Comment

“Response from Malaysia”

We appreciate so much the Church magazines. Our family arrived in Malaysia from California in July 1971. We feel that the Church magazines are the best missionary tool that we have. Our friends and neighbors constantly thumb through them. Recently we traveled two days for the baptism of our eight-year-old daughter, Cheryl. Our home is just south of Thailand on the east coast. A trip to be with other members in Bangkok is 24 hours by train. A few members are on the west coast of Malaysia, but as there is no east-west highway, the trip also takes two days. Life without other members is rather lonely sometimes, so once again, we thank you for the wonderful Church magazines.

The Dale Hunter Family
West Malaysia

“Swings in a Park”

“Swings in a Park” [May] is a lovely poem that reminds us all of our childhood, but I would like to point out to the author one discrepancy. In the second stanza, he quotes: “The child is father to the man,” and asks, “Was it Longfellow who understood?” No, it was not Longfellow; it was William Wordsworth, in his poem “My Heart Leaps Up.” And the exact quotation is: “The child is father of the man.”

But it was a delightful little poem anyway!

Pat Furber
Arvada, Colorado

“A Weeping Eye …”

May I express my appreciation for the article “A Weeping Eye Can Never See” in the May issue. A few issues back I had eagerly read “Alone Through Death.” [October 1972, p. 74.] These fine messages have helped to comfort and sustain me during the most difficult adjustment period of my life. To find myself a widow at the age of 49 with four sons from 11 to 19 years of age was a frightening experience. The financial and social adjustments are overwhelming without even considering the emotional adjustments. My husband of 32 years was a wonderful man who had been a bishop and a stake president. His absence leaves such a great void in our lives. I hope you will continue to print articles such as those mentioned above for those of us who need reassurance that we are not alone after all and that there are others who share that aloneness so beautifully.

Mrs. Sterling J. (Margery J.) Johnson
Palmdale, California

The great good and comfort this article will bring to many of our sisters the world over is incalculable. Just what we have needed. Thank you.

Mrs. Orla C. Shurliff
Mesa, Arizona

The May Ensign arrived in the mail this morning. I usually wait until evening to look through it and decide which article I want to read first. But today I just felt compelled to look at it now, not wait until evening. And coming to the article titled “A Weeping Eye Can Never See,” I felt I must read it immediately, having lost my beloved husband just two weeks ago. I feel that I derived a great deal of courage from reading the messages of those widows. If it were not for my faith in the gospel, my family, and my friends, I could not carry on, but I know that the Lord will bless and comfort me as he has the sisters in the article, if I but put my trust in him.

Martha L. Agle
Gridley, California

Answers to Prayer

I have greatly enjoyed the articles in the Ensign dealing with members’ personal experiences with the scriptures. May I share an experience my wife and I had recently?

As stake missionaries, we were teaching a young man whose girl friend was a member of the Church. After we taught him the discussions, he felt that what he had learned was true; however, he was a little in doubt whether or not to be baptized. One Sunday we all fasted together and agreed to meet after sacrament meeting at our home.

Before the couple arrived, I really felt the need of the Lord’s direction. After I retired in prayer, a scripture flashed into my mind:

“And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

“Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection that ye may have eternal life—

“Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?” (Mosiah 18:8–10.) This scripture seemed to bear witness to him, and he knew what the Lord required. He followed the admonition and was baptized. He and his wife have just been sealed in the temple.

Keith Sadler
Lord Howe Island, Australia East Mission

Potpourri of Response

I would much appreciate a notice in the mail reminding me to renew my subscription. I don’t like to miss any of the issues! I know it is my responsibility to take care of things like this, but as you know, they can sometimes slip your mind. I will cry, fuss, fume, mutter, and be generally unhappy if I am unable to receive all my copies.

And while I am being so frank, I would like to tell you that I have never read anything more beautiful, praiseworthy, or of good report or inspirational than your December issue. It helped our family to help anonymously another family, which brought great joy to all of us. It helped to bring the true spirit of Christmas into our home.

Shirlie Jones
Colton, California

Many subscribers may not know that on the mailing label (pasted on the back cover of the magazine) in the upper righthand corner is the expiration date of their subscription. Printed there are the first three letters of a month and a year. Thus, FEB74 means that the subscription in the name printed on the mailing label expires in February 1974. Also, all wards receive, several months in advance of expiration, a list of subscribers whose magazines will expire soon. This list is to be given to the magazine representative, who is to make contact with each subscriber. If no response is received at the Church Magazine office, a second notice is sent to the address on the mailing label. To further improve the handling of subscriptions, a new circulation program will go into effect this fall [see June, page 72]. Under this program subscribers are divided into three geographical areas, and one campaign will be held each year within a specified period in each geographical area. This should further guarantee your receiving every single issue.

This is to acknowledge with gratitude the year’s complimentary subscription to your magazine. The Quezon Provincial Library has received copies the past month. Both young people and adults alike have enjoyed reading them.

Teresita J. Salvacion
Quezon Memorial Library, Lucena City, Philippines

I am a sophomore at BYU and am now enjoying a Friday evening with the Ensign. I deeply appreciate the contribution of spirit and knowledge that your fine magazine adds to our apartment. I have noticed and appreciated the considerable improvement in the magazines.

Deanna Bowen
Provo, Utah

I am on pins and needles every month, just waiting for the Ensign to come to my doorstep. One of the main reasons is because I enjoy the beautiful poetry and photography throughout the magazine.

Charisse Hall
Tahlequah, Oklahoma

Let me tell you how much I enjoy the Ensign. I am a convert, and each time I read the magazine, my heart swells with testimony that the Church is true.

Mrs. Kay Larson
Fillmore, California

We have enjoyed particularly the sections on teaching and leadership. We were somewhat at a loss as to what to do when our little boy often came home crying because neighbor children had hit him. Neighbor parents, in good faith, told our son to hit back, but that didn’t seem right. From pointers in the article “How Children Learn to Behave” [May, p. 37], I feel we will be able to help our son learn correct ways to respond when he is hurt by others. Also, the article “Know, Show, Do, Review” [May, p. 30] taught us a great idea: to walk through experiences with him.

Pamela Boswell
Palmdale, California

I have just discovered the Ensign. It is not that I have just read it for the first time, but perhaps it is because my heart has been reawakened to the truths of the gospel. How full each issue is of these truths! What a blessing it is for homes to which it comes! There are very few sources that enter the home regularly that contain so much for the strengthening, teaching, and sustaining of the members.

Linda Larson
Costa Mesa, California

It was wonderful to see the family line of Abraham and Israel in the May issue. It is great to open the mailbox each month and see the Ensign. How do you do it, month after month after month after month?

The Duane M. Terrys
Santa Ana, California

I just wanted to tell you how much the articles in the Ensign help to teach me and strengthen me. I’m especially grateful for articles on marriage and on rearing children. Not having grown up in a Latter-day Saint home, I have discovered a lot of things that I didn’t know were so important to a marriage and family. My own parents are divorced, and I vowed that when I married, I would make every attempt to have a happy marriage and family; but until I joined the Church two years ago, I didn’t have the help to keep this promise.

With the help of the teachers in the Church, new friends, and the articles in the Ensign, I’m getting caught up on the aspects of a good, active Latter-day Saint life—and, I must add, I’ve never been happier.

Mona M. Gertz
Santa Ana, California

“And Jesus Wept”

Yesterday morning I read the article “And Jesus Wept” in the April Ensign. I wept over every example in it. I gave it to my young daughter to read, and she also was touched by it. The same morning I took to a neighbor another copy of the Ensign with an article that I wanted her to read. (I’d been putting it off.)

That evening in Relief Society, I used the article “And Jesus Wept” to illustrate a lesson I was giving. How far-reaching this one article will be can only be measured by God, but it has already deeply reached into my own life.

Donna Mongello
Reseda, California

“With Love, Mother”

I must tell you how much I enjoyed “With Love, Mother” [May, p. 16]. As the daughter of a mother as well as the mother of a daughter, I feel blessed to have them both. This article touched me and makes me feel determined to show my own mother how much she has meant to me in my life and to let her know that I know she loves me.

With my own daughter, I still have time to share, emotionally, socially, physically, and spiritually. Thank you so much for this beautiful article and expression of a mother-daughter love and communication.

Jan Jacobs
Bishop, California

Missionary Tool

I am a missionary in Sweden and am convinced of the Ensign as a missionary tool. After we taught a man the six discussions, he desired to be baptized, but his wife was against it and threatened to leave him if he did. So, we didn’t baptize him. That is where the Ensign comes in. They both were very impressed with the copies that we loaned them while we taught them. The magazine was a great missionary tool for them.

Elder Scott Sandberg