Programs and Policies Newsletter

Correlation Committee Changes. Reassignments of members of Church Correlation committees were recently announced by the First Presidency. Elder Richard L. Evans of the Council of the Twelve has been released as chairman of the Youth Correlation Committee to assume specific Church public relations duties and related assignments. Elder Thomas S. Monson of the Council of the Twelve, who succeeds Elder Evans, will direct the Youth and Young Adult Committee, with Elder Marion D. Hanks, Assistant to the Twelve, and Presiding Bishop John H. Vandenberg as vice-chairmen. Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Council of the Twelve succeeds Elder Monson as chairman of the Adult Committee, with Elder Bruce R. McConkie serving as vice-chairman. Children’s Correlation Committee assignments remain the same, with Elder Gordon B. Hinckley as chairman.

Executive secretaries to the Adult and the Youth and Young Adult Correlation committees have also been reassigned. Reed Bradford has been assigned to the Youth and Young Adult Committee and is succeeded by Dean L. Larsen as executive secretary of the Adult Committee. Vaughn E. Hansen and Daniel H. Ludlow will serve as associates to Antone K. Romney, executive secretary of the Church Correlation Committee.

Advisers to Auxiliaries. With the changes in Correlation Committee chairmen, changes have also been made in advisers to the Church auxiliaries. The new advisers are: Relief Society, Elder Marion G. Romney and Elder Packer; Sunday School, Elder Hinckley, Elder Monson, and Elder Packer; YMMIA and YWMIA, Elder Monson and Elder Packer; Primary, Elder Hinckley and Bishop Robert L. Simpson of the Presiding Bishopric.

Taiwan Mission. The division of the Hong Kong-Taiwan Mission into separate missions brings to nine the current number of missions in Southeast Asia. The new Taiwan Mission, with over 4,500 members, is presided over by Malan Robert Jackson, Tempe, Arizona, a former missionary to the Chinese people of Hong Kong. Ninety missionaries are presently serving in Taiwan (Formosa), where approximately fifty persons are baptized each month. A boon to missionaries in Asia is the recently completed translation of the Book of Mormon into Chinese by Wei I Hu, a Latter-day Saint.

Exploring Program. To avoid any confusion with the Ensign magazine, the Church Ensign Exploring program (young men 16–18) has been changed to the Exploring program with the following name changes: young men of priest age in MIA are Explorers, not Explorer Scouts; their ward or branch leader is the Explorer adviser; their stake or mission leader is the stake or mission Explorer leader; and the general board committee is now the Explorer committee. The name of the Church Exploring program (boys 14 and 15) is now called the Venture Exploring program; boys of teacher age in MIA are now Venture Explorers; their program is called Venture Exploring, Venturers, or Venturing; their ward or branch leader is the Venturer adviser; their stake or mission leader is the Venturer leader; and the general board committee is the Venturer committee. This program relates to the Venturing programs in Canada, New Zealand, and England. When the young men register with the Boy Scouts of America, it will be as Explorers in a Venture Explorer post.

Regional Meetings. General board representatives from the Sunday School and Mutual Improvement Associations will attend regional meetings worldwide from January 16 through May 22. Regional meetings with Relief Society and Primary representation will be held during the remainder of the year.

New Representatives. The First Presidency has announced the appointment of two new Regional Representatives of the Twelve and reassignments for thirty-five others. The new Representatives are LeGrand R. Curtis, Salt Lake City, former Olympus Stake president, and F. Enzio Busche, Dortmund, Germany, president of the Ruhr District of the Germany Central Mission. Elder Busche is the fourth Regional Representative of the Twelve from outside the U.S. to be appointed. The others include a resident of New Zealand, one from Great Britain, and a Japanese member in Hawaii who supervises the stakes in Japan and Hawaii.