Comment

Waiting in Line for Literacy Program

The article “I Have Hope in the Future for Me” (March 1996) inspires us and other members in our calling as Church Educational System literacy missionaries. We serve in the Port Harcourt Nigeria Mission. In our districts, stakes, wards, and branches, we have people waiting in line to start the literacy course. They want to be able to read their scriptures, prepare for missions, and strengthen their testimonies. The article inspired the teachers and students in the program when we shared it with them.

Elder and Sister Paul Dee Payne
Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission

Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Memorial to Mormons

I read with interest the last page of the September 1996 issue about Kanesville and Council Bluffs. My husband’s relatives live in Illinois, so we tour Latter-day Saint historical sites whenever we visit family. During one recent visit, we discovered a nice, well-kept museum and historical society building in Corydon, Iowa. As we browsed, we noticed in the back a memorial to the Mormon handcart company that had traveled through the area.

Doris LaGaisse
San Marcos, California

Rebuilding Lives

It was with compassion and empathy that we read “The Refining Fire” (July 1996). We, too, recently had a fire that completely destroyed our home and everything we owned except for the clothing we wore. We could certainly understand the feelings of the Allen family.

The things we lost are only material possessions, and many can be replaced. Of course, we mourn the things that were irreplaceable—pictures and journals, and so on. We served a mission in South Africa, and the items from that period in our lives were certainly precious.

But how blessed we are to be members of this Church, to feel the love and concern of the other members as they helped us rebuild our lives.

John and Wealthea Clow
Center, Colorado

His Image in Our Countenances

I’m a convert to the Church of nearly a decade. The turning point for me in gaining my testimony was reading 10 years’ worth of general conference issues of the Ensign in a two-week period.

As I continue to rely on the Ensign for spiritual strength and enlightenment, I come across such articles as “Becoming a Disciple” (June 1996), in which Elder Neal A. Maxwell details what the phrase “his image in our countenances” really means. This is one of the finest articles I have ever read.

You might be interested to know that last year I gave my nonmember parents a subscription to the Ensign as a missionary tool. This year, when I failed to renew it for them, they renewed it themselves!

Lorna Goodman
Mesa, Arizona

Update

In July’s News of the Church section, photos of President Gordon B. Hinckley in Logan, Utah, were taken by Lynn Kay. In September, the Ensign listed Latter-day Saint women who were recognized at the annual American Mothers convention. In addition to those named, Karen Sowards of the Volcano Cliff Ward, Albuquerque New Mexico Stake, was recognized as New Mexico’s Mother of Young Children at that convention.