“LDS Scene,” Ensign, May 1989, 111–12
LDS Scene
PROVO, UTAH—Under contract with the Macmillan Publishing Company of New York, Brigham Young University will produce The Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Macmillan will publish the one-million-word, multivolume work with the approval of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. The encyclopedia will contain about 1,500 articles on the history, people, institutions, culture, scriptures, and doctrines of the Church. Target date for publication is 1991. Macmillan hopes to place the reference volumes in university, high school, municipal, church, and personal libraries throughout the world.
SIRACUSA, ITALY—Local and regional government officials were among those in Siracusa, Italy, who recently heard an LDS General Authority testify of the divinity of Joseph Smith’s calling. During a recent fireside there, Elder Carlos E. Asay of the First Quorum of the Seventy, President of the Europe Area, spoke of the First Vision and the translation of the Book of Mormon. More than 270 people, including local and national media representatives, filled Siracusa’s branch chapel for the program. Government officials expressed gratitude for the Church’s positive influence in the area.
HOUSTON, TEXAS—“This is a time of preparation for you, a time of tests and trials,” Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp told 1,400 young women at a Houston, Texas, conference on February 18. The young LDS women came from two Texas regions. “Knowing who we are gives us self-confidence,” President Kapp told the group. “When we remember who we are, we know where we are headed. And we are headed home—home to be reunited with our Heavenly Father.” She encouraged them to be standard bearers for the truth among their families and friends.
CALI, COLOMBIA—The Church received much favorable attention after missionaries taught a first discussion on radio in Cali, Colombia, during February. Missionaries from the Colombia Cali Mission taught the discussion on a radio program that features various religions. It is broadcast not only in Colombia, but also in Venezuela, Ecuador, and part of Peru.
QUINCY, ILLINOIS—It was “Latter-day Saints Day” in Quincy, Illinois, February 15 as residents commemorated the sojourn there of Church members fleeing from persecution in 1839. On February 10, Mayor Verne Hagstrom presented the key to the city to Elder Loren C. Dunn of the First Quorum of the Seventy, President of the North America Central Area. The presentation commemorated the arrival of Emma Smith, wife of Joseph Smith, at Quincy on 15 February 1839. Speaking at a banquet, Elder Dunn praised the charity of Quincy residents who aided some six thousand LDS refugees that winter, taking the Saints into their homes and helping to provide tools, clothing, and jobs for them.
OREM, UTAH—Members of an Orem, Utah, ward submitted more than 1,100 names to the family history file in Salt Lake City during January. The Sunset Heights Fifth Ward, Orem Utah Sunset Heights Stake, was continuing a tradition of family history research started last year when Bishop Larry St. Clair challenged ward members to submit 1,000 names of their kindred dead in 1988. They met the bishop’s challenge—and exceeded his goal by 1,500 names! New bishop Bruce Evans reiterated the challenge to submit 1,000 names for 1989, and the goal was reached in one month.
SALT LAKE CITY—The Eastman Kodak Company has honored the Church for fifty years of leadership in microfilming. Accepting a commemorative plaque from a company representative, Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve, Chairman of the Temple and Family History Executive Council, explained that the Church’s microfilming program is “anchored in our theology.” The information it provides is used in performing vicarious temple ordinances for the dead. The records on Church microfilms are not only available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but at 1,400 smaller family history centers around the world.
HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND—Despite torrential rainfall, about 2,500 spectators watched the closing night’s performance of the annual pageant on Temple Hill in Hamilton, New Zealand. Approximately 8,000 spectators had seen performances of the pageant, titled Hear Him, on the first two nights; despite a wetter-than-usual January, there was no rain those two nights. Pageant president Taylor Tarawhiti praised the determination of the 300 cast and crew members who carried on despite the closing night’s downpour.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Eight Boy Scouts, two of them Latter-day Saints, recently presented the seventy-ninth annual Boy Scouts of America Report to United States President George Bush. Thomas T. Nelson, 16, and W. Jack Stephens, Jr., 19, took part in the White House ceremony. Brother Nelson is a member of the Lacey Second Ward, Olympia Washington Stake. Brother Stephens is a member of the Prescott First Ward, Prescott Arizona Stake, and is the national chief of the Order of the Arrow, a 160,000-member honor service fellowship within the Boy Scouts.