for 1989, and the goal was reached in one month.

SALT LAKE CITY—The Eastman Kodak Company has honored the Church for fifty years of leadership in microfilming. Accepting a commemorative plaque from a company representative, Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve, Chairman of the Temple and Family History Executive Council, explained that the Church’s microfilming program is “anchored in our theology.” The information it provides is used in performing vicarious temple ordinances for the dead. The records on Church microfilms are not only available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but at 1,400 smaller family history centers around the world.

HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND—Despite torrential rainfall, about 2,500 spectators watched the closing night’s performance of the annual pageant on Temple Hill in Hamilton, New Zealand. Approximately 8,000 spectators had seen performances of the pageant, titled Hear Him, on the first two nights; despite a wetter-than-usual January, there was no rain those two nights. Pageant president Taylor Tarawhiti praised the determination of the 300 cast and crew members who carried on despite the closing night’s downpour.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Eight Boy Scouts, two of them Latter-day Saints, recently presented the seventy-ninth annual Boy Scouts of America Report to United States President George Bush. Thomas T. Nelson, 16, and W. Jack Stephens, Jr., 19, took part in the White House ceremony. Brother Nelson is a member of the Lacey Second Ward, Olympia Washington Stake. Brother Stephens is a member of the Prescott First Ward, Prescott Arizona Stake, and is the national chief of the Order of the Arrow, a 160,000-member honor service fellowship within the Boy Scouts.

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