Dear Student Dictionary

By Matthew B., age 11, California, USA

Illustration by Corey Egbert

“Mom, I want to be a member of the youth battalion!” I said after watching President Nelson’s special devotional for the youth. I looked for ways to be a youth-battalion member. I tried to be extra kind to people at school. I stood up for someone who was being teased.

After watching President Nelson’s talk in general conference about calling the Church by its full and correct name, I knew there was something I could do about it. I remembered a section of my student dictionary that talked about religion and called us “Mormons.” I immediately wrote the following email to the student dictionary.

Dear Student Dictionary,

I’d like to point out a mistake. On page 510 of the 19th edition, when giving percentages of how many people in the United States are a part of each religion, it says that “Mormon” is 1.7 percent. But “Mormon” is not the name of our religion. The full name of our religion is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The name “Mormon” is a nickname that was formed because of the book we believe in, which is called the Book of Mormon. Saying “Mormon” as the name of our church makes people think that we worship Mormon (who was the editor of the book), but we really worship Jesus Christ.

Sincerely,

Matthew

P.S. Please respond.

A month later, they responded! They thanked me for my message and said they would make the change. They even offered to send me a copy!