FYI:
For Your Information

The young men and women of the Cannon Seventh Ward in Salt Lake City enjoyed a unique service project last October when they cleaned house for some ghosts. It started with a deserted, trash-cluttered barn and workshop on the one hand and a desire for a Halloween spook alley on the other. The young people decided that a family of spooks and their Halloween guests could be quite comfortable in the barn if it were cleaned out first, so they got together one day at noon and made the dust fly. The refuse, including, believe it or not, an old discarded Halloween mask, was dumped into burlap sacks and hauled away. The spook alley turned out to be as clean as any moderately tidy ghost could wish. The cobwebs, of course, were left where they were, except when occupied by spiders.

Attention all latent Lois Lanes and Clark Kents: The New Era needs your help. Thousands of readers would like to know what’s going on in Metropolis (or Glasgow, or Bangor, or Little Rock). Reports of the successful service projects, seminary outings, and Aaronic Priesthood or Young Women activities that you have been involved in will help give others ideas as well as let them know what other LDS youths are doing. The New Era needs black and white photographs and the who-what-when-where-why-how information sent to: New Era, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

Armed with hoes, shovels, saws, and wheelbarrows, 90 Aaronic Priesthood holders and Young Women of the Salt Lake Monument Park 15th Ward descended on the Brighton Branch chapel in the Wasatch Mountains for an ecology-in-action service project—a general beautification of the natural grounds surrounding the mountain chapel.

For the past five summers the Brighton Branch has presented Celebration, a depiction of the ten-year anniversary in Brighton of the Saints’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. A concrete memorial commemorating the event and an amphitheater with natural timber seating makes this annual summer pageant a meaningful reminder of the arrival of the pioneers in the Valley. The service project was intended to help make the outdoor setting more beautiful for the pageant and for the church members who attend services in the chapel during the summer. The young people volunteered to landscape the grounds around the chapel, which nestles at the foot of several ski lifts rising thousands of feet up the Wasatch Mountains.

The youths spread four truckloads of topsoil, planted 90 shrubs and trees, moved large boulders, cut down dead trees and sawed them into logs, and erected volleyball standards.

The priests and Laurels enthusiastically cut down several dead trees for firewood and cleared an area for additional seating in the amphitheater. The cry of “Timber” rang through the forest, and all hands watched from a safe distance as the massive dead trees fell to the ground. They were then sawed into log sections and split. Teachers dug holes for volleyball standards and poured concrete. The Mia Maids assisted them in digging holes and planting 90 shrubs and trees.

The Beehives and deacons spread and leveled four loads of topsoil. They also moved firewood and stacked it for use in the fireplaces.

Following an outdoor chili supper prepared by the quorum and class presidencies on the new concrete pageant stage, the youths enjoyed several square dances. As darkness fell, the group was invited inside the Brighton chapel where the theme presentation, prepared by the young people themselves, was presented. A testimony meeting was held during which many expressed their appreciation for an opportunity to help others while having such a great time in beautiful surroundings. Several commented that they would bring their own families here in years to come to show them the trees they had planted.

There are special weeks for secretaries, pickles, and Boy Scouts among other things, so why not an Aaronic Priesthood and Young Women week?

That was the question posed by youth leaders of the Ogden 49th Ward to adult leaders in the bishop’s youth committee meeting. The answer they received was, “Why not? Now what will you do?”

To open the week a fireside was held on Sunday evening. A local seminary teacher was the featured speaker, and the group enjoyed homemade cookies and punch.

The youths spent Monday with their families, and parents were encouraged to have the Aaronic Priesthood and the Young Women programs as the theme for family home evening.

Tuesday brought a carnival featuring a dart game, a dunking machine, a water-filled balloon toss, and a balloon bust.

On Wednesday the youth met at the church and cooked a potluck dinner.

On Thursday there were softball games and a weenie roast. In addition, nearly 50 people enjoyed volleyball and a marshmallow roast that evening.

A service project began on Friday and lasted well into Saturday. An elderly couple in the ward had put their home up for sale, and the youth of the ward volunteered to paint it for them. The house was over 100 years old, and the wife had been born there 82 years ago on land once owned by Brigham Young. The house was scraped, washed, and painted by Saturday afternoon.

That evening the successful week was climaxed with a campfire in Ogden Canyon.

The ward plans to make “Busy Week” an annual affair. They received additional support from the Ogden Standard-Examiner, which said the city “would be a better place in which to live if more residents of all ages would take pride in the appearance of their houses, yards and out-buildings. The 49th Ward MIA young people have shown the way.”