LDS Scene

Bryan A. Espenschied, a retired transportation executive from Centerville, Utah, has been called to preside over the Africa West Mission, which includes Nigeria and Ghana.

More than 2,600 Latter-day Saint Boy Scouts and their leaders from fifty-one southeastern U.S. stakes gathered at the Church’s Deseret Ranches in Florida for a spectacular camp. They were divided into twelve camping areas, each named for one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Activities included swimming, marksmanship, pioneering skills, frisbee, golf, and other activities. General Authorities visiting the camp and addressing the boys included President Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve and Elders Robert L. Backman, Vaughn J. Featherstone, Rex D. Pinegar, and Joseph B. Wirthlin, of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

A memorial to Martin Harris, the only one of the Three Witnesses to move west, is being built in Clarkston, Utah, within sight of his grave. The project, an amphitheater, will be built south of the cemetery with more than $60,000 in donated funds. President Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve presided at the August groundbreaking.

Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated a wooded four-acre plot of land on the University of Iowa campus. The plot marks the place from which the Mormon pioneers began their historic 1,400-mile handcart walk to Utah in 1856–57. Prairie grasses and wildflowers have been planted on a portion of the site, and hiking trails have been laid out through the woods.

The Church provided funds for the project after the Iowa Board of Regents approved the plan in 1978. The Cedar Rapids Iowa Stake will bear the yearly cost of upkeep.

Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the First Quorum of the Seventy recently dedicated a modern central bishop’s storehouse, the fourth of its kind in the Church, in Colton, California. The 50,000-square-foot building will be a reserve for the seventy-six stakes in Los Angeles; San Fernando; San Diego; Fountain Valley; Colton; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

From You to Your Ancestors, the basic genealogical manual for the Church, has been revised. It is available from the Salt Lake City Distribution Center (stock no. PBGS0683, $1.00 each), 1999 W. 1700 S., Salt Lake City, Utah 84104. The manual is both a self-study guide and a text for the twelve-week basic genealogy course taught in Sunday School. The revision corrects some minor errors and provides more up-to-date instructions for submitting names for temple ordinances, thus replacing the fourth edition of the Records Submission Manual (1973).

The first week in October, listeners tuning in to the popular “You and Your World” heard a message from Elaine Cannon, general president of the Young Women, rather than from Elder Paul H. Dunn of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Elder Dunn has concluded making the weekly broadcasts. Sister Cannon, who had hosted her own television shows and radio shows during the 1950s and been involved in publishing during the 1960s, is the first woman to appear on these broadcasts. The broadcasts are provided as a public service through Bonneville Productions with accompanying music by the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus and with other special numbers.

This calling comes to Sister Cannon in addition to her duties as Young Women’s president. She plans to speak “on a variety of subjects for general audience, but all of it lighthearted and ‘easy-listening’ with a touch of humor.”

The Mormon Battalion, George M. Ottinger.